EARLY CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 279 



tempts being made to spread out the roots on the sur- 

 face ; and when the separation of the roots is resorted 

 to, it may he so ^-iolent as to give a considerable check 

 to the gi'owth^ for "which reason it is often employed 

 with reluctance : indeed, in old pot-gi'own plants, whose 

 roots have acquired a fii^m set, the operation may be 

 impossible, in which case it will be more satisfactory to 

 tln-ow them away than to plant them, for they are 

 almost sure to be upset by the wind when they have 

 attained the height of fifteen or twenty feet. ^Nlost of 

 the pine tribe have few or no tap roots. They spread 

 theii' principal roots all round near the siu'face of the 

 soil ; and these roots, being more or less at right angles 

 to the trunk, according to the slope of the ground, 

 afford the tree a primaiy rest or support independently 

 of the hold which, as roots, they take of the soil. 

 Of course this advantage is greatly lessened, if not 

 wholly lost, by pot cidture. Nevertheless, this mode of 

 propagation cannot be wholly discontinued. Some pines 

 are imdeniably tender while yoimg. The facility ^ith 

 which plants can be tm'ned out of pots -u-ith good balls 

 is of considerable value. For these reasons this method 

 of cultivation shoidd be, if possible, improved, and its 

 disadvantages sedulously remedied. We would recom- 

 mend the employment of wider and shallower pots than 

 those in common use — say six inches in diameter by 

 fom' in depth for the first potting, and ten by six for the 

 second. Perhaps it would be better to adopt the larger 

 pots at once, as these would allow the roots to spread, 

 and prevent the corkscrew set, which is the bane of pot 

 cidtm-e. Another error is, that pines are generally re- 

 tained too long in pots, being kept during summer in 

 some back region or shaded frame in a garden or nm-sery. 



