TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES. 53 
should be removed. If no roots have been destroyed, hav 
ing been moved from the soil where they had become fixed, 
it requires some time for them to adapt 
themselves to their new position and 
draw sufficient sustenance from the soil 
to support a new growth. 
Because roots are 77 soil is no evi- 
dence that they can take up that which 
they need from it, for they require 
contact by growth before they can ab- 
sorb plant-food to any considerable 
Fig. 14. 
amount. It therefore becomes indis- 
pensable that we should remove a portion of the branches, 
that they may not call for more nutriment than the roots 
are capable of supplying. It may not be positively neces- 
sary to save the lite of the tree or insure a rapid growth, 
still experience proves it to be beneficial, although some 
theorists have labored long and faithfully to convince the 
practical planter who freely amputates roots and branches 
that he does not understand his business. 
The novice in these matters has only to ask himself the 
question, What is my object in performing this or that 
operation ? in other words, keep thinking as he progresses 
with his work. If he wants his tree to grow low and 
spreading, he must see that it is necessary to give it room 
to do so, and if it does not take that form, cut off the 
leading shoot and compel it. If he wants the opposite, 
then trim off the lower branches, and not give the tree so 
much room to spread. | 
Every one who has ever seen a forest must have observ- 
