416 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



fibres entire, in extricating them from the ground. In this way, in 

 good rooting-ground, he would have roots sixteen or seventeen feet long 

 of a side. As soon as the tree was pulled down, and that the depth or 

 thickness of the mass or ball of earth could be ascertained, I further 

 advised that the bottom of it should be worked as flat as possible, even 

 should some downward or perpendicular shoots suffer in the operation ; 

 when, if there were the slightest declivity in the ground, (as generally 

 happens towards the exposed side,) the ball or mass might be wheeled 

 round on its bottom the entire circle, and thus the position of the branches 

 be completely reversed. 



During this process, it is to be observed, that the most favourable 

 opportunity would be aflforded, supposing the land to be of a shallow 

 description, to extend the pabulum of the tree by the introduction of 

 fresh mould, and suitable compost, during the replanting. No lighten- 

 ing or mutilating of the top or lateral branches would here be necessary; 

 because the person directing the work would necessarily take care to 

 ascertain, before its commencement, the proper extent of the excavation 

 and the due length of the roots and fibres, so as to proportion the roots 

 to the wants of the top. Were this process conducted with tolerable 

 judgment, and according to the directions given in the present treatise, 

 I ventured to promise the owner, and I think not rashly, that with 

 expert workmen, and at the expense of from 15s. to 20s. per tree, he 

 might substitute a very handsome for a very unsightly object. In a 

 few years, likewise, it would happen that the tree would be beautifully 

 balanced, by an extension of its branches on the deficient side, now 

 turned to leeward, without any loss of the powers of development in 

 either its branches or its roots. 



I think it worth while to state the above, as being in a great measure 

 a remedy for that for which no remedy seems as yet to have been dis- 

 covered, and which is an evil of considerable magnitude to persons so 

 circumstanced. No one, of course, will suppose that it is meant to 

 recommend the reversing or wheeling round of ill-balanced trees in 

 ordinary circumstances ; because, where the exposure is not excessive, 

 and the two angles formed by trees with the ground, on the sheltered 

 and the windward sides, are not extremely diff*erent, judicious pruning 

 may certainly cure every deformity of top. But in any case, much 

 will depend on the judgment displayed in the execution. 



Note VIII. Page 103. 



The notion that trees, whether young or old, suffer greatly on removal, 

 if not replanted in the same exposure, and also in the same position, 



