TRANSPLANTING TREES.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 38, 23 February 1884, Page 7

TRANSPLANTING TREES.

A writer in Farm and Fireside, in his directions respecting the treatment of trees before their removal, states as follows :: — u A tree in full leaf may be compared to a powerful pump, the roots absorbing water from the soil, which is carried upwards through the stem and exhaled from tiie leaves in the form of vapour. This exhalation from the leaves is really the primary operation, however, being simply a process of evaporation. If, now, the principal portions of the roots be cut away, and especially the fine rootlets which are farthest from the stem and through whose extremities nearly all the water is absoibed, the leaves, if allowed to grow, will exhaust the water from the stem and roots more rapidly than' it can be supplied by the remnant of the latter, and the consequence will be the destruction of the tree. Hence, in transplanting trees the leaf bearing twigs should be cut away in proportion to the loss of roofs, and it should be remembered that the root surface is generally equal to that of the twigs ; consequently the, safest rule is to remove nearly all the branches, trimming to bare poles. It is hard to do this, but the aftergrowth of the tree will be enough more rapid to compensate the apparent loss. In moving large trees it is nn excellent plan to dig down and cut oil" a large portion of the roots a year before transplanting, removing a

portion of the top at the same time. This will cause tlu formation of new rootlets near t.hp stem, w'>ioh may be preserved in thxi final tittiuspiimting."