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LARGE TREES: HOW AND WHEN TO REMOVE THEM. 
planting, some summer, and others autumn. It is not my intention in this paper to enter into the 
merits or demerits of either of these periods; but I may remark that winter and early spring seem to me 
to be the worst of all times for transplanting large evergreens and deciduous trees, that being the season 
when almost all trees are, comparatively, in a state of rest, and consequently, when disturbed, the 
roots must suffer from having to remain a considerable time in an inactive state from not being able to 
take proper hold of the new soil in which they are placed. A gardener who would begin a general 
shifting of his plants when they were in a comparative state of torpidity, and who expected by such 
means to exhibit specimens of the most perfect cultivation, would certainly not be considered quite up 
to the mark as regards his reflective faculties. It appears to me that this has a bearing on the case 
before us. Why should we consider it best to remove large trees when they are in a torpid state, 
and yet condemn the man who would shift his plants when in a state of rest P This seems to me 
irreconcilable with sound reason :—surely no one can think it is right to transplant trees when torpid, 
and wrong to pot plants when in the same state. A knowledge of the laws which act in the vegetable 
economy would lead one to infer that the former system is equally wrong with the latter. "Would it 
be proper, then, to remove large trees in summer, when they were in their most active state P Most 
assuredly it would be proper, and the best of all times, provided we had such a command over the 
atmosphere as to prevent a too great drain on the mutilated roots, for the supply of the leaves in the 
process of perspiration, caused by the powerful influence of the sun’s rays on their porous tissues. 
By shading to prevent evaporation, and by causing an artificial moist atmosphere around the objects 
of our care, we might succeed ; but then here is the difficulty. Where a considerable number of large 
trees are to be removed, it would be out of the question to think of shading them, and if they get a 
supply of water at the roots, they would perhaps have to remain contented. It behoves us, then, to 
look for a period when the tree is neither in a torpid state, nor in its most active growth, nor when 
the sun's rays are so destructively powerful on trees unprepared with a sufficient supply of evaporative 
matter from the roots to satisfy the demands made upon it by a hot dry atmosphere, and we shall find 
that from the middle of August to the end of September is the best period, as providing for the 
circumstances of our case. Here I may remark that my experience is very much in favour of autumn 
planting, as a proof of which I beg to offer the following experiment. But first I may add, that if 
my humble testimony be of any service to the course of autumn planting, I freely give it, having had 
on many occasions to remark the superiority of autumn-planted trees over those planted at any 
other time. 
On the estate of a nobleman in the north of England, circumstances required that a number of 
large trees should either be cut down, or removed altogether, and be transplanted, to admit of a 
carriage drive being formed through the plantation of some fifty years’ growth, in which they were 
growing. Some part of the drive being through an open park, it was suggested to remove and trans¬ 
plant a number of trees for immediate effect in connection with the drive. The question then arose—• 
When is the best time to remove them ? and it was decided to remove half of them then, the middle 
of August, and the other half in February and March following, the drive not being required to be 
finished till the following summer. Accordingly, half were removed, and transplanted from the 
middle of August to the end of September, and the other half in February and March following. I may 
remark that equal care was taken with both lots, and the only difference in treatment was, that those 
planted in the autumn were frequently moistened all over their leaves with the garden engine. This 
happened about ten years back, and from a letter now before me, written three years since, I take the 
following :—“ You will be glad to learn that the majority of the trees you helped to remove are doing 
very well. Ten per cent, of those removed in spring died, while only four per cent, of those removed 
in autumn. This, I think tends to strengthen the opinion you have often heard me express, that 
autumn is the best time to remove large evergreens and forest trees.” Since this it has frequently 
fallen to my part to remove large trees and shrubs, and I have been more firmly convinced of the 
correctness of the above opinion by the superiority in every case that has come under my notice of 
autumn-planted trees over winter and spring-planted ones. Still, however, there may be those who 
will doubt the correctness of this doctrine; and, as time alone can demonstrate the correct practice, and 
it will too, I will not attempt to strengthen my argument, further than to say that what I have stated 
is founded on practice guided by theory. I will now T proceed to make a few remarks on the more 
practical part of the subject, viz., how to remove large trees. 
I believe it is possible to remove and transplant the largest tree in England, provided an apparatus 
strong enough were used, but as I do not intend in this paper to show how this might be done, I will 
proceed to deal with trees of a medium size, say from thirty to forty feet high, and proportionately 
clothed with branches. The first thing that we must attend to, then, is to get the tree up ; and here 
