474 ON THE ROOTS AND STUMPS OF THE SILVER FIR. 



fall off and leave the wood exposed ; and nature, in ovder to protect 

 the wood from injury, has furnished the plant with a power to produce 

 an artificial covering for the denuded wood in a kind of net- work which 

 appears (on the lower portion of the trunk) to shoot, like crystals of 

 salt, and cover the cortex. This peculiar reticulated production is 

 visibly commencing in every part of the trunk where the leaves had 

 been, but is most conspicuous towards the root. 

 Islington, 26th September. 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE ROOTS AND THE STUMP IN THE 

 SILVER FIR LONG AFTER IT HAS BEEN FELLED. 



BY M. DUTROCHET, MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE, PARIS*. 



WHEN a tree has been felled, and when no shoots arise from the 

 stump, this stump, as well as the roots which fix it in the ground, fail 

 not in a short time to die. The cause of this phenomenon is found in 

 that well-known law of vegetation by which the leaves are produced 

 from the effect of the sap, the latter being essential to the life and 

 growth of the tree, both in the branches and the root. When the 

 stump reproduces stems after the tree has been felled, the roots may 

 continue to flourish to an indefinite period. Thus, in coppice-woods, 

 the roots of the same trees live through an indefinite number of cen- 

 turies, and their existence may be prolonged to an indeterminate period. 



It is well known that the coniferous trees never reproduce stems 

 when the tree has been felled ; and that the stump and roots which fix 

 it in the earth usually die, and are quickly decomposed. There is, 

 however, a very remarkable exception to this fact in the silver fir, 

 (Pinus picea, LINN., Abies pectinata, DE CAND.) The stump and 

 roots of this tree continue to live, arid even grow, during a great 

 number of years. This singular fact was pointed out to me by my 

 brother inspector of forests, one of the most intelligent men connected 

 with the forest administration ; though I must confess I doubted the 

 fact till I was enabled to verify it myself. I have observed in the forests 

 of the Jura, that all the stumps of the silver fir, whose branches had 

 been many years felled, were still vigorous as well as their roots ; 

 while all the stumps and roots of the Norway spruce, (Abies excelsa, 

 DE CAND.,) were dead, including those which had been recently felled. 



* Translated by Miss H. G , Lee, Kent. 



