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described, which a superior workman knows how to give 

 with the implement ; and that, when properly applied, will 

 more efficaciously and speedily discover and disengage the 

 various bearings and ramifications of the root, than any 

 other method. 



By thus continuing to extricate the roots, and to shovel 

 away the mould that falls into the trench, at one and the 

 same time, an immense body, amounting to thousands, and 

 sometimes to millions of roots great and small, will ere long 

 be disengaged, and which must be carefully laid aside, or 

 bundled up, so as to make room for the workmen^ and also 

 to avoid the strokes of their implements, as well as injury 

 from their feet. In like manner, the stiffer roots must be 

 cautiously put aside and disposed of, and any that are broken 

 or lacerated cut off. Ere long the pickmen from all sides 

 nearly meet in the centre, by approaching to within three, 

 four, or five feet of the stem, in proportion to its size ; and at 

 this point the process of extrication ceases, as it would be 

 imprudent to advance too near the collar of the tree. A ball 

 of earth round the stem, as large as can be got according to 

 the nature of the soil, with two or three feet broad of the 

 original sward adhering to it, should now, if possible, be left 

 undisturbed at that place. 



The above, as the reader will perceive, is a very compli- 

 cated and delicate process, although probably more compli- 

 cated in the description than in the execution. It is no easy 

 matter, even in the freest soils, so to disengage the fibrous 

 and capillary roots of trees, as not to lacerate or disbark a 

 considerable number of them, and yet perform the work with 

 any tolerable dispatch. But it is the process of all others 

 which will the least bear to be hurHed. There are some 

 departments of rural labour, in which dispatch and economy 

 are nearly allied, and almost convertible terms, and where 

 every one, of course, will study to promote the former as far 

 as lies in his power. But in the one in question, the greatest 



