PLANTING 47 



this by direct experiment, as there is no standpoint from which 

 we can determine the proportionality of injury done to trees 

 of different sizes ; yet, even with young nursery stock, the check 

 to their growth caused by lifting or root-pruning them is very 

 appreciable. A number of stocks of paradise, crab, quince 

 and pear were planted, and, after the lapse of a year, budded. 

 In each case a certain proportion of the trees were left in the 

 ground where they stood, whilst others were lifted and replanted 

 in successive seasons, either once, twice or thrice. Observations 

 on their growth were continued for seven years after the first 

 lifting, with the result that during this period the average growth 

 of the trees was reduced by the lifting from 100 down to 46 

 where there had been three such liftings, or to lesser extents 

 with less frequent liftings. 



Not Lifted Lifted lifted 



lifted. once. twice. thrice. 



Growth . . ioo 83 - 65 46 



Some recovery of vigour after the lifting was evidenced in 

 all cases as the years passed, but it was only in the case of those 

 trees which had been lifted but once that this recovery brought 

 the annual growth up to the level of that of the trees which had 

 not been lifted at all, and this it did four years after the lifting. 

 A similar recovery might eventually occur with the other 

 trees, but in all cases there would be a loss of growth during 

 the years following the lifting, and there was no evidence,- even 

 with the once-lifted trees, that this would be made up by extra 

 growth in subsequent years. It is, therefore, clearly to the 

 advantage of the tree to lift it as seldom as possible, and, if other 

 economic considerations are favourable, a plantation will be 

 best made by planting the stocks where the trees are to stand, 

 and working them in situ. 



AGE FOR TRANSPLANTING 



As working the stocks in situ is not always possible, the question 

 arises at what age can trees be removed from the nursery to 

 the plantation with the minimum amount of injury. This was 

 examined by planting at the same time trees of different ages, 

 received from a distant nursery, and recording the crops borne 

 by them during the succeeding ten years (V, 44). They included 

 bush apples and pears of different varieties, and standard apples 

 and plums. With the bush apples, those trees which were two 

 years old from the graft gave decidedly better results than either 



