TKANSPLANTING. 



49 



trees is a compost formed of two-thirds muck or black peat earth, 

 reduced by fermenting it several months in a heap with one-third fresh 

 barn-yard manure. Almost every farm will supply this, and it is more 

 permanent in its effects, and less drying in its nature, than the com- 

 mon manure of the stable. An admirable manure recentl}^ applied with 

 great success is charcoal — the small broken bits and refuse of the char- 

 coal pits — mixed intimately with the soil. Air-slaked lime is an excel- 

 lent manure for fruit-trees in soils that are not naturally calcareous. 

 Two or three handfuls may be mixed with the soil when preparing each 

 space for planting, and a top-dressing may be applied with advantage 

 occasionally afterwards, to increase their productiveness. But wherever 

 large orchards or fruit-gardens are to be planted, the muck, compost 

 heap should be made ready beforehand, as it is the cheapest, most valu- 

 able, and durable of all manures for fruit-trees. 



Pruning the heads of transplanted trees, at the season of removal, we 

 think generally an injurious practice. It is certainly needless and hurt- 

 ful in the case of small trees, or those of such a size as will allow the 

 roots to be taken up nearly entire ; for as the action of the branches 

 and the roots is precisely reciprocal, and as new roots are rapidly formed 

 just in proportion to the healthy action of the leaves, it follows that by 

 needlessly cutting off the branches we lessen the vital action of the 

 whole tree. At the same time, where trees are transplanted of so large 

 a size that some of the roots are lost in removing them, it is necessary 

 to cut back or shorten a few of the branches, — as many as will restore 

 the balance of the system, — otherwise the persj^iration of the leaves may 

 be so great as to exhaust the supply of sap faster than the roots can col- 

 lect it. A little judgment only is necessary to see at a glance how 

 much of the top must be pruned away, before planting the tree, to 

 equalize the loss between the branches and the roots. 



When it is necessary to transplant fruit-trees of large size, the best 

 practice is to prepare them previously by digging a trench round the 

 whole mass of roots, undermining them, and cutting off all roots project- 

 ing beyond this line. The trench should be dug at such a distance from 

 the tree as will include all the large and sufficient ball of roots, and it 

 should be done early in the spring when it is desirable to remove the 

 tree the next year. After all the roots that extend to this circular 

 trench are cut off, the earth is replaced, and by the season following 

 an abundance of small fibres is sent out by the amputated roots, 

 which, when the whole is removed, will insure the success and speedy 

 growth of the tree. This is more completely the case when the tree is 

 prepared two years before transplanting. A variation of this mode, 

 which has been found quite as successful and less laborious, consists in 

 leaving the trench open and covering it with boards only, or boards 

 with a top layer of turf. The tree then is somewhat checked in its 

 growth, it throws out an abundance of small fibres into the ball of earth 

 containing the roots, and is the next season transplanted with great ease 

 and safety. 



The proper size for transplanting varies somewhat with the sort of 

 tree and the kind of culture intended. It is, however, a maxim equally 

 well settled, both among theorists and the best practical men, that health, 

 immediate vigor, and duration are all greatly promoted by transplant- 

 ing fruit-trees of small size — from three to six or seven feet. We are 

 fully aware with what impatience the beginner, or a person who knovrs 



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