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which he has to perforin; and enables him, also, to calculate 
with certainty on his success. Having said thus much by the 
way of preliminary remark, I come now to what more immedi- 
ately forms the subject of this paper; viz. the proper season at 
which evergreen shrubs should be transplanted, so as to sustain 
the least injury from their removal. The period, then, of the 
greatest action in the economy of these shrubs is surely not the 
desirable time ; neither can that be the most fitting season 
when they are in a comparatively torpid state. In the former 
instance, the plants will suffer from the natural season of excite- 
ment, which the more or less unavoidable mutilation of the 
roots will render them unfit to sustain; whereas, in the latter 
case, the fibrous roots will perish from the extended period dur- 
ing which the plants will be compelled to remain in a torpid 
condition. Well, then, a time between the two extremes (say 
during the month of April) may be suggested ; but this would 
be a fatal suggestion, as at this season all vegetable life is, as 
it were, charged, like a voltaic battery, waiting the influence of 
a genial sun to discharge its accumulated provisions into leaves, 
flowers, and fruit. The branches must sympathize with the 
roots, which, at the three periods cited, ought not to be dis- 
quieted. It will be perceptible, from the preceding observa- 
tions, that there is yet another season at which the proceedings 
of the skilful and cautious may be rendered successful; and the 
guide for discovering this period is a very simple one. The 
time I propose shall be alike free from the extremes of either pre- 
sent or immediate prospective excitement, and shall yet not be 
the season of maximum transpiration. It is a well-known and 
understood fact, as well as a matter of common practice, that 
the successful propagation of a great number of evergreen 
shrubs is prosperously effected at the time the young shoots 
have attained a firmness of texture, easily distinguished by the 
practical operator. We may instance the laurel, camellia, &c., 
which will have arrived at this condition about the end of Au- 
gust. These cuttings then contain abundance of the active cir- 
culating fluid, wliich, in its downward course, forms a callosity 
which presently emits roots. It is this time, during the de- 
clining year, which I have found the most desirable season to 
conduct the operation of transplanting evergreen shrubs. I 
have thus laid down a general rule for removing evergreens 
