with entire Balls of Roots. 251 



more deserving of attention than has heretofore been paid to 

 it. Tlie advantage derived from the severity of our winters, 

 in enabhng us to remove a tree, with its roots embedded in 

 a mass of frozen earth, makes success scarcely a matter of 

 doubt. I am not aware that the " transplanting machine" 

 has ever been applied before to remove trees with frozen balls 

 of earth. Mr. Downing mentions that they may be removed 

 when in a frozen state by "rolling them on a sled;" this we 

 have found to be a troublesome method at best, and quite 

 impracticable on an undulating surface, such as we have here, 

 as our repeated failures previous to using the "machine" too 

 well proved. 



I cannot at all concur with the reasoning of Mr. Downing, 

 in maintaining that trees of " extra size" cannot be as safely 

 removed in this climate as in that of Scotland. He says, 

 " the climate of Scotland, during four fifths of the year, is in 

 some respects the exact opposite of the United States. An 

 atmosphere which, for full nine months of the twelve, is co- 

 piously charged with fogs, mist and dampness, may undoubt- 

 edly be considered as the most favorable in the world for 

 restoring the weakened or impaired vital action of large trans- 

 planted trees." It would seem that Mr. D., in allowing his 

 imagination to dwell so much on the humidity of the Scottish 

 climate, (which by the way he rather exaggerates,) has alto- 

 gether lost sight of its temperature, which I am certain, dur- 

 ing the spring months is, at the lowest figure, 15 degrees 

 lower than that of the same months in the northern states of 

 this country. Now every one who has had any experience 

 in gardening operations knows, that the dormant or weak- 

 ened energies of trees or plants, of almost every kind, are 

 more quickly called into action, and more fully and healthily 

 developed in a moderately high temperature than in a low 

 one ; and also that a cold damp atmosphere is ever accom- 

 panied with a languid vegetation. 



Now if this is admitted to be a general law of the vegeta- 

 ble^ kingdom, why should large transplanted trees prove an 

 anomaly ? but certainly they do not. I have had considera- 

 ble experience in planting, in Scotland and in the United 

 States, and have invariably found my operations to be more 

 successful here than there, and have ever believed the cause 



