16 TransplaJiting and Pruning of Forest Trees. 



to 4 ft. : the stumps were afterwards rooted up, and were thrown 

 carelessly out of the shrubbery. I got them planted in the woods, 

 and they are now fine shrubs. I also, last spring, threw some 

 old fruit trees out of our orchard ; they were twenty years old, 

 the roots had been cut off by a mattock, and the tops by the axe 

 or hedo-ebill : they lay thus in the timber-yard for a week or 

 more. °At length I got a friend to beg a few of the best of them, 

 and, under my superintendence they now form a beautiful 

 orchard, my friend having had some scores of apples off them 

 this very autumn. 



I mio-ht enumerate many such instances, where pruning has 

 saved the life and invigorated the trees, but shall only mention 

 one more. A stunted oak tree had disgraced the lawn at Heath 

 House from time out of mind. It was about 12 ft. high, and 

 about 20 ft. broad, resembling a magnified gooseberry bush. 

 Last spring, every limb and bough was cut off from it, and it has 

 formed this summer a new top of shoots 2 ft. long, though it 

 had never before made a shoot of above two inches long. These 

 are facts ; and I have served thousands of younger trees in a 

 similar manner : that is, when they became stunted or hide- 

 bound, I have cut them off close by the ground, and have made 

 o-ood trees. The whole of the queries of Mr. Rutger may be 

 answered in a few words, thus : — I take a twig from an apple 

 tree 2 ft. in length, and he takes another of the same dimensions. 

 Mr. Rutger grafts his twig, without mutilation, on a crab stock ; 

 and, of course, it dies : I cut my twig into twelve pieces, and 

 graft them on twelve crab stocks, and they become twelve apple 

 trees. A man who knows how to bud, and graft, and strike 

 cuttings of all kinds of trees, can never be at a loss in removing 

 a rooted tree ; the only secret is, in using a sharp knife, and 

 protecting the wounds, and perhaps shading the newly planted 

 tree. Abundance of water should be given after planting, and, 

 should March winds be very dry, a barrow-load of cow-dung 

 should be spread round each tree, and as much water poured 

 on it as will make it quite a liquid, to fill every crack, and form, 

 as it were, a scab over the whole. But I have done planting at 

 Heath House now ; the place is completed, and my services will 

 soon be at the service of the public, unless some individual should 

 monopolise them. 



I have been here for twenty-one years. I have never been 

 allowed so much as one journeyman gardener to assist me; my 

 foremen have all been made out of common labourers. I have 

 never had either a Scotchman or an Irishman employed on the 

 estate. I hope you will let me know if you should hear of any 

 situation likely to do me good, either at home or abroad ; 1 

 should like to be busy somewhere. 

 Heath House, Nov. 21. 1834. 



