Age, Size, Roots, 



are not so large as those which are planted when two or 

 three feet liigh. This reason is quite enough. There needs 

 no others and the fact may be proved by thousands of 

 instances. But, if any additional reason were wanting, 

 there is the shape of the tree, and its ultimate size. M'^hen 

 trees are planted large, they are usually naked at bottom. 

 They have stood crowded in the nursery, and have no 

 branches, except near the top. In short, they are top-heavj/ 

 things, with trunk and root disproportioncd to their height; 

 and, to plant them is to provide yourself, at great expense, 

 with a tasting store of mortification. 



52. The cause why large trees suffer so nuich from being 

 moved, and that small ones do not, is, that, in the former 

 case, the roots, in proportion to the size of the tree, be- 

 come so much more curtailed, than they do in the latter 

 case. When a tree is moved, it must, however small it m^y 

 be, lose a considerable part of its roots ; and, observe, there 

 is not one particle more of root than is demanded by the 

 stem and the branches. A tree which is from 2 to 4 feet 

 high will have roots, if traced to their utmost extent, 4 

 or 5 feet long. How long, then, must those be of a tree 

 which is from 10 to 12 or 14 feet high ! And what a 

 violence is committed in the removal of such a tree ! If you 

 could, in any case, take up a tree with every one of its 

 roots unbroken, and to its utmost fibre, you must shorten 

 the roots ; for, who could make a place to plant a tree with 

 roots five, six, or twelve feet long ? Besides, the small hairy 

 fibres die, upon the tree being moved : they never strike 

 again. So that here is, in spite of all the pains that you 

 can take, a great suspension of supply to the stem of the 

 tree. In short, you are obliged to cut off the roots to a 

 certain extent, and to take away all the fibres. The roots 

 of a small tree may (as we shall see under the next head) 



