32 Machine for tt-afisplanting large Trees. 



will be in passing the bottom or horizontal rods ; workmen 

 can scarcely be induced, till experience has taught them, to 

 make sufficient room with the spade to admit of depressing 

 sufficiently the head end of the rods, so as to bring the points 

 out above the hoop ; and yet an error in this respect may 

 cause a total failure. 



3. Nothing has been said of the size of the machine, as in 

 this respect every one may consuk his fancy. It should, how- 

 ever bear some proportion to the extent of the roots of the 

 subject. I have never used or made more than one such ap- 

 pai'atus ; it includes a ball of 22 in. in diameter ; with it I have 

 during the last three years removed about a hundred trees 

 and shrubs, and in no instance has any material check been 

 given to vegetation. Shrubs usually reckoned shy have con- 

 tinued to thrive and blossom ; and apples, pears, and plums, 

 to bear and perfect their fruit the first season. In several 

 instances these were transported on carts and buggies, over 

 paved streets and uneven roads, and always without injury, 

 when the apparatus was tolerably worked. 



There is one objection to the general application of this 

 apparatus, which is the space it requires to be worked in ; 

 namely, an opening on one side, at least equal to the diameter 

 of the ball to be preserved, and the breadth of a spade round 

 the remainder : but as the machine is only intended for valu- 

 able shrubs and trees, it will be generally applicable, even in 

 close plantations, by sacrificing plants of less note. 



In extenuation of the redundancy of directions given, I may 

 remark, that I once lent the apparatus to a gardener, with the 

 most explicit instructions as to its use ; but such was the force 

 of habit in this worthy brother, that he persisted in forming 

 the ball with a spade before he applied any part of the appa- 

 ratus, and ultimately made the discovery that the machine 

 would not suit his previously formed ball, and that it was 

 consequently useless ! 



Lest the profession should still commit another such blun- 

 der, let me again repeat, that, except paring the surface level 

 till the roots begin to appear, the soil must on no account be 

 disturbed till all the perpendicular rods are inserted to their 

 full extent ; nor must their points be deprived of their hold 

 in the earth till secured in the hoop, and that made fast by 

 the screw. Inattention to these circumstances will inevitably 

 cause a failure, and the apparatus will be condemned to bear 

 the obloquy legitimately pertaining to the operator. 



I am, Sir, &c. 



William Thom. 

 Annan, Christmas, 1830. 



