OF TRANSPLANTING. 279 



OHAPTEE XVI. 

 OF TRANSPLANTING. 



As soon as man attempted to beautify his residence 

 with trees planted around it, he would naturally 

 obtain them from the forest ; and he then would find 

 that, of many that he removed, all or some at least 

 would die : if however he persevered, he would 

 at last discover that while constant failure attended 

 his efforts at one time, comparative success would 

 crown them at another ; and he would thus be led to 

 investigate, according to his skill, the causes of suc- 

 cess and failure. Out of this would grow in time the 

 art of transplanting, among the most important busi- 

 ness of the gardener. 



I fear, however, it is too generally practised as an 

 empirical art, without sufficient attention being paid 

 to the principles on which its success or failure 

 depend ; at least, one hardly knows how to draw any 

 other conclusion from the opposite opinions held by 

 planters, the dogmatical manner in which they are 

 too often expressed, and the obscure and unintelligi- 

 ble phraseology of what are called explanations of the 

 practice by amateurs, to whom it is not necess ry to 

 allude more particularly. If there is any one part of 

 the art of Horticulture in which post hoc has been 

 mistaken for propter hoc more commonly than ano- 

 ther, it is surely in what concerns transplantation.* 



* It is scarcely necessary to say that these remarks do not, in any 



