TRANSPLANTATION. 



ferred, had it not been apprehended that the plants which 

 could be collefted would be infufficient. 



It is thought capable of being more generally introduced 

 with great advantage not only in the abundance of the crops 

 and the faving of feed, but in the vaft increafe of employ- 

 ment which it fumifhes for the labouring poor of different 

 defcriptions, as well as in fome other refpefts, as may be 

 feen in the firil volume of the Correfted Agricultural Sur- 

 vey of the above county. 



In regard to the tranfplanting of potatoes, it has been 

 (hewn by the trials of the Rev. Mr. Cartwright, which are 

 defcribed in a paper in the fifth volume of Communica- 

 tions to the Board of Agriculture, that there is no plant 

 which admits of being tranfplanted with more complete 

 fuccefs. It is fuggefted as a praftice which, befides 

 affording hints to the farmer for the improvement of 

 the field-crops of this fort, may throw in the way of the 

 cottager fome ufeful information, as it may teach him, that 

 after he has had crops of fpring ajid early fummer vegetables 

 in his garden, he may procure from it, by being provided 

 with a fmall bed of the nurfery kind for potatoe plants, a 

 valuable fupply of ufeful food for his winter confumption 

 and advantage. 



The crops in thefe tranfplantings were after tares of the 

 winter kind, and only top-dreffed for, which is a confiderable 

 faving of manure. 



In garden culture, tranfplanting is effentially necetTary for 

 a great variety of different plants of the efculent and otlier 

 kinds, as has been feen under their different heads. And it 

 has lately been found to be a confiderable improvement in 

 the culture of the onion, both in the garden and the field. 

 When tranfplanted in moift weather into fmall (hallow drills, 

 eight or nine inches apart on beds, having the whole roots 

 firft well dipped in a thick puddle liquid, compofed of one 

 part foot, and three parts earth, with a fufEcient quantity 

 of water to form the mixture, they are faid to fucceed per- 

 feftly. It is a method too which has the advantage of 

 being lefs expenfive, and of courfe more profitable, than 

 the common one, as the work can be cheaply done by boys 

 or girls ; it admits of clearing the plants of weeds better, 

 which is highly beneficial to their growth ; a few fmall beds 

 thickly fown will furnifh plants for as many acres ; the 

 ground which is to be planted may be under winter or fpring 

 crops, it being fufficient to clear it of them by the end of 

 April, or the beginning of the following month, when the 

 tranfplanting of the onions is to take place, and thofe con- 

 tained in the feed-beds will, in the mean time, afford the ne- 

 ceffary fupplies for family ufe or the market. It has befides 

 the benefit of having the onions better in quality and larger 

 in fize, and the crops wholly free from worms and the rot. 

 See a paper on this fubjeft in the firft volume of the Me- 

 moirs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society. 



With the latter, or plants of the tree-kind, tranfplanting 

 is performed both for thofe of the foreft and fruit forts in a 

 great number of cafes. It is a praftice which is much had 

 recourfe to in nurfery-grounds for raifing the different 

 kinds while in their early growths, as the firft two or three 

 years. But for providing timber-v/ood, efpecially with 

 fome forts of trees, as the oak and a few others, it is pro- 

 bably better not to tranfplant at all, as the produce is faid 

 to be firmer, more durable, and better for many ufes, where 

 it is not done. See Timber. 



Though the work of tranfplanting be moftly praftifed 

 while the trees are in this young ftate, it is capable of being 

 effefted, by proper management and attention, with perfeA 

 fuccefs, when they are of confiderably larger growth. Mr. 



10 



Amos, in his work on " Agriculture and Planting," has 

 obferved that, as in forming various forts of ornamental; 

 undertakings with trees, as thofe of extenfive lawns andi 

 fields interfperfedly filled with large coUeftions of fuch as ' 

 are of the foreft kind, and flowering fhrubs placed out in ' 

 the wildernefs manner, with ferpentine walks and paths | 

 running through the whole, the defigns often become defec- 

 tive and unfatisfaftory, from the want of various forts of ' 

 proper large-fized trees ; to fupply the defedl in fuch 

 cafes, plenty of different proper-fized trees fhould always 1 

 be at command, for the purpofe of tranfplanting into bare ; 

 fields, parks, and about naked new buildings, or into other 

 fituations where they may be moft capable of imitating that , 

 charming tafteful neghgence of nature which is fo raviftiingly i 

 pleafingtothefenfes. And that, in order to prepare the young '• 

 trees for being thus tranfplanted when large, they ftiould, it 

 is faid, be continued in the feed-berls for the fpace of two years ' 

 and a half, and then be fet out at greater diftances, re- J 

 ducing the tap-roots confiderably, but thofe of the lateral ' 

 kind only fparingly. That as in fuch young trees the root 

 grows fafter than the ftem, (as an oak-plant a foot and a i 

 half in height has fometimes a root four feet in length,) the : 

 neceflity of mutilating the root, efpecially the tap one, in i 

 fuch cafes, is clearly ftiewn, the plants then emitting radicles : 

 in every diredlion, grow fafter than if the roots had re- 

 mained -perfeft. And that if a plant, or tree, be tranf- 

 planted in this ftate, it fucceeds with greater certainty the 

 more abforbent radicles are preferved to the root. When 

 fuch trees have remained two years in the nurfery-beds, they 

 fiiould be again removed, dreffmg their roots as before, 

 and increafing the diftance between them, when they may 

 continue three or four years more. After which they may 

 be put out in colleftions, where they are to remain for 

 good, or until wanted for tranfplanting. That as in tranf- 

 planting large trees, fome large fibres of the roots are un- 

 avoidably broken and mutilated, and confequently the 

 abforption of nutriment in the plant diminifhed, it is necef- 

 fary that boughs anfwering to the deftroyed roots ftiould 

 be cut away, in order to leffen the tranfpiration in propor- 

 tion to the quantity of food that may be taken up. 



The moft proper and defirable iorts of trees for tranf- 

 planting in this large ftate, are, it is conceived, the different 

 forts of elms, of which the Englifti is the beft, as it is moft 

 afpiring, and fooneft recovers its wounds. The lime, too, 

 will bear to be removed at a great fize, as its wounds foon 

 heal, and it may be formed into any ftiape defired. The 

 oak, the beech, and the afti, will hkewife bear to be removed 

 when rather large, but they require more care in the work 

 than the former: on the whole, thofe trees, the bark of 

 which is the thinneft and fmootheft, vi-ill be the moft proper 

 for this purpofe. The hornbeam, the fycamore, the large- 

 leaved maple, the fwect and horfe-chefnut, and the laburnum, 

 will all bear tranfplanting and removing, if they do not 

 exceed fifteen or fixteen years' growth, and from twenty to 

 twenty-five feet in height : if they are older and larger 

 when this is done, they do not recover their wounds fo per- 

 feftly as to become handfome trees. The larch and moun- 

 tain-afh alfo bear tranfplanting and removing when large, 

 but they ftiould not exceed twelve years' growth. The 

 balfam poplar of Canada, too, is a fine plant of the tree- 

 kind, which is raifed with much eafe, is hardy, quick in its 

 growth, and will bear to be tranfplanted and removed at a 

 great fize. And the crab-tree and white-thorn will fuffer 

 themfelves to be tranfplanted at a large growth, when in 

 a healthy and growing ftate ; and that as few trees exceed 

 them in beauty or fragrance in the fpring feafon, or their 



rich 



