TRANSPLANTING 



239 



while some clay soils seem never to be dry enough without 

 getting too dry. This latter condition affects the plant 

 less than it does the planter as it makes more difficult 

 getting the soil sufficiently fine to pack about the roots. 

 A lumpy soil can be made fine by extra trouble while a 

 wet soil cannot be modified to suit. 



Next in importance to having soil in proper condi- 

 tion is to have plants that have been properly dug and 

 handled. Transplanting means re-establishing a olant in 



EFFICIENT HANDLING 



Trees taken from the ground and immediately packed in moss 

 on the wagon, then packed for shipment in a shady place as 

 soon as taken from the wagon, arrive at destination in good con- 

 dition. These trees were planted directly from the wagon. 



a new location with sufficient roots in good condition to 

 feed the part that is above ground. In order to do this 

 well the whole of the root system should be dug with 

 the plant and then be so handled that none of the roots 

 become so dry before they are replanted that they become 

 useless as collectors and transmitters of food. The ideal 

 method of transplanting is the moving of plants from 

 pots in to the open ground. In this case the whole of the 

 root system is present and none of it is lost in the moving 

 so that the roots are immediately ready to extend into 

 the new soil. The nearest approach to this is where a 

 small plant may be dug with the soil about the roots and 

 be carried on the shovel that dug it to the new location 

 and be put into the hole already prepared for it without 

 appreciably loosening the soil from the roots. Only 

 a small proportion of the plants moved, however, can 

 possibly be done by either of these ideal methods, so for 

 others the best possible substitute must be used. In the 

 case of deciduous plants this is the digging of them 

 in such a manner that all of the root system is obtained. 

 This does not mean digging so that all the roots are hang- 

 ing fast to the plant but with many of them broken so 

 that they are hanging limp and others all bruised and 

 barked along the sides. Any root broken or bruised 

 in this manner is practically useless for the support of 

 the plant and might as well have been left in the ground 



from which it was dug as far as any future good it can 

 do is concerned. 



Roots broken off or damaged in the digging will re- 

 quire the removal of a corresponding amount of the 

 top in order to keep a reasonable balance between the 

 amount of top growth and the roots available to supply 

 moisture and mineral foods for its support. Because 

 of the necessary loosening of the earth about the roots, 

 because of the physical impossibility of getting them 

 again into as close contact with the soil as they were be- 

 fore, and because of the destruction of the finest rootlets 

 and root hairs that are the collecting contacts with the 

 soil the ability of the roots to supply food is much re- 

 duced the first year. To offset this, from one fourth 

 to one half of the top of these plants should be pruned 

 away in order thus not to impose too much of a tax on 

 the roots while the plant is becoming re-established. 



Because the necessary cutting of the top is so much, if 

 too many of the roots are destroyed in transplanting, 

 it has become customary to grow plants in nurseries 

 where they may be frequently dug and replanted or in 

 lieu of this may have their roots severely pruned so that 

 the plant will form a compact root system that may be 

 dug with the least possible injury when the plant is sold. 

 Many plants growing in the wild where the roots are 

 not disturbed send out but few roots and these grow to 

 long distances in gathering food. When such plants are 

 dug it is often impossible to follow these long roots be- 

 cause of their intermingling with roots of other plants 



INEFFICIENT HANDLING 



Trees handled in this manner without packing or covering for 

 the roots are reduced in vitality even when they are not killed. 

 This sort of treatment at the nursery or at the purchaser's 

 should not be tolerated. 



SO they are cut off in digging. Even if it is possible 

 to follow such roots it is seldom done because of the 

 work involved. It is this difference in the character 

 of the root system that makes the nursery grown plants 

 so much more valuable than plants collected in the woods. 

 After digging the roots need to be protected so that 

 they will not dry out, for with most plants a drying of 

 the outer covering or bark of the root, if it might be so 

 called, practically kills it. At this point there is probably 



