1869.] CROPPING FRUIT-TREE BORDERS. 509 



enced gardener knows : in scores of instances, I never saw as many- 

 roots brought up with the spade as w^ould fill a tobacco-box, in borders 

 hundreds of feet in length. And as to the second objection, I would 

 ask how could the roots suffer to any extent, either from cold or heat, 

 a foot beneath the surface of a well-pulverised border, shaded by 

 crops — the very conditions favourable to the retention of moisture 

 in summer and heat in winter 1 True, the vegetables absorb a certain 

 amount of moisture from the soil, but they make up for it by the 

 shade they afford ; and the manure which is annually applied, by keep- 

 ing the border open, acts to a great extent as a mulching. But even 

 supposing the roots were subjected to extremes of heat and cold, they 

 would soon acquire a certain degree of hardiness that would enable them 

 to resist either within ordinary limits. We have constant experience of 

 this, and it is a fact which I do not think is questioned. Surface- 

 roots are always of a much hardier constitution than those which pene- 

 trate deeply into the soil. We can readily believe that if a Strawberry 

 jjlant, which had rooted deeply into the soil, w^as lifted, put in a pot, 

 and exposed to severe frost, it would die, or at least be greatly 

 injured ; but such would not be the case with a plant that had been 

 grown in a pot, because the roots would be hardened by exposure. 

 By many, frost is supposed to be fatally injurious to the roots of straw- 

 berries in pots ; but there is really no cause for apprehension on that 

 point, provided the plants are kept dry and not thawed too rapidly. 

 I have seen pot -plants exposed for a long period to from 12° to 15° 

 of frost — until the balls of the plants were raised about an inch above 

 the rim of the pots — and afterwards bear an excellent crop of fruit, 

 the roots not appearing to be at all affected. Indeed, it has yet to 

 be proved that the roots of fruit-trees — such as pyramids — when regu- 

 larly root-pruned, and encouraged to root near the surface, will not 

 resist as much cold as the branches. I have certainly seen Pear-trees 

 under these conditions bear excellent crops of fruit after a severe win- 

 ter, during which the roots of the trees must have been a frozen mass 

 for wrecks at a time. During the severe winter of 1866-67 a lot of 

 growing pyramids here, which had been lifted the winter previous, 

 were in this plight, as many others must have been throughout the 

 country ; yet those which escaped late frosts bore good crops — nor had 

 the roots suffered any apparent damage. Facts such as these, which 

 are no doubt common to the experience of most gardeners, warrant 

 us, I think, in concluding that we have no reason to apprehend dan- 

 ger to the roots from frost that will not injure the branches or buds 

 ■while in a dormant condition. Nevertheless, I would not advise any 

 one to neglect mulching or other means of protection when they can 

 afford it. 



