30 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



cision, to wliicli little could have been added by the 

 industry of his successors. It was (to compare great 

 things with small) like the ill fortune of the Romans in 

 missing the discovery of the art of printing by movable 

 types, when, as their pottery indicates, they may be said 

 to have possessed that of stereotype. 



In this condition of the art of transplanting, it was still 

 necessarily confined, for want of science to direct and 

 simplify it, to the grounds of the powerful and opulent ; 

 and sundry devices were adopted by their gardeners, and 

 other operators, to render the practice more efl&cient, and 

 to reduce the expense within moderate limits. Although 

 numerous oxen and horses were still employed to drag 

 the ponderous load of earth, on which their hopes of 

 success mainly rested, yet sundry efforts of ingenuity 

 were exerted for the preservation of the roots ; and, as 

 the subjects were large, even the assistance of frost was 

 called in for that desirable object. Soon after the fall, 

 and before hard weather set in, a trench was opened of 

 some extent, and at a sufficient distance from the trees, so 

 as to undermine the roots. Blocks and quarters of wood 

 were next placed in the excavation, to keep up the earth. 

 The trench was then filled with water, which was sufi'ered 

 to freeze ; and thus an immense and weighty mass of 

 earth and roots, bound firmly together by congelation, 

 was conveyed with the trees to the situation intended. 

 Here, however, it was previously necessary to preserve the 

 mould from freezing also, by covering up the surface with 

 fresh litter, to some distance round the new pit. 



It deserves particular notice that, in transporting 

 these unwieldy subjects, no other than their erect position 

 was contemplated by the inventors. By means of a vast 

 wooden crane strongly braced with iron, both trans- 

 versely and longitudinally, with ropes and pulleys to work 



