No. 10. 



Transplanting Trees. 



311 



gently about the tree with the foot, but 

 avoiding the common practice of shaking it 

 up and down by the stem. In windy situa- 

 tions it will be necessary to place a stake by 

 the side of each tree to hold it upright, until 

 it shall have taken firm root in the soil, but 

 it is not needful in ordinary cases. 



Avoid deep planting. More than half the 

 losses in orchard planting in America arise 

 from this cause, and the equally common one 

 of crowding the earth too tightly about the 

 roots. No tree should be planted deeper 

 than it formerly grew, as its roots are stifled 

 from the want of air, or starved by the po- 

 verty of the soil at the depth where they 

 are placed. It is much the better and more 

 natural process in fact, to plant the tree so 

 that it shall, when the whole is complete, 

 appear just as deep as before, but standing 

 on a little mound two or three inches higher 

 than the level of the ground about. This, 

 when the mound settles, will leave it nearly 

 on the level with the previous surface. 



Mulching is an excellent practice with 

 transplanted trees, and more especially for 

 those which are removed late in the spring. 

 Mulching is nothing more than covering the 

 ground about the stems with coarse straw, 

 or litter from the barn-yard, which by pre- 

 venting evaporation, keeps the soil from be- 

 coming dry, and maintains it in that moist 

 and equable condition of temperature most 

 favourable to the growth of young roots. 

 Very many trees, in a dry season, fail at 

 midsummer, after having made a fine start, 

 from the parched and variable condition of 

 the earth about the roots. Watering, fre- 

 quently fails to save such trees, but mulching 

 when they are planted, will entirely ob- 

 viate the necessity of watering in dry sea- 

 eons, and promote growth under any cir- 

 cumstances. Indeed, watering upon the 

 surface, as commonly performed, is a most 

 injurious practice, as the roots stimulated at 

 one period of the day by water, are only 

 rendered more susceptible to the action of 

 the hot sun at another, and the surface of 

 the ground becomes so hard, by repeated 

 watering, that the beneficial acce.?s of the 

 air is almost cut off. If trees are well wa- 

 tered in the holes, while transplanting is 

 going on, they will rarely need it again, and 

 we may say never, if they are well mulched 

 directly after planting. 



The best manure to be used in preparing 

 the soil for transplanting trees, is a compost 

 formed of two-thirds muck or black peat 

 earth, reduced by fermenting it several 

 months in a heap with one-third fresh barn- 

 yard manure. Almost every farm will sup 

 ply this, and it is more permanent in its ef- 

 fects, and less drying in its nature, than the 



common manure of the stable. An admira- 

 ble manure, recently applied with great suc- 

 cess, is charcoal — the small broken bits and 

 refuse of the charcoal pits — mixed intimate- 

 ly with the soil. Air-slaked lime is an ex- 

 cellent manure for fruit trees, in soils that 

 are not naturally calcareous. Two or three 

 handfuls may be mixed with the soil when 

 preparing each space for planting, and a top 

 dressing may be applied with advantage oc- 

 casionally afterwards, to increase their pro- 

 ductiveness. But wherever large orchards 

 or fruit gardens are to be planted, the muck 

 compost heap should be made ready before- 

 hand, as it is the cheapest, most valuable, 

 and durable of all manures for fruit trees. 



Pruning the heads of transplanted trees, 

 at the season of removal, we think generally 

 an injurious practice. It is certainly need- 

 less and hurtful in the case of small trees, 

 or those of such a size as will allow the roots 

 to be taken up nearly entire; for, as the ac- 

 tion of the branches and the roots is pre- 

 cisely reciprocal, and as new roots are rapidly 

 formed just in proportion to the healthy ac- 

 tion of the leaves, it follows that by need- 

 lessly cutting off branches we lessen the 

 vital action of the whole tree. At the same 

 time, where trees are transplanted of so 

 large a size that some of the -roots are lost 

 in removing them, it is necessary to cut 

 back or shorten a few of the branches — as 

 many as will restore the balance of the sys- 

 tem — otherwise the perspiration of the leaves 

 may be so great, as to exhaust the supply of 

 sap faster than the roots can collect it. A 

 little judgment only is necessary, to see at 

 a glance, how much of the top must be 

 pruned away before planting the tree, to 

 equalize the loss between the branches and 

 the roots. 



When it is necessary to transplant fruit 

 trees of large size, the best practice is to 

 prepare them previously by digging a trench 

 round t^he whole mass of roots, undermining 

 them, and cutting off all roots projecting be- 

 yond this line. The trench should be dug 

 at such a distance from the tree as will in- 

 clude all the large and sufficient ball of roots, 

 and it should be done in the spring, or before 

 midsummer, when it is desirable to remove 

 the tree the next year. After all the roots 

 that extend to this circular trench are cut 

 ofl^, the earth is replaced, and by the season 

 following an abundance of small fibres is 

 sent out by the amputated roots, which, 

 when the whole is now removed, will insure 

 the success and speedy growth of the tree. 

 This is more completely the case when the 

 tree is prepared two years before transplant- 

 ing. A variation of tiiis mode, which has 

 been found quite as successful and less labo- 



