70 



gently applied himself to the improvement of transplanting 

 large trees for park effect, and strove with great zeal to bring 

 it into repute, among his noble and wealthy employers. In- 

 stead of maintaining the upright position of the trees during 

 transportation, as had hitherto been practised, he devised the 

 method of carrying them horizontally, and for that purpose 

 constructed the Transplanting Machine, which, since his 

 time, has been in pretty general use. 



This efficient implement was, like most useful contrivances, 

 of very simple structure. It consisted of a strong pole of con- 

 siderable length, with two high wheels, and acting on an 

 iron axle, which was placed at right angles to it. At the 

 extremity of the pole there was a smaller wheel, that turned 

 on a pivot, and w^as used for trees of more than ordinary 

 magnitude. These two wheels were of great strength, made 

 nearly upright, or, in the workman's phrase, very little "dish- 

 ed." A strong cross-bar was bolted on the axle, with a space 

 in the middle, gradually hollowed out for receiving the stem 

 of the tree, of whatever size it might be. According to 

 Brown's method, the top was pretty severely lopped or light- 

 ened, and sometimes quite pollarded. The roots were next 

 cut round, to the depth of the fibres, and only two or three 

 feet out from the body, and the machine was brought up 

 upon its wheels, as close as possible to the tree. The pole 

 was set upright, and applied to the stem, to which it was 

 then lashed in the firmest manner. By a rope fixed to the 

 top of the pole, it was, last of all, forcibly drawn down, by 

 several men's strength; and thus, the stem and the pole of 

 the machine, forming a lever of great power, forced or tore 

 up the roots from their under-bed, with as many fibres adhe- 

 ring to them, as escaped laceration ; leaving the tree sus- 

 pended horizontally on the cross-bar, and ready to be drawn 

 away root foremost, as the artist might require it. 



This, we must own, was no very gentle treatment of the 

 roots, any more than of the branches. Yet Brown's im- 



