OF FRUIT TREES. 5 



planted, particular care being taken to obtain young, 

 vigorous and healthy trees ; for cankered plants emit 

 a vapour that is very detrimental to such as are sound, 

 In taking up the trees from the nursery, the roots 

 should be preserved of the full length, if possible ; the 

 surface earth should be removed, and the running 

 roots carefully traced and raised. If they must be 

 cut, let it be done with a sharp instrument, and not 

 hacked with a dull spade. The tap root, or that which 

 penetrates straight down, may be shortened to the 

 length of about one foot, and all broken or bruised 

 parts should be removed. The small matted fibres 

 should be cut off, as they are apt to mould and decay, 

 and pi event new ones from shooting. The remaining 

 side roots should be spread out to give them a hori- 

 zontal direction under the surface, that they may be 

 more immediately influenced by the sun, and their 

 sap will become richer, and produce the sweetest and 

 most beautiful fruit. Some well-rotted manure, mix- 

 ed with mould, may be advantageously placed round 

 the roots, the earth carefully pressed down, so as to 

 come in contact with the roots in every part, and the 

 trees placed the same side to the sun as they stood be- 

 fore. In transplanting trees, it may be observed, that 

 they should not be replanted deep in the soil, since 

 the most nutritive or salubrious parts of the earth are 

 those within the reach of the sun's warmth, of the de- 

 scending moisture, and of the air. And as the root 

 fibres of trees, like those of seeds, always grow to- 

 ward the purest air and brightest light, it follows, that 

 the root fibres seldom rise higher in the ground than 

 they were originally set. and seldom elongate them- 

 selves perfectly horizontally : so that when a fruit 

 tree is planted too deep in the earth, it seldom grows 

 in healthy vigour, either in respect to its leaf buds OF 

 flower buds. For a more particular description of the 

 method of planting fruit trees, I quote the language of 



