PLANTING. 



357 



this waste must necessarily be taking place at 

 the same time through the spongioles ; for though 

 the functions of all plants are annually in a dor- 

 mant state, yet they are never wholly inactive ; 

 and hence, even in transplanting trees without 

 their leaves, the effects of more perspiration by 

 the bark than the roots can supply must be 

 guarded against." — Sub. Hort. 



The state of the weather has very much to 

 do with the successful removal of all plants, 

 whether large or small. Dry, windy, and frosty 

 weather, as well as powerful sunshine, are the 

 most unfavourable of all. They all draw upon 

 the vital energies of the plant, without restoring 

 any support to it. Perspiration and evaporation 

 go on more rapidly in such states of the weather 

 than in any other, and this more when plants 

 are in leaf than when they are bare, because 

 the process is going on both by the leaves and 

 the bark ; and this is one of the principal causes 

 why we cannot remove large trees in leaf so 

 safely as when the leaves are off. A mildMamp 

 atmosphere is the most fitting for the operation 

 of transplanting, and this will be greatly en- 

 hanced if genial showers of rain fall during the 

 night. This theory has, however, to a certain 

 extent, its opponents, but the arguments ad- 

 duced by them are so weak, and so devoid of 

 true physiological reasoning, as to be scarcely 

 worth refuting. A sample, however, may be 

 given, in those who assert that the Brassica 

 tribe, for example, grow faster, when at trans- 

 planting they have been kept sufficiently long 

 out of the soil to cause their leaves to fade. De- 

 candolle appears to have favoured this view, 

 and observes that it causes them to pump up 

 moisture rapidly, in proportion to the degree in 

 which their interior tissue has been deprived 

 of it. 



Mr Barron — no mean authority in such mat- 

 ters — on the other hand, believes that much of 

 the success in transplanting large trees depends 

 on the quantity of soil taken along with the 

 roots — that is, that the size of the ball should 

 be consistent with the size of the plant or tree 

 to be removed; and that if this is attended to, 

 trees may be removed any month in the year 

 (as they have been at Elveston) with almost 

 uniform success ; although, he continues, spring, 

 summer, and autumn are to be preferred to 

 winter, for this reason — " When plants are 

 removed in a growing state, the moisture sur- 

 rounding the roots is immediately absorbed, 

 and at once assimilated as food for the plant ; 

 the wounds where the plants have been cut 

 across or injured speedily heal over, and fresh 

 rootlets form, all going on in a natural process 

 without much apparent check : but in winter, 

 when the ground is cold, and the plant in a 

 dormant state, the moisture which surrounds 

 the roots, instead of being taken up by the plant, 

 remains there in a state of inactivity, and has 

 more or less a tendency to rot and decompose 

 certain portions of the roots where severed. 

 Hitherto the planting of trees has been confined 

 to that period of the year when they have ceased 

 growing, and are in an inactive state ; and had 

 not necessity compelled me," says Mr Barron, 

 " to step out of the ordinary track, I might still 

 VOL. II. 



have been in the dark as to what can be done 

 successfully. Had I not ventured on some bold 

 experiments, and prosecuted my work at all 

 seasons, but waited for the usual time of plant- 

 ing, in sixty years we would not have accom- 

 plished what has been done in twenty. 



u Trees of large size have been moved in the 

 middle of summer, during hot weather, with 

 perfect safety ; and I find that when an opera- 

 tion can be performed under favourable circum- 

 stances, the more active the state of the plant is 

 at the time of removal, the better it will suc- 

 ceed." Mr Barron " has moved spruce firs in 

 June from 30 to 40 feet in height, when the 

 leading shoots had grown from a foot to 18 

 inches ; and during the operation all the young 

 shoots, and even the leader, became flaccid and 

 drooping ; but after being planted a day and well 

 watered, all got right again ; the leader became 

 erect, and prospered as if nothing had happened. 

 It must be understood that summer planting is 

 only applicable to evergreens, and such as can be 

 depended upon for lifting with large balls of earth. 

 It is possible, nevertheless, to transplant deci- 

 duous trees when in leaf, but only under pecu- 

 liar circumstances should it be attempted." 



Tx-ansplanting is an operation in connection 

 with fruit-tree culture, that ceases not on the 

 first formation of a garden or orchard. Deaths 

 are occasionally taking place, and changes of 

 opinion as to the merits of certain kinds of fruit 

 are constantly occurring. Where apples and 

 pears are on healthy stocks, should the kinds 

 not meet the approbation of the owner, these 

 may be changed by heading them down in 

 spring, and grafting more approved sorts on 

 them, with much less loss of time than by re- 

 planting. This rule does not, however, apply 

 to all the fruit trees growing in a garden, and 

 therefore they may have to be cleared out en- 

 tirely, and new plantations made in their stead. 

 Hence transplanting is almost a daily operation 

 in gardening. This is the case generally with 

 strawberries, gooseberries, currants, and rasp- 

 berries. The former of these require, according 

 to the highest authorities, to be replanted once 

 in two or three years, and some advocate the 

 principle of replanting some varieties of them 

 annually. Although the three next, in some 

 very favourable localities, continue to bear well 

 for many years, the short time required to bring 

 them into a bearing state induces many to 

 change their sorts, discarding such as they 

 esteem more lightly, and replacing them with 

 those of a higher character. Some very excel- 

 lent cultivators think that the period of their 

 useful existence is limited to a few years, and 

 consider the fruit from plants of three or four 

 years' growth superior in quality and quantity 

 to those that have been in a bearing state a 

 quarter of a century. Others make plantations 

 every fifth or sixth year, with a view to carry 

 out the rotation of other crops upon high cul- 

 tivation principles. With these latter we per- 

 fectly agree, and this the more cordially if the 

 ground is naturally poor, and not eminently 

 qualified for such crops. Renewing the planta- 

 tion of gooseberries has the advantage of lessen- 

 ing the attacks of insects, which seldom attack 



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