TRANSPLANTING OF LAEGE TREES. 83 



Mr. Jefferson, as adapted to stony and sterile soils, preparing them for 

 something better by supplying the organic elements needed for their 

 growth, 



THE TRANSPLANTING OF LARGE TREES. 



The art of transplanting large trees was known to the ancient Romans,^ 

 and the display of power and resources implied in the successful trans- 

 planting has often led rulers to indulge in this fancy, and, often at vast 

 expense, the removal of a full-grown tree being even more striking in its 

 effect upon the popular mind than that of heavy monoliths, because it 

 implies a conquest over nature, and against all common experience.^ 

 About sixty years ago Sir Henry Steuart, of Allenton House, Scotland, 

 did some very successful transplanting on his estate, transforming an 

 unimproved ground into a chiming woodland landscape, anticipating 

 the natural growth of timber for a life-time, and this at a cost of not 

 over £30 per acre.^ His success depended mainly on the care which he 

 bestowed in preparing the roots of the tree before removal, and the 

 delicacy with which these important parts were treated in the operation. 



He remarks that the amount of roots and their fibers is always greater 

 in open situations, and that they extend wider from the plant, not only 

 to enable it to resist the elements, but to provide sustenance for the rel- 

 atively great amount of foliage which trees thus exposed to light and 

 air usually bear. In such trees the roots are generaHy longest and 

 strongest on the side toward the prevailing winds. He notices a certain 

 resemblance between the branches and the roots, in this, that while the 

 tree is young and growing, but before it reaches its ultimate height, it 

 has a leading shoot, and a tap-root; but that when it gets to its full 

 height, the head becomes more bushy, and the tap-root loses its relative 

 importance, so that when an old tree is overthrown, it can scarcely be 

 found. The form of the roots is also materially determined by the soil, 

 being spare and scraggy in stiff, poor soils, and very luxuriant in those 

 that are mellow and deep, allowing the fibers to expand and elongate 

 with facility. 



To prepare a tree for removal, these rootlets or fibers should be multi- 

 plied as much as possible, and this result be accomplished by spreading 

 a peat compost, prepared with one-third part of animal manure, finely 

 decomposed and mixed with soil, over the roots of the tree three or four 

 years before it is to be removed. Into this loose friable mold the 

 genial rains would readily enter, and the fibrous roots shooting up would 

 pervade the mass, giving it a vigorous growth, so as to better endure 

 the ordeal through which it is to pass. A trench is also dug around the 

 tree at a distance of three feet and a half, if it is to stand four years, 

 but six or seven feet, if it is to stand two years ;* but no tree should 



' Virgil celebrates the skill of an old Corcyrian who transplanted into rows the far- 

 grown elm, &c. (Georgics, iv, 144.) 



"' Sir John Evelyn in his Sylva (i, 103), mentions remarkable instances of successful 

 transplanting on a large scale. The most noted patron of this art was Louis XIV of 

 France, and some of the trees removed by his engineer, Le Notre, are said to still ex- 

 ist. The machines used in their removal were destroyed in the French Revolution, 

 and as to his methods we have no account. 



* Mr. Steuart published his method in a book entitled, " The Planter's Guide ; or a 

 practical Essay on the best method of giving immediate effect to Wood, by the removal 

 of large Trees." * * » * 1832, p. 422. An American edition was printed at New 

 York by Grant Thorburn and Sons. 



* The rule laid down by Brown is, that the trench should be generally made at about 

 two-thirds of the distance of the natural spread of the branches, as at this distance 

 the roots have ramified so as to be of small size, and within this there are sufiQcient 

 fibrous roots to insure success. (Brown's Forester, 4th edition, p. 719.) It is further 



