408 APPENDIX. 



degree of experience, which is only to be acquired by practice, but also much 

 f alienee and perseverance while engaged in the work. It is not a difficult 

 task to remove, in a careless manner, four or five trees in a day, of fifteen 

 feet in height, by the assistance of three or four men and proper implements 

 of removal ; while one or two trees only can be removed if the roots and 

 branches are preserved entire or nearly so. Yet in the latter case, if the 

 work be well performed, we shall have the satisfaction of beholding the 

 subjects, when removed, soon taking fresh root, and becoming vigorous 

 healthy trees with fine luxuriant heads ; while three-fourths of the former 

 will most probably perish, and the remainder struggle for several years, 

 under the loss of so large a portion of their roots and branches, before they 

 entirely recover and put on the appearance of handsome trees. 



When a tree is carelessly transplanted, and the roots much mutilated, 

 the operator feels obliged to reduce the top accordingly ; as experience 

 teaches him, that although the leaves may expand, yet they will soon perish 

 without a fresh supply of food from the roots. But when the largest por- 

 tion of the roots are carefully taken up with the tree, pruning may be 

 nearly or entirely dispensed with, and thus the original symmetry and 

 beauty of the head retained. When this is the case the leaves contribute 

 as much, by their peculiar action in elaborating the sap, towards re-estab- 

 lishing the tree, as the roots ; and indeed the two act so reciprocally with 

 each other, that any considerable injury to the one, always affects the other. 

 " The functions of respiration, perspiration, and digestion," says Professor 

 Lindley, "which are the particular offices of leaves, are essential to the 

 health of a plant : its healthiness being in proportion to the degree in 

 which these functions are duly performed. The leaf is in reality a nat- 

 ural contrivance for exposing a large surface to the influence of external 

 agents, by whose assistance the crude sap contained in the stem is altered 

 and rendered suitable to the particular wants of the species, and for re- 

 turning into the general circulation, the fluids in their matured condition. 

 In a word, the leaf of a plant is its lungs and stomach traversed by a sys- 

 tem of veins." * All the pruning, therefore, that is necessary, when a tree 

 is properly transplanted, will be comprised in paring smooth all bruises, or 

 accidental injuries, received by the roots or branches during the operation, 

 or the removal of a few that may interfere with elegance of form in the 

 head. 



* Theory of Horticulture. 



