Photo 32. 



Photo 33. 



small elm. Go from this to photos 53 and 

 54. This is a maple, started on its fifth 

 year's growth. The middle part of the stem 

 is cut out so that both root and branch can 

 be shown on one page. The size of this plant 

 you can see as compared with the bo} r 's hand. 

 The stem is not much larger than his thumb. 

 Look closely at both pictures. If the leaves 

 were off, the root would appear as large, if 

 not larger, than the top. 



Now turn to that majestic maple, photo 

 31. Imagine some gigantic hand lifting this 

 tree out of the ground and plunging it into 

 some lake and washing off all the soil and 

 then holding it up to view; and suppose the 

 leaves were all off, what would you see? You 

 would see this, viz. : The roots, when aver- 

 aged up, cover as much surface as the 

 branches. If the tree could be lifted during 

 its working season, you would see, probably, 

 from five to ten times as many of those deli- 

 cate little fibrous, feeding rootlets as you 

 have twigs. And where are these feeders 

 situated ? At the extreme end of the other 

 little roots. Now, what do we learn from 

 this fact. Simply this, namely: If these feeders are not taken up when you lift the plant, 

 such a plant w r ill suffer in proportion to the roots you have destroyed. Large trees can 

 be moved and it is often done. Trees with trunks 4 feet in diameter have been taken up 

 and replanted with success, but it takes powerful machinery to do it. The average per- 

 son desiring a tree would want to pay not more than a few dollars. Suppose you wanted 

 to move the maple in photo 49. The base of that tree is about 8 inches in diameter. The 

 diameter of the top is from 12 to 15 feet. Then you must go at least 6 feet from the tree 

 to get your feeding roots. This can be done, but a clump of earth 12 feet in diameter 



22 



Photo 34. 



