310 



TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 



atmosphere, it follows that on the state of the weather at and after trans- 

 plantmg, a good deal of the success of the operation must depend ; and as the 

 kind of weather bears close relation to the season of the year, that also 

 requires to be taken into consideration. All plants, considered with reference 

 to transplanting, may be divided into three classes, viz., those which can be 

 transplanted in a state of active growth, and with their leaves on, which are 

 chiefly seedlings, and other small plants, and plants in pots ; those which can 

 only be transplanted with success when without their leaves, as deciduous 

 trees, and herbaceous perennials of more than a year's growth ; and those 

 which are transplanted when their leaves are on, but in a comparatively 

 dormant state, as evergreens. 



701. Seedlings and such small plants as can be taken up with all their 

 fibres and spongioles uninjured, and planted immediately, may be removed 

 at any season which admits of the progress of vegetation; though their 

 success will be most certain when the atmosphere is warm and cloudy, 

 and the soil moist rather than dry; as under such circumstances the 

 absorption carried on by the spongioles will be very slightly interrupted, 

 and the perspiration of the leaves not checked. In performing the 

 operation, the plants are raised out of the soil by a flat-pointed stick, or 

 trowel, or a spade ; or when the soil is moist, stout seedlings, such as those 

 of the hardier varieties of the cabbage tribe, may be drawn out by the hand ; 

 and they are replanted in holes made for them by the same implements ; and 

 after the insertion of the plant, the hole is filled up with soil gently pressed to 

 the roots, and, if necessary, water is given. Tender plants, when thus 

 transplanted, are covered with a hand-glass or frame, to preserve a moist 

 atmosphere around them ; or if in pots, they are plunged into a hotbed for 

 the same purpose, and also to stimulate their roots. The hardier annuals, on 

 the other hand, such as seedlings of the cabbage tribe, may be transplanted 

 with less care, since when they flag or fade, their leaves soon recover again, 

 in consequence of fresh spongioles being emitted by the main or tap root. It 

 is even asserted by experienced gardeners, both in Britain and on the Conti- 

 nent, that plants of the cabbage tribe grow faster, when in transplanting they 

 have been kept sufficiently long out of the soil to cause their leaves to fade ; 

 the plants, in this case, De Candolle observes, pumping up moisture rapidly 

 in proportion to the degree in which their interior tissue lias been deprived 

 of it. During moist weather, or where there is an opportunity, by means of 

 coverings, of preserving a moist atmosphere round plants, and excluding the 

 direct rays of the sun, herbaceous plants of considerable size, with the leaves 

 on, may be transplanted ; but in ordinary weather, and without the aid of 

 protection, this is difficult in proportion to the number and size of the leaves, 

 the thinness of their texture, and the number of their stomata. The evapora- 

 tion, in cases of this kind, bemg greater than the absorption by the spongioles, 

 it requires to be lessened by cutting off" a portion of the disks of the leaves, 

 by thinning them out, or by cutting them off" altogether. In general, this 

 latter treatment can only be practised with impunity in transplanting young 

 plants that have fleshy roots, such as the Swedish turnip, the rhubarb, &c. 

 In transplanting seedlings, the top or main perpendicular root is generally 

 shortened to increase the number of lateral spongioles, more especially in the 

 case of vigorous-growing plants. The object of this shortening is, in some 

 cases^ to cause the roots to derive their chief nourishment from the upper and 

 richest part of the soil; and in others, that the plant by having abundance of 



