Transplanting Trees, Their Treatment in 
Connection Therewith 
By Arthur Smith, New Jersey 
A FULL realizatiiiii of the fact that a living tree 
is an organized being, not a dead fence post or 
telephone pole, is necessary at every stage, and 
the more fully this fact is appreciated by all those 
connected with transplanting the more certain will be 
the success of the operation 
The word "operation" appears applicable in more 
senses than one. The lifting up from the soil in which 
a member of the vegetable kingdom has been growing 
for a more or less extended period of time, and replant- 
ing it into ant)ther position, which may or may not be 
similar in all respects to its previous environment, is 
undoubtedly, in a greater or less degree, a shock to it, 
in the same way that an operation upon any member 
of the animal kingdom produces a similar effect, vary- 
ing in intensity according to the character of the oper- 
ation, the constitution of the individual and the skill 
in carrying out the work. 
The success of a surgical operation upon a man de- 
pends upon several things, the principal of which may 
be stated as being: the age of the subject; his consti- 
tutional vigor ; proper preparatory treatment ; the skill 
of the surgeon, and nursing and care during convales- 
cence. Both in the case of an animal and a tree suc- 
cess will depend upon giving all the above points their 
full appreciation so that the actual shock of the opera- 
tion may be reduced to a minimum. On the other 
hand death may, in either case, be the result of neglect 
in connection with only one of the above points, al- 
though the actual operation itself may have been per- 
fectly carried out. 
The writer is not prepared to designate any particu- 
lar season tir month of the year as being absolutely 
the best, under all circumstances and in connection 
with all species, for transplanting. He has success- 
fully transplanted trees north of Philadelphia and in 
the West, in every month of the year excepting July. 
These have included most species and also young trees 
planted under forestry conditions that had to take care 
of themselves afterwards, as well as others of varying 
sizes in positions where they could receive the neces- 
sary after care. Doubtless evergreens can be planted 
during a more extended season than those of a decidu- 
ous nature. The period considered best for the latter 
is when they are dormant and the ground imfrozen, 
although under certain ccniditions their being dor- 
mant is unimportant as I have known Norway Maples 
transplanted successfully when in full leaf at midsum- 
mer. Evergreens are never dormant. 
In the ordinary way conditions of soil and weather 
have much to do with success (although the former 
is more or less under the control of the operator) and 
generally speaking, these are more favorable in spring 
than at other seasons ; but I have always endeavored 
to accomplish as much transplanting in the autumn 
as possible, and all other things being equal, spring 
planted trees will begin to suffer from hot weather the 
following summer much sooner than those planted the 
previous autumn. The ground is always warmer in 
the autumn than in the spring and for this reason new 
root action is quicker, ^^'hen we speak of dormant 
trees the term applies more to their tops than to their 
^Article winning the Lewis and Valentine Company Gold Prize. 
roots, as I ljelie\-e that roots are never dormant so 
long as the temperature of the soil around them re- 
mains over 35 F., and therefore the roots of autumn 
planted trees will be active all the winter if frost does 
not reach them and will have more or less recovered 
from the shock before the growing season commences. 
There is no doubt that a tree with a ball of a size 
commensurate with the size of the tree can be moved 
at any time. During winter, moving trees with frozen 
balls has been successfully practiced, and upon soils 
of a sandy nature this is the only method by which, 
a ball of earth around the roots can be maintained. 
It is unnecessary and dangerous to allow the ball to 
freeze absolutely solid, especially in the case of ever- 
greens. 
As mentioned above, the greatest certainty of success 
in transplanting is secured when the shock is reduced 
to a minimum, and in this connection care in lifting is 
of the utmost importance so as to preserve from injury 
the maximum amount of roots. The writer's success 
in translanting trees in, what may be termed, off sea- 
sons, would doubtless not have been obtained but for 
the fact that all the conditions, both before and after 
the operation, were under his control. When a tree 
has been carelessly dug up, as is too frequently found 
to be the case in trees sent from a nursery, the planter 
is handicapped from the start and the chances of the 
trees living very much reduced. 
A tree that has been properh- cared for in the nur- 
sery should have a mass of fibrous roots close to its 
trunk and there is no difficulty in lifting it with all 
its roots and if a ball is required, they, in this case, 
hold it together. Further, it is the fibrous roots only 
that are of any use to the tree in obtaining its food 
and drink. Too much care cannot be exercised in pro- 
tecting the roots after they have been exposed. \\'hile 
those of deciduous trees are perhaps less liable to in- 
jury from a short e.xposure, those of conifers may be 
killed in a very few minutes by sun and wind. Roots 
of all trees in process of transplanting should be pro- 
tected as soon as possible after the earth is removed 
from them with wet burlap, which should not be" 
allowed to dry out. 
While it is not always absolutely necessarv to move 
deciduous trees even of a large size with a ball, ever- 
greens should always be balled ; in either case it is ob- 
vious that the larger number of undisturbed roots that 
can be retained around a tree the less is the shock of 
removal and the sooner will the tree recover from the 
process. 
Much may lie done in the way of preparing trees for 
the operation, more especially those of a large size.' 
The soil under trees is invariably very dry at the end 
of summer and early autumn, and if a thorough water- 
ing be given so that the subsoil is well wetted the 
retention of a ball around the roots is greatly facili- 
tated. Time and money are always well spent in doing 
all that is possible to increase the vitalitv of large trees 
previously to transplanting and work to this end 
should be done some time in advance, one or two 
years would not be too great a time. In thi.'= direction 
copious supplies of water will go a long way. Trees 
that have been growing for some years in one place 
will more or less have exhausted the soil near them, 
267 
