THE SCOTS GARDENER 



twelve moneths : and the better you prepare and 

 mix the ground, the larger will they shoot. Nor let 

 any imagine, that holly also loves not manured 

 ground; nay, (say they), poor and gravelly soil: but 

 I know the contrary by experience. 



I shall speak of some shrubs in Chap. VII. for I 

 must leave them here, and come to shew you how 

 to transplant and prune the stately forrest- trees. 



In transplanting, remove with earth about their 

 roots, if you can, especially greens : at least take all 

 the roots up a good distance from the stem, by 

 making a trench round, but be not hastie. Then top 

 all their roots with a sharpe knife, the slop tending 

 down as a horse foot ; cut off all the bruised and 

 broken parts till you come at firme wood ; top the 

 small roots like hair to make them stiff, so as they 

 fold not when the earth is put in, and rot thereby. 

 Proportion the head to the root by thinning it, 

 prune the side-boughs, reserving alwayes some for 

 tapering the tree : these you may cut close and 

 smooth by the body, slanting upwards, and they 

 will soon over-grow the wounds, if the branch cut 

 off be not great. Cut notthe topsof oaks or beeches, 

 they cannot endure it, neither any tree that you 

 ordain for timber ; albeit I have been necessitate 



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