Transplanting Trees 



serves the other's vital need. Without the fungus the tree 

 would probably die, and vice versa. 



The beech exhibits this notably among trees. So do the 

 oaks, most of the conifers, and even certain of the willows and 

 poplars. The great heath family, including laurels, rhododen- 

 drons, wintergreen and trailing arbutus, are believed to exhibit 

 this "symbiosis," or interdependence between fungi and roots. 



Moving such trees is precarious work, because the welfare 

 of both tree and fungus must be looked after. If the mycorhiza 

 dries out, the tree dies. If the tree is planted in soil destitute 

 of this fungus, that brought in the earth ball often proves in- 

 adequate to the demands of the treetop. Most trees of this 

 type grow naturally in great colonies, crowding out other kinds. 

 The soil under beech woods is one great network of delicate 

 fungous threads. An isolated beech tree taken to your garden 

 sustains a great shock and a trying deprivation. No wonder 

 trailing arbutus usually dies in domestication. The range of 

 species exhibiting symbiosis is not very definitely known yet. 

 It is certainly very large, and students are busy upon the problem. 

 Many plants, however, feed with their own roots, and are therefore 

 independent of organisms in the soil. So far as we know, most 

 trees belong to the latter class. 



The whole philosophy of transplanting is the keeping of the 

 root system in ignorance of the change. The ideal way is to 

 save all the roots. The practical way is to save as many as 

 possible. 



The trunk roots and their branches are important as a frame- 

 work to support the tree in the ground and the rootlets at their 

 extremities. But only the season's rootlets absorb plant food. 

 Next year they, too, will pass the feeding function on to newer 

 filaments of more delicate structure. The year-old roots become 

 conductors but no longer gatherers of food. Each year's growth 

 underground has had its turn, since the main branches were the 

 tender first branchings of the radicle of the germinating seed. 



FROM THE NURSERY 



Nursery trees have been grown in rich soil and cultivated as 

 they grew. Their root systems are, or should be, compact because 

 the trees have been transplanted yearly in the nursery rows. 



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