ON TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES. 351 



moved by Sir Henry himself, and inclined to grow, would actually 

 perish from the dryness of the air in mid-summer in our middle 

 States. And such we have found by experiment is actually the case 

 with trees of many kinds, when planted of large size. 



We say of many kinds ; for repeated experiment has proved that 

 a few kinds of hardy native trees may be transplanted, even in this 

 climate, with entire success by the Stuart method, or any other that 

 will sufficiently preserve the entireness of the roots. 



Fortunately, the two kinds of trees adapted for removal, when 

 of large size, are the two most popular and most valuable for orna- 

 mental purposes. We mean the ELMS and the MAPLES. Few forest 

 trees have more dignity and grace ; none have more beauty of out- 

 line than our weeping elms and sugar maples, to say nothing of the 

 other varieties of both these trees. And if the possessor of a new 

 place can adorn it with a dozen or two fine specimens of these, of a 

 size to give immediate shelter and effect to the neighborhood of his 

 house, he can then afford to be patient, and enjoy the more gradual 

 process of coaxing smaller specimens into luxuriant maturity. 



The reason why oaks, nut trees, chestnuts, tulip trees, and the 

 like, when transplanted of large size, do not succeed here, where 

 elms and maples do, is that the former unluckily have a few strong, 

 or tap-roots, running downwards, while the latter have great masses 

 of fibrous roots, running near the surface of the ground. 



Now a tap-rooted tree, even when small, has a much less amia- 

 ble disposition when dug up, and asked to grow again, than a fibrous 

 rooted tree ; because, indeed, having fewer small roots, it has only 

 one mouth to supply its hunger, and to gain strength to go on 

 again, where the other has fifty. Hence, though it may, under very 

 favorable circumstances, like the climate of Scotland, overcome all 

 and succeed, yet it is nearly a death struggle to do so in our dry 

 midsummer air.* It is not worth while to waste one's time, there- 

 fore, in transplanting large oaks, or hickories, in this hemisphere. 



And now, having reduced our class of available subjects to elms 







* We have found that large oaks, when transplanted, frequently live 

 through the first year, but die the second, from their inability to contend 

 against the climate and make new roots. 



