Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/251

239 TRANSPLANTING.] HORTICULTURE 239 being in this case cut from the ripened leafless wood. The eyes (fig. 64, a) are planted just below the surface in pots of light soil, which are placed in. a hot bed or propagating pit, and in due time each pushes up a young shoot which forms the future stum, while from about its base the young roots are produced (fig. 64, b) which convert it into an independent plant. In the case of plants with persistent leaves, the stem may be cut through just above and below the bud, retaining the leaf which is left on the cutting, the old wood and eye being placed beneath the oil and the leaf left exposed. In this way the india-rubber tree (Ficus elastica), for example, and many other tender plants may be increased with the aid of a brisk bottom heat. Many of the free-growing soft- wooded plants may also be grown from cuttings of single joints of the young wood, where rapid increase is desired ; and in the case of opporite- ieaved plants two cuttings may often be made from one joint by splitting the stem longitudinally, each cutting consisting of a leaf and a perfect bud attached to half the thickness of the stem. rans- 22. Planting and Transplanting. In preparing a fruit lanting. tree for transplantation, the first thing to be done is to open a trench round it at a distance of from 3 to 4 feet, according to size. The trench should be opened to about two spades depth, and any coar.se roots which may extend thus far from the trunk may be cut clean off with a sharp kuife. The soil between the trench and the stem is to be reduced as far as may seem necessary or practicable by means of a digging fork, the roots as soon as they are liberated bsing fixed on one side and carefully preserved. By working in this way all round the ball, the best roots will be got out and preserved, and the ball lightened of nil superfluous soil. The tree will then be ready to lift if carefully prized up from beneath the ball, and if it does not lift readily, it will probably be found that a root has struck downwards, which will have to be sought out and cut through. Whenever practicable, it is best to secure a ball of earth round the roots. On the tree being lifted from its hole the roots should be examined, and all which have bean severed roughly with the spade should have the ends cut smooth with the knife to facilitate the emission of fibres. The trae can then be transported to its new position. The hole for its reception should be of sufficient depth to allow the base of the ball of earth, or of the roots, to stand so that the point whence the uppermost roots spring from the stem may be 2 or 3 inches above the general surface level. Then the bottom being regulated so as to leave the soil rather highest in the centre, the plant is to be set in the hole in the position desired, and steadied there by hand. Next the roots from the lower portion of the ball are to be sought out and laid outwards in lines radiating from the stem, being distributed equally on all sides as nearly as this can be done ; some fine and suitable good earth should be thrown amongst the roots as they are thus being placed, and worked in well up to the base of the ball. The soil cover ing the roots may be gently pressed down, but the tree should not be pulled up and down, as is sometimes done, to settle the soil. This done, another set of roots higher up the ball must be laid out in the same way, and again another, until the whole of the roots, thus carefully laid, are embedded as firmly as may be in the soil, which may now receive another gentle treading. The stem should next be supported permanently, either by one stake or by three, according to its size. The excavation will now be filled up about two-thirds perhaps ; and if so the tree may have a thorough good watering, sufficient to settle the soil closely about its roots. After twenty-four hours the hole may be levelled in, with moderate treading, if the water has soaked well in, the surface being left slightly sloping upwards towards the stem of the tree. In transplanting trees of the ornamental class, less need be attempted in respect to providing new soil, although the soil should be made as congenial as practicable. In transplanting smaller subjects, such as plants for the flower garden, much less effort is required. The plant must be lifted with as little injury to its rootlets as possible, and carefully set into the hole, the soil being filled in round it, and carefully pressed close by the hand. For moving small plants the garden trowel is a very convenient tool, but we are inclined to give the preference to the hand-fork (fig. 45). For larger masses, such as strong-growing her baceous plants, a spade or digging-fork will be requisite. When seedlings of vigorous plants have to be &quot; pricked out,&quot; a dibble (fig. 64) is the best implement to be used. The ground being prepared and, if necessary, enriched, and the surface made fine and smooth, a hole is made with the dibble deep enough and large enough to receive the roots of the seedling plants without doubling them up, and the hole is filled in by working the soil close to the plant with the point of the dibble. The pricking out of seedlings in pots in the propagating pit is effected in a similar way. The plants, indeed, often require to be re moved and set from half an inch to an inch apart before they have become sufficiently developed to admit. of being handled with any degree of facility, and for these a pointed stick of convenient size is used as a dibble. In extreme cases it is best to lift the little seedling on the end of a flattish pointed stick, pressing this into the new soil where the plant is to be placed, and liberating it and closing the earth about it by the aid of a similar stick held in the other hand. Large trees may be successfully transplanted by the aid of transplanting machines, of which different forms are in use. These will be found figured and described in the various horticultural and arboricultural publications. See, e.g., M lntosh s Book of the Garden (ii. p. 374 sq.). The best season for transplanting deciduous trees is during the early autumn months. As regards evergreens opinions are divided, some preferring August and September, others April or May. They can be successfully planted at either period, but for subjects which are at all difficult to remove the spring months are to be preferred. 23. Potting and Repotting. Garden pots are made Pottinj with a comparatively large hole in the bottom, and those of the largest size have also holes at the side near the bottom ; these openings are to prevent the soil becoming saturated or soured with superabundant water. To prepare the pot for the plant, a broadish piece of potsherd, called a &quot; crock,&quot; is placed over the large hole, and if there be side holes they also are covered. The bottom crock is made from a piece of a broken garden pot, and is laid with the convex side upwards ; then comes a layer of ir regular pieces of crock of various sizes, about an inch deep in a 5-inch pot, 2 inches in an 1 1-inch or 12-inch pot, &c. The mode of crocking a pot is shown in fig. 65. A few of the coarser lumps from the outer edge of the heap of potting soil are spread over the crocks. The same end, that of keeping the finer particles of Fia - 65. Section of Pot A, ., ,. -,i ,1 i showing Crocks, the soil from mixing with the drainage crocks, may be attained by shaking in a little clean moss. A handful or two of the soil is then put in, and on this the plant with its roots spread out is to be set a trifle higher than the plant should stand in the pot when finished off ; more soil is to be added, and the whole pressed firmly with the fingers, the base of the stem being just below the pot- rim, and the surface being smoothed off so as to slope a little outwards. When finished off, the pots should be well watered, to settle the soil ; but they should stand till the water has well drained away, since, if they are moved about while the fresh soil is very wet, there will be a risk of its becoming puddled or too much consolidated. Larger plants do not need quite such delicate treatment,