12 
BUi-LETIX 334, U. 5. DEPAETMEXT OP AGEICULTUEE. 
qiiite finished and their priQcipal twig growth has ceased. It is im- 
portant, therefore, in taking up either a wild or a cultivated plant 
from the open groimd that as much as possible of the old root mat be 
carefully lifted with the plant, for upon this the plants depend for 
moisture imtil their new rootlets are formed. 
In the case of mature wild bushes with very large root systems, 
when it is practicable to secure but a fraction of the root mat. say 
a disk only 3 or 1 feet in diameter, it is the best procedure to cut all 
the stems at the time of transplanting to stmnps 1 to 2 inches high. 
The bush will then produce a new and symmetrical top of a size suited 
to the capacity of the roots. The wood that is removed may be used 
for cuttings if the plant is sufficiently valuable. 
The stems that make up a bush usually develop fibrous roots on 
their basal portions beneath the surface of the soil and above the 
root crown, at which the several stems unite. Such plants can be 
divided into several when taken up for transplanting. As many as 
30 plants, each cut to a stimip and with its own small but sufficient 
portion of the root mat. have been secured in this way from a large 
wild plant. By utilizing the various methods of propagation de- 
scribed in this publication as many as 600 cuttings of roots, stems, 
and twigs have been made from a single very large wild bush. 
In resetting plants from which the tops have been removed, the 
stumps should be made to project about an inch above the surface of 
the groimd. Xew shoots are formed in spring from such exposed 
stumps much earlier than from stimips covered with soil and not 
receiving the warmth of the sim's direct rays. If the plant when 
reset is made to occupy a moderate depression in the groimd. the old 
stiunx^ and the bases of the new stems can afterward be covered with 
soil and a new root system will finally develop from the new wood. 
TThen blueberry plants are set out in early spring, before the buds 
have begim to push, they usually make excellent growth, and for 
all plants that are pruned to the stump early spring is the best season 
for transplanting. 
Conditions with unpnmed plants, however, are different. Since 
blueberry plants make no new root growth until lat« spring, it often 
happens that a period of hot days intervenes between planting and 
rooting, and many plants are injured by an excessive loss of wat^r 
before they have had time to make connection with the water supply 
of the siirroimding soil through the development of new roots. The 
danger of such injury is gi'eatest in the case of plants transplanted 
from pots. The old root ball sends up most of its water to the leaves, 
and in consequence, being at first, as a rule, in imperfect capillary 
contact with the new outside soil, the root ball commonly contracts 
slightly. The contraction is often sufficient to put the roots at the 
surface of the root ball permanently out of contact with the sur- 
rounding soil, and the plant may continue to suffer severely from 
