238 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. ¢ 
“With plants of a more mature growth, say of the 
third season and upward, the fall of the leaf may be 
taken as a set time to operate upon them (unless the 
approach of winter be precipitate after this annual oc- 
currence), as the time which intervenes between then 
and the setting in of frost, in most latitudes, will be suf- 
ficient to allow for the settlement of the earth in which 
the plants are fixed, and to prepare the seedling for an 
early start in the following spring. 
“On the transplanting of seedlings of the first season’s 
growth, if any side-shoots exist they should be cut off, 
leaving only the single stem. As it is particularly requi- 
site to have this member as straight as possible, it should 
not in any way be interfered with till after it has pre- 
sented some traits of deportment, after which, if nec- 
essary, it may be headed back in accordance with the 
purpose for which it is intended. 
“ Almost all seedlings require cultivating for a few 
years after being transplanted from the seed-bed, after 
which they may be conveyed to situations intended for 
their permanency. . 
“Previous to transplanting young trees their roots are 
subjected to a process of pruning, which exercises an 
important influence on their future thrift; making the 
wounds, by a course of natural change, throw out an 
abundance of fibrous rootlets, thereby enlarging the field 
of nourishment, and establishing an equilibrium of sup- 
ply and demand so essentially necessary to a vigorous 
growth. This operation is more confined to plants grown 
from seed than from cuttings; as in the latter kinds the 
roots are not long, but numerous and spreading; yet, 
when convenient, their roots, also, should be released from 
any superfluous growth by being judiciously trimmed, 
as any wounds thereby formed do not by any means in- 
jure, but in their turn emit rootlets which are formed 
by the same law that governs the production of similar 
growth in layers, 
