TRANSPLANTING. 



33 



with great care. It is not of so much consequence to 

 take up long roots as it is to preserve from fracture that 

 portion of the roots which is nearest to the body or 

 stump. Let the extremities of the roots be cut shck, 

 and a thousand new fibres will shoot out for the one 

 cut off, and will soon afford nourishment to your trans- 

 planted tree, provided always that your roots are not 

 large. We recollect hearing the venerable J. Lowell, 

 Esq. say he thought he never gained by taking from 

 the nursery trees that were more than about five feet 

 high. We give such trees more proportionate attention 

 than we give to larger ones, and they are not so likely 

 to come to a stand. With proper attention, they will 

 grow and extend their limbs the first year ; and the 

 vessels in the woody fibre will not become contracted 

 and dry, but will keep open and healthy. If we once 

 suffer the transplanted tree to come to a stand, and 

 grow none, or not extend itself, for one year, we may 

 as well pull it up. It is Hke a stinted calf or pig, and 

 will never regain its standing. 



After a few years' healthy growth, if grass-roots are 

 suffered to withdraw the moisture from the ground 

 about the tree, they will not spoil it. If the top has 

 not been trimmed too much — as gross an evil as too 

 much government in a family — the tree will soon 

 form such a pavilion as to stint the growth of the grass, 

 and may, in a rich soil, successfully contend against it : 

 still it is best to plough occasionally, and keep the land 

 light. It is noticed that apple-trees growing in a clus- 

 ter come to bear much sooner than those that stand far 

 apart. The reason is, they sooner afford a shade, and 

 check the growth of the grass about their roots. The 

 soil is loose under the branches ; and the slender grass 

 that barely subsists about their roots, if mown and 

 made into hay, is worth but little. So a single tree, 

 when its branches have extended and spread far and 

 wide, will often defend itself against the grass, which 

 is ever intruding where there is the least chance for 

 4 



