TRANSPLANTING. 
205 
time, as tlie amount of moisture in the atmosphere is then greater 
than either in spring or summer, and therefore though the 
powers of the foliage remained precisely the same, there would 
necessarily be less waste. 
In the face of so many irresistible facts, it is really astonishing 
that cultivators will still defer transplanting till March or April, 
and tell us they do so from conviction of its superiority, forgetting 
alike the extra trouble such trees occasion in the subsequent 
summer, in the way of watering, and the additional comfort with 
which the work may be done in autumn, when the earth is com¬ 
paratively dry, and no necessity for the hurry and confusion but 
too frequently observed when driven off till the spring. 
As regards the operation itself, a good deal more care than 
is usual might be bestowed upon it with advantage. The barbarous 
system of tearing the plants up, or drawing, as it is called, still 
pursued in nurseries, cannot be too strongly reprobated. The 
best of all the roots is thus sacrificed, and, were they intended 
only for firing, less pains could not be taken. Every plant 
should have the earth removed from around it for a circumference 
which will take in at least the greater part of its smallest rootlets; 
and when these are loosened, so as to be seen, they should be 
gathered up out of the way of damage, before any more soil is 
taken out. A large ball of earth is by no means necessary in 
the autumnal removal, provided a good number of fibres are pre¬ 
served. On this the successful result of all planting must mainly 
depend ; and, as we have shown the necessity of moisture to the 
existence of the spongelets, it will be hardly required to insist on 
keeping them from the effects of drought. No unnecessary time 
should elapse between the taking up and final placing of each 
plant, and, if any distance has to be traversed, the roots should 
be carefully enveloped in some material that will guard them 
from drying. The ground destined to receive them being pre¬ 
viously prepared, by trenching and such additions as may be 
essential to the welfare of its occupants, the holes to receive each 
should be made of such depth, that the neck of the stem may 
stand a little above the general level of the earth around ; or, if 
the soil is naturally shallow and laying near to gravel or clay, it 
is advisable, with fruit-bearing trees especially, to elevate them 
on a mound of earth, standing a foot or more above the surround- 
