OF TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES. 311 



post be taken, or a like quantity of coal-ash, for a 

 tree of the middle size ; to which add four or five 

 cart-loads of tolerable mould of an opposite quality, 

 if possible, to that of the ground. These ingredi- 

 ents are to be thoroughly mixed, and raised in a 

 heap around the stem of the tree. They are then 

 to be spread in a sloping direction outwards, to the 

 farthest extent of the roots, keeping them about six 

 inches deep at the extremities, and double that 

 depth at the stem. During the first year after this 

 is done, the fibres of the roots will strike upwards, 

 and pervade the whole mass, and, by this means, 

 both roots and branches will be so materially im- 

 proved, that in the course of three or four years the 

 tree will become a fit subject for removal. 



Should the roots alone be defective, the following 

 easier method may be adopted : let a trench thirty 

 inches wide be opened round the tree, and if you 

 intend it to remain four years, let the distance of this 

 trench from the stem be three feet; or let it be six feet, 

 if you intend to remove the tree at the end of two 

 years, the shortest space that can be allowed between 

 such treatment and transplantation. In the first 

 case, the depth of the trench must at least meet the 

 subsoil, excavating the side next the tree, so as that 

 the roots may in some degree be undermined ; or if 



