PLANTING. 



369 



tage, if, after the ball was formed and the roots 

 cut, it was enclosed within a casing of very- 

 strong planking, or staves strongly hooped 

 round, and a few inches larger than the size of 

 the ball, to admit of fine fresh mould being 

 rammed in all round for the fibres and spongio- 

 lets to form in for a season. Trees so prepared 

 might be very safely removed almost at any 

 period ; and when set in their new situations 

 and the casing removed, the roots would ex- 

 tend in quest of nourishment in the surround- 

 ing soil, and bear their removal without in- 

 jury. 



Could the roots be secured in any way, there 

 is no fear of removal in these days of improved 

 mechanical appliances, so far as mere weight is 

 concerned. But there are other considera- 

 tions to be kept in view, of which the situation 

 the tree to be removed is placed in, the con- 

 dition of the ground, which is in general too 

 soft to sustain heavy carriages, the obstacles 

 which bridges under railways, tunnels, acute 

 turnings in rides, drives, the branches of other 

 trees, &c, present, have all to be taken into 

 consideration, all of which present serious ob- 

 stacles to the transplantation of large trees. 

 With trees standing isolated in an open park 

 the case is very different, and it is those, and 

 such as grow on the outskirts of plantations, 

 that the planter should choose for his experi- 

 ments in gigantic transplantation. 



Thinning the branches at the time of removing 

 large trees. — In planting large trees whose heads 

 are crowded with branches, it will be expedient 

 to partially thin them ; the quantity of branches 

 to be removed will partly depend on the nature 

 of the tree and the intention of the planter. 

 The beech and the hornbeam are impatient of 

 pruning when transplanted, and have been 

 known to be killed by an injudicious use 

 of the knife ; other trees, such as the yew, 

 holly, lime, elm, and all the Acer tribe, require 

 little pruning at planting, because they have an 

 abundant supply of fibres around and near the 

 main stem. Apple and pear trees, if of a large 

 size, are improved by a moderate curtailment of 

 their bi'anches. The intention of thinning the 

 tops of trees during this operation is twofold ; 

 first, it prevents the wind from having too 

 much effect upon them ; and, secondly and 

 principally, it lessens the draught upon the 

 roots, by lessening transpiration by a super- 

 abundance of leaves, and reduces them to the 

 amount of moisture which can be absorbed by 

 the roots, which as yet are diminished in num- 

 ber and action. 



Transplanting from pots. — Many rare trees 

 and shrubs are grown in pots in nurseries, to 

 i-ender them more portable, and better fitted for 

 transportation to a distance. Of these, most of 

 the rare Conifers, Arbutus, red cedars, juni- 

 pers, the rarer species of oaks, &c, may be given 

 as examples. The circumscribed space allotted 

 to the roots within the narrow limits of a pot 

 from 5 to 9 inches in diameter, produce a ten- 

 dency in them, for want of room to extend 

 themselves horizontally, to assume a spiral 

 form ; the whole ball will also become a con- 

 fused mass of roots, searching in all directions 



for food. To turn plants so circumstanced out 

 of the pots into pits ever so large, or into soil 

 ever so well prepared, with their balls entire, 

 and their roots in their constrained state, would 

 be much the same, so far as the progress of the 

 plant's growth is concerned, as if it continued 

 to remain in the pot in which it had been 

 growing. Such balls should be carefully broken 

 up, but this ought to be done without the roots 

 being broken during the operation. To facili- 

 tate this, if the balls be steeped in water, the 

 soil will separate more freely ; and indeed, in 

 extreme cases, it will be well to wash the whole 

 of the soil away, so that the roots may be care- 

 fully singled out and spread in their new bed 

 in their natural position. When plants are kept 

 too long in pots— and this is a case of very fre- 

 quent occurrence — their roots become so tortu- 

 ous that they cannot be straightened out, and 

 this is the more difficult the older and stronger 

 they are. 



Mr Barron, in " The British Winter Garden," 

 has clearly illustrated the evils of growing 

 plants in pots intended to be afterwards planted 

 out, and expected to become in time goodly 

 trees. " The contorted form which the roots 

 are compelled to take while imprisoned within 

 the limits .of a small pot, prevents the free pas- 

 sage of the sap food collected by the spongioles 

 from reaching the stem in sufficient time and 

 quantity to support the leaves and branches 

 while they are exposed to the powerful action 

 of solar heat, as well as the evaporating action 

 of dry parching winds. The first consequence 

 of this mistreatment in youth is sickliness and 

 deformity, and afterwards premature death. 

 This is very generally observable in coniferous 

 plants, and of itself quite enough to account for 

 the very few healthy cedars of Lebanon, for ex- 

 ample, to be found in Britain of any age, and 

 the multitudes of them which everywhere 

 abound in a distorted, enfeebled, and diseased 

 state. No plants which are expected to attain 

 a large size should ever be grown in pots, but 

 should be treated upon the same principle as 

 our common forest trees, with this difference, 

 that they never should be allowed to remain more 



than two years, 

 and in some 

 instances not 

 so much, with- 

 out being trans- 

 planted. By this 

 means the main 

 roots would ra- 

 diate from the 

 common centre 

 in a natural man- 

 ner, and the 

 roots become 

 sufficiently nu- 

 merous to insure 

 a ball of earth to 

 adhere to them. 

 Plants would 

 thus be furnish- 

 ed of a very su- 

 perior quality, 



EXAMPLE OF WELL- FOK MED ROOTS, and at a mUCll 



