ON TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES. 353 



as far as possible, being preserved. The wheels are then brought 

 up to the tree, the axle made fast to the body (with a stuffing be- 

 tween to prevent injury to the bark)* and the pole is tied securely 

 to the trunk and branches higher up. A long rope, or ropes, being 

 now fixed to the pole and the branches, the pole serves as a lever, 

 and the top is thus brought down, while the mass of roots is sup- 

 ported upon the axle. After the tree is properly balanced on the 

 carriage, horses are attached, and it is transported to the hole pre- 

 pared for it. 



This mode is one which requires a good deal of practical skill 

 in the management of roots, and in the whole art of transplanting, 

 though great effects may be produced by it in the hands of skilful 

 workmen.* 



Transplanting with a frozen ball is a good deal practised in this 

 country, and is much the cheapest and most perfect mode for trees 

 of moderately large size ; that is to say, trees from 20 to 30 feet 

 high, and whose trunks measure from 6 inches to a foot in diame- 

 ter. Trees of this proportion are indeed the most suitable for the 

 embellishment of new places, since they unite immediate beauty of 

 effect with comparative cheapness in removal, while it requires less 

 mechanical skill to remove them. 



The process of removing a tree with a frozen ball is a simple 

 one, especially if performed in the early part of winter, while there 

 is yet but little frost in the ground. In the first place, the hole 

 should be made ready,f and a pile of suitable soil laid by the 

 side of it and covered with straw, to prevent its being frozen when 

 wanted. 



Then a trench is dug all round the tree, in order to leave a ball 



* We cannot but express our surprise that some of our exceedingly in- 

 genious and clever Yankee teamsters have never taken up, as a business, the 

 art of transplanting large trees. To a person competent to the task, with 

 his machine, his oxen, and his trained set of hands, an abundance of occu- 

 pation would be offered by wealthy improvers of new places, to whom the 

 cost of a dozen elms, forty feet high, at a remunerating price, would be a 

 matter of trifling moment 



f Especially should the soil, in the bottom of the hole, be well trenched 

 and manured. 



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