332 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTTJKE AJSTD COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ October 27, 1863, 



LIFTING THE EOOTS OP GEAPE VINES. 



I HAVE a small liouse of Muscats, the Grapes in wliich, 

 diu'ing their early growth, are very subject to the spot, and 

 when ripe they rot. I am certain the evil arises from the 

 border, which I intend redi'aining and making of a lighter 

 material. I should like to do it now ; but the question is. 

 Shall I injm-e my crojj of Grapes, which is just ripe ? — 

 M. W., Barnet. 



[The best time to lift the roots of Vines such as you 

 describe is before the leaves cease their- functions and when 

 there is a certainty of the Vines making fresh roots before 

 winter. This is generally in September. We would recom- 

 mend yoii, now that the season is so far advanced, to leave 

 them alone till about a mouth before you intend starting 

 them next spring ; and, as soon as you perform the operation, 

 protect the border from cold rains, and if you can place a 

 bed of leaves over them so much the better. The heat wiU 

 assist root-action. Apart from the consideration of the 

 truit now on the Vines, which will sxrfl'er if the Vines ai'e 

 lifted now, the spring is a better time than winter to carry 

 out your intentions.] 



EOOTS AND LEAVES. 



EooTS in some points coiTCspond with the mouths, and 

 leaves with the stomachs and lungs of animals. Plants, 

 however, differ from animals in having the principles of 

 vitality and reproduction diffused thi-ougliout their struc- 

 ture : they can be propagated by several of then- parts, 

 whereas animals are solely reproduced by ova or seed. 

 We may take away the limb of an animal in the same 

 way as the ai-m or branch of a tree, and no fatal result 

 will follow ; but destroy or fail to feed the stomach of an 

 animal and its existence terminates. This is equally true 

 of plants in a general sense ; but if we destroy the leaves 

 no such immediately fatal results ensue. The plant has 

 in store a quantity of dormant eyes, which are called into 

 action when its existence is threatened. In some plants 

 the powers of reproduction are so great that it requires 

 nothing short of the complete destruction of every part to 

 destroy vitality and prevent reproduction. 



Although plants have such extraordinai'y properties of 

 vitality and reproduction, there are two parts of their struc- 

 ture that must act in unison and be present in them or the 

 sxjbject loses its vitality. The two parts alluded to are the 

 roots, and the stems and leaves of a plant. No plant can 

 exist much less enlai-ge without thom, hence tlieu- immense 

 importance in the vegetable economy ; but a plant, or some 

 part thereof, may retain its vitality for a definite time with- 

 out either. True, the leaf of a Gloxinia may contain the 

 vitality uecessai-y for the reproduction of the plant from 

 which it is taken; but that cannot be called a plant, it 

 being merely the germ of a plant, for until roots are formed 

 nothing is present that constitirtes an organic structure. 

 The leaf, however, imbibes moisture from the atmosphere, 

 and sends down a portion of matter which causes cellular 

 matter to iirotrnde fi-om the bottom of the leaf, foraiing 

 what is termed by gardeners the callosity, and, through this, 

 ligneoiis fibre protrudes and appears as roots. Although 

 the leaf has not become a plant as yet, it has, however, an 

 organised system ; the roots absorb moisture from the soil 

 along with some of its chemical ingredients held in solu- 

 tion by watei-. The whole is transmitted upwards into the 

 leaf, where it is exposed to the action of air and bght ; 

 the crude sap is decomposed, carbon is added, and after it 

 has become elaborated it descends and forms the tuber, or 

 what would in the case of a ligneous plant become wood. 

 Now that the plant has an organic system (for it has such 

 immediately on the protrusion of roots), the removal of the 

 roots causes the leaf to flag, and for a time delays the suc- 

 cess of the striking. Presuming, however, that the leaf is 

 again placed in the soil nevr roots will appear again fi-om 

 its extremity, but no enlargement of the tuber or stem (the 

 roots of Gloxinias and Cyclamens are simply stems, and not 

 bulbs as m the case of the Hj'acintis), takes place until 

 root-action recommences. At this stage remove the leaf, 

 .and the eqinlibrium existing between the root and the leaf 

 is at an end. 



The existence of the pai-t intended for a plant is now 



dependant on the stage at which the tuber has arrived. If 

 it has attained the state of a bidb the root and leaf will 

 be of no further use to it : therefore, the removal of either 

 does not destroy the vitality of the bidb, although this wUl 

 not attain the perfection it otherwise would have done had 

 neither of them been removed. If, however, the leaf be re- 

 moved at an earlier stage, say immediately on the protru- 

 sion of roots, the death of the part beneath the soil follows 

 as a necessary consequence. The roots will not absorb 

 nutrition fi-om the soil because the part in whieii it is to 

 be elaborated is not present ; and until there is a digestive 

 system no enlai-gement of any part takes place, and if there 



I be no eyes or matter to form them the death of the remain- 



1 ing portion is a necessary consequence. 



', Eoots, then, are necessai-y to the formation of leaves, and 



j leaves must be present or no enlargement of the stem or, 

 the structure of the plant can take place. 



I shall not jjursue the philosophy of the roots any further, 

 nor that of leaves, beyond giving a faint outline of their 



I uses in the vegetable economy, for that will be found fuUy 

 treated of in the •' Science and Practice of Gardening." 



Some years ago I received several Fig trees in pots from 

 a nursery, and found on turning them out in order to repot, 

 that the extremities of the roots were dead. Prior to this I 

 had been led to attach great weight to the presei-vatiou of 

 the spongioles, and could only account for their being dead 

 by some injui-y, as fi-ost or exposure to excessive di-yness. 

 Having some dozen plants to pot I found the same decayed 

 state of the spongioles, and I put my Fig trees in their 

 quarters with a presentiment that they woi-dd do little good 

 the season foUovjing. The same season I took up a Peach 

 tree and found that the gi-eater part of the spongioles were 

 dead, in some cases beyond the axillary fibres, and those that 

 were found alive -were situated at a considerable distance 

 fi-om the stem, and evidently were the growing jjoints of the 

 main roots. Those appertaining to the secondai-y or side 

 branches of the roots were also incapable through decay of 

 collecting nutriment fi-om the soil had the condition of the 

 Ijlant required it. Although careful to retain as much 

 fibres as i^ossible, I found on spreading out the roots that 

 there were not half a dozen fibres that had the extre- 

 mities fi-esh or even capable of elo-ngation. Shifting some 

 Lime trees neai-er spring, I found the fibres fi-esh and full 

 of sap, though the extremities had the appearance of having 

 been cut transversely by some sharp instrument, and beyond 

 this point was found the skeleton of about G inches of the 

 extremities of the roots. These little matters combined led 

 to my paying more attention to roots than hitherto, and ft-oni 

 reading an article in a contemporary, attaching great weight 

 to the importance of preserving the extremities of the roots, 

 of deciduous trees in autumn or winter transplantation, I was 

 led to oj>pose the teaching of the learned dictator in my 

 humble way. The communication I need not say never saw 

 the light of day, Ijut from that time to this I have seen 

 nothing to remove but a great deal to confii-m my opinion 

 that the spongioles are renewed annually, or the roots 

 themselves die back for the most part between the fall of 

 the leaf and the flow of the sap in spring. Nine out of 

 every ten deciduous trees and shrubs with which I am ac- 

 quainted, and I have seen them by tens of thousands in a 

 nursery, have no spongiole ready to collect nutriment from 

 the soil on the return of warmth und increased light. 



There ai-e exceptions to this rule, of wliich the Apricot is 

 one ; and I may say that the failure of Apricot trees in 

 orchard-houses is more attributable to a too late top-di-essing 

 in autumn than any other cause. The Apricot emits fleshy 

 roots in autumn, which run a long distance without sending 

 out side br.anches or fibres. They remain active throughout 

 the winter, and a quantity of small fibres are protriided 

 simultaneously with the opening of the Apricot blossom. 

 The Vine is another exception. It, like the Apricot, emits 

 fleshy roots in autumn, which appear to sci-ve no purpose 

 beyond that of extension. Neither is their destiaiction of 

 any extraordinary moment to the next year's development. 

 Whether the Vine emits those fleshy protrusions to repair 

 the waste that is continually going on by the stems being 

 kejit in a dry atmosphere, or for affording the means from 

 which many minor protrusions or fibres can radiate in the 

 succeeding summer is not for me to say, but if they ai-e left 

 alone they often traverse a great distance without sending 



