as jn'acitsed at Arlington Court. 507 



them from an exposed place, where the plants stand rather 

 thin, and are possessed of the following properties ; namely, a 

 good stout stem, strong thick bark, and plenty of branches from 

 the ground to the top ; or, in other words, what Sir Henry 

 Steuart calls protecting properties ; and, when we find these, we 

 never despair of the trees being furnished with plenty of good 

 roots, another essential for insuring success. 



After having selected our trees, we proceed to prepare them 

 for moving; or, as we call it, we proceed to root them, which 

 we do in the following manner : — First, we tie up all branches 

 that are likely to be in the way, and dig a trench round the 

 tree, 10 or 12 feet from the stem, or as far as we think the 

 roots have penetrated, and also as deep, preserving with great 

 care even the minutest fibres ; then, we proceed round and 

 round the tree with a slice of earth, carefully working it out 

 from among the roots, coiling them up, and pegging them to 

 the top of the ball as we go on, till we have reduced the ball to 

 a size that we think will adhere to the tree: for you must know, 

 if we chance to be too covetous, and attempt to take too large 

 a ball, its own weight will tear it asunder ; dragging with it 

 a great many of the most valuable roots; and ten chances to one 

 but the plant dies. We therefore prefer a small compact ball 

 to a large loose one. After proceeding so far as to be within 

 I ft. or 1 ft. 6 in. of the stem, and quite under it, if the plant will 

 stand we cover up the roots with straw, &c., if it will not stand 

 we previously lay it to one side, and then cover the ball on the 

 exposed side ; and so on, serving them all in like manner, till 

 we have enough ready for a day's drawing. Whilst we have 

 been engaged in rooting the plants to be removed, others have 

 been preparing the holes into which they are to be put. These 

 holes must be rather large (for some, 20 or 25 feet in diameter), 

 and just deep enough for the ball to rest on the bottom, when 

 the top of it is rather above the level of the adjoining ground. 

 They must also be made with two inclined planes, opposite each 

 other ; the one for drawing the plant in at, and the other for 

 drawing the truck out. This truck is the implement we bring 

 them on, and it is very much like those used by the brewers in 

 London for taking small casks on without wheels;* and a sketch 

 of it is shown in^f^^. 99. to 101 . We have also a timber Bob (car- 

 riage), with two large wheels and a long shaft, which we use, on 

 particular occasions, for the largest-sized trees. The one we gene- 

 rally use is a simple parallelogram with two rollers in front, a 

 collar at each corner, and a ring in the centre of each end for 

 drawing it by, and for lashing the plant to after loading. 

 Previously to moving any plants, we must provide a quantity of 

 levers of different sizes, two or three binding ropes, one loading 



