HABIT OF YOUNG PLANTS 



153 



tap-root is one of the ancestral bogies of horticul- 

 turists ; and, like the sap, being out of sight, 

 almost any assertion may be made of it without 

 danger of disproof. The direction of the roots 

 is much influenced by the particular piece of earth 

 in which they grow, but beyond this, roots be- 



114. Renewal of leaders on trunks which were crushed 

 to the horizontal. 



have essentially as branches do, in respect to 

 pruning. 



5. The habit of the plant varies from youth to 

 age. 



Young plants are vigorous and rapid -growing. 

 They tend to make strong, upright growths. 

 Eventually they reach a limit of stature, and the 

 nearer they approach that epoch the less rapid is 

 the growth. Fruit -bearing tends to reduce growth 

 and to broaden the top. Young pear trees, par- 



