CHAPTER II. 



THE ROOT. 



The root is present in all cultivated plants. The 

 truffle, which, however, can scarcely be considered as 

 belonging to cultivated vegetables, having hitherto 

 defied all attempts to subjugate it, maybe considered 

 as consisting of nothing but root^. 



A root is annual, biennial, or perennial. In the 

 two former instances, if the individuals to which 

 they belong be allowed to perfect their seed, no care 

 can protract their existence beyond the ensuing 

 winter, however genial the temperature, &c., in 

 which they are made to vegetate ; but, if the ri- 

 pening of seed be prevented, it is undetermined 

 how long in most instances they may be sustained 

 in life. I have kno\vn mignionette continued in 

 healthy vegetation for four years by this pre- 

 caution. In all roots, and under any mode of ma- 

 nagement, the fibrous parts (radiculse) are strictly 

 annual ; they decay as winter approaches, and are 

 produced with the returning vigour of their parent 



* In Prussia it is said the gardeners succeed in cultivating this 

 subterraneous fungus, but their mode of treatment is a secret. 



E 



