TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 281 



but it is sound in theory, and has been successful. Take out a trench 

 as before, at three, four, five, or six feet from the tree, and cut off any 

 root that protrudes beyond the solid ball. Leave the trench unfilled 

 for one or two years. Cover it over with board, slate, tile, branches, 

 dung, or litter, to exclude light and air. The young roots, instead of 

 being formed on the outside of the ball, will spread a network of 

 fibres through it, which will bind the earth together, and enable the 

 plant to be moved in safety. The cut roots will likewise be found to 

 have callosed at their extremities, and Avill at once form roots into the 

 fresh soil, as soon as the tree is transplanted. It is obvious that 

 the growth of the tree must be greatly checked by this mode of 

 preparation, which will consequently have the effect of rendering it 

 capable of living on a limited quantity of food, and therefore much 

 better adapted for removal. The only objection that occurs to us is, 

 that in the case of previous preparation for two or three years, too 

 many fibrous roots will be protruded into the ball, more, perhaps, 

 than can be nourished in that limited bulk of soil, even after the tree 

 is transplanted. If, however, the tree is prepared only one year pre- 

 vious to removal, the objection will not apply to the same extent, if 

 at all. 



Transplanting by thinning and pruning the roots and branches is 

 the most common mode, and in a moist soil and climate it is generally 

 attended with success. The trees are taken up by cutting a trench 

 round the roots about the same distance as in preparing trees by the 

 first mode ; the ends of the roots are cut smooth, and the top is thinned 

 of its branches, and pruned more or less, according to the reduction of 

 the roots, the size of the tree, and the soil, situation, and climate in 

 which it is to be planted. When the tree is of considerable size, say 

 nine inches or a foot in diameter, it must necessarily be deprived of the 

 greater number of its effective roots ; and in this case, unless in a very 

 moist climate and soil, the safest mode is to cut off at least half of the 

 branches of the head, covering the sections left by amputation with 

 grafting clay or grafting wax. In some cases large trees can be re- 

 moved without preparing the roots, and without cutting off any, or at 

 least very few, of the branches ; but in such cases it will be found 

 that, from some cause or other, the roots are mostly near the surface, 

 and the soil moist, and that a great proportion of the roots can be 

 taken up along with the tree. When this mode of transplanting large 

 trees with the branches on is adopted in a dry soil, the success will be 

 very different, even though the ground should be mulched round the 

 transplanted trees, and the stem and main branches closely wrapped 

 round with straw ropes to lessen evaporation. The most suitable trees 

 for planting out, with no other preparation than thinning or pruning 

 the branches, are those whose roots and heads have been properly 

 thinned and pruned by cultivation in a nursery. 



Transplanting by "Heading -in" that w, Cutting the Branches. The 

 trees, whether oak, ash, elm, poplar, or other leafy kinds, are taken 

 from the nursery when they are fifteen feet or more in height, and 

 about the thickness of a man's arm ; the lateral branches are all cut 



