316 



TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 



old roots were found not only furnished with fibres in the interior of the 

 ball, but the fibres were matted sufficiently to retain enough of soil to pro- 

 tect the roots at the time of removal ; and, what was of nearly equal import- 

 ance, callosities were formed at the ends of the amputated roots ready to 

 throw out spongioles as soon as they were surrounded by moist soil. This 

 mode, we believe, has not been much practised, excepting by Mr. Munro, 

 but we consider it excellent in theory ; and by using branches and litter, or 

 branches and turf, as a covering, or leaving the trenches quite open, as has 

 been done in subsequent trials, it will be found greatly more economical than 

 Sir Henry Steuart's method. It is obvious that the growth of the tree must 

 be greatly checked by this mode of preparation, which will consequently 

 have the effect of rendering it capable of living on a limited quantity of 

 food, and therefore much better adapted for removal. The only objection 

 that occurs to us is, that in the case of previous preparation for two or 

 three years, too many fibrous roots will be protruded into the ball, more,, 

 perhaps, than can be nourished in that limited bulk of soil, even after the 

 tree is transplanted. If, however, the tree is prepared only one year previous 

 to removal, the objection will not apply to the same extent, if at all. 



711. Transplanting by thinning and pruning the roots and branches is the 

 most common mode, and in a moist soil and climate it is generally attended 

 with success. The trees are taken up by cutting a trench round the roots 

 about the same distance as in preparing trees by the first mode (695) ; the 

 ends of the roots are sawn off and cut smooth, and the top is thinned of its 

 branches, and pruned more or less, according to the size of the tree, and the 

 soil, situation, and climate in which it is to be planted. When the tree is 

 of considerable size, say nine inches or a foot in diameter, it must necessarily 

 be deprived of the greater number of its effective roots ; and in this case, 

 unless in a very moist climate and soil, the safest mode is to cut off at least 

 half of the branches of the head, covering the sections left by amputation with 

 grafting-clay or grafting-wax. If trees are transplanted in this manner 

 immediately after the fall of the leaf, the wounds of the roots very soon 

 begin to heal over, and by the time spring arrives they are ready to throw 

 out fibres and to support the leaves protruded by the branches left, which in 

 their turn nourish the fibres of the roots by the returning sap. The second 

 year the roots will be more vigorous, and the buds on the branches will 

 probably elongate into shoots of an inch or two in length. In this way the 

 tree will gradually recover a certain degree of vigour, and it will ultimately 

 become either a stunted tree or a vigorous healthy one, according to the 

 quantitj'^ of nourishment afforded by the soil (see Pruning). In some cases 

 large trees can be removed without preparing the roots, and without cutting 

 off any, or at least very few, of the branches : but in such cases it will be 

 found that, from some cause or other, the roots are mostly near the surface 

 and the soil moist, and that a great proportion of the roots can be taken up 

 along with the tree. A great many trees, such as spruce, firs, alders, limes, 

 elm, and beech, from fifteen to forty feet high, were transplanted at Chalfont 

 House, in 1799, by Mr. Main. They grew on a thin stratum of rich bog 

 earth, reposing on a bed of moist gravel. When a tree had a trench dug 

 round it at the distance of three or four feet, the whole mass of roots rose 

 together, leaving the gravel clean and bare ; and the consequence was, that 

 with veiy little lopping, the trees, being planted in a similar soil and subsoil 

 all lived, and soon began to grow vigorously (Gard. Mag. vol. iv. p. 318) 



