THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



Vol. IX. 



DECEMBER 31, 1841. 



No. 12. 



EDMUND RUFFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



OF TRAI^•SPLAKTI^'G. 



From Liudley's UorticuUure. 



As soon ns man attemptod to beautify his resi- 

 dence with trees planted round it, he would 

 naturally obtain ihern from the forest ; and lie 

 then would find that, of many that he removed, 

 all or some at least would die : if however he 

 persevered, he would at last discover that while 

 constant failure attended his efl'orts at one time, 

 comparative success would crown ilreni at another ; 

 and he would thus be led to investigate, accordinjr 

 to his skill, the causes ofsuccess and failure. Out 

 of this would grow in time the art of transplant- 

 ing, among the most important business of the 

 gardener. 



1 fear, however, it is too generally practiseil as 

 an empirical art, without sufficient attention being 

 paid to the principles on which its success or fail- 

 ure depends ; at least, one hardly knows how to 

 draw any otherconclusion fi^om the opposite opi- 

 nions held by planters, the dogmatical manner in 

 which they are loo often expressed, and the obscure 

 and unintelligible phraseology of what are called 

 explanations of the practice by amateurs, to whom 

 it is not necessary to allude more particularly. 

 If there is any one part of the art of horticulture 

 in which jDosi /ioc has been mistaken Cor propter 

 /ioc more commonly than another, it is surely in 

 what concerns transplantation.* And yet the 

 rationale is sim|)le enough, if we do not labor to 

 render it confused by imaginary refinements. 



When a plant is taken out of the ground for 

 transplanting, its roots are necessarily more or 

 less injured in the process, and consequently it is 

 less able to support the stem than it was before the 

 mutilation took place ; its loss of this power will 

 also be in proportion to the extent of the mutila- 

 tion, which may be carried so far as to amount to 

 destruction. 



But the importance of their roofs to plants is not 

 alike at all seasons ; in the summer, when there 

 is the greatest demand upon them in consequence 

 of the perspiration of the foliage they are most 

 essential ; in winter, whpn the leaves have fallen, 

 they are comparatively unimportant, as is evident 

 from a very common case. Let a limb ofatreebe 

 felled in full leaf in Junr ; its lblian;e will presently 

 wither, the bark will shrivel and dry up. and the 

 whole will speedily perish ; but, ifa similar limb is 

 lopped in November, when its foliage has naturally 

 fallen off, it will exhibit no sign of death during 

 winter, nor till the return of spring, when it may 

 make a dying effort to recover ; but the means it 

 takes to do so, namely,- the emission of leaves, only 

 accelerates its end. 



These two propositions really include all the 

 most essential parts of the theory of transplanta- 



* It is scarcely necessary to say that these rpmarks 

 do not, in any way, apply to Mr. Macnab's Hints on 

 the planting and general treatment of hardy Ever- 

 greens in the climate of , Scotland ; an excellent treatise, 

 which it is impossible to recommend too strongly to 

 the attention of the planter. 

 Vol. 1X.-68 



lion, as will presently be. seen : it is necessary, 

 however, that they should be applied in some de- 

 tail ; for which pur[)ose it will be convenient to 

 consider, first, the season, and, secondly, the 

 manner, in which transplanting can be best 

 eH'ecled. 



It is the powerful perspiratory action of the 

 leaves of deciduous trees which renders transplant- 

 ing them in a growing state so difficult, that for 

 practical purposes it may be called impossible ; (or 

 the operation is necessarily* attended by a mutila- 

 tion of the roots which fi^ed thi> leaves. At no 

 period, then, can the operation be performed if 

 such plants are growing. Even if the buds are 

 only pushing, the process should be avoided, be- 

 cause immediately after that period the demand 

 upon the roots is greatest ; for although in conse- 

 quence of the smallness of the surface of the 

 young leaves the action of perspirati©n may seem 

 to be leeble, yet the thinness of the newly form- 

 ed tissue will not enable it to resist the drying ac- 

 tion ofthe atmosphere unless there is a most abund- 

 ant afflux of sap from the roots. In England, too, 

 the months when buds begin to burst forth are 

 objpctionable, not only on account of their dryness, 

 but of their coldness, which prevents the free 

 circulation of sap; and their evil effects are felt 

 not only by the roots through the foliage, but 

 directly, as will be shown hereafter. The season, 

 then, whicI1*ought to be chosen is the period that 

 intervenes between the Ml of the leaf in autumn 

 and the earliest part of spring, before the sap be- 

 gins (o move and the dry cold winds of that 

 season to prevail. I entirely agree with Mr. 

 Macnab, that the earliest time at which planting 

 can be effected i?, upon the vvhole,the best ; a con- 

 clusion to which he has come from his extensive 

 practice, in which my own observation of a great 

 deal of planting for the last twenty-five years 

 coincides, and which is, in all respects, conforma- 

 ble to theory. As soon as a plant has shed its 

 leaves, it is as much at rest for the season as it 

 will be at any subsequent period, unless it is 

 frozen; its torpor, indeed, is greater at that lime, 

 becau-e i's excitability is completely exhausted by 

 the season of growth, and it has had no time to 

 recover it. If, at that time, 3^ root is woutaded, a 

 process of granulation or cicatrization will com- 

 mence, jusl as it does in cuttings, and from that 

 granulation, which is a mere developement of the 

 horizontal cellular system, roots will eventually 

 proceed. Now, it is obvious that since roots mvst 

 I be wounded in the process of transplantation, the 

 sooner the wound is made the better, because it 

 I has the longer lime in which to heal : and there- 

 i fore the earlier in the autumn transplanting is 

 effected, the less injury will be sustained by the 

 plant submitted to the process; in the technical 

 language of the gardener, " it has the more time 

 to establish itself." 



* Transplanting: from garden pots, in which the roots 

 are preserved artificially from injury, may be perform- 

 ed equally well at any time, if care is taken, and iSj of 

 courste, not included in this statement. 



