Agk^ Size, Roots. 



for thenv while they are yearly diminishing in size and in- 

 creasing in ugliness. 



54. You may move some sorts of trees, with a chance of 

 success, when at a greater age and size, tlian you can, with 

 such chance, move others; and there may he, now and then, 

 a case, where it is uecessary to jdant hirge trees. When 

 this is done, the greatest possible care should be taken not 

 to bruize any part of the roots that are to remain. When a 

 tree ten feet high is taken up, you ought to begin by dig- 

 ging out the earth pretty deeply, at six or seven feet from 

 it; and, as you approach the stem, to take special care not 

 to tear or hridse the roots. The whole of the roots, as far as 

 you have been able to get them out of the ground, should 

 be kept on till you get the tree to the spot where it is to 

 stand. Then, the hole being ready, you should, with a 

 knife, kept constantly sharp, prune the roots, first taking out 

 quite clean all the hairy fibres : then you shorten the main 

 roots to about two feet long (if the tree be twelve or four- 

 ten feet high) ; then shorten the side roots that come out 

 of these, to four or six inches. Cut with a very sharp knife. 

 It will, however good it may be, soon grow dull when 

 employed on roots. But you must cut smooth, and not 

 lear, and not leave, at your cut, any bark of the root uncut 

 off, any more than you would leave the bark uncut off 

 when you prune a shoot or a branch above ground ; for, if 

 you do not cut clean, the amputated root, like ;\n ampu- 

 tated branch, becomes diseased, and thus injnres the tree. 

 The roots of such large trees should be kept out of ground 

 as short a time as possible ; and by no means be exposed 

 to the sun, or air, one moment longer than is absolutely 

 necessary. If, by any accident, they should become dry, 

 they should be laid in pond or rain water 10 or 12 hours 

 before the operation of planting takes place. This softens 



