TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 3J^> 



found no disadvantage from this change of position ; but, on the contrary, 

 as the tree presents the side containing the longest and most vigorous branches 

 to the storm, it ultimately, he says, produces a better balanced head. The 

 transplanted tree, after being set upright, and the soil carefully rammed into 

 all the cavities about the roots, is held in its position, not by posts or stakes 

 above ground, or by horizontal poles under it, but by forming a circular 

 bank of earth on the extremities of the main roots. This bank, Sir Henry 

 says, if properly executed, will by its weight furnish such resistance to the 

 action of the top of the tree, that a stout man, on applying himself to a rope 

 tied to the upper part of the stem, will generally be unable to displace the 

 root, notwithstanding the length of the lever by which he operates. For 

 more minute details we must refer to Sir Henry's work. The great success 

 which attended his operations at Allanton may, we conceive, be chiefly 

 owing to the care with which they were performed, to the circumstance that 

 the trees were always prepared for three or four or more years beforehand, 

 and the extraordinary moistness of the climate in that part of Scotland. It 

 is a common practice in England to prepare the trees only one year before 

 removal ; in which case, as Sir Henry very justly observes, " the fresh fibres 

 being nearly as tender as the roots of an onion or a cabbage, can neither be 

 extricated nor handled without sensible injury." In the case of shrubs, 

 however, one year will be found sufficient for many kinds that rapidly 

 emit a great number of roots. 



710. Transplanting by shortening the roots, without permitting them to 

 throw out fibres at their extremities. This mode is the invention of Mr. 

 Munro, a scientific forester of great experience, and is described in the Quar- 

 terly Journal of Agriculture, vol. v. p. 183, and in the Gardeners Magazine 

 for 1841-42. Mr. Munro had been in the habit of transplanting from three 

 hundred to five hundred trees annually by cutting a trench round the roots, 

 and filling it with prepared soil, allowing the tree to remain for one or two 

 years to form fibrous roots. The young roots were protruded in clusters 

 round the ends of the amputated roots, but they were so tender as to be 

 much injured by the spade in the process of lifting, and by the atmosphere 

 when removing. A pit of large dimensions was also required, which added 

 much to the labour ; a tree, the roots of which formed a ball only about 

 four feet in diameter, requiring a pit eight feet in diameter to allow of the 

 fibres being laid out at full length, besides a foot of moved soil beyond them 

 all round to encourage their growth. A much more economical and equally 

 efficient mode is suggested by the following experiment : Mr. Munro 

 selected a handsome oak, about twenty-five years old, and having dug out a 

 circular trench round it, leaving a ball of earth four feet in diameter, he cut 

 off every root which projected into the trench with a saw, and smoothed it 

 over with a pruning knife. The object was, in place of encouraging the 

 growth of fibres at the extremities of the amputated roots, to have the fibres 

 formed within the ball of earth all along the old root. To accomplish this 

 end, he left the trench empty and roofed it in with boards, covering up any 

 opening between them with withered grass, and then putting over the whole 

 an inch of soil, so as completely to exclude light and change of air. In this 

 situation the tree remained for one year, having no lateral communication 

 with the surrounding soil. The operation was performed in the winter of 

 1824, and in that following the roofing was taken from the trench, and the 

 ball of earth reduced to a proper dimension for removing the tree, when the 



