them is attended with success for a similar reason. Wherever the roots are cut through, the new fibres which are emitted, provided a plant is in health, in short tufts, and each terminated by a spongiole, are much more easily taken out of the ground without injury than if they were longer and more scattered among the soil. When destroyed, the spongioles are often speedily replaced, particularly in orchard trees, provided a slight degree of growth continues to be maintained. This is one of the reasons why trees removed in October succeed better than if transplanted at any other time. The growth of a tree at that season is not quite over; and the first impulse of nature, when the tree finds itself in a new situation, is to create new mouths by which to feed when the season for growing again returns. Evaporation takes place in plants to an inconceivable degree in certain circumstances. It is known by the experiments of Dr. Hales, that a sunflower plant will lose as much as 1lb. 14oz. by perspiration in twelve hours; and that in general, in equal surfaces and equal times, a man would perspire 30, the plant 15, or as 50: 15;" and that taking all things into account, a sunflower perspires 17 times more than a man. The same most accurate observer found that a cabbage perspired in twelve hours 1 lb. 9oz. ; a Paradise Stock in a pot, 11 ounces; and a Lemon Plant, 8 oz. Guettard states that he found Cornus Mascula perspire twice its own weight in a day; and Mr. Knight has remarked a Vine in a hot day losing moisture with such rapidity that a glass placed under one of its leaves was speedily covered with dew, and in half an hour the perspiration was running off the glass. In damp or wet weather this evaporation is least; in hot dry weather it is greatThis loss has all to be supplied by the moisture introduced into the system by the spongioles; and hence, if the spongioles are destroyed, and evaporation est. takes place before they can be replaced, a plant must necessarily die. This is the reason why deciduous trees cannot be transplanted when in leaf; it is impossible to remove them without injuring their spongioles, and it is equally impossible to hinder the evaporation by their leaves: but if they are kept in pots, it matters not at what season their removal takes place, because as their spongioles are then uninjured, even excessive evaporation would be made good by their action. It is well known that certain evergreens, such as Hollies, Laurels, &c. can be transplanted in almost all months; this arises from their perspiration being much less copious than in deciduous trees, wherefore the spongioles have less difficulty in supplying the loss occasioned by it; yet even evergreens cannot be removed in the hottest months in the year, because then the action of such spongioles as may be saved in the operation would not be sufficient to supply the waste by evaporation. Plants first beginning to grow in the spring, with their leaves just turning green, are in a most unfit state to remove; for, when transplanted, their roots will not have time to form a sufficient number of new spongioles to supply the loss to which the rapid perspiration by the leaves at that season will give rise. It is upon this same principle, that if deciduous plants are taken from the ground in the summer, they are put into pots and placed in a hot-bed to recover; not for the sake of the heat, but because the atmosphere of a hot-bed is so charged with humidity that perspiration cannot go on, so that the vital energies of the plant, instead of being wasted by evaporation, are directed to the formation of new mouths by which to feed. This is but a brief outline of what the principles are upon which the common operations of the Fruit Garden depend; yet it is hoped that it may not be without its use in calling attention to the rationalia of what may seem extremely simple and well-understood practices, but which are undoubtedly neither so perfect, nor generally so skilfully performed, as to be incapable of amendment. xxix ABBREVIATIONS, AND BOOKS QUOTED. Aiton's Epitome. Epitome of the 2d Edition of the Hortus Kewensis. By W. T. Aiton. 8vo. London, 1814. Baumann's Cat. Catalogue des Végétaux en tout Genre disponibles dans l'E'tablissement des Frères Baumann, à Bolwiller. 1826. Bon Jard. Le Bon Jardinier. Par A. Poiteau, &c. Bradley. New Improvements of Planting and Gardening. By Richard Bradley. 1724. Chaptal's Tr. sur la Vigne. Traité Théorétique et Pratique sur la Culture de la Vigne, avec l'Art de faire le Vin, &c. Par MM. Chaptal, Rozier, Parmentier, et Dussieux. 2 vols. 8vo. 1801. Coxe's View. A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees, and the Management of Orchards and Cider, &c. By William Coxe, Esq. 8vo. 1817. Diel's Pom. Diel's Versuch. { Versuch einer Systematischen Beschreibung in Deutschland vorhandener Kernobstsorten. Von Dr. Aug. Friedr. Adr. Diel. 24 vols. small 8vo. 1799-1825. Duhamel. Traité des Arbres Fruitiers. Par M. Duhamel du Monceau. 2 vols. 4to. Paris, 1768. Forsyth. A Treatise on the Culture and Management of Fruit Trees. By William Forsyth. 8vo. Hanbury. A Complete Body of Planting and Gardening. By the Rev. Wm. Hanbury. 2 vols. fol. 1770. Hitt. A Treatise on Fruit Trees. By Thomas Hitt. Third Edition. 8vo. 1768. Hooker's Pom. Lond. Pomona Londinensis. By William Hooker. 4to. London, 1813. Hort. Gard. Coll. A Collection of Fruit Trees in the Garden of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick. Hort. Soc. Cat. A Catalogue of Fruits cultivated in the Garden of the Horticultural Society of London. 8vo. 1826. Hort. Trans. Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London. 4to. 7 vols. Jard. Fruit. Le Jardin Fruitier. Par M. Noisette. 3 vols. 4to. Paris, 1821. Knoop Fruct. Fructologie, ou Description des Arbres Fruitiers. Par J. H. Knoop. Folio. 1771. Knoop Pom. Pomologie, ou Description des Meilleures Sortes de Pommes et de Poires. Par J. H. Knoop. Folio. 1771. Kraft Pom. Aust. Abhandlung von den Obstbäumen. Johann Kraft. 2 vols. folio. 1792-1796. Von Langley. Pomona, or the Fruit Garden illustrated. By Batty Lelieur. La Pomone Française, ou Traité de la Culture Française, Lindl., Geo., in Hort. Trans. Communications in the Horticultural Lindl., Geo., Plan of an Orchard. A Plan of an Orchard. By George Lindley. 1796. Loud. Gard. Mag. Loudon's Gardener's Magazine, Martyn's Miller. Miller's Dictionary. By the Rev. Thomas Martyn. 4 vols. folio. 1807. Mawe. Every Man his own Gardener. By Thomas Mawe and Miller. The Gardener's and Botanist's Dictionary. By Philip Nicol. The Gardener's Kalendar; or a Monthly Directory of Operations in every Branch of Horticulture. By Walter Nicol. 4th Edition. 8vo. 1822. Nois. Manuel. Manuel Complet du Jardinier. Par M. Noisette. Parkinson. Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris. Parkinson. Folio. 1629. By John Poit. et Turp. Traité des Arbres Fruitiers de Duhamel. Nouvelle Edition, par Poiteau et Turpin. Folio. Paris, 1808, &c. Pom. Heref. Pomona Herefordiensis. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. 4to. 1811. Pomona Italiana. Pomona Italiana, ossia trattato degli Alberi Fruttiferi, di Georgio Gallesio. Folio. Pisa, 1817. Still in publication. Pom. Mag. The Pomological Magazine. 3 vols. 8vo. London, 1827-1830.. Ray. Historia Plantarum, a Joh. Ray, M.D. 3 vols. folio. |