THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
1 February 20.J 
benefits to be derived from the adoption of trellises, 
; provided the platform principle be adopted, and that the 
soil is prepared with a special reference to the habits of 
the kind intended for the station. The latter is, indeed, 
one of the chief elements of successful culture ; for who 
doos not know, that in any one family of fruits, one kind 
shall bo gross, almost to wildness; another shall be 
delicate, nay, even weak in appearance; whilst a third 
shall be a happy medium between tbo two. Take 
for instance, the Manks Codling apple — who ever 
j found this growing too luxuriant? It will grow strong, 
certainly, but what is the consequence? Why, that it 
will bloom on the last year’s wood almost to the very 
points. Let, however, any one take the Dumelow’s 
Seedling, and highly excito it in a young state, with 
stimulating composts, and he will not gather a peck of 
apples for some seven years after planting: and there 
are others more strongly illustrative of this principle 
than the “ Dumelow.” Again, amongst cherries—Take 
the large leaved section, of which we may offer the 
Bigarreau as a type, and compare it with the Morello ; 
who would attempt to give both equal treatment ? 
Mr. Rivers thinks the Mahaleb stock will cure all these 
difficulties ; we feel some slight doubts about it at 
present; albeit, it is shewing a good deal of temerity to 
differ from so good an authority. 
And now we offer an opinion still further in favour of 
trellises ; and it is, that when these things are well 
carried out, with a due attention to the main principles, 
that there will be small occasion for orchard houses any 
where south of York. Not that we would for a moment 
slight such structures; but, economic as they are, there 
arc thousands who cannot afford to dabble much this 
way, and yet can perhaps put up a few yards of trellising. 
R. Errington. 
THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 
Transplanting. — I have been seeking an opportunity, 
for some weeks back, to write a paper on transplanting 
such trees or shrubs as one meets with in or near a 
flower-garden; and, at the outset, I would strongly 
advise those who cannot command the services of an 
experienced transplanter, not to be in a great hurry 
after they determine on removing any favourite tree or 
shrub, but first to prepare the roots in a proper manner 
some months previously to removal. Any one, there¬ 
fore, who will be influenced by this advice, will not 
undertake such work this spring. 
It is now too late to remove large trees of any kind, 
and it seems a settled opinion among all gardeners that 
largo evergreens should not be removed at all in the 
spring, though I equally think there are few gardeners 
of experience to bo found who would hesitate to remove 
an evergreen of any size any week in the whole year, 
and that, in fact, evergreens have been so removed with 
safety for many years back; but that is no reason why 
a favourite Arbutus, Cedar of Lebanon, or a Portugal 
Laurel, should be experimented upon by persons unac¬ 
quainted with such works, except at a season when the 
greatest number of chances are in their favour, and 
oven then, only after all the roots had been prepared 
for the change. 
It follows, that all which I mean to show or advise to 
bo done this spring, is the proper way of managing the 
roots, and to repeat, what 1 have often said, that July, 
August, and September are the best months to remove 
evergreens, and October and November the best for 
deciduous trees and shrubs, that is, for. plants of a large 
size. Young stock of either class will do, with ordinary 
care, cither at the end of the autumn or in the spring. 
The soil in the park here, and about the garden, is so 
light and often so shallow over sand, chalk, or gravel, 
319 
that the removal of large trees is a dangerous work if 
the following summer is very dry; so that we have found 
it necessary, for some years, to depart from the more 
usual routine, and in time wo have established a system 
of our own. I am now so far convinced of the supe¬ 
riority of this plan, both in removing largo trees, and 
in the previous way of managing their roots, over the 
best plans hitherto set forth, that I have full confidence 
in recommending it, not only to amateurs, but to all my 
brother gardeners and foresters. Gardeners will see the 
advantages of the system at once, when I say that a 
full grown tree may be removed, with three or four tons 
of soil about the roots, without laying the least strain 
on either roots or branches, or on men’s arms, in any 
way farther than what is necessary with spades, forks, 
and picks. 
Let us first begin by preparing the roots, for the 
next six weeks is, perhaps, as good a time for this part 
of the work as any other, if not the best. All wo gar¬ 
deners are well aware that trees derive the greater part 
of their nourishment, during a hot summer, from those 
roots which go down in the soil, rather than from those 
which spread right and left near the surface, where no 
moisture exists at such times; and fmit-growers are 
as well aware that when these down-roots, or tap-roots, 
get into a damp bed much below the surface, the trees 
grow either too fast or become cankered. Therefore, 
the first part of the business is to get at the tap-roots, 
cut them off, and so force the tree for one season to feed 
by the surface-roots. The growth from this feeding is 
not so much as formerly, but it is better ripened, and 
short well-ripened wood is preferred at planting time. 
Then, the cut ends of the tap-roots arc healed over, and 
a beard of small fibrous roots formed all round, and in 
this condition a tree suffers very little indeed if it is 
removed at the proper time. The usual way of pre¬ 
paring the roots for removal, is by cutting a trench all 
round a plant, at a certain distance from the stem, and 
as . deep as the side-roots are found—then to fill the 
trench with the same, or with better, soil, and this is the 
way that we have hitherto directed in The Cottage 
Gardener; but now that I have had sufficient proofs 
to back me, I say at once the plan, old as it is, is on a 
wrong principle. The side-shoots should not be inter¬ 
fered with until the day the tree or shrub is to be re¬ 
moved, except in a few cases, where the kind of tree is 
difficult to remove with safety—say a Cedar of Lebanon, 
or an Evergreen Oak; but I shall take a view of excep¬ 
tional by-and-by. Now, let us suppose a largo Portu¬ 
gal Laurel before us, on level ground, and that we are 
to go about it according to the newest fashion for re¬ 
moval. At the end of next July—the best time for the 
Portugal Laurels—five or six feet from the stem, mark 
off a square of four feet on the side, and dig it out a 
yard deep. In a less space, a handy man could work a 
spade right or left, or straight forward, with ease; but 
as all men are not equally handy in a square pit, let us 
say four feet instead of three. If any of the side-roots 
were in this space, they were cut, and there was no help 
for it; but the man is now in the pit, and he must 
be told that no more side-roots arc to be cut on any 
account, but that he may now work his way to the 
I stem of the laurel by loosening the face of the bank 
I before him with a fork or pick, throwing out part of the 
soil, and casting the rest behind him in the pit, so as 
to lessen his task. This is only a small section of the 
kind of labour necessary in removing large trees—the 
side-roots are taken care of, and the man gets as near 
the stem of the tree as these roots will allow him, in an 
open trench, and it often happens that the very side of 
the stem or collar of the plant is reached without any 
impediments from the roots. The trench .just under 
the side of the tree need not bo more than two feet 
deep, so that the man is working his way up to tho 
