TRANSPLANTING 



The soil should be friable loam, not baking clay nor 

 sterile sand, and it should be made fertile. The surface 

 should be covered with a soil or straw mulch 3 inches 

 deep and the earth kept moist by watering' once a week 

 or less frequently, as required. The roots may be dam- 



TRANSPLANTING 



1831 



2548. The roots wrapped, and the tree being moved 



aged by too thick mulch, deep planting, excess of water 

 or lack of drainage, all of which exclude the air. De- 

 caying manure and caustic fertilizers in direct contact 

 with the roots are injurious. 



The tree may be secured by gny wires. Anchor posts 

 are set slanting, 4% ft. in the ground, with a cross- 

 piece just below the surface. Two to six strands of No. 

 11 galvanized steel wire are used. The wire is run from 

 the post, through a piece of hose around the tree, and 

 back to the post. It is twisted tight, with two sticks 

 turning in the same direction and moving toward each 

 other. To prevent the sun from drying out the bark on 

 the south side of the tree, the trunk should be wrapped 

 with straw, especially thin-barked trees, like beech and 

 silver maple. 



The best trees for moving are those with abundant 

 small roots. These have fibers branching from them 

 which take in the waterand plant-food. The large roots 

 in the center of the root-system are conduits for the 

 sap, and braces for the tree. Trees which transplant 

 successfully are the maple, horse chestnut, elm, catalpa, 

 ash, linden, willow, poplar and pin oak. Trees with few 

 fine roots and hai*d wood, as the hickory and white oak, 



are difficult to transplant with good results, as well as 

 the tender-rooted trees like magnolia and tulip. Trees 

 grown in the open are much better for moving than 

 those in the woods. The roots are more numerous, and 

 not mixed with the roots of other trees, the bark is 

 thicker and does not dry out so quickly, the branches 

 and twigs are closer and better developed to stand ex- 

 posure, and may be thinned out. without destroying the 

 beauty of the tree, and more plant-food is stored for the 

 new growth of leaves and roots. A young tree of large 

 size is better to move than an old tree. In friable loam 

 the roots are straighter and tougher and less liable to 

 injury in digging, than in hard or rocky soil. 



The popular prejudice that moving large trees is an 

 ultimate failure, or that small trees quickly overtake 

 them, arises from moving trees 1 to 2 feet in diameter 

 with G to 8 feet diameter of roots. As this mass of 

 roots is mainly the large roots, and from 70-90 per 

 cent of the feeding roots are lost, the tree, after send- 

 ing out the leaves with its stored plant-food, fails to 

 support all the foliage and bark. In 

 successive seasons its branches die, or 

 the growth is short and yellow and the 

 bark dies on the south side. 



For moving large coniferous ever- 

 greens, it is usually considered neces- 

 sary to keep a ball of earth intact. 

 The foliage is constantly transpiring, 

 and if the roots become dry, the sap 

 does not flow again. As it is not 

 generally feasible to move balls of 

 over 12 feet diameter and 3 feet in 

 depth, the size of evergreens which it 

 is practicable to transplant is smaller 

 than of deciduous trees. 



The digging is started as in Pig. 2550. The flexible 

 roots are wrapped against the ball by twisting them with 

 a cord, and the large, stiff roots are cut off. The ball 

 may be held by frost, or by upright staves, iron bands, 

 or irons in the form of a pot split in halves and held by 

 bolts or clamps. The best method is the use of a can- 

 vas band, wider than the depth of the ball, cut to fit. 

 It has draw ropes operated by levers which firmly com- 

 press the earth, without damaging the small roots 

 wrapped against the ball. A hammock, consisting of 

 several ropes to distribute the pressure, is attached to 

 a windlass. A platform is placed with a chisel edge in 

 the under cut. By means of the windlass, the ball is 

 cutoff from the subsoil and the platform, with the tree, 

 loaded upon a truck. 



In planting, the hammock is reversed and holds the 

 ball, while the platform is pulled out by the windlass, 

 leaving the tree in the hole. By this method, trees 20-40 

 feet high and 6-12 inches in diameter may be moved. 



Trees grown in fertile clay loam are best for trans- 

 planting, but with care the canvas will hold balls of 

 sand or gravel. Root-pruning, one or more years pre- 



skids. 



2549. Diagram to illustrate the operations in the removal of a large tree for transplanting. 



