114 



time. The remaining branches gradually dropped off. 

 They were unable, even with the help of props, to resist 

 the winds, and were in the end rooted out, as altogether 

 irrecoverable. 



Having discovered that subjects of quite a different sort 

 must be resorted to, my next trials were made on trees stand- 

 ing in open glades, in grove-wood, which had been thinned 

 out to wider distances, in hedge-rows, and the like, where the 

 sun and air had freer admission. The trees in general here 

 exceeded twenty feet in height. Their stems were stouter 

 than those used in my first experiments. Their bark had 

 none of the fine and glossy surface belonging to that of the 

 others. Their heads were beginning to assume a more 

 spreading form, and were tolerably well balanced. The 

 roots in some were numerous, but in others scraggy and 

 straggling, according to the nature of their previous rooting- 

 ground, and the degree of exposure in which they had stood. 



The plants from the hedge-rows, of course, exceeded all 

 the others, in the possession of those properties, which I 

 began to suspect were most essential ; and they would have 

 been the best subjects of any, had not their roots grown in a 

 perpendicular direction, in consequence of the high mound 

 of earth, on which the hedge was planted. But the tops of 

 the whole I now resolved to leave entire and untouched, not- 

 withstanding the universality of the lopping practice, and the 

 confident opinion entertained, that it was indispensable to 

 success. 



At this early period, I possessed little skill in the business 

 of preparing, or taking up the trees. I had no implements, 

 beyond common spades and shovels, for the latter purpose : 

 Neither had I any proper machinery, for safe and speedy 

 transportation. A number of men, however, being set to 

 work, sledges, trundles, carts, and even wheelbarrows were 

 pressed into the service ; by which methods, a few were re- 

 moved with diificullV; and at a considerable exj)ense. 



