G7 



was made by a Lord Fitzharding of this period. That 

 nobleman, as it appears, was a contemporary of Evelyn's, 

 and lord treasurer of the household to King Charles II. But 

 his experiments were limited to subjects of far smaller mag- 

 nitude. His method with the oak was, to select a tree of the 

 size of his thigh, which probably might be about twenty-six 

 or twenty-eight inches in girth. Having removed the earth, 

 and cut all the collateral roots, he forced it down upon its 

 side, so as to come at the taproot, which was immediately 

 cut off. The tree was then raised up ; the mould was 

 returned into the pit, and the tree left standing, for a twelve- 

 month or more, until a fresh growth of roots and fibres 

 enabled him to remove it with advantage. Another method 

 was, after laying bare the roots, and leaving four main ones 

 untouched, on the four opposite sides, in the form of a cross, 

 for supporting the tree, to cut away only those in the intervals. 

 The mould was then, as before, returned into the pit. After 

 waiting a year or two, when the intervals became completely 

 filled with fresh growths, the four cross roots, and also the 

 tap, were then reduced, and the tree removed, " with as much 

 of the clod about the roots as possible."* This ingenious 

 process, which, in either way, saved the tree from decapita- 

 tion, and consequently from disfigurement, has been 

 deservedly recorded by Evelyn and Wise, and all succeeding 

 writers. 



It must be acknowledged, that there was great ingenuity, 

 and some acquaintance with wood, displayed in these 

 important improvements by Lord Fitzharding. As Grew 

 had by this time written, and the researches by both that 

 writer and Malpighi, respecting the anatomy and physiology 

 of plants, had begun to be known all over Europe, it seems 



* Evelyn's Silva, Vol. I. p. 102.— Wise's Mystery of Gardening 

 and Planting, p. 91, 92.— Bradley, p. 89, 108, &c.— Diet. Rust, in 

 voc. Transplanting, &c. &-c- 



