82 
THE FLORIST AND POAIOLOGIST. 
kindly created man and given to him the powers of reason and observation, 
which, if he exercises, allow him to moderate or increase the supplies of food 
so as to make the plant subservient to his wishes and wants. This reason and 
observation has resulted in giving us improved exotic fruits, and at seasons, 
too, when they are not to be found in their native lands; and, even when they 
are, we have them much larger and of better flavour. 
The science of root-pruning is but a comparatively late discovery. I think 
that it originated with the Dutch. When I was in Holland, thirty years ago, 
I went to see many of the villa gardens at Haarlem, and saw some very 
ingenious specimens of it. It was perfectly beautiful to see the balance of 
their Peach trees; and in England, too, at that time, the trees at Hylands, 
the seat of Mr. Labouchere, were beautiful, Mr. Labouchere having a Dutch 
gardener, 
Shallow borders with impervious bottoms were a favourite suggestion of my 
late worthy friend, Mr. Errington, than whom a more clever gardener never 
lived. They prevent over-luxuriant growth for some years; but I think the 
principle of transplanting the best. 
I will now proceed to give an account of my brother’s practice. In doing 
so I must premise by saying that he has large walls covered by trees of 
Denyer’s Victoria Plum, Washington, and Green Gage. They covered the 
walls with luxuriant growth, but produced few Plums. He, therefore, set to 
work and removed them, taking care not to shorten the young shoots. The 
result was such a crop as I never saw before, with a basket of which he took 
the first prize at the Crystal Palace. His process is this: About the last 
week in October—or say the first in November—he commences operations 
upon such trees as he intends removing. A deep semicircular trench is dug 
out at the utmost circumference of the roots, or if a little beyond that the 
better. Forks are then used, and the whole of the roots most carefully under¬ 
mined and laid back, carefully preserving every fibre, proceeding in this way 
till the whole mass of roots is disentangled. The tree is now taken up, and it 
will be for the master of the work to examine the roots and observe if there 
are any very strong, producing what the French call gourmandes on the tree. 
If there are any such they should be shortened or cut out, at the cultivator’s 
discretion, and every little excrescence from which suckers proceed should 
likewise be pruned off with a good sharp knife. 
The tree having undergone this surveillance , may now be replanted. For 
this purpose the ground must be levelled, and three or four barrowsful of 
chopped fresh turfy loam spread over the surface, on which to lay the roots. 
The same should, after they are all regularly spread out, be laid upon them, 
and over that the common soil, when the operation is completed. Mv brother 
thinks that the operation may be repeated with advantage once in five years. 
It would be well, therefore, so to apportion the trees, that a certain number 
should come in annually for removal. 
I have already said that I prefer this system of transplanting to confining 
the trees in narrow pent-up borders. These must in time become matted with 
roots, and may in particularly dry and hot summers feel the want of sufficient 
nutriment, which our system of transplanting supplies in a moderate degree. 
Having finished planting the tree, it should be left till the latest period of the 
pruning and nailing season before it is trained to the wall, so as to give it time 
to settle down sufficiently in the earth, which it could not do if fastened to the 
walls. Over the roots a good mulching of rotten dung or decayed leaves 
should be placed, and frequent attention should be paid in the growing season, 
with copious waterings. Thus circumstanced, the tree will in the following 
season be a mass of fructiferous shoots and spurs. 
