equal, was in the ratio of their previous exposure, and their consequent power of protecting the Sap-vessels; which power seemed always commensurate to exposure.'-pp. 106-109.

A tree that thrives and that has thriven in an open exposure affords the finest specimen of a tree, because in such an exposure it receives that full supply of stimulus, from the physical agents already enumerated, which is necessary to the complete development of its properties. Such a tree is healthy, strong, vigorous and beautiful: it will be always found to possess, and it is healthy and beautiful because it possesses thickness of girth, thickness and hardness of bark, numerousness of branches with abundance of spray, and numerousness of roots with abundance of capillary ramifications. These four properties will secure its nourishment and ensure its protection. By the abundance of the capillary ramifications of its roots, it is capable of absorbing a sufficient quantity of aliment: by the abundance of branches, with a corresponding abundance of spray, provision is made for an adequate supply of leaves to convert its crude aliment into real nutriment; by the thickness and hardness of its bark, which is a bad conductor, its vascular system is protected from cold; by the thickness of the girth and the general shortness of the stem, it is endowed with sufficient strength to resist any current of wind to which it may be exposed, and this power of bearing up against currents of wind, is greatly increased by the balance afforded by numerous outspreading branches. These properties are called by sir Henry the four protecting properties: because whenever they are possessed they will be sure to preserve the tree whenever they are combined in any subject, that subject may be removed at once without hazard; it is fit to go out and to make its way in the world, and it will flourish when transplanted as well as though it had never left its home: whereas to a tree placed out with the non-protecting properties, that is, with an upright and stately stem, with a smooth and glossy bark, with a small top, thinly provided with lateral branches and with spare and scanty roots, however beautiful and tempting it may look, the first cold that sets in, or the first rude blast that blows will prove "As killing

As frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear,

When first the white-thorn blows."

In transplanting, then, the first thing to be done is to choose trees for removal which possess the protecting properties; for without these no health nor beauty of the trees, and no care of the transplanter will avail; sooner or later the tree will perish. But nature is always preparing trees to the transplanter's hand.

"About every place, great or small, such subjects are always to be found in pretty open dispositions, in old grass plats or avenues; in woodlands, near the flower or kitchen garden, and the like, where the ground is usually kept under the scythe."

And if a tree which on any account it is desireable to remove be deficient in any one or in all of the protecting properties, such properties can be bestowed upon it in complete perfection by art. Nothing can be more beautiful, and nothing more truly physiological than the expedient suggested many years ago by lord Fitzharding, for multiplying the capillary ramifications of the roots, which may be done to any extent, and by means of which instead of lopping off the branches to diminish them to the ability of the roots, which was the old practice, the scientific plan, and one which is always practicable, is to increase the roots to the ability of the branches and top. Equally scientific are the modes pointed out by sir Henry Stuart for endowing single trees with the other protecting properties, and for imparting those properties in the requisite degree to large masses. In executing designs of any extent where many subjects are wanted, it is indispensable to set apart a separate spot for the purpose of training them to endurance, and communicating to them any property in which they may be deficient. Such a spot is called a transplanting nursery, from which as from a great repository of materials high and low, light and massive, spreading and spiral trees may be brought forth at pleasure, as may best suit the planter's design, and which will soon afford him the means of wooding the highest as well as the lowest parts of his grounds. It is stated that transplanting nurseries, as excellent as can be desired, are afforded by all grovewood of from about twenty to forty years growth, provided it has been so thinned and pruned after the first ten or twelve years that the tops of the trees are never allowed to touch one another; by woody glades or small forest lawns, or any part of the woodland of a place which may happen to be retired from the view, and but little sheltered by surrounding objects.

""About the twelfth or fifteenth year after the clumps were planted," says sir Henry in giving an account of the manner in which he managed his own Transplanting Nurseries, "I began to cut away the Larch and Spruce firs. These had been introduced merely as nurses to the deciduous Trees: and from the warmth and shelter they had afforded, and the previous double-digging, the whole had rushed up with singular rapidity. The next thing I did was, to thin out the Trees to single distance, so as that the tops could not touch one another, and to cut away the side-branches, within about three, or three and a half feet of the surface. By this treatment it will be perceived, that

a considerable deal of air was admitted into the plantations. The light, which before had had access only at the top, was now equally. diffused on all sides; and the Trees, although for a few years they advanced but little in height, made surprising efforts towards a full developement of their most important properties. They acquired greater strength of Stem, greater thickness of Bark, and extension of Roots, together with a corresponding amplitude of top and branches. 'But at this time it was apparent, that the Clumps had a remarkable advantage over the Belt, or continuous plantation. While in no part so deep as to impede the salutary action of the atmosphere, the circular or oval figure of the Clumps, and their free exposure to the elements, furnished them with a far greater proportion of good outside Trees ; and these, having acquired from the begining a considerable share of the Protecting Properties, were in a situation to shelter the rest, and also to prevent the violence of the wind from injuriouly acting on the interior of the mass. It therefore became necessary to thin the belt for the second time, which was now done to double distance; that is to say, to such a distance, as would have admitted of a similar number of Trees to stand between the existing plants. Thus, within four or five years after the first thinning, I began to have tolerable subjects for Removal to situations of moderate exposure; while every succeeding season added fresh beauty and vigour to these thriving Nurseries, and made a visible accession to all the desirable Prerequisites.'-pp.224-226.

Of the preparation of the soil to receive the tree, which, after having endowed it with the properties which fit it for removal, is the next thing to be attended to, only a word or two can be now said. It must be borne in mind that soils are not the food of plants, but merely the medium through which its aliment is brought into contact with the absorbent mouths of the capillary rootlets, and that water forms the most essential part of that aliment. It is found that the most perfect soil is that which is the most capable of remaining moist without being wet, or which is the most capable of retaining water, not in a state of aggregation, but in that of the minutest division, just as it is in a sponge slightly moistened. Adhesiveness and looseness are, therefore, the two main properties which a good soil must possess: it must be adhesive to retain the water, and loose that the fluid may be equally distributed throughout Alumina, the basis of the clayey soil, communicates the property of adhesiveness, and silex, the basis of the sandy soil, that of looseness. The object at which art must aim in improving soils is therefore sufficiently obvious. To adhesiveness and looseness must be added, in order to secure the luxuriant growth of trees, depth of soil; for trees, far more than agricultural crops, require depth of soil to raise them to perfection.

the mass.

Minute and ample details are given in the Planter's Guide for modifying different kinds of soils and imparting to them the requisite properties. The great object to be effected, which Sir Henry Steuart thinks it is possible always to accomplish, is, to prepare the ground in such a manner, that when the removed tree is placed in it, the delicate filaments of its roots may find themselves enveloped in a mould which may, more than the “green turf, suck the honied showers."

Suppose, then, the tree to possess the properties which fit it for removal, and the ground to which it is to be removed to be in a fit state to receive it, the operation of removal consists of four parts; namely, that of taking the tree up, that of transporting it to its new situation, that of fixing it firmly in the earth, and that of distributing the minute ramifications of its

roots.

As will be readily conceived, the most important part of the business of taking up consists in preserving the capillary rootlets. These being, as we have seen, the only organs by which the aliment of the plant is absorbed, if these delicate structures are destroyed, the tree must necessarily perish. If the rootingground be tolerably good, it is uniformly found that the extremities of the roots push out beneath the surface, to a greater distance than the branches of the tree extend, whatever that distance may be. Beginning, then, at some distance beyond the branches, the workmen must cautiously try with the spade, and with an implement termed the tree-picker, which is to the transplanter, in dissecting out the rootlets, what the scalpel is to the anatomist, in dissecting out the blood-vessels, to discover the extreme points of the rootlets. Having ascertained where the extremities lie, having opened a trench to receive the soil as it is dug up, and having undermined the bank in which the roots are contained by thus clearing away the soil, the earth is to be scratched away from their delicate ramifications with extreme caution. Contrary to what might be conceived, the mould does not adhere very tenaciously to these organs: there is an art in loosening it which practice only can give, and which is obtained by shaking the ground rather than striking it with the pick. The ease, the completeness, and even the rapidity, with which it is disengaged and removed by an attentive and expert workman is beyond belief. It is incredible how few of these tender and delicate filaments are injured in the slightest degree, and what vast numbers, tens of thousands, and in some instances millions, are preserved in all their integrity and vigor.

It has been already stated, that the rootlets proceed from the main trunks of the roots in a constantly decreasing series, and

that the divisions extend outwards from the body of the tree, gradually diminishing in size as they advance. These root branches are also given off in layers, seldom less than three in number, and some-times more. The uppermost layer, or the most superficial, is often very near the surface of the earth: next is given off what may be termed the middle layer, and lastly, the deep-seated or profound layer, the actual depth of which depends upon the nature of the soil and some other circumstances. As the superficial layer is laid bare and completely disengaged by the workmen, the branches are gathered together, tied up in bundles of a convenient size and placed aside, out of the way of the feet of the men, or of any thing that can bruise or in any manner injure them. When this is done, the middle layer is exposed, disengaged and treated in the same manner, and last of all, the profound layer is in like manner set free from the soil and secured. By the time this part of the process is completed, by the exposure and disengagement of all the rootlets, and the removal of the earth that enveloped them, it will be readily conceived that the tree is standing in a deep pit. In order to raise it from this pit, a rope is fixed as near the top of the tree as a man can safely climb: the workmen are then set to draw the tree down on one side: in this position they hold it until earth be raised to the height of a foot or more on the opposite side of the pit, so that as soon as the tree is liberated it springs up and stops against the bank thus formed: then the tree is again pulled down on the opposite side, and a foot of earth is forced up in a similar manner, when on being liberated a second time the tree again rests against this raised bank: and the same thing being repeated two or three times, the tree is gradually raised even to a higher level than that of the adjoining surface by this simple and ingenious management it becomes an easy, instead of a formidable undertaking, to draw the tree from the pit.

The machining and the transportation of the tree must be passed over, although these are points of much nicety and some difficulty; but, as is fully shown in the work, they are capable of being managed with extreme ease and exactness. While the tree is on its road, some workmen should be sent forward to the spot in which it is to be placed, in order to throw out the earth on all sides, and to prepare the pit to receive it. Minute directions are given for dropping the tree on the exact point fixed upon, and with the side facing the aspect to which it is decided it should be exposed: but the ingenious and beautiful expedient which is brought into operation at this point of the process, with a view of giving symmetry to the tree, or of