200 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



June, 



The Roots of Plants under Cultiva- 

 tion. 



[Prom Paper read before the Western New York 

 Hortieultural Society, by E. S. Ooff, of Geneva,'\ 



It is through the water and nourishment 

 absorbed by the roots that onr crops are 

 enabled to develop. Obviously a knowledge 

 of the laws that govern root growth, and 

 the movements of that indispensable collat- 

 eral to root growth, the soil water, is of the 

 greatest importance. 



I do not i)ropose to give here a lecture on 

 the science of root growth, as developed by 

 the researches of botanists. I shall only 

 give the results so far as attained of certain 

 experiments undertaken at our station, and 

 I may add which are not yet completed. 



Position of Boots. The stems of most of our 

 cultivated plants incline upward. The roots on 

 the other hand, of nearly all of them, at least in 

 the soil of the station, incline horizontally. A 

 ceilain part, it is true, grow downward. 



Of all the plants that I have examined I have 

 not found one in which the roots did not extend 

 liorizontally as far as the branches, and in very 

 many cases they e.\tend much further. I have 

 not followed out the roots of the more rampant 

 growing Squashes and Pumpkins, of which the 

 stems sometimes e.Ytend a distance of .50 feet or 

 more; but in the Muskmelon I have traced the 

 roots farther than the longest stems, and in a 

 plant of the Hubbard Squash I followed a root 

 a distance of 10 feet, at which point it was still 

 an eighth of an inch in diameter. It might 

 doubtless have been traced much farther, but 

 wiis accidentally broken and the remainder could 

 not be distinguished among many other roots. I 

 think it is entirely safe to say, that as a rule the 

 roots of our cultivated plants (I do not here in- 

 clude trees) occupy more soil than is covered by 

 the branches. 



Depth of Boots. As to the depth in the soil at 

 which the roots of our crops He, I can make the 

 general statement, that in the plants examined 

 at the station the greater part lie between three 

 and eight inches below the surface. In nearly or 

 quite all of the plants examined a certain por- 

 tion of the root reaches the depth of two feet or 

 more, but these deep growing roots are generally 

 tew in number, and put out very few fibers. 

 Those plants that are natives of the tropics, and 

 that make a very rapid growth during the sum- 

 mer, !is Corn, Sorghum, the Squash and other 

 Cucurbita? roots, shallower than plants that are 

 the natives of cold climates. In these tropical 

 plants the gi-eater part of the roots lie from two 

 to five inches below the surface. Among the 

 plants that root especially deep may he men- 

 tioned the Cabbage family. Parsnip and Pareley. 

 In general the greater' part of the root develop- 

 ment is found just above the plow line. lu many 

 instances the roots appeared spread out upon the 

 to)) of tlie layer of soil undisturbed by the plow, 

 as uiion a table. We know that they have power 

 to grow deeper. If they were seekingonly water, 

 they could doubtless And this more abundantly 

 ileejier down at least in dry weather. If, how- 

 ever, they are seeking warmth, oxygen and plant 

 food, with moderate moisture, they would find 

 these near the surface, and in the soil made mel- 

 low by tillage. 



Experiments in Culture. In stirring the soil 

 about our growing crops in the manner usually 

 Iiracticed, we accomplish two quite different 

 objects, viz.: We loosen the soil, breaking there- 

 by the capillary connection between the surface, 

 and snlxsoil, we introduce fresh stores of oxygen 

 into the soil, and thus promote nitrification and 

 root growth. But in addition to these good 

 effc:cts, we lacerate the root sy.stem of the plants 

 to a greater or less extent. Is this, in itself 

 beneficial or otherwise"/ 



While I cannot gi\'c a sweeping answer to the 

 qucstif>n, I will relate the results of some experi- 

 ments that are at least suggestive. 



On the 30th of May last the roots of several 

 Corn plants, the tips of the tallest leaves of 

 which when raised erect were about ten inches 

 from the ground, wore laid bare, and these 

 showed that the aggregate length of the main 

 roots and fibers belonging to each plant (eighteen 

 days from planting) amoimted to nearly or (luite 

 one hundred feet. In order to .study the effect 

 of ordinary cultivation upon the root"*, a spade 

 was inserted to thedcpth of three inches on fo\ir 

 sides of a hill of Corn, keeping it about the same 

 distance from the stems, after which the roots 

 were laid l)arc tor examination. It apiieared 



that twelve of the main roots of this hill had been 

 severed, which was quite one-half of the entire 

 number. In a hill examined a week after a root 

 pruning, like that just described, the root growth, 

 as compared to that of a hiU not root i)runed, 

 was found to have made comparativel.v little 

 development. The foliage, however, did not 

 show the effect of the root pruning as plainly as 

 did the roots. 



In order to try the effect of such root interfer- 

 ence upon the crop, as independent of the collat- 

 eral effects of stin-ing the soil, a plat containing 

 one-twentieth of an acre, planted with Corn, was 

 left entirely uneulti\ated, so far as stirring the 

 soil was concerned, the weeds being pulled by 

 hand, as they became large enough to require it. 

 When the young plants had attained the height 

 of three to si.x inches, a lawn edger was carefully 

 inserted to the depth of three inches, on four 

 sides of every hill in each alternate row only. 

 The lawn edger was kept at a distance of three 

 or four inches from the plants, the aim being to 

 cut the roots to about the same extent as by 

 ordinary cultivation. The soil was not dry. 

 On June 34th, about the time for the usual second 

 culti\'ation, a second treatment was given, on the 

 same rows, and in the .same manner as the first. 

 The Crop. The plat was not again disturbed, 

 except to pull such weeds as appeai'ed, until all 

 growth in the Corn had ceased, when the crop 

 wiis harvested. Counting 80 pounds of the freshly 

 husked Corn as a shelled bushel, the root pruned 

 portion yielded at the rate of .32 bushels and 'S, 

 pounds of merchantable Corn per acre, and the 

 portion not root pruned at the rate of .52 bushels 

 and 70 pounds, or an excess over the root pruned 

 part of 20 bushels and 47 pounds per acre, the 

 difference between a poor and a good crop. I 

 certainly do not propose to argue from these 

 results that cultivation is injurious to Corn. 

 What the experiment does teach is this: cuttmg 

 the roots of young Corn i)lants, in a season like 

 the past, and on soil Uke the plat upon which the 

 experiment was made, is by itself, that is, inde- 

 pendent of the other effects of cultivation, injur- 

 ious. With us the season, until midsummer, 

 was exceptionally dry, but the drought did not 

 prevent a good crop of Corn where the roots 

 were not disturbed. 



How to Cultivate, it is too early yet to lay 

 down rules. I simply suggest that as we do not 

 know in advance whether a season is to be wet 

 or dry, it would be wisest to practice that kind 

 of cultivation which stirs the soil most thoroughly 

 with the least damage to the roots. In a word, 

 this means to cultivate deeply in the center of 

 the spaces between the rows, while the plants 

 are so young, but very shallow near the plants; 

 and the space that may be cultivated deeply will 

 be narrower at the second cultivation thau at the 

 first. In washing out the roots of Corn plants it 

 was observed that at the time the tallest leaf 

 raised erect reached the height of ten inches, the 

 longest roots had grt>wn horizontally a distance 

 of about nine inches; in other words, in rows 

 three and a half feet apart, a space about two 

 feet wide at the center was still free from roots. 

 One week later the horizontal roots had grown to 

 the distance of eighteen inches, which left but 

 about six inches of space free from roots, and by 

 the end of another week the roots of plants in 

 adjoining rows had commenced to intermingle. 



Chrysanthemum Cultivation by 

 Amateurs. 



{By FAwin Beckett. Paper read at a Meeting of the 

 St. Atbans, (England.) Hortieultural Society.) 



I have known amateurs with limited 

 means and scope to figure prominently at 

 some of the largest e.\hibitions, and run the 

 professional growers very close for honors, 

 and in some cases actually beating them. 

 But when this has happened, it has been 

 mainly due to the untiring energy of the 

 first-mentioned class of cultivators. Having 

 met with a fair amount of success both as a 

 cultivator and exhibitor of these flowers, I 

 will now proceed to brietly describe what I 

 believe to be the best uumIc of cultivatiini. 



Propagation. From the middle of December 

 to the first week in .lanuary I consider the best 

 time to commence propagation. It is well for 

 the begiiniei' to make a selection of the best and 

 most popular sorts befoi'e starting, which is easily 

 done by noting down at the exhibitions the 

 varieties staged by the most successful com|>eti- 

 tors, and 1 wtnild also advise them to grow a 



limited number of sorts, having two or three 

 plants each of the best rather than a host of un- 

 certain varieties. By adopting this coui-se much 

 disappointment will be avoided. 



I have found that the best way of striking the 

 cuttings is to devote a light or two of a pit divided 

 by a partition, and heated by hot-water pipes 

 running through, to the work of propagation. 

 The frame should be filled with finely sifted coal 

 ashes to a sufficient depth to raise the cuttings 

 to within a short distance of the glass. A great 

 many growers advise putting the cuttings in a 

 cold frame. I object because of the great risk of 

 their suffering from damp and mildew, and at 

 the same time remaining almost at a standstill. 

 The plants should be kept in a healthy condi- 

 tion from the time the cuttings are inserted until 

 the flowering season. The soil used for filling 

 the cutting pots should consist of two parts light 

 fibrous loam and two parts leaf-mold with a 

 liberal addition of sharp silver sand. Use three- 

 inch pots with a little moss or rough loam placed 

 over the drainage to keep it clean and sweet. 

 Fill the pots moderately firm, and jjlace a little 

 silver sand over the surface of the soil. Insert 

 four cuttings in each pot. The cuttings should 

 at all times be clean cut and not rooted suckers, 

 choosing the strongest and most sturdy shoots 

 for the i>urpose. Some sorts will be found to 

 strike much rpucker than othei'S. 



Potting, The whole stock should be ready for 

 potting by the end of January or the first week 

 in February. The soil should be the same as ad- 

 vised for filling the cutting pots. Thoroughly 

 water them, air and keep close for a few days, 

 taking care to protect them fromfrost. Ventilate 

 freely as they commence to grow and wholly 

 remove the lights on all favorable occasions dur- 

 ing the day. Nothing tends to strengthen and 

 keep them in good health so much as an abund- 

 ance of fresh air when they are in a young state. 

 By the last week in March they should be ready 

 for shifting into six inch pots. The compost 

 should qonslst of two pai-ts of good fibrous loam, 

 one part well decayed horse or cow manure, and 

 one part leaf mold, with a good addition of 

 coarse sand. A few half-inch bones should be 

 placed over the drainage. Put a neat stake to 

 each plant and return them tn the cold frame, 

 treating them as mentioned before. At the end 

 of April, or some later, if the weather is unfav- 

 orable, move them outside to a sheltered position; 

 the foot of a south wall or fence will suit them 

 admirably. Let them stand well clear of each 

 other on slates or boards to promote drainage. 

 They should receive their final potting into 8- 

 inch pots in the first or second week of June. A 

 few of the strongest growing kinds may go into 

 ten-inch pots. The compost now should be three 

 parts good loam and one part decayed manure, 

 with a liberal addition pf bone meal. Drain the 

 pots well, placing a thin lajer of fibre over the 

 drainage, which should be formed with clean 

 crocks ancl half-inch bones. Pot firmly, using 

 the potting-stick freely. Place a longer and 

 stronger stake to them before leaving the potting- 

 shed. The most suitable and convenient sunning 

 place is an open, airy position by the side of a 

 walk, where they wiU receive the full benefit of 

 the sun during the whole day. To make them 

 safe from injury from the wind, drive in strong 

 stakes a short distance apart, and strain wire or 

 strong string to fasten them to. Syringe freely 

 every fine afternoon, and as the plants advance 

 in growth and the pots become fiUed with roots 

 liquid manure must be applied alternatel.v with 

 clear water. Attend to thinning out the shoots, 

 allowing three or four to each plant according 

 to its strength and the \'ariety. 



Bisbudding, This is a source of great anxiety 

 even to the experienced cultivators, as sorts 

 differ so much in the time required for the ex- 

 pansion of their flowers. Generally, for those 

 required about the middle of No\ember I have 

 found from the last week in August to the second 

 in September the best time. From three to six 

 Bowers only should be left if extra large blooms 

 are desired. The central bud should always be 

 left. Disbudding mustbepertormed by a steady 

 hand and keen eye. I u.se a small pointed .stick, 

 taking the buds away when large enough, and 

 exercising great care not to damage the re- 

 maining bud. 



(To be Continued.) 



The Planting and Care of a Vineyard. 



[From discussion of Cliautaiuiua Co. ITurticultural 

 Society. March 31, 1888.1 



Preparation of the Soil. Mr. Hynes said 

 that I he depth of plowing depends upon the 



