84 TRANSPLANTING OF LARGE TREES. 



be taken up on a single years growth after cutting around. The trench 

 should be dug down to the subsoil, or at least below the roots, and if 

 liable to hold water a drain should be dug from it on the lower side. 

 The principal roots on the side toward the prevailing wind are however 

 not cut off, and when the tree is finally removed these are carefully 

 saved for a considerable distance. The trench is then filled with the 

 same soil, finely broken and mixed with a little compost, and is thus 

 left from two to four years to multiply its fibrous roots as much as it 

 will. 



When the time comes for removal, the trench is again opened, the 

 tree carefully undermined all around with a pick, so as to remove the 

 soil without injuring the fibers, and finally pulled over, not all at once, 

 but alternately back and forth, soil being thrown under the open side 

 at each time, until the roots are all detached, and the whole tree raised 

 above the original level. It is then turned over so as to balauce on an 

 axle of a cart, cushioned to prevent injury to the bark, and provided 

 with a long pole upon which the top of the tree rests. It is drawn to 

 the place intended root foremost. As much of the soil near the tree as 

 can be saved is kept with the root, and care is taken at every stage of 

 the process to prevent injury to the roots, trunk, or branches.^ 



The tree thus removed is placed in pits ready prepared, with compost 

 and finely divided soil, and the fibers carefully spread out, and covered 

 with soil fitted for their immediate use, the long bracing roots being 

 especially cared for, and placed in the same relative position as before.^ 



But it is an expensive process at best, wholly out of the question in 

 forest culture, and only to be attempted in cases where a public park 

 is to be created without regard to cost, or private grounds are to be 

 improved bj' an owner with ample means.^ 



recommended that the roots when cut should be smoothly pared off, that the loose 

 soil -where there are no roots should be picked out for some little distance, and re- 

 placed by rich vegetable mold, into which the fibers will strike more readily and 

 abundantly. In o. heavy clay soil the preparation should be made at least three years 

 before removal. The soil that is put into the trench should be dampened from time to 

 time, and the tree should be stayed if liable to be overturned by the winds. — (P^- 

 pinieres : hy Carribre, p. 118.) 



iThe custom of preparing large trees for transplanting by digging a trench and cat- 

 ting off the principal roots, including the taproot, but still retaining some connection 

 with the soil, and filling in rich mold for the development of fibrous roots previous 

 to transplanting, appears to have been introduced by Lord Fitzharding, a cotemporary 

 of Evelyn, in the time of Charles II. He did not, however, try his skill on trees larger 

 than 26 or 28 inches in girth. — (Steuart'a Planter's Guide, p. 67.) 



2 It was remarked by Mr. A. J. Downing, the eminent American landscape gardener, 

 that in transplanting trees " the perspiration is governed by the amount of sunshine 

 and dry air — the more of these the greater the demand made for moisture ou the roots. 



* * * In England, therefore, it is much easier to transplant large trees than ou the 

 continent or in this country." He considers Mr. Steuart's method very diflicult of 

 application in our dry atmosphere and brighter skies. The trees start into lenf, and 

 all promises well ; but unless under very favorable circumstances, the leaves beggar 

 the roots, by their demands for more sap, before August is half over.— (/.«»•«/ Essays, 

 p. 345.) 



3 The extent to which this hag been done with good results, may be judged from a 

 statement made in the Tenth Report on the Brooklyn City Parks, where it is said that 

 between 500 and 600 trees, ranging from 4 to 17 ioches in diameter at a yard from the 

 ground, and weighing as high as 15 tons, have been removed with such success that 

 but six had died. The f-ame machine, or one on the same principle, has since been 



• nsed on the public grounds at Washington, and is shown in the accompanying engrav- 

 ing. It is claimed that it operates with more ease and certainty than others so exten- 

 sively used in Paris and elsewhere. 



A tree-lifter, described by Col. George Greenwood, an English writer, consists of a 

 pair of flat, strong wheels, with a ronnd iron-axle three inches in diameter, to which 

 chains may be fastened by hooks. This axle may be turned by smaller wheels on the 

 outside, and having handles like the steering-wheel of a vessel. It thus becomes a kind 



