TREES AND FORESTRY 65 



exists between the trees' roots and minute fungi of the soil (Mycorrhiza) . 

 When a tree is transplanted, these fungi are largely left behind and are likely 

 to be lacking in the new soil. 



Time <>/ Transplanting 



Transplant on wet or cloudy days in spring, or in warm regions in fall, 

 when the tree is without its leaves and before the buds have opened. As 

 soon as the buds open, it is too late to transplant with best success, since the 

 new leaves will very likely die and the loss may not be replaced quickly 

 enough to save the tree. 



In the case of evergreen trees, theoretically any season will serve for 

 transplanting, since they never lose all of their leaves. Practically, how- 

 ever, the best time is spring, when the buds for the new year's growth have 

 not opened and the soil is not frozen. Summer cannot be the best time, 

 since evaporation from the leaves under the summer sun must be so rapid 

 that the tree may be injured before the roots are properly at work (see be- 

 low, for ball planting of evergreens). 



Method of Transplanting 



The secret of successful transplanting lies in removing the tree from the 

 ground with roots as nearly unbroken as possible, and in keeping these routs 

 from drying. Do not expose the roots to sunlight or wind even for a few 

 seconds; cover them — and keep them covered till they are in the ground 

 again — with wet sphagnum or wet cloths, or best of all put them at once 

 into a pail or tub of thin mud. Small trees may be carried in a pail of 

 mud from the woods to the planting site. 



If desired, ball-planting may be practised, that is the roots may be 

 removed in a mass or block of earth. Conifers are difficult to transplant, 

 in that they never revive if there is any drying of the roots, therefore ball- 

 planting is recommended for them. This is often accomplished in winter, 

 in which case the transplanting is begun at the approach of freezing weather, 

 the hole for the tree is dug in the permanent site and the removal of the 

 tree started. The digging about the tree is done a little at a time to allow 

 deeper freezing of the soil about the roots; the tree is not removed to the 

 new site until all of the soil is frozen even at the bottom of the block. 



The hole for a tree should be dug wide enough to take the roots 

 spread out in their natural position, and deep enough to let the tree settle 

 into the soil to a position similar to that it had before transplanting. The 

 soil to be put back into the hole must be made free from lumps and stones, 

 so fine that it can be sifted about the roots. There must remain no air 

 spaces, where rootlets may die because they cannot reach food. If the soil 



