31^ SIR HENRY STEUART's METHOD 



the tree happen to be of a tap-rooted species, going 

 down near a foot deeper, and opening a drain to 

 carry off any water which might lodge at the bot- 

 tom. After this, all that is necessary is to make the 

 earth as fine as it can be broken by the spade, and 

 to return it into the trench, putting what was for- 

 merly the sm-face below the rest, in order to give 

 every facility to the production of fibres. If the 

 tree is to remain only for two years, the same pro- 

 cess is to take place, with this difference, that on the 

 south and south-west sides two or three of the 

 strongest roots are to be left uncut, to act as stays 

 against the wind when the tree is transplanted. 



Somuchfor the preparation of trees standing singly. 

 We now proceed to give some directions of a similar 

 kind, for those growing in large masses, which, in ex- 

 tensive operations, it will generally be necessary to 

 have recourse to, from not being able to procure a suf- 

 ficient number of others. The most proper masses 

 of trees for the designs of the planter, are clumps, 

 belts, and groves of no great extent, and from 

 thirty to thirty-five years old. Such parcels of trees 

 Sir Henry Steuart prefers for what he terms a 

 Transplanting Nursery. To prepare them for re- 

 moval, they should in the first place be gradually 



