130 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



As horticultural theorists strongly insisted that pruning 

 at transplanting was injurious, J. J. Thomas, Esq., author 

 of the Fruit Culturist, has settled the question by direct 

 experiment. Of six apricots, two years from the bud, 

 about seven feet high, five were cut back and one left un- 

 cut at transplanting. The most vigorous of the five made 

 21 shoots, from 6 to 21 inches long. The weakest had 9 

 shoots 6 to 7 inches long, not counting the shoots less 

 than 6 inches in length. The unpruned tree had on 7 

 shoots all less than 2 inches, and not one-twentieth part 

 of the amount of foliage to be found on other trees. Ex- 

 periments upon cherry trees, planted at the same time, 

 equally showed the necessity of pruning at transplanting. 

 Trees unripened when transplanted are so checked that 

 it requires years to restore them. In a southern climate 

 they must be more severely cut back, when planted out, 

 than in that of Macedon, 1ST. Y., where the experiments 

 were made. 



It matters very little how closely we prune the top of 

 the trees ; only have good roots, and a single season's 

 growth will restore the balance. Do not leave more than 

 one or two buds to a branch of the previous year's growth 

 if the tree is of much size at the time of transplanting. 

 Coniferous trees, as the pines, firs, etc., are exceptions, for 

 if cut back at planting, the leader being lost, the form of 

 the tree is difficult to restore. Hence those only of this 

 class should be planted which have been taken up and re- 

 set annually in the nursery until a mass of fibrous roots 

 has been formed. These must be protected from the air 

 until the tree is reset. Broad-leaved evergreens, like 

 English Laurels, evergreen Oaks, may be cut back and a 

 portion of the leaves removed to lessen evaporation, with 

 the same advantage as deciduous trees. Indeed, many of 

 the broad-leaved evergreens, taken from the woods, cannot 

 be transplanted with any success, unless nearly all the top 

 is removed. Nursery-raised trees are taken up and reset 



