deep, the tree would not fail to be wasted, or at least white 
nature was obliged to have recourse to expedients, it would 
be considerably retarded in its growth. It is seldom that a 
fine tree is to be met with, whose large roots are not close to 
the surface of the ground. As soon as the stem of the apple 
tree has come to about eight inches in circumference, it is 
time to transplant it into the orchard. It is, however, essen¬ 
tial to its growing, that its top should be previously lopped 
off, and then be immediately planted. 
When it has been fixed in its new residence, tread down 
strongly against the roots the earth, which in digging the pit 
had been taken from the surface, or else substitute mould in¬ 
stead of it; if, on the contrary, it is a heavy soil, it must be 
lightly trodden. In case the season should be advanced, and 
there would be reason to expect a continuance of dry weather, 
you will throw into each pit, at the time of planting, a few 
bucket’s-full of soft water. When the roots of a tree have 
suffered, either by carelessness in taking it up, or by having 
been kept too long out of the ground, it will be proper to 
prune them to the quick, and in the latter case, to steep them 
in soft water for some days before the tree is planted. 
Whoever will take the trouble to examine the trunk of an 
old tree which had never been transplanted, when cut hori¬ 
zontally, will perceive that the portions of heart and sap are 
thicker on the southern than on the northern side. This is a. 
convincing proof, that it is an object of some consequence 
how to give trees properly a southerly exposure on transplan¬ 
tation. For this reason, I prefer to insert the graft on the 
northern side, as I find that it covers again the wound of the 
stock the sooner. 
I remember to have observed, among other trees, three 
alders which grew near each other, and had been cut down 
close to the ground ; the first of them measured thirty inches 
in diameter, the second twenty-four, and the last twenty-one. 
The strongest of them had twenty incites of wood from the 
heart to the circumference, on the southern side; the other, 
sixteen; and the third, fourteen. These instances afford a re¬ 
markable coincidence, and I doubt whether many of the kind 
could be found; but they prove at least, that in this island, 
nature has made itself a law of a principle, that is to say, to 
nourish the wood a great deal more on the southern than on 
the opposite side. It is then highly probable, that the de¬ 
rangement occasioned in a great number of trees by not attend¬ 
ing to this particular in transplanting them, especially such as 
are come to a certain degree of strength, checks and stunts their 
growth, and very often destroys them without the cause being 
so much as suspected. 
Some time ago, a friend of mine shewed me three fine chau- 
montel pear trees on espaliers, which had been transplanted in 
his garden the preceding winter, two of which were dead. He 
did not know to what to attribute their loss, as he assured me 
they had been taken up with the most scrupulous attention. J 
enquired 
