ed, while the other shall produce luxuriant and 

 healthful young wood; one will bear early a 

 few starved berries — tlie other, thout^h not so 

 soon in maturity, will maiutain a high state of 

 fertility for, perhaps, fourteen years. 



J. TOWERS. 



TRAN.SrLANTING. 

 As nearly all fruit trees are raised first in nur- 

 series, and then removed to their final position 

 in the orchard or fruit garden; as upon the 

 ruanncr of this removal depends not onl^- their 

 slow or rapid growth, their feebleness or vigor 

 afterwards, and in many cases even their life, 

 it is evident that it is in the highest degree im- 

 portant to understand and practice well this 

 transplanting. 



The season best adapted for transplanting 

 fruit trees is a matter open to much difierence 

 of opinion among horticulturists ; a diflerence 

 founded mainly on experience, but without 

 taking into account variation of climate and soils, 

 two veiy impoitant circumstances in all ojiera- 

 tions of this kind. 



All physiologists, however agree that the best 

 season for ti'ansplauting deciduous trees is in 

 autumn directly after the fall of the leaf The 

 tree is then in a completely dormant state. 

 Transplanted at this early season, whatever 

 wounds may have been made in the roots com- 

 iaience healing at once, as a deposit directly 

 takes place of granulous matter fiom the wound, 

 and ■when the spring ai'ives the tree is already- 

 somewhat established, and ready to commence 

 its grov\'th. Autumn planting is for this reason 

 greatly to be preferred in all mild climates, and 

 dry soils ; and even for very hardy trees, as the 

 spple, in colder latitudes; as the "fixed po.sition 

 in the ground, which trees planted then get by 

 the autumnal and early spring rains, gives them 

 an advantage, at the nest season of growth, over 

 newly moved trees. 



On the other hand, in northern portions of the 

 Union, ^^■here the \viuters commence early, and 

 are severe, spring planting is greatly preferred. 

 There, autumn and winter are not mild enough 

 to allow this gradual process of healing and 

 establishing the roots to go on ; for when the 

 -ground is frozen to the depth of the roots of a 

 tree, all that slow growth and collection of nu- 

 triment by the roots is necessarily at au end. 

 And the more tender sorts of fruit trees, the 

 Peach and Apricot, ■which are less hardy ^vhe^ 

 cewly planted than when their roots are entire, 

 fad well fixed in the soil, are liable to injury 

 £Q their branches by the cold. The proper 

 time, in such a climate, is as early as the ground 

 is in a fit condition in the spring. 



Early in autumn, and in spring before the 

 ibttds expand, may as a general rule be consid- 

 ered the be.st seasons for transplanting. It is 

 true that there are instances of excellent success 

 in planting at all seasons, except midsummer ; 

 and there are many who, from having been once 

 or twice successful in transplanting when trees 

 w^ere nearly in leaf, avow that to be the best 

 eea.son ; not taking into account, that their suc- 

 cess was probably entirely owing to a fortu- 

 nately damp state of the atmosphere at the time, 

 sad abundant rains after the experiment was 

 performed. In the middle State.s, we are fre- 

 quently liable to a dry period in early summer, 

 directly following the sea.son of removal, and if 

 transplanting is deferred to a late period in 

 spring, many of the trees will perish from 

 ^routh, before their roots become established in 

 (480j 



the soil. Spring planting should, therefore, al- 

 ways be performed as soon as possible, that the 

 roots may have the great benefit of tlie early 

 and abundant rains of that sea.son, and get well 

 started before the heat of summer commences. 

 For the neighborhood of New-York, therefore, 

 the best periods are, from the fall of the leaf, to 

 the middle of November, in autunm ; and, from 

 the close of winter, to the middle of April, in 

 the spring ; though commonly, the seasons of 

 removal are frequently extended a month be- 

 yond these limits. 



Taking np the Trees is an important part of 

 the operation. A transplanter should never for- 

 get that it is by the delicate and tender points 

 or extremities of the root that trees take up 

 their food ; and that the chance of complete 

 success is lessened, by evei-y one of these j-oints 

 that is bruised or destrcryed. If we could re- 

 move trees with every fibre entire, as we do a 

 plant in a pot, they would scarcely show any 

 sign of their change of position. In most cases, 

 especially- in that of trees taken from nurseries, 

 this is, by the operation of removal, nearly im- 

 possible. But although we may not hope to gel 

 every root entire, we may, with proper care, 

 preserve by far the larger portion of them, and 

 more particularly the small and delicate fibres. 

 After being taken up, they should be planted 

 directly ; or, if this cannot be done, they .should 

 be kept from drying by a covering of mats, and 

 \\ hen sent to a distance by being packed in 

 damp moss.* 



Preparing the places. Here is the fatal 

 stumbling-block of all novices and ignorant per- 

 sons in transplanting. An English gardener, 

 when he is about to plant fruit trees, tallis about 

 preparing his borders ; an American says he 

 will dig his holes ; and we cannot give a more 

 forcible illustration of the ideas of two persons 

 as the wants of a fruit tree, or a better notion of 

 the comparative provision made to supply these 

 wants, than by contrasting the two phra.ses 

 themselves. The one looks upon a tree as a 

 living being, whose life is to be rendered long, 

 vigorous, and fruitful by a good supply of food, 

 and a soil mellow and easily penetrated by the 

 smallest fibre ; the other considers it very much 

 in the light of a truncheon or a post, which he 

 thrusts into the smallest possible hole, and .sup- 

 plies ■with the least portion of manure, trusting 

 to what he seems to believe the inextinguishable 

 powers of Nature to make roots and branches 

 under any circumstances. It is true that the 

 term.^ differ somewhat from the nature of the 

 culture and the greater preparation necessary in 

 planting fruit trees in England, but this is not by 

 any means sufficient to ju-stify the different 

 modes of performing the same operation there 

 and here. 



In truth, in this country, where the sun and 

 climate are so favorable, where pruning and 

 training are comparatively so little nece.ssarj-, 

 the great requisite to success in the ordinary 

 culture of fruit trees is the proper preparation 

 of the soil before a tree is planted. Whether a 

 transplanted tree shall struggle several years to 

 recover, or groAv moderately after a short time, 

 or at once start into a very luxuriant and vigor- 



* We should notice an impoi-tsnt exception to this 

 in the case of trees packed for shipping across the 

 Atlantic. In this ca.'^e they should be packed only in 

 dry moas ; the moisture of the sea air beins suffi- 

 cient to keep the roots in good condition, while if 

 packed in damp moss they will be injured by rotting 

 or exccbsive growth. 



