556 TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES. 



placed by suitable soil. The average dimensions for the 

 hole, for an earth-ball of four feet in diameter, should be 

 about seven feet, so that eighteen inches are preserved all 

 round the tree to be filled up with good vegetable soil. The 

 depth should be equal to the height of the earth-ball, or a 

 little more if the tree be of a species with tap roots. The 

 bottom of the excavation should be filled in with a little 

 good soil, which will allow the top of the earth-ball to be 

 a little higher than the surrounding ground, in accordance 

 with an instinctive notion, which almost invariably induces 

 us to place trees used as isolated specimens in lawns on 

 small hillocks. 



" "When this is done the planks or ways are placed in posi- 

 tion as before described, and the cart is very carefully 

 drawn on them until the earth-ball is exactly in the centre 

 of the hole. The tree is then slowly lowered, and when it 

 touches the ground the guy-ropes from the corners of the 

 cart are pulled tight, so as to have the tree perfectly upright 

 and steady ; the chains are unfastened and hoisted up round 

 rollers; the two planks beneath the earth-ball are under- 

 mined and removed, and the privet shoots taken off. They 

 then proceed to fill up the hole, particular attention being 

 paid to the small roots, which are each separately covered 

 in. When this is finished and the tree is considered 

 sufficiently steady, the ropes are removed ; the bars are 

 taken out of the back of the cart which is drawn away, and 

 the bars having been refixed all is ready for another 

 removal. 



" An abundant watering, if the removal has been made in 

 the growing season, will be the end of the operation. The 

 tree must be now protected against the wind, being as yet 

 merely dependent upon its own gravity, as the roots take 

 time to get hold of the ground. This result is obtained by 

 placing at about half-way up the stem of the tree a padding 

 of straw, round which three or four long pieces of wire-rope 

 are attached ; these are carried out on all sides of the tree 

 and firmly fastened to strong stakes driven in the ground. 

 We may then bid defiance to the strongest winds that 

 blow. 



