PLANTING. 385 



preserve them, which, Mr M'Glashan remarks, is 

 still a very undecided question, it can be easily 

 done by finding out their position with piercers, 

 and driving a cutter on either side of them, and 



thus preserving them entire. Although 10 feet 

 is the size described here (as it has already 

 been done), it can either be reduced or enlarged 

 as the tree or operator may require. 



Fig. 146. 



m'glashan's transplanting machine, side elevation. 



We think this machine would be much im- 

 proved, and rendered more generally useful, if 

 the frame were extended in length, so that, in- 

 stead of the ball being square, it might be oblong 

 in shape. To render the machine wider than 

 4 feet would be disadvantageous, because it 

 could not be made to travel on walks or nar- 

 row roads, and would be difficult to introduce 

 amongst bushes and other trees. Lengthening it 

 out to the extent of 4 feet more would present 

 no difficulty in those respects ; while by doing 

 so, instead of a ball 4 feet square, we could have 

 one 4 feet (the present breadth) by 8 feet in 

 length, securing upon two sides a much greater 

 length of uninjured roots. The spade-shaped 

 cutters are as good as anything that can be de- 

 vised when the intended ball is of a size to 

 include all or at least a sufficient number of roots, 

 according to the size of the tree to be removed; 

 but to remove a tree with a greater extent of 

 roots, the ball should be cleared all round with 

 spades and picks in the usual manner, saving as 

 many roots as possible, tying them together in 

 bundles, and disposing of them in such a way 

 that they would be secured against accident 



during the operation. This being done, the ball 

 should be undermined, and the tap or down- 

 ward-growing roots cut off with a long chisel- 

 shaped instrument, instead of tearing them up 

 and breaking them by main force. 



When the ball is thus prepared, if broad 

 grippers, in form like the letter L, were intro- 

 duced along the sides of the ball, just as Mr 

 M'Glashan's cutters are, but not quite so close 

 together as to prevent the roots which extend 

 beyond them- from passing between them, the 

 turned in ends of the grippers made to pass 

 under the ball on all sides, the extension-rods 

 attached to them, and the T iron placed as in 

 his method, the ball would be kept together not 

 only at the sides, but under the bottom likewise. 

 The operation of lifting should be exactly as 

 recommended by the patentee ; for of all modes 

 hitherto employed none are so simple and effec- 

 tive as his. The turning in the ends of the 

 grippers below the ball would prevent the soil 

 from falling away from below, and the ball being 

 prepared as in ordinary cases, this transplanter 

 could be employed in all soils, however stony 

 or gravelly, which at present it cannot be, on 



