14 
So many applications are now made to us for in- 
structions how to manage the removal of large 
shrubs, which the owners wish to take from some 
part of their garden to other more desirable spots, 
that we will give an answer to one of the applicants 
thus prominently, and our answer shall he suffici¬ 
ently explicit to serve as a guide to others who wish 
for information relative to similar transplantings. 
The inquirer to whom we are about to reply spe¬ 
cially, writes thus:—“ F. C. will feel much obliged for 
any information about moving a fine standard tree 
of the Magnolia purpurea, which is at present in a 
place where it cannot be seen, and where the soil is 
quite worn out. The tree is more than five feet high, 
but has only room on one side to spread to the 
ground. F. C. wishes to remove it, if it can be done, 
to a bed by itself, with some good bog earth, and 
where it can have plenty of room.” There will be 
no difficulty in removing this Magnolia purpurea if 
the planter takes time to get up the roots without 
cutting them much. Let the bog-earth bed be first 
prepared; cut out a circular trench round the plant, 
and three feet from the stem, with a shai’p spade, and 
let the trench be 18 or 20 inches deep; then, with 
a three-pronged fork, loosen down the edges of the 
ball of earth round the roots as deep as the trench, 
and throw out this loose earth with the spade; pro¬ 
ceed to loosen another portion, and throw that out 
of the trench also; continue in this way until the 
stem is nearly reached, taking care of all the roots 
as they are disengaged from the soil by tying them 
in bundles, and folding them back, if possible, to¬ 
wards the stem. If any tap-roots are grown down 
below the bottom of the trench, trace them out a 
little deeper, and then cut them with a knife. If a 
small portion of the earth will adhere round the stem, 
all the better, but it is not essential to success. If the 
new bed is recently made, tread it firmly and evenly 
where the tree is to be planted, and spread out the 
roots flatly on the surface, and drive down a stout 
stake by the side of the stem to tie it to. Then 
cover the roots gently, and with a rose watering-pot 
pour a few potsful of water over the roots as they 
are being covered. The water will wash the finer 
particles of earth into all the cavities ; and on no ac¬ 
count let the plant be shaken “ to let the soil in 
among the roots !” as old gardeners were accustomed 
to justify the treatment; it is an obsolete and mis¬ 
taken practice which has killed thousands of plants. 
The roots as they are separated from the soil, and tied 
in bundles as above directed, should be covered over 
immediately with wetted straw, or other damp mate¬ 
rial; for a very important point in all transplanting, 
where to avoid any important check to the plant’s 
growth is desirable, is to keep its roots from having 
even their surface dry. With reference to shaking 
the newly-planted shrub, if the earth has been pro¬ 
perly watered as we have directed, it will be suffici' 
October 11. 
ently washed in among the roots, and the shaking 
only either doubles up the young fibres, or creates 
hollows about them which it is so important to pre¬ 
vent, that every precaution must bo used to prevent 
the shrub from being wind-waved. To a shrub four 
or more feet high, there ought to be three stakes 
placed at opposite sides, thrust very firmly into the 
ground, and their ends meeting together so as to 
clasp the stem of the shrub at rather above half its 
height from the ground. 
The facts detailed by us last week relative to the 
influence of heat upon seeds, and the necessity for its 
presence to induce their germination, lead us, next, to 
the very important inquiry whether the soil has any 
influence over the temperature occurring to the seed, 
and to the roots of plants placed beneath its surface. 
The researches of M. Scliluber and of others answer 
this query in the affirmative. This distinguished 
German chemist found that when the temperature 
of the upper surface of the earth was 77° in the 
shade, various soils in a wet and dry state, exposed 
to the sun from eleven to three, in vessels four inches 
square and half an inch deep, attained the tempera¬ 
tures shewn in this table. 
Wet. 
Dry. 
Siliceous Sand, bright yellowish gray 
99.1° 
112.6 
Calcareous Sand, whitish gray . . 
99.3 
112.1 
Gypsum, bright white gray .. . . 
97.3 
110.5 
Sandy Clay, yellowish. 
98.2 
111.4 
Loamy Clay, yellowish. 
99.1 
112.1 
Stiff Clay, or Brick Earth, yellowish 
g ra y . 
112.3 
Fine bluish’grav Clay. 
99.5 
113.0 
Lime, white. 
96.1 
109.4 
Magnesia, pure white. 
95.2 
108.6 
Garden Mould, blackish gray . . . 
99.5 
113.5 
Arable Soil, gray. 
97.7 
111.7 
Slaty Marl, brownish red .... 
101.8 
115.3 
The results of M. Scliluber’s experiments demon¬ 
strate that which our knowledge of the laws of heat 
would have induced us to pre-suppose ; namely, that 
light coloured earths, by reason of their reflecting 
most rays of heat, are warmed much more slowly 
than dark coloured earths. It was this conclusion 
which induced us, some years now past, to try the 
effect of sprinkling coal-ashes over rows of autumn- 
sown peas. The peas invariably appeared above the 
soil some days before those in rows not similarly 
treated. This acceleration of vegetation continued 
equally marked throughout their growth, and is 
further explained by other experiments of M. Sclilu- 
ber, which testify that those soils in the above table 
which absorbed the heat most readily, retained it 
most tenaciously, and consequently were longest 
cooling. Magnesia cooled in one hour and twenty 
minutes as much as the garden mould did in two 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
