ON TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREKS. 355 



if they choose, transform their premises from a bleak meadow to a 

 wood as thick as " Vallombrosa's shade," before the spring opens. 



And now, one word more to those who, having trees, are impa- 

 tient for luxuriant growth ; who desire to see annual shoots of six 

 feet instead of twenty inches ; and who do not so much care what 

 it costs to make a few trees in a favorite site advance rapidly, pro- 

 vided it is possible. What they wish to know is, can the thing be 

 done? 



We answer, yes. To make a hardy tree * grow three times as 

 fast in a summer as it usually does (we speak now, of course, of 

 trees in a common soil), it is only necessary that it should have 

 three times the depth for the roots to grow in, and three times the 

 amount of food for its consumption while growing. 



And, first of all, for very rapid and luxuriant growth in our cli- 

 mate, the soil must be deep deep deep. Three feet of trenching 

 or subsoiling is imperative ; and we have seen astonishing results, 

 where places for trees twelve feet broad and five feet deep have been 

 prepared for them. If any one of our readers will take the trouble 

 to watch an elm-tree making its growth next season, he will notice 

 that, if the season is moist and cool, the shoots will continue to 

 lengthen till past midsummer ; but if, on the contrary, the season is 

 a dry one, all growth will be over by the middle of June. Why 

 does the growth cease so early in the season ? Simply because the 

 moment the moisture in the soil fails, and the roots feel the effects 

 of the sun, the terminal buds .form at the end of each shoot, and 

 then all growth for the season is over. Deepen the soil, so that the 

 roots go on growing in its cool, moist depths, and the tops will go 

 on lengthening, despite the power of the sun ; nay, so long as there 

 is moisture, by the help of it. And hence, the length of time which 

 a tree will continue to grow, depends mainly upon the depth of the 

 soil in which it is planted. 



If any skeptic wishes to be convinced of the effects of deep and 



* We say a hardy tree, because every arboriculturist knows that to pro- 

 mote extra luxuriance, in a tree not perfectly hardy, increases its tenderness, 

 because the wood will not ripen well, like short jointed growth ; but there 

 is no fear of this with elms, oaks, maples, or any perfectly hardy native 



