CHAPTER XVI 

 TRANSPLANTING 



THE seed or the cutting is not always planted or set in 

 the place where the plant is to grow. We may therefore 

 consider what is to be done in moving and removing it. 



400. Transplanting consists in lifting a plant from 

 the medium in which its roots are established, and in 

 replanting the latter in a different location. Trans- 

 planting is a violent operation because the younger roots 

 with their root-hairs that absorb the greater part of the 

 water required for the plant (101) are, as a rule, largely 

 sacrificed in the lifting process. The water supply, so 

 vitally important to the plant (62), is thus greatly cur- 

 tailed until new root-hairs can be formed. 



Vigorous plants are generally better able to endure 

 transplanting than feebler ones, because they can sooner 

 repair the damage done to their roots. It follows that 

 plants endure transplanting with less facility as they ad- 

 vance in age beyond the period of greatest vigor (9). 



401. Time to transplant. The most favorable time 

 for transplanting, in the case of plants that live more 

 than one year, is during the dormant period, because 

 growth processes are then least active, and comparatively 

 little water is needed. In countries having mild winters, 

 the most favorable time for transplanting is generally at 

 the beginning of the dormant period, provided this comes 



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