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THE planter's GUIDE. 



could be spared to mix tlirougli the mass ; but that is an 

 improvement which I have seldom had time to practise. 



Supposing the second case, and that the tree be to 

 stand only two years, the same method may be followed, 

 but with this difference, that on the south and south-west 

 sides, two, or perhaps three, of the strongest roots should 

 be left uncut, and allowed to pass entire through the 

 trench; so that, when taken up at their full length, they 

 can act as stays against the winds which may assail it 

 from those quarters. Something like this, as Evelyn 

 informs us, was done in his time by Lord Fitzharding."^'' 

 As to " forcing down trees upon their sides," so as to cut 

 the tap-root, which seems to have been practised by that 

 nobleman, it may answer with subjects such as his, which 

 were of the " bigness only of his thigh.'^ But with heavy 

 trees, besides endangering their stability, it would be 

 imprudent too severely to reduce their strength, by cutting 

 at one and the same time their downward and their lateral 

 roots. As to the tap-root, my practice always has been 

 to leave it untouched until the tree be taken up. The 

 power of renovation which it unquestionably possesses, 

 and the erroneous opinions of some respecting it, are 

 points that have been sufficiently illustrated in Section TV. 

 and the Notes, so as to satisfy any phytologist of the 

 striking analogy which subsists between the branches and 

 the roots, and that if, shortening may be safely practised 

 on the one, it cannot be injurious to the other. 



Before we quit the subject of preparing individual trees, 

 it may be proper to repeat what has been already stated, 

 that it is an error to imagine, as is done by many, that 

 cutting round is an operation which should always be 

 resorted to. When advisable, however, two good con- 

 sequences result from it. In the first place, it gives supe- 



* Silva. vol. i, p. 102. 



