TRANSPADANE REPUBLIC. See CISALPINE REPUBLIC.
TRANSPLANTING—the removal of a growing plant from one situation to another— is much practiced with many kinds of cultivated plants which arc reared in a nursery and planted out. Many flowers and culinary plants are generally tref.:,id in this way. as well as ornamental shrubs and fruit and forest trees. It is desirable to have a ball of earth attached to the roots in every case, although this is often neglected. It is also desirable to shade the plant and water it fors few days after transplanting when pos sible. Young plants are easily transplanted, as their roots not having spread far are raised from the ground withouS much injury, and this is the thing of first importance in the operation. At a more advanced age transplanting becomes difficult, great part of the difficulty, however, being mechanical. No plant can be transplanted with safety when in flower or fruit; the plant may live, but the flowers or fruit will almost certainly perish. In like manner leaves often wither; and transplanting ought, if possible, to be performed in winter, when vegetation is least active.
The transplanting of large trees, in order to immediate effect in the neighborhood of a mansion, has been practiced for many years with success. Notwithstanding all the care that can be taken• the trees are thrown back for two or three years; but this in gen eral is all the injury which they sustain, unless removed from a situation very different from that in which they are placed. It is of great importance in transplanting tees that they should be placed in their new situation in the same direction to the prevailing wind as in their former situation. This is often disregarded, and many failures are the consequence. It ought also to be borne in mind that trees taken from a thick wood and planted in a lawn, or along the sides of an avenue, cannot be expected to succeed there. They have neither roots nor branches adapted to their new situation, and suffer from unaccustomed exposure to wind and weather. Trees of quick growth, such as limes and poplars, succeed most readily when transplanted; oaks are particularly diffi cult. In every case, however, there is much hazard, because the roots of trees generally spread far from the stern, and when the operation is unskillfully performed the princi pal roots are often cut off and the smaller ones torn by the violence, while all are injured by being laid bare. Trees thus treated seldom ever again assume a healthy appearance. The method is therefore now generally adopted of preparing the tree for transplanting; by digging a trench around it at least two years beforehand, at such distance as is thought expedient, cutting the roots all round, except two or three which are left to hold the tree fast, and then filling up the trench with fresh soil of the best quality that can be procured, into which a vast number of young roots are speedily thrown out. When
the tree is to be removed a new trench is made immediately on the outside. of the former trench, and young roots sufficient for the nourishment of the tree are thus preserved. The ball of earth being generally too heavy for removal is reduced in size by a very careful picking away of earth, so that the rootlets shall be as little as possible injured or even laid bare. The tree is generally transported to its new situation by attaching it firmly to a pole fixed upon an axle with a pair of wheels, the ball resting upon the axle. Good soil is put into the pit dug for it, and the roots are spread out. The tree is stayed by sticks and ropes till it is well established, and heavy stones are also laid on the top of the ball, or large beams of wood are laid across it and firmly fastened to the ground at both ends. An improvement on this method has been effected by the use of a com post of vegetable mold, decayed leaves, etc.. in preparing the tree for transplanting, not only in the trench dug around it, but on the top of the ball itself, so that the tree is encouraged to send out many new rootlets. A still greater improvement consists in the use of a machine by which a large ball of earth can be removed along with the tree, so that it is no longer necessary to pick away any part of the soil or to lay bare the young roots; while the tree being carried in a vertical instead of a horizontal position, all possibility of damage iu this process is avoided. One of the machines used for this purpose consists of two pair of wheels about 15 ft. apart, each pair on a strong axle; the first pair smallest, and in a very large machine about 5i ft. in diameter; the second pair 7 feet. A strong frame rests on each axle to raise the horizontal bearers to a suffi cient height. The front frame turns on a horizontal wheel, as in a carriage, for easy turning of the whole machine. Resting on the two frames are two strong horizontal beams of wood, above which are two short cross-beams with jack screws and strong chains for raising the tree. Beneath the roots and ball of earth when the tree is i aised from the ground strong planks are placed, supported by chains from the bentrr. In order to raise the tree from its place a sloped cutting is made, and the tree is gradually up the inclined plane.