386 



HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



account of the moral impossibility of driving in 

 the cutters amougst stones and gravels. This 

 slight modification does not in the least detract 

 from the usefulness of this valuable machine, nor 

 alter its most important principle, which is the 

 lifting power it possesses above all others. In 

 the case of very large trees, it would be well to 

 have an extra set of wheels, from 8 to 9 feet 

 in diameter, which would greatly lighten the 

 draught, and admit of a better counterpoise to 

 the top of the tree, the weight of the ball being 

 more under the axle. Another improvement in 

 the case of very tall trees, with a view to main- 

 tain them in a perpendicular position, would be 

 to place a soft collar round the trunk, 10 feet or 

 so above the ball, and to secure to it and the four 

 corners of the machine four diagonal poles, which 

 would act as stays or fulcra, and prevent the tree 

 from falling over. As at present constructed, 

 the weight of the ball is the only counterpoise. 

 Low wheels are used when large shrubs or trees, 

 branched to the ground, are to be removed, be- 

 cause the machine, in that ease, is better got under 

 the branches. These alterations suggested them- 

 selves to us while Mr M'Glashan was lifting a 

 large tree lately in Dalkeith Park, and he at once 

 acceded to them ; for we have seldom met with 

 an inventor who is more open to conviction in 

 all matters relating to the improvement of his 

 invention. In the experiment referred to, he 

 took up, with a most perfect ball of 4 feet on 

 the side and 3 feet deep, a large holly tree, 

 and had it ready for attaching the horses, in 

 one hour and five minutes, with no other 

 assistance than one of his own men and three 

 labourers to assist in driving in the cuttei-s and 

 working the screws by which it was lifted out 

 of the ground. 



Beyond a certain size, this, as well as all 

 other machines of a similar character, is incap- 

 able of removing trees with safety, not, in the 

 case of Mr M'Glashan's machine, from want of 

 mechanical power, but on account of the am- 

 putation to which the roots are exposed, unless 

 we go at once into the principle laid down some 

 years ago by the late Sir Henry Steuart. If we ad- 

 mit his theory to be correct as to cutting back the 

 roots the season previous to removal, and allow- 

 ing the wounds to heal over, and the roots to send 

 out a new supply of fibres with their necessary 

 spongiolets, then the cutting back and removal 

 at once, as proposed by Mr M'Glashan, is no 

 doubt preferable ; because, with all the care with 

 which trees can possibly be removed upon Sir 

 Henry's plan, the spongiolets must be seriously 

 injured, particularly by his method of trans- 

 porting them (namely, upon a rude kind of 

 janker) ; whereas, by Mr M'Glashan's plan, the 

 same amputations take place at the period of 

 removal which take place at the commence- 

 ment of Sir Henry's, and the formation of 

 new fibres and their necessary Spongiolets goes 

 on after removal , and these are not afterwards 

 interfered with : lessening the risk of removal 

 in the first instance one-half in favour of Mr 

 M'Glashan's machine, and much more if we 

 take into consideration the injury the bark 

 sustains when thrown over the axle of the 

 janker, and the no less injury done to the roots 



during their transport, and placing them in the 

 pit prepared for them. For trees or shrubs re- 

 quiring a ball of 4 feet on the side, or 64 cubic 

 feet, and from that downward, within which 

 the whole roots are enclosed, Mr M'Glashan's 

 is the best we have seen. 



The circular form of ball is no doubt the most 

 natural, and therefore must be the best, because 

 the roots of all trees, where no obstruction pre- 

 vents their extension, do radiate from one centre, 

 which is immediately under the trunk. This 

 being the case, all deviations from the circular 

 form must be erroneous in principle, and very 

 seldom followed in practice. 



It is seldom that trees of extraordinary size 

 are removed, unless under very peculiar circum- 

 stances ; and if so, they are seldom conveyed to 

 any great distance. When such cases occur, it 

 were better to tunnel under the balls; and after 

 placing a strong flooring of planks under them, 

 secured to each other at the ends by a plank 

 laid transversely, and to oross-planks laid over 

 the top of the ball, and screwed firmly to these 

 below, to prop them up in that position until 

 proper rails be introduced under the whole, 

 with rollers between the rails and plank floor- 

 ing, laid at an easy incline from the bottom of 

 the ball to the surface, and so continued to 

 the new pit, into which the ball could be 

 slid down by a similar incline. It would 

 signify little whether the bottom flooring were 

 left in the new pit or taken out ; the loss would 

 only be the material, which in time would rot 

 away. But even if this were a matter of 

 consideration, their removal could easily ■ be 

 efi'ected by drawing them out at either end after 

 they were disengaged from each other. Trees 

 of any size may be removed in these days of 

 mechanical ingenuity ; to do so most success- 

 fully is merely a question of expense. 



We shall now describe the smaller apparatus 

 for removing shrubs and young trees, fig. 147. 



Fig. 147. 



m'glashan'e small transplanter. 



The first thing done is to open the frame a, 

 (which has a joint at one corner, and a faster^- 

 ing at the other), and put it round the tree, and 

 again fasten it ; four spaces 6, with wooden 

 handles, are then driven with the foot in 

 the inside of the frame (or if the ground is 

 hard, with a mallet striking on the head or 

 tramp), as deep as required. Two exteilsion-rods 

 c are then passed through the opposing handles 

 of the spades, the handles are then drawn apart, 

 and holes being in the extension-rods, a pin is 



