CHAPTER XIII

TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES

Where immediate effect is required, the transplanting of large trees and shrubs will be an operation of considerable importance, and though it is fraught with both trouble and expense, the results obtained have led to an increased adoption of the system during recent years.

There is hardly a limit to the size or weight of the tree to be removed when the operator is provided with suitable appliances, and success has crowned the effort of several recent operations of this nature in our Royal and other parks. Of late years several appliances for removing large and weighty trees and shrubs have been placed on the market; amongst these one of the best is certainly that made and patented by Messrs. Faulkners Ltd. Its principal recommendations are simplicity of structure, the ease with which it may be worked, and lightness, combined with such strength that even the weightiest tree can be removed. But not only is this tree-lifter valuable where transplanting is being engaged in, for in removing large tree roots, logs of timber, blocks of stone, and heavy materials generally, it has been found most useful.

The apparatus is made somewhat in the form of a four-wheeled lorry, having a steel frame only. The frame at the back is made movable to admit of the apparatus being placed so that the tree to be moved stands in the centre of the machine. Two stout planks with guide rails are laid across the trench, and the machine is backed on to these. The machine is constructed with four iron rollers, lying along over the side frame and parallel with the frame. Around the rollers a chain is wound, the loose end being fastened to the planking which has been placed under the ball of earth containing the roots of the tree. The rollers are worked with a specially made screw-gear, which is self-sustaining, and can be moved to draw up or lower at will.

[Illustration: FAULKNER’S TRANSPLANTING MACHINE.]

The illustration given clearly shows the apparatus with the tree being lifted for transportation. Barron’s transplanting machine is also well known, and with this much valuable work in the removal of large and heavy trees and shrubs has been accomplished.