great interest. We build our movers ourselves, and work with our own
men, and it is truly surprising what liberties you can take with
trees, if you once learn how to handle these monsters. We have moved
trees ninety feet high, and many seventy or eighty feet. And they
naturally are by no means young. At one time or another we have tried
almost all kinds of trees, including some which the authorities said
could not be moved with success. Perhaps the most daring experiments
were with horse-chestnuts. We took up large trees, transported them
considerable distances, some of them after they were actually in
flower, all at a cost of twenty dollars per tree, and lost very few.
We were so successful that we became rather reckless, trying
experiments out of season, but when we worked on plans we had already
tried, our results were remarkably satisfactory.

Taking our experiences in many hundreds of trees of various kinds in
and out of season, and including the time when we were learning the
art, our total loss has been something less than 10 per cent.,
probably more nearly 6 or 7 per cent. A whole tree-moving campaign in
a single season has been accomplished with a loss of about 3 per cent.
I am willing to admit that in the case of the larger trees the growth
has been retarded perhaps two years, but this is a small matter, for
people no longer young wish to get the effects they desire at once,
and the modern tree-mover does it. We have grouped and arranged clumps
of big spruces to fit the purposes we were aiming for, and sometimes
have completely covered a hillside with them. Oaks we have not been
successful with except when comparatively young, and we don't try to
move oaks and hickories when they have come near to maturity; but we
have made some successful experiments with bass wood, and one of these
we have moved three times without injury. Birches have generally
baffled us, but evergreens, except cedars, have been almost invariably