358 



HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



them for the first two or three years after being 

 set in a new soil — ^that is, one where they have not 

 been for years cultivated. Taking up the same 

 trees and replanting them again becomes neces- 

 sary also when the roots, as in the case of the 

 peach, the nectarine, apricot, plum, and pear, have 

 descended into a bad subsoil, or where the 

 branches have extended beyond their proper 

 limits, and interfere with the neighbouring 

 trees, and also where, from the accumulation of 

 soil over their roots, they have got too deep to 

 be within the power of solar influence. These 

 and many other causes render the replanting of 

 fruit trees so often necessary as to make this 

 operation a subject of annual consideration. 



Many good cultivators take up a portion of 

 their fruit trees annually, shortening the strong- 

 est roots, removing a portion of the soU, and 

 supplying its place with fresh mould, more 

 especially towards the extremities of the roots, 

 and placing the roots so that they may be near 

 the surface. In most cases this is a commend- 

 able practice ; and although it involves some- 

 what more labour than merely root-pruning the 

 trees, the labour is well expended ; because 

 the roots are kept within proper bounds, and 

 induced to produce numerous food-collecting 

 fibres, instead of strong tap and extended roots, 

 which merely act as conductors of the sap col- 

 lected by the spongiolets, and often, when they 

 extend into a bad subsoil, throw into the sys- 

 tem of the tree too great a supply (and that 

 often of deleterious quality) of sap, inducing 

 coarse and over-luxuriant wood, from which fruit 

 need hardly be expected. 



The season of transplanting established trees, 

 in consequence of the still undecided state of 

 opinions, extends in practice over a period be- 

 ginning in ordinary cases in October and end- 

 ing in April. Our own opinion is in favour of 

 early autumn transplanting ; and we would 

 rather do so in October than in March, unless 

 under very peculiar circumstances. We are 

 aware, however, that many cases occur wherein 

 the operation has to be carried on throughout 

 the whole winter. Transplanting evergreens 

 may, however, be safely done in April, early in 

 May, and also during the latter end of August 

 and throughout September ; and they may be 

 planted at other seasons also. Planting, when 

 the term implies very young plants, seedlings, 

 &c., may be safely done at various other sea- 

 sons, according to.their circumstances and kind. 

 The dark months of winter may, however, be 

 regarded as the least favourable. 



Under all these circumstances, we have 

 thought it better to treat the subject of trans- 

 planting generally, and under one head, offer- 

 ing first a few remarks on the preparation of 

 the ground, as on this as much of the success 

 depends as on either the season or manner in 

 which the operation is performed. 



Preparing the ground for pla/ntimg. — The nature 

 of the tree to be planted should always regulate 

 the extent and manner of the preparation. If 

 we except the quarters of a well-made garden, 

 and the borders for fruit trees — and even these 

 are not always exceptions — we will find that 

 far too little attention has been paid to the sub- 



ject. In reference to ornamental trees and 

 shrubs, where bulk and full development of 

 form are the objects sought, we may here ob- 

 serve, that care in preparing the ground for 

 them is as essentially necessary as for the 

 most delicate fruit-tree. But how seldom is 

 this attended to, and how frequently is the 

 practice followed of digging pits large or small, 

 according to the size of the tree or plant, set- 

 ting the tree in it, and filling in the soil — be 

 it what it may — around the roots, while the 

 ground between the plants is left wholly undis- 

 turbed.. Should the tree live, and the roots 

 extend as far as the limits of the pit, they are 

 in general arrested there in their progress by 

 the formidable obstruction of impervious undis- 

 turbed soil. The first consequences are, that 

 the roots are limited to the circumscribed pas- 

 turage of the original pit, which in time becomes 

 exhausted, and unable to afford nourishment to 

 them. If the soil is clayey or damp, the tree may 

 be considered as placed for half the period of its 

 existence in a state of puddle ; the roots, being 

 prevented from extending themselves in propor- 

 tion to its size, become easily overturned by 

 wind, and, in fact, it is reduced to the condition 

 of a tree grown in a large flower-pot, the soil 

 within which cannot long continue to supply 

 food to it, and hence it languishes and dies of 

 starvation ; whereas, if the soil be trenched pre- 

 vious to planting, these evils are avoided. The 

 more we comminute the soil, the more nourish- 

 ment will be absorbed by the roots, and the more 

 vigorous and healthy will the plant become. 

 " Trees, irrespective of fruit-bearing ones, far 

 more than agricultural crops, require depth of 

 soil to raise them to perfection; the effect of 

 climate appears much less necessary in giving 

 them their greatest magnitude. If, in .trans- 

 planting, we must often increase the cold, and 

 other circumstances adverse to trees, it becomes 

 us the more diligently to study that the soil be 

 rendered as rich and deep as possible, in order in 

 some sort to counterbalance those disadvantages. 

 Let it be observed, also, that an open soil, be- 

 sides being favourable to the transmission of 

 nutriment to the roots of plants, is likewise 

 favourable to their extension, and thereby en- 

 larges the fleld whence nutriment is derived. 

 Nor are these the only benefits resulting from a 

 friable soil ; for, in addition to its being adapted 

 to supply vegetables with food, it is always most 

 suitable for effecting those changes in the soil 

 itself which are equally necessary to the pre- 

 paration of such food." — Mr Withers^ letter to Sir 

 Senry Steuart. 



There are other reasons why ground intended 

 to be planted should be prepared both by drain- 

 ing and deep trenching, the principle of which 

 is, "that the roots near the stem become in time 

 inactive, and have little or nothing to do as pre- 

 servatives of life, except by acting as conduits, 

 while the functions of absorption go on through 

 the spongioles, which, being at the extremities 

 of the roots, extend wherever food and moisture 

 are to be found. This property prevents a plant 

 from exhausting the earth in which it grows; 

 for, as the roots are always spreading farther and 

 farther from the main stem, they are continually 



