TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 



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potting, pruning, training, thinning, weeding, watering, stirring the soil, 

 blanching, shading, sheltering, and protecting. 



§ I. — Transplanting and Planting. 



698. To transplant is to take up a plant with its roots, and to replant it 

 again in such a manner that it shall continue to grow. In some cases the 

 roots are taken up enveloped in soil and entire, as in transplanting plants in 

 pots ; and in others they are divested of soil, and more or less mutilated, as 

 is the case in all other modes. In whatever manner a plant has been origi- 

 nated, whether by seeds or by some modification of division, the first step in 

 carrying on its cultivation is most commonly transplanting. 



699. The uses of transplanting are : — 1. To afford more room for the 

 growth of the top, and for stirring and manuring the soil about the roots. 

 2. To produce immediate effect in scenery, by placing trees or shrubs in 

 particular situations. 3. To supply deficiencies in plantations already made. 

 4. By repeatedly transplanting, to limit the extent of the main roots, and to 

 increase the number of fibrous roots, within a limited distance of the stem 

 of the plant, and thus to fit it for being removed, with all its roots, when of a 

 large size. 5. To retard the growth and flowering of certain plants, and by 

 that means to increase the bulk and succulency of their foliage ; and, 6. To 

 inure plants to particular soils and situations. 



700. The theory of transplanting is founded on the functions common to 

 all plants, of growing when placed under favourable circumstances, whether 

 by accident or design ; of renewing within certain limits the parts of which 

 they have been prematurely deprived, and of having annually a season of 

 repose. Thus, annual plants, and others of small size, and of only a few 

 months' growth, may be taken up without injuring their fibres or spongioles, 

 and if replanted immediately their growth suffers no interruption ; while 

 trees, shrubs, and other large plants, which when taken up have their roots 

 mutilated and the functions of their spongioles interrupted, have a power of 

 protruding new spongioles, so as to renew the growth of their leaves and 

 branches, provided this mutilation take place during the period when the plant 

 is in a state of repose. When plants are in a state of active growth, a constant 

 perspiration is taking place from their leaves, which is supplied by the absorp- 

 tion of the moisture in the soil by the spongioles of the roots ; and when this 

 supply through the roots is cut ofiF by the destruction of the spongioles, the 

 leaves wither, and the plant dies or becomes greatly injured : but there is a 

 period in the growth of every plant, in which the leaves either drop off, as 

 in deciduous plants, or cease to be in a state of activity, as in evergreens ; 

 and it is only in this state that the operation of transplanting can be success- 

 fully undertaken with large plants. Even when trees are without their 

 leaves, perspiration is going on to a certain extent through the bark, and 

 absorption to supply this waste must necessarily be taking place at the 

 same time through the spongioles ; for though the functions of all plants are 

 annually in a dormant state, yet they are never wholly inactive; and, 

 hence, even in transplanting trees without their leaves, the effects of more 

 perspiration by the bark than the roots can supply must be guarded against. 

 This is more especially the case in transplanting evergreens, in which the 

 functions of the leaves, and, consequently, of the spongioles, are carried on 

 to a limited extent, even through the winter. As the perspiration both of 

 the leaves and bark is greatly dependent on the moisture or dryness of the 



