392 TBANSACTIONS OF THE 



PRUNING AND TRANSPLANTING TREES, 

 Mr. Wheeler, — I have adopted the latter part of November as the l>est 

 time to trim the most kinds of trees' and vines. 



Thomas Cavanach, gardener, Brooklyn, read the following paper upon 

 pruning : 



" In transplanting two very important things are to be considered : first, 

 preservation of the spongioles of the roots; second, the prevention of 

 evaporation. The nest important part is to choose that season when the 

 tree or plant, according to its kind, is either losing its sap in a state of 

 repose, or just before sap commences to start for another season, each has 

 its advocates ; (pyery tree, even of the same species, will not admit of 

 transplanting at the same time, and it will therefore depend much upon the 

 judgment of the planter. The majority are in favor of early autumn 

 planting, but this has reference to the state of the plant as well as the 

 state of the season. Small trees and plants may be moved with less chance 

 of failure than large ones, because their fibres are less liable to injury than 

 small ones. Large trees and shrubs cannot be removed without injury to 

 their roots, and at their ends, the very parts of most importance to them, 

 because there the spongioles are situated, and these, if once destroyed, 

 must be reproduced before the plant can derive any nourishment for its 

 future support. Trees removed in the fall will have these organs the 

 soonest produced, and in the spring the latest, if at all in the later case, 

 the trees are left without support at the very time they most need it, and 

 in consequence the leaves wither, the tree dies, or becomes greatly injured. 

 The state of the weather has much to do with the successful removal of all 

 trees. Dry, windy and frosty weather, as well as very warm sunshine, is 

 the most unfavorable of all;, evaporation goes on more rapidly in such 

 states of the weather than at any other time. A mild, damp day is the 

 most fitting for the operation of transplanting, and this will be greatly 

 enhanced if mild showers fall during the night, when evergreens are 

 removed in a growing state, the moisture surrounding the roots is- 

 absorbed, and at once assimilated as food for the plant. The wounds where 

 the roots have been injured quickly heal over, and new roots are formed j 

 but if removed in winter, when the ground is frozen and the tree in a dor- 

 mant state, the moisture which surrounds the roots has a tendency to rot 

 the portion of the roots where they have been severed. In planting fruit 

 and forest trees, autumn is undoubtedly the most proper time. The 

 wounds made in their roots will commence to cicatrize and throw out 

 granulous matter, and sometimes even spongioles immediately, so that by 

 the time spring arrives the tree will grow with almost as much vigor as if 

 it had not been transplanted. The next thing of importance is the prepa- 

 ration of the ground. Many ignorant persons plant trees much in the 

 same way as we would set up a post in the ground, under the mistaken 

 idea that a tree, when it is placed in the soil, will grow under any circum- 

 stances. No tree should be planted in a hole less than four feet square 

 and two feet deep. The bottom of the hole should be well loosened,, and 



