December, 1909. 



523 



HORTICULTURE 



HOW TO TRANSPLANT A TREE. 



By Harold Cuzner. 



(From the Philippine Agricultural Re- 

 view, Vol. II., No. 6, June, 1909.) 



A tree should be transplanted at the 

 period ol* its life when it is liable to 

 receive the smallest possible injury. 

 This, in this country, is as a general 

 rule at the beginning of the rainy 

 season ; except in case the transplanting 

 is to be done at the close of the rainy 

 season before the soil begins to get dry. 



If the trees are very young when 

 transplanted they may be dug up 

 carefully, taking care not to injure 

 the roots, and set out where desired. 

 If the trees are of large size it will 

 be found that they will stand rnoving 

 much better if the roots are pruned 

 several months before taking them up. 

 In large nurseries this is done by an 

 L-shaped blade cf steel attached to a 

 plough beam which is run along rather 

 close to the trees cutting the roots, 

 but when only a small number are to 

 be handled the same thing may be ac- 

 complished by running a spade down 

 on all sides of the young tree. After 

 this has been done the trees should be 

 left standing where they were growing 

 and the cut surfaces will heal over and 

 put out a number of new small roots 

 which can be preserved when the tree 

 is dug up later on, when it will be 

 found to stand the transplanting with 

 much less ir jury than if not so treated. 



When trees are to be moved but a 

 short distance, they may bo taken up 

 with large balls of earth adheriug to 

 their roots to prevent their drying out ; 

 if this is carefully done the tree will 

 continue to grow without any apparent 

 check. 



When trees are to be shipped some 

 distance, however, this becomes im- 

 practicable, and in this case the roots, 

 as soon as the trees are dug up, should 

 be immediately ploughed into a mixture 

 of clay and water about the consistency 

 of thick cream. This mixture is known 

 as "puddle." It has the effect of coat- 

 ing the roots with a layer of mud that 

 prevents the air from drying them out 

 as rapidly as they otherwise would. 

 The trees should then be packed closely 

 in moist sphagnum or wet straw and 

 sent as quickly as possible to their 

 destination, 



When the trees are received, if they 

 have been shipped some distance, the 

 bales should be opened at once and be 

 "healed in," i.e., set close together in 

 a trench deep enough to take in the 

 roots and part of the stem. This may 

 be easily done by digging one trench 

 and throwing all of the other soil on 

 one side close to the trench. Then set 

 in a row of trees close together and 

 dig soil from the side of the trench 

 opposite to that on which the soil was 

 thrown to cover the roots. In this way 

 a second trench will be formed parallel 

 to the first which will be ready for a 

 second row of trees. The trees should be 

 moist and packed well around the roots, 

 treading it down with the feet. If the 

 trees look at all withered it would be 

 well to have water thrown all over 

 them. The site selected for "healing 

 in " the trees should be well drained 

 and accessible to the place where the 

 permanent planting is to be made, so 

 that they may be pulled out and set 

 as fast as possible. 



Before planting, any bruised or in- 

 jured roots should be cut off with a 

 sharp knife so as to leave a clean 

 smooth surface that will heal over 

 quickly. The cut should be made so 

 that the cut surface will be facing down- 

 ward rather than to the side or 

 upward. 



Some trees are very sensitive to trans- 

 planting and will not grow readily even 

 though the above directions are followed. 

 Among these is the Cassia florida, which 

 often fails to grow even though the 

 trees are not more than 5 feet tall, and 

 are taken up with a ball of earth 18 

 inches in diameter, unless great care 

 is taken not to break this ball of earth ; 

 while others, like the rain tree, will 

 stand very rough handling. 



It will be found, however, that for 

 the great majority of trees the above 

 method will give good results if the 

 planting is well done. The holes must be 

 dug in accordance with the size of the 

 trees to be set out, but in no case 

 should the holes be so small as to cramp 

 the roots of the tree, and they should 

 be deep enough to allow the tree to 

 be set 1 or 2 inches deeper than it 

 originally grew. The soil should be 

 Avell worked in about the roots and 

 packed firm, but not hard. However, 

 the top layer of soil, to a depth of 2 

 or 3 inches, should be left loose to act 

 as a mulch and prevent the loss of 

 water from the surface by evaporation. 



