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cess of extrication ceases, as it would be imprudent to advance too near the Collar of the Tree. ball of earth round the stem, as large as can be got, according to the nature of the soil, with two or three feet broad of the original sward adhering to it, should now, if possible, be left undisturbed at that place.

The above, as the reader will perceive, is a very complicated and delicate process, although probably more complicated in the description, than in the execution. It is no easy matter, even in the freest soils, so to disengage the fibrous and capillary roots of Trees, as not to lacerate or disbark a considerable number of them, and yet perform the work with any tolerable dispatch. But it is the process, of all others, which will the least bear to be hurried. There are some departments of rural labour, in which dispatch and economy are nearly allied, and almost convertible terms, and where every one, of course, will study to promote the former, as far as lies in his power. But, in the one in question, the greatest deliberation, or, at least the greatest caution, is the truest saving that can be made : For here the well-known adage, Festina lentè, is the golden rule, which should regulate the process. It is well known to the vegetable anatomist, who can discern, with his microscope, the flattened extremities of the capillary rootlets (Capillamenta), how well fitted they are

to perform the office of absorption, and that it is to those effective organs chiefly, that plants are indebted for the introsusception of their food. Hence, when disbarked or lacerated, or, what is worse, cut away, the severe, and often ineffectual efforts made by plants, to restore or replace them. The planter cannot too earnestly reflect, that the greater roots do little more than serve as canals or channels, to transmit the sap to the trunk, where it ascends, by the tubes of the wood, to the branches, and ultimately to the leaves; on which account it is evident, that the failure and decay of the Top (the great opprobrium of Transplanters) is primarily to be ascribed to the entire want of skill in the preservation of these fibrous roots, on which the Tree mainly depends, for a suitable supply of sap, during the first season. He, therefore, who can most successfully vanquish this difficulty, is the greatest master of his art.

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But to return to the business of the field. soon as the workmen have completed the task of extrication, within three or four feet of the stem, as already explained, it becomes necessary to take measures for pulling down the Tree. According to circumstances, its roots are now either to be covered up, in order to be planted out with others, at a future period; or it is immediately to be raised from the pit, and removed by itself. On the supposition that the roots are to be covered up, it

is of some importance, that that work be done properly and carefully, so as not to injure the tender fibres. After trying various substances for this purpose, I have found nothing to answer so well, as the smaller branches of the Spruce or Silver Fir, which unite closeness with elasticity: For straw, or turf, or moss (Scotticè fog), are all apt to intermingle with the fibres, and cannot be separated from them, without much mischief ensuing. The roots, for obvious reasons (as their time of lying covered must always be uncertain), are not now to be put up in bundles or masses, but stretched out at their full length in the pit. The branches and twigs of spruce or silver fir are then laid over them, in at least two rows or strata in thickness; next, eight or nine inches of fine mould follow; and, last of all, sods of common turf are here and there added, to encrease the pressure. In this manner, I have found the roots of all Trees lie safely for a month or six weeks, when severe frost happened to supervene, and stop the work. It is remarkable, that the roots of the soft-wooded Trees may be safely trusted with very little covering, for months together, after being extricated from the ground, such as the Lime, and the Horse Chesnut. But the harder-wooded kinds, especially the Oak and the Beech, are much more sensitive of cold or drought. Should the subsoil be retentive of moisture, a deep cut must at the same

time be made, at the lower edge of the excavation, in order that the water may not stagnate in any part.

On the supposition, that the Tree is to be immediately removed, it must be raised at once from the pit. It cannot have escaped the intelligent reader, that, if it be a subject of any magnitude, say eight-and-twenty feet high, what with the actual thickness of its mass of roots and earth (which cannot be less than two feet), and what with the contents of the trench, that have been thrown out round the bank, the pit so formed must, in any case, be from three to four feet deep. In order to bring up from the pit so heavy a load, I used, some years since, to employ five and six horses, and even a greater number. At present, it is done usually with one horse, and never more than two, by the following simple contrivance; which certainly nothing but the most extraordi ́nary dulness or inattention could have prevented from being seen in the beginning. This sufficiently proves, if any proof were wanting, how strikingly men will often pursue a more circuitous route to their object, when a nearer and more direct one lies open before their eyes.

With the view, then, of effecting the two purposes in question, namely, the pulling down of the Tree, and getting it out of the pit, a strong but soft rope, of perhaps four inches in girth, is fixed

as near to the top of the Tree, as a man can safely climb, so as to furnish the longest possible lever to bear upon the roots; taking care, at the same time, to interpose two or three folds of mat, in order to prevent the chafing of the bark. Seven or eight workmen (the greatest number I usually employ in the department in question), are then set to draw the Tree down on one side. Or, it is a good way, if you have an old and steadypulling horse, to employ him in this business: For it is plain, that one stout horse, acting forcibly on the rope, will do more than twenty men, even if so great a number could get about it; and moreover, he will save some manual labour in excavating, by giving an effectual pull at a much earlier period of the work. The Tree being drawn down, it is next forcibly held in that position, until earth be raised, to the height of a foot or more, on the opposite side of the pit, so that, as soon as it is liberated, it springs up, and stops against the bank thus formed. On this, the workmen proceed to lighten the mass of earth with the picker, laying bare the roots as little as possible, but still necessarily reducing the mass to manageable dimensions. The Tree is then pulled down on the opposite side, and a foot of earth forced up, in a similar manner; and the same thing being repeated once or twice, it is gradually raised to even a higher level, than that of the adjoining surface. In this manner, by a