THE NEW FORESTRY. 141 



sharp spade, and have its roots cut in to within about nine 

 inches from the stem. In doing this, the spade should be 

 pushed in in a slanting direction towards the tree and right 

 round the tree till the operator has made sure that every root 

 is severed. The root-ball should not be prized or heaved up, 

 but the spade should be only pushed in and withdrawn again. 

 A few unimportant roots may be missed under the stem of the 

 tree, but all the main roots will be cut if the spade is long 

 enough and well worked in. In this way one man can root- 

 prune many trees in a day. This work should be done in early 

 autumn or early spring, and if the operation has been properly 

 executed the trees will show it during the summer by the check 

 to their growth, which will be very short and stunted. By the 

 following autumn the trees will be ready for moving, and they 

 may be lifted each with about as much soil to their roots as a 

 man can carry, or less. In lifting the man should, go round the 

 roots outside the first cut made in root-pruning, and work in 

 with a fork till the ball is sufficiently reduced, when the tree 

 should be removed to the ground to be planted and where the 

 holes for the trees should be previously prepared. In planting, 

 the , roots should be spread regularly out and covered over 

 about six inches deep, trod carefully but firmly, and well 

 watered. Large trees may be moved successfully in this way, 

 but almost everything depends on the root-pruning prepara- 

 tion beforehand. We have advised cutting to within nine 

 inches or one foot, but a little judgment must be used. A 

 very vigorous tree may be allowed a little more room, and 

 a weak one less, and if the ground is too hard and stony to be 

 simply cut by the spade, the tree should be dug round with the 

 narrow planting spade and have its roots cut in in that way, 

 filling in the trench again afterwards. We have cut many 

 kinds of good sized trees in this way very severely, with no 

 more effect upon the tree than just a check for the following 

 year. It is surprising the severe root-pruning that a tree 

 will endure, so long as what is left of the root is not lifted 

 quite out of the ground and shaken free of soil. Extremely 

 few roots will keep a tree alive if they have not been disturbed, 

 and in close root-pruning a few roots are always left untouched 

 by the spade. We have noticed in fir trees, root-pruned as 

 described, that the buds just expand or little more the summer 

 following, and that the year after transplanting they make 

 good growth, showing that the root-pruning of the established 

 tree had more effect than the subsequent transplanting. 

 Proof of what we state here about root-pruning is found in 



