SEASON FOR DECIDUOUS TKEES. 4^9 



violence. The accidents to which the roots of transplanted 

 trees are liable, from the very nature of the operation, are of 

 such a Mnd that it is impossible to prevent their being exposed 

 to the air, sometimes for considerable periods of time; it is 

 therefore obviously a point of the first importance, that the air 

 should be as nearly of the humidity of the soU from v?hich the 

 roots have been extracted as can be secured. How unfavour- 

 able, in this point of view, the months of March, April, and 

 May are for planting, is apparent from Mr. Thompson's tables 

 above referred to; how little the matter is attended to by 

 nurserymen, gardeners, and labourers, all great planters know 

 to their cost. Macnab, who thoroughly understood all this, 

 preferred a moist rainy day ; although, as he says, he has " at 

 times been as wet in planting evergreens, as when exposed for 

 hours on the windy side of Ben Nevis in a wet day, without 

 great coat and with a broken umbrella." It may be very true 

 that good plantations have been made in March and April ; it 

 may be equally true that no such care as I have described is 

 necessary for all plants ; but no wise man would, on that account, 

 neglect the precautions which the nature of plants shows to be 

 necessary to insure success with all things. Very wet and 

 warm springs may prevent the loss of any considerable pro- 

 portion of the trees planted in March and April, especially if 

 succeeded by a dull, warm, wet summer ; and a "Willow may be 

 planted with success at midsummer : but we cannot tell before- 

 hand what sort of spring is coming, and all plants have not the 

 tenacity of life possessed by a WiUow. 



If the months from September to December are the most 

 favourable for transplanting deciduous trees, and March and 

 April the worst, how much more important must be those 

 periods to evergreens. An evergreen differs from a deciduous 

 plant in this material circumstance, that it has no season of 

 rest ; its leaves remain alive and active during the winter, and 

 consequently it is in a state of perpetual growth. I do not 

 mean that it is always lengthening itself in the form of new 

 branches, for this happens periodically only in evergreens, and 

 is usually confined to the spring; but that its circulation, 

 perspiration, assimilation, and production of roots are incessant. 



