PLANTING AND TRANSPLANTING. 
459 
confinement in pots. It may, therefore, be 
laid down as a rule : — Uncoil the roots of 
pot-plants in planting them out into the free 
soil — uninjured, if possible, but uncoiled, at 
any rate. 
The position of the plant in reference to 
the surface level, is of much importance in 
a general way. The rule should be, to plant 
shallow, the cases in which deep planting is 
desirable being very rare. There is in plants 
a part called the neck or collet, which in 
seedlings is readily seen to be that which, in 
the young state, intervened between the pro- 
per roots and the seed-leaves : in plants raised 
from cuttings or layers, the corresponding 
part is found just above the roots. It is, 
therefore, most intelligibly defined, as the 
point whence the stem takes an upward, and 
the roots a downward direction — the point 
of junction, in fact, between the roots and the 
stems. This point should not be covered by 
the soil. Nature teaches this : a seedling 
plant, springing up under natural circum- 
stances, elevates its seed-leaves just above the 
surface, and this point of the stem never alters 
its position with respect to the surface ; so 
that naturally it does not become covered 
with soil. When, therefore, we resort to the 
unnatural process of transplantation, we should 
keep this fact in mind, and act upon it, by 
counteracting the tendency which exists to fix 
the plants deeper and deeper in the soil at 
each successive shifting. Some free-growing 
plants do not, indeed, refuse to grow vigor- 
ously enough when this matter is disregarded; 
but in the case of all those of more delicate 
habit, it is much the safest way to have it 
attended to ; indeed, choice plants are (unless 
the soil and situation be very dry and liable 
to become parched) generally the better when 
their roots are spread out on the natural sur- 
face, the necessary covering being applied in 
the form of a slight mound about the stem, 
extending sufficiently on every side to cover 
them securely. This rule applies most parti- 
cularly to ligneous or woody plants ; and of 
these, to such as do not very readily throw 
out fresh roots from their stems. Herbaceous 
plants more readily produce roots from their 
stems ; and in proportion to the facility with 
which this is done, is the advantage of plant- 
ing them deeper than ordinary. In the case 
of such herbaceous plants as produce a crown 
or tuft of leaves from the roots, as in the 
common garden parsley for example, it should 
be considered as an absolute rule, that the 
heart, — that is, the growing point in the centre 
of the crown of leaves, must be kept more or 
less above the surface of the soil ; but if this 
is secured, it is in general proper to set the 
tuft of leaves down close to the surface. 
These are somewhat general considerations. 
We may now proceed to notice in detail the 
manner of planting large trees, smaller trees 
and shrubs, herbs, bulbs, aquatics, and seed- 
ling plants respectively. 
Transplanting Large Trees. — This opera- 
tion is one involving considerable manual 
labour, which it is important should be well 
applied. Before detailing the process, we 
may address ourselves to the correction of 
what, under most circumstances, is an error 
common in the execution of it. The error 
alluded to, is that involved in the notion of 
preserving a ball or mass of earth about the 
roots. We have already explained that the 
active agents in absorbing nourishment from 
the soil, are the spongioles which exist at the 
points of the smaller fibrous roots, these being 
chiefly present towards the extremities of the 
entire system of roots. The expanse of the 
roots is usually reckoned as being about equal 
to that of the branches. Now, it is seldom 
practicable to retain and move a mass of earth 
about the base of the stem larger than from 
six to ten feet in diameter; and even this is dif- 
ficult, and the presence of such a mass of earth, 
generally, as a matter of necessity, rounded 
into as compact a form as possible, renders dif- 
ficult the process of fixing the tree in its new 
destination. It must be obvious that trees of 
a large size, say with a diameter of branches 
equal to twenty-five feet, can never have the 
extremities of their roots secured in a mass of 
earth ten feet in diameter ; in fact, not more 
than one-half of the length of the roots will be 
secured, and this half the most inactive and 
useless as concerns the immediate nourish- 
ment of the plant. It must be admitted, that, 
under any circumstances, few of the spongioles 
can, in such cases, be retained uninjured, so 
tbat new feeding=mouths must be formed after 
removal ; but the greater the proportion and 
extent of young roots preserved uninjured 
during removal, the greater is the power 
which exists in the tree, and which can be 
exerted by it, for the production of these new 
spongioles, after it is replanted, and conse- 
quently the safer is the operation of removal. 
This will be best illustrated by an example. 
Suppose a large tree, whose roots may be 
calculated to occupy a space of about ten feet 
in diameter, is to be removed. The usual 
practice would be, to dig out a trench all 
round the tree, at from two to two-and-a-half 
feet from the trunk, with the view of retaining 
and moving the mass of earth thus circum- 
scribed ; in doing this, all the roots which 
cross the excavated trench would be cut 
asunder, and, of course, the portion exterior 
to the trench would be lost to the tree. A 
good ball of earth is, however, secured ; and 
this is often dressed off by the removal of 
every projecting root. Such a tree would be 
