Age, SizEj Roots. 



his trees about half the size that they were of when planted ; 

 he sees many of them dead ; and, at the very best, he sees 

 them with dead branches, dead stumps, and with the means 

 of producing rottenness of trunk already prepared. Now, 

 a great deal of this loss and this great mortification would 

 be obviated by the additional expense of sixpence a tree at 

 the time of planting. I have shown before, in paragraph 56, 

 the cause of the general failure of large trees, and of their 

 necessary slowness of growth, take what pains you will, and 

 however favourable your soil and situation. But here is a 

 case of necessity : you must, in this case, have large trees, 

 or no trees at all ; and it is desirable to have the trees; they 

 are an ornament, an useful shade, a great beauty, and a great 

 benefit, private and public, and the planting of them are 

 amongst the noblest acts of noble-minded men. 



62. The great difficulty is, to obtain, at first, for the 

 trunk and br.inches, a sufficient supply of sap from a root 

 so greatly diminished. You cannot do this in any case ; not 

 even in that of the youngest trees, no, nor even in a cab- 

 bage or a Swedish turnip plant. All the outside leaves of 

 these latter die, in a few days, and new ones, fed by the new 

 roots, supply their place. So that, in the case of a large 

 tree, you ought to be content if it barely live the first year 

 out, take whatever pains you may. I am, when speaking, 

 which I shall do very minutely, of planting and managing 

 young trees, to speak of cutting them down, after planting. 

 But, as I, as 1 observed before, wish not to return to large trees 

 again, I shall observe here, that the large trees, thus planted, 

 might be cut off, near their tops, at the time of planting. 

 When large apple trees are transplanted from the nurseries 

 into orchards or gardens, their branches, of which they 

 usually have several, are always cut off to within six or eight 

 inches of the stem. The gardeners know well that they 



