354 TREES. 



of earth from six to eight feet in diameter. The trench should be 

 wide enough to allow the operator gradually to undermine tho 

 ball of roots, so that at last the* tree just stands, as it were, upon one 

 leg. In this condition let the ball be exposed to a sharp frosty 

 night, that it may freeze quite firmly. The next day you approach 

 the subject with a common low shed, or stone boat, drawn by a pair 

 or two of oxen ; (or if the tree measures only six inches, a pair of 

 horses will do.) The tree with its ball is now thrown to one side ; 

 the sled is then placed under the ball on the opposite side ; then the 

 tree is righted, the ball placed upon the middle of the sled, and the 

 whole drawn out of the hole. A teamster of very little practice will 

 now see at a glance how to balance his load upon the sled ; and 

 once on level ground, it is no difficult matter to drag the whole for 

 half a mile or more to its final location. 



After the tree is placed in the hole previously prepared for it, 

 the good soil must be closely pressed around the ball, and the trunk 

 supported in its place, till after the equinoctial rains, by stakes or 

 braces.* 



There is no mode for the removal of trees in which they will 

 surfer so little as this ; partly because the roots are maintained more 

 entire than in any other way, and partly because the soil is not 

 even loosened or disturbed about a large portion of the fibres. 

 Hence, though a slight reduction of the top is advisable, even in 

 this case, to balance the loss of some of the long roots, it is not ab- 

 solutely needful, and in no case is the symmetry of the head de- 

 stroyed ; and the possessor of the newly moved tree has the satis- 

 faction of gazing upon a goodly show of foliage and shade as soon 

 as June comes round again. 



Those of our readers who are groaning for the want of trees, will 

 see by these remarks that their case is by no means desperate ; that, 

 on the contrary, we think it a very hopeful one ; and that, in short, if 

 they can afford to expend from two to ten dollars per tree, and can 

 get at the right kind of subjects in their neighborhood, they may, 



* "We may here add, that besides elms and maples, this mode is equally 

 successful with evergreens of all kinds. We have seen white pines and firs, 

 of twenty feet high, moved so perfectly in this manner, that they never 

 showed the least mark of the change of place. 



