118 Steuarfs Planter^ s Guide. 



ing the poles 2 or 3 yards apart at bottom, that they may 

 lean rather towards the tree till they receive the full strain of 

 the draught, and that they may be at such a distance behind 

 the horse as not to drop on him in their fall when the tree 

 is up. 



All the largest trees (except those of ash and elm, which 

 stood in the old hedge-rows) which now stand in the meadow 

 ground laid to the park, viz. spruce firs, alders, limes, elm, 

 and beech, were chiefly planted in this way ; and two circum- 

 stances respecting them are strongly corroborative of Sir Hen- 

 ry's pi'inciple ; and as these were conclusions of my own, long 

 ago come to from experience, I here notice them with great plea- 

 sure, namely, that tJiose trees ^wliicJi xvere not lopped at all did 

 hesf^ and that / ruined the beech trees entirely by pruning them, 

 I may also add, that I always chose single, stout, well-formed 

 trees for transplanting ; not, indeed, for the same physiological 

 reasons which have guided Sir Henry, but merely because 

 they were more conveniently come at in taking up, and free 

 from obstructions in the transmission. Another circumstance 

 in my case I am also bound to admit, as it yielded a facility 

 which others may not have the advantage of, viz. many of the 

 transplanted trees grew on a thin stratum of rich bog earth, 

 reposing on a bed of moist gravel. When a tree had a trench 

 dug round it at the distance of 3 or 4 ft., the whole mass of 

 roots rose together, leaving the gravel clean and bare ; no tap- 

 root to puzzle, nor much lightening of the ball requisite, and 

 little danger in carriage of roots so compacted. Such circum- 

 stances rendered what I had to do an easy affair ; and, as the 

 same thing was done at almost all the places where Mr. Repton 

 and others were employed, I considered my share of the 

 process as very trifling indeed, and as nothing at all extra- 

 ordinary. 



Mr. Repton was very fond of the hawthorn. Whole groups 

 of them, having a large tree or two intermixed, were planted, 

 to account for certain sweeps and flowing lines which some- 

 times were required over unoccupied spaces of lawn, to break 

 continuous lines, or as accompaniments to large single trees. 

 Many of these were drawn from among the old copses and 

 underwoods on the estate, transported in one-horse carts, and 

 succeeded admirably, with no other care than taking them up 

 carefully, lopping off a few of the straggling branches, and 

 keeping them watered during the following summer. 



By such means of transplanting, I never saw much diffi- 

 culty in the work, and would have planted any extent of 

 ground in the same way, and all without previous preparation 

 of either ground or plants : but in regular and close planting, 



