ESSAY ON FUEL PLANTATIONS. 



to grow, having performed the functions intended for it 

 by nature, and being no longer required, a number of 

 lateral roots take its place, and if they do not find moisture 

 near the surface, plunge deep down for it. No one ever saw 

 a tree blown over in a forest with a tap-root to it, or the 

 sign of one. I have examined hundreds of trees. Some- 

 times in natural moist forests it is almost impossible to 

 walk for the roots that cover the surface in a perfect net 

 work. I have seen miles of banyan trees blown down and 

 not even a lateral root penetrating the earth, showing how 

 much this tree in a dry climate derives its moisture from 

 the air. Many years ago, in a storm that swept down miles 

 of avenue trees between Trichinopoly and Coimbatore, the 

 uprooted trees presented a vast hollow centre where the tap- 

 root usually appears. Observe a banyan tree growing 

 out of a palmyra tree or out of the cleft in a wall of a 

 ruined pagoda. Where is its tap-root ? Nowhere! The roots 

 are seen like those of an orchid clinging to the wall or tree. 

 There are many trees that exist not so much by the moisture 

 the roots pump up from the earth, as by the moisture the 

 leaves absorb from the atmosphere. Those not capable of 

 absorbing moisture from the atmosphere, part with none 

 through their leaves, such as the casuarina and eucalyptus, 

 both calculated by the shape and texture of their leaves to 

 withstand dry winds. Observe the Teak tree, its vast leaves 

 will only enable it to flourish in moist places, as the amount 

 of evaporation exercised on such an extent of leaf area would 

 soon exhaust it in a dry climate. Nature always provides 

 a remedy, and if one tree has no deep roots, it is enabled 

 to absorb moisture from the atmosphere ; if it cannot absorb 

 moisture then it loses none. Again, by capillary attraction 

 moisture iu the earth is gjways rising to the surface, and 

 thus many roots obtain a supply. If it were possible to 

 take up a plant with a long tap-root without injury, then 

 it would be advisable to do so, but as it is a simple impos- 

 sibility to take up a plant of any size without damage, we 

 are forced to cut the tap-root. Even in planting small Teak, 



