PLANTING. 



371 



continues, "to believe the effects which new 

 maiden soil would be likely to have in such 

 cases ; for it must be remembered that trees 

 thus accustomed to be lifted do not become 

 unhealthy, the roots being all carefully tied and 

 relaid in newly prepared fresh loam." 



Transplanting coniferous plants. — These for 

 the most part do not affect a deep or rich soil ; 

 the thin soils formed over primitive formations 

 appear to be their natural element. Some, how- 

 ever, seem to luxuriate more than others in 

 deeper soils, such as a few of the Abies tribe ; 

 but although we find them occasionally indigen- 

 ous in such soils, we do not find that they avail 

 themselves greatly of them, as their roots for 

 the most part spread out horizontally very little 

 under the surface. In cultivation, however, 

 they do not refuse to thrive in soils of medium 

 quality and of considerable depth ; but in one 

 thing they seem to have a choice — namely, a 

 new soil which has not been long, if at all, under 

 cultivation. The season of transplanting has 

 usually extended, as in the case of deciduous 

 trees, throughout the later end of autumn, all 

 winter, and the early part of spring. We be- 

 lieve, for ordinary purposes, those seasons may 

 be all very well ; but for the removal of coni- 

 ferous plants of great value and rarity we would 

 decidedly prefer the month of June, when the 

 young shoots had made considerable progress. 

 Mr Barron moved spruce firs in June from 30 

 to 40 feet in height. We have ourselves re- 

 moved many rare and valuable conifera during 

 June, and would, from our previous success, do 

 so again at that time rather than at any other. 

 There has, in general, been a kind of dread in 

 the minds of cultivators in transplanting conifer- 

 ous plants, particularly when they have attained 

 some age and size. We see no more difficulty 

 in doing so in their case than in that of any de- 

 ciduous tree whatever. All depends on per- 

 forming the operation properly, and choosing a 

 right season. 



One of the greatest evils in planting the rarer 

 coniferous plants is the absurd practice persisted 

 in of choosing plants grown in the nurseries in 

 pots. A greater mistake cannot be fallen into. 

 It imposes an unnecessary expense on the nur- 

 seryman which the purchaser has in general to 

 pay, while he also receives a very inferior article 

 for his money. Nurserymen, in nine cases out 

 of ten, receive orders for coniferous plants ac- 

 companied with positive instructions that if the 

 plants are not in pots, on no account are they to 

 be sent. There are few nurserymen nowadays 

 but are aware of the absurdity of this, but they 

 have no choice. With some of their customers 

 they may remonstrate, and point out how much 

 more it would be to their advantage to have 

 plants out of pots ; with others they cannot do 

 so — for in plant buying, as in everything else, 

 there are people who pride themselves on fancy- 

 ing they know the value of the article sold bet- 

 ter than the seller himself. But let a nursery- 

 man speak for himself : " A prejudice exists 

 against plants removed from the open border ; 

 in numerous instances it is a just one. It has 

 arisen from the fact that many growers do not 

 transplant often enough. The consequences are 



the plants become coarse-rooted, and, being re- 

 moved in an indifferent condition, are often lost 

 before they can recover the check consequent 

 on their change of situation. But the remedy 

 for this is in the hands of the purchasers; if 

 coarse-rooted plants cannot be sold, growers will 

 cease to bring them into the market. But the 

 disadvantages of pot-grown plants are, as a gene- 

 ral rule, of equal magnitude with the worst 

 condition of those badly managed in the open 

 borders ; yet purchasers patronise the former 

 to a large extent, and to the exclusion, in a great 

 measure, of the latter. As it becomes a matter 

 of great importance to nurserymen that their 

 stock of pot-grown plants should occupy as 

 small a space as possible, pot-bound specimens 

 are the rule rather than the exception. And 

 for plants intended to be removed to the open 

 ground as permanent specimens, scarcely a worse 

 condition could exist : it is superlatively bad." 

 This quotation is so truly practical that we are 

 inclined to give it at length. " For the purpose 

 of illustration, we will suppose a person to have 

 purchased a plant in the condition above de- 

 scribed, and intends immediately to plant it out. 

 On removing the pot, he is delighted to find 

 coil upon coil of fine healthy roots. He knows 

 very well that to commit them to their new 

 situation in an uncoiled state will be highly 

 improper, and so, with great care, he proceeds 

 to disentangle them. However careful he may 

 be, the loss of many valuable roots will result, 

 and damage to the remainder will be equally 

 certain. Those in the interior of the ball, from 

 their size and woody texture, will not yield at 

 all ; and he closes his half-finished labour with 

 the conviction that he has seriously damaged 

 his plant. But this mutilation, great as it is, is 

 far preferable to having planted it with its 

 matted roots undisturbed. A plant which has 

 once been thoroughly pot-bound never gets so 

 firm a hold on the soil as one whose roots have 

 never been confined. Instances are numerous 

 where valuable specimens, after years of growth, 

 have been blown down in consequence of the 

 very slight manner in which they retained their 

 position. The main roots, when young, had 

 from pot culture acquired a coil-like arrange- 

 ment, which during all their subsequent growth 

 they adhered to— enlarging, but not spreading — 

 increasing in bulk, but contributing little to the 

 mechanical support of the tree : in fact, they 

 often destroy each other; and in every instance 

 of a plant which in its young state has been sub- 

 ject to the confinement of a pot, these condi- 

 tions will be evident." — Hints on Planting Orna- 

 mental Trees, &c. t p. 311, by Standish and Noble. 

 Plants also grown for several years in pots be- 

 come, from sheer starvation, debilitated in con- 

 stitution, deformed in structure, and rarely, if 

 ever, even should the roots become untram- 

 melled, assume the same portly appearance as 

 those whose roots have not been subjected to 

 the same restraint. 



Transplanting evergreens. — Regarding the best 

 season for performing this operation opinions 

 are greatly divided. We have removed ever- 

 greens at all seasons with apparently equal suc- 

 cess. The late excellent Mr M'Nab, in his 



