142 



THE NURSERY. 



unless they are well cut back when young, they are 

 always difficult to transplant safely afterwards. Roots 

 that descend like the prongs of a fork are usually desti- 

 tute of fibres, whilst those that spread out horizontally, 

 or near the surface, are well furnished with fibres, that 

 r.ot only make trees easily transplanted, but inclined 

 to early fruitfulness. This operation on the roots, it is 

 obvious, destroys the natural balance or proportion that 

 existed between them and the tops. Hence the 

 necessity for shortening the stem in a corresponding 

 manner. But even if the roots were not shortened, 

 the stems should be, in order to obtain a vigorous 

 growth. The very removal of the plant lessens the power 

 of the roots to absorb and convey nutriment ; and on this 

 account, if no other, the stem- should be reduced by way 

 of regulating the supply and demand. We sometimes 

 see young stocks planted out without any shortening of 

 the stem; and the result is, they scarcely make any growth 

 the first season the roots are barely able to absorb 

 enough to keep ..them alive. If one-half the stem had 

 been cut away, the remaining buds would have received 

 such a supply of food as would have produced a vigorous 

 growth. It is a pretty good rule, therefore, to reduce the 

 stems of seedlings one-third to one-half \ as at B (7, fig. 

 86. But there are exceptions to this. For instance, a 

 stock with a very large and strong root, and a short, 

 stout, close-jointed stem, well matured, and furnished with 

 plump, prominent buds, requires very little, if any, short- 

 ening of the stem ; and again, others are just the reverse 

 tall, slender, and feeble, having been suffocated in the 

 seed-bed. Such as these require to be shortened more 

 than half, perhaps two-thirds. 



Layers, or Cuttings (fig. 87), are in a different situation 

 from seedlings, and require, therefore, different treatment. * 

 They have no tap-roots, but masses of fibres ; and these 

 fibres, being more or less injured by exposure, should be 



