PLANTING. 



387 



put in which keeps the spades in that position. 

 Two hooks, d are then put on two opposite 

 sides of the frame, through which a handspike 

 e is passed ; all things are now ready for the 

 lift, which is taken by four men, two at each 

 end of the handspikes, who take hold of them 

 and lift up shrub and ball. (It will be found 

 that lifting a ball of earth 2 feet square on this 

 principle will not occupy more time than five or 

 six minutes). It may then be carried on the hand- 

 spikes, or, if the distance is great, on a wheel- 

 barrow, to the place where it is to be trans- 

 planted ; the hole being dug, the ball and plant 

 are placed in it, and the earth filled in round 

 about, and the apparatus removed, which com- 

 pletes the operation. The sizes of this machine 

 vary from 14 inches to 4 feet 6 inches, but of 

 course a 4-feet 6 ball will require four spades 

 entirely of malleable iron, and the extension- 

 rods require a screw at one end (instead of a 

 pin), to facilitate their application. 



The janker tree-lifter. — This, if not the best 

 of such machines, is evidently that in most com- 

 mon use. It is, however, only calculated for 

 carrying them in a horizontal position, while all 

 those we have noticed are calculated to carry 

 them perpendicularly. No doubt the latter is 

 the best, because there is no strain on any part 

 of the stem, and also because the branches are 

 less liable to sustain injury during their tran- 

 port. One objection to the janker is in its con- 

 struction : the wheels should be much higher 

 than they generally are, and, in addition to this, 

 the bolstering over the axle should be much 

 greater and the pole longer. These things com- 

 plied with, the branches would be carried higher, 

 and hence escape the injury they sustain by 

 trailing on the ground. Neither in loading nor 

 in the act of transport can the janker be much 

 objected to ; it is in the unloading and placing 

 the tree perpendicularly on its new site that the 

 defects of this machine become most obvious, 

 and this is increased in proportion to the size 

 of the tree. The raising the height of the wheels 

 and bolstering over the axle, as we have sug- 

 gested, will, however, to some extent modify this 

 defect. Many hundred trees of from twenty to 

 thirty feet in height have been transplanted by 

 this machine in Dalkeith Park within these few 

 years, and a success has attended the operation 

 more than usually satisfactory. These trees 

 were in no way previously prepared, but great 

 care has been taken in preserving the roots, per- 

 forming the work in fitting weather, and above 

 all, giving sufficient scope to the new roots to 

 extend in prepared soil. 



Transplanting herbaceous plants. — These for 

 the most part are easily transplanted, as well as 

 multiplied, and the season for performing the 

 operation is either before they begin to grow, 

 in spring, or immediately after they have ceased 

 flowering. Indeed the rule should be, to divide 

 for propagation, and to transplant as soon as 

 they have done flowering, and when the stems 

 are beginning to decay. So extensive is this 

 assemblage of our gardens, that the processes of 

 transplanting and subdivision will require to be 

 going on at almost all seasons of the year. For 

 general purposes, however, the autumn and 



spring are the most proper. Herbaceous plants 

 are easily transplanted with few exceptions, and 

 some of these are, Dictanmus, Potentilla, Dian- 

 thus, Acanthus, Astragalus, Coronilla, Lathyrus, 

 Linum, lberis, Lupinus, Lythrum, Medicago, 

 Nepeta, Papaver, Pisum, Santolina, Statice, 

 Trillium, Helonias, and several others. 



Transplanting by mudding-in, or puddle-plant- 

 ing. — This mode is much in use in Belgium and 

 Germany, and over most parts of the Continent 

 where the soil is light ; it is, however, seldom 

 practised in Britain. The operation is thus 

 performed : When the pit is dug, water is 

 poured in, and the mould is stirred about until 

 it becomes a complete mass of mud ; mould and 

 water is added until the pit is about half full. 

 The tree is then inserted, and the roots wrought 

 up and down, so as to spread them as equally 

 through the mass as possible. The remaining 

 soil, after being converted into mud, is then 

 thrown in until the pit is full, when the whole 

 is covered with dry soil, and raised round the 

 stem, leaving a hollow basin for future supply 

 of water ; the whole is then mulched over with 

 litter. Councillor Diel, a scientific German 

 author and amateur, asserts that trees thus 

 planted in spring prosper better in cold situa- 

 tions than those planted in autumn in the or- 

 dinary manner. Ponty, in " Rural Improver," 

 observes of this practice, that the soil becomes 

 speedily too firm and too hard, and prevents 

 the roots of the plant from spreading, and also 

 that water is completely prevented from reach- 

 ing to the roots. In this opinion every sensible 

 planter will concur. 



Transplanting by fixing with water. — This is 

 merely a modification of the last method, and 

 is sufficiently useful in dry soils, in dry weather, 

 and when the tree is to be planted without a 

 ball. Ponty, in the work last quoted, approves 

 of this plan, and describes it as follows : " The 

 hole being made, and the tree placed in it in 

 the usual manner, the root is then slightly 

 covered with the finer part of the soil, the tree 

 being at the same time shaken, as is common, 

 to settle the earth about its roots. Water is 

 then applied with a common garden watering- 

 pot, by pouring it upon the soil with some force, 

 in order to wash it close to and among the roots 

 of the plants. But this can only be done effi- 

 ciently by elevating the pot as high in the hand 

 as can conveniently be used, after first taking 

 off the rose. It will be obvious that for such 

 purposes a large pan with a wide spout is to be 

 preferred. The hole is then filled up with the 

 remainder of the soil, and that again consoli- 

 dated with water as before, which usually fin- 

 ishes the business." The late Mr M'Nab, a 

 high authority, recommended the soil to be wet 

 enough to be almost like thick paint. 



Placing the tree according to its former aspect. 

 — Some cultivators attach considerable import- 

 ance to placing the tree at planting so that it 

 shall stand in the same position with respect to 

 the cardinal points that it did previous to re- 

 moval; believing that, in the case of trees having 

 young and tender bark, the bad effects of sun- 

 strokes are thus guarded against. The majority 

 of planters, however, pay little attention to the 



