PEOPAGATION. 125 



into the ground, a few inches from the tree, so as to cat 

 all roots that pass that limit. This, though a ruder meth- 

 od, is followed by good results. 



Digging the Trees, is a process that should he con- 

 ducted upon very different principles from those exercised 

 in grubbing a thicket. The nurseryman wishes to clear 

 his block, but the purchaser hopes to save his trees, and 

 to have them live, he wants a good share of their roots 

 with them. No one need expect, however, to have any- 

 thing like a large proportion of the roots of a tree re- 

 moved from the ground ; that is out of the question, un- 

 less they have been grown in walled stations, confining the 

 roots, like those of green-house plants in their flower- 

 pots. In open culture, they will have spread through the 

 soil in every direction, and cannot be preserved and re- 

 moved. Repeated root pruning will be of the greatest 

 service in furnishing a great many fine roots within reach ; 

 but at the best, a great deal of damage is necessarily in- 

 flicted upon the roots by digging, and the older and lai^er 

 the tree, the greater will be the injury, and the smaller the 

 proportion of roots to the branches. 



In digging trees, it is important to remove the soil very 

 carefully on each side of the row to expose the roots, al- 

 ways holding the spade in such a position that its side and 

 edge shall be in the direction of a radius, from the stem 

 of the tree as a centre. Ifever stand facing the tree to be 

 dug, but keep it next the elbow, at one side. On finding 

 a root, withdraw the spade, and try again ; and, having 

 ascertained its direction, endeavor to loosen the outer ex- 

 tremities first. Proceed all around in this manner, and by 

 gently swaying the trunk, the points of resistance will be 



