Practical Directions 261 



always be best to have such clearings undertaken only on 

 the advice of an experienced forester. Where trees exist on 

 the grounds in inopportune places they may often be removed 

 to other situations where they will become of great value. 

 The transplanting of large trees is nowadays a well-established 

 procedure, and no good tree should be sacrificed simply be- 

 cause it happens to stand where it is not wanted. 



Wherever old hedgerows exist and require to be removed 

 and leveled in a part that is to be converted into a grass- 

 field or park, the greatest care should be exercised in preserv- 

 ing the better part of the trees and bushes that may be in 

 them and in retaining these rather as broken groups than 

 merely as single specimens. More may be done to break the 

 line of a hedgerow by a due regard to the retention of bushes 

 around or in connection with trees or in tufts by themselves 

 than by any amount of thinning that disregards this mixture. 

 And it will sometimes happen that the transplantation of a 

 few old thorns, so as to break the lines of others or soften 

 off a cluster of trees will be of the greatest service. 



Special pains should be taken not to cut away too much 

 earth from such trees or bushes as may be selected to remain, 

 but rather to add soil to the bank on which they stand than 

 to leave the roots at all bare. By the common practice of 

 spreading down hedgerow banks, so as to reduce them to 

 the level of the ground around trees, the trees that are left 

 often get blown over by wind or are gradually by the expo- 

 sure of the roots rendered feebler and feebler until at length 

 they perish from sheer exhaustion. 



3. Building Walks. — Very much of the pleasure of a gar- 

 den will depend on the manner in which its walks are formed. 

 A walk that becomes muddy or slimy in wet weather or after 

 frosts, or allows the water to lodge upon it during and after 

 rains, or has a surface of coarse and harsh or loose materials. 



