368 



HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



by digging a trench round the whole mass of 

 roots, undermining them, and cutting off all the 

 roots projecting 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 in the spring, or 

 before midsummer, when it is desirable to re- 

 move the tree next year. After all the roots 

 that extend to this circular trench are cut off, 

 the earth is replaced, and the season following 

 an abundance of small fibres is sent out by the 

 amputated roots, which, when the whole is now 

 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 

 and a top layer of turf. The tree is then some- 

 what 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." — 

 Downing. 



If the air is prevented from reaching the 

 roots by a sufficient covering being placed over 

 this trench, there can be no doubt but that this 

 latter mode is to be preferred. 



When prepared compost, as recommended by 

 some, or even the natural soil of the place, is 

 thrown again into trenches thus formed, the 

 certain consequences are, that the young fibres 

 and still more delicate spongioles will form 

 themselves in this soft and easily-penetrated 

 medium, and conseqiiently when the removal 

 takes place, notwithstanding all the care that 

 may be bestowed during the operation, those 

 important organs are more or less injured or 

 destroyed — in fact, placing the tree in about 

 the very same condition that it would be had it 

 been removed the preceding season, when the 

 cutting of the roots took place. Those who 

 advocate this plan, and profess to have studied 

 its effects so closely, must surely have observed 

 the condition of the spongiolets upon opening 

 the trench at the period of the intended re- 

 moval. Leaving the trench empty, and cover- 

 ing it over to partially exclude the air, as recom- 

 mended by Downing, must certainly be consi- 

 dered of the two modes the most likely to be of 

 advantage to the tree. And when the trench 

 is opened, if the earth of the ball intended to be 

 left were carefully removed from around the 

 roots to be amputated, and were they cut back 

 a few inches within the circumference of the 

 ball, the young fibres and spongiolets would 

 form within it, instead of without it, and at the 

 time of removal would be very considerably 

 protected. Mr Barron, although apparently a 

 convert to Sir Henry Steuart's mode of prepara- 

 tion in early life, set it afterwards entirely aside, 

 and chalked out a course of his own, the success 

 of which has been sufficiently demonstrated. 

 He says, in " The British Winter Garden," p. 

 27 : " The thought occurred to me that if it 

 were possible to remove a tree with a large 

 mass of earth, something similar to that con- 

 taining the roots after Sir Henry Steuart's pre- 



paration, I should be stealing a march upon 

 him, and be as forward at once as he would be 

 in two years. 



" I then set about conquering the mechanical 

 difficulty, which, when once accomplished, I 

 saw that success would be certain, and many of 

 those mystified physiological difficulties re- 

 moved to which Sir Henry Steuart seemed to 

 attach so much importance, and which, if not 

 properly understood, would result in failure." 

 Mr B. remarks that he would have been glad to 

 have brought to bear upon the undertaking 

 which he had encountered any portion of Sir 

 Henry's system, but this he found impracticable. 

 Having constructed his machine, which will be 

 afterwards noticed, he proceeded in manner 

 following to prepare a tree for removal : " A 

 tree being about to be lifted, say from 40 to 50 

 feet high, the diameter of the branches being 

 of the same dimensions, the groundwork opera- 

 tions would commence on the outside of a circle 

 of from 20 to 25 feet in diameter, more or less, 

 judging from the kind of tree how far the roots 

 would extend horizontally ; the soil would be 

 then cleared from the roots, carefully preserv- 

 ing every fibre, as far as practicable, up to within 

 a given space of the stem, where the remaining 

 mass of earth and roots must be left undisturb- 

 ed." Mr B. deviates from general practice in 

 forming his ball nearly a parallelogram instead 

 of a circle ; and for such a tree as that noticed 

 above, the dimensions of the ball are 9 feet 6' 

 inches by 8 feet. During the operation of re- 

 moving the earth from amongst the roots, the 

 greatest care is taken that none of the roots that 

 extend beyond the ball of earth be in any way 

 injured, for on their preservation so much of 

 the success of the plan depends. The rationale 

 of Mr Barron's principle amounts to this, that 

 instead of cutting the roots two years before plant- 

 ing, with a view to cause them to send out nu- 

 merous fibres and spongiolets, many of which will 

 inevitably be destroyed at removal, and have to 

 be replaced by others before the tree can be 

 supplied with its requisite amount of food, he 

 removes at once, preserving the roots as much 

 as possible, and allowing them to form new 

 fibres and spongiolets in the place where they 

 are to remain undisturbed. By his process, 

 also, he reduces the weight of the ball of earth 

 considerably, and hence renders the transport 

 more easy. Heavy balls must have an immense 

 strain on the roots, however carefully the ope- 

 ration may be performed ; and the injury roots 

 sustain from this alone, but which is not dis- 

 cernible to the eye, is more than is generally 

 supposed, and in many cases more than even 

 the loss of a portion of the roots. Some erro- 

 neously suppose that by shortening the extre- 

 mities of the roots they form multitudes of 

 others within the bail, throwing them out 

 laterally from their sides. Such is not the case, 

 for roots elongate only from their points ; so 

 that, in fact, after a time, no food-collecting 

 roots exist for a considerable distance from 

 around the stem of the tree, as they are always 

 extending in a direction from it. 



Shortening the roots, as recommended by Sir 

 Henry Steuart and others, would be of advan- 



