288 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES. 



tages maybe calculated upon; but they do not justify 

 the gardener in taking a season of great risk, instead 

 of a season of perfect certainty. I have seen tens of 

 thousands of Hollies planted late in the spring in the 

 county of Norfolk, and in the quarters, too, of nur- 

 series, where, from the plants shading each other, they 

 are far more likely to succeed than if exposed singly ; 

 and although it sometimes happened that a good 

 many lived, it is not too much to say that three-fifths 

 at least would die ; and it is perfectly well known 

 that if planted in the beginning of November no such 

 loss is sustained. In short, I am certain that if ex- 

 perience is looked to only, it will give the same an- 

 swer as theory to the question of what season is the 

 best for planting evergreens, namely, that which is 

 best for other trees ; and such cases to the contrary 

 as may appear to exist will always be found excep- 

 tions to the rule, in consequence of some peculiar cir- 

 cumstances attending them ; not unfrequently, I be- 

 lieve, from the operation having been performed upon 

 a very small number of plants, to the removal of 

 which a degree of care was given wholly incompatible 

 with general and extensive practice.* 



* [These remarks must be received with great modification, 

 especially in the Northern and Eastern States. The moist or rainy 

 winters of England are the exact opposite of our cold and dry ones, 

 during which, for two months at least, the soil is severely frozen, 

 and vegetation is nearly or quite dormant Our whole experience 

 goes to prove that the practice of transplanting evergreens in 

 autumn is, for this country, extremely injudicious ; as the damage 

 which the trees sustain in their removal greatly increases their 

 susceptibility to injury by the cold of winter. The early spring 



