150 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



survivors of the grove which sheltered the first band of 

 monks, also show twisted air-roots, and the ash, the lime 

 and the alder have also been known to send down roots 

 from the crown. In such cases an interesting fact may 

 often be noted, which shows that nature sometimes refuses 

 to abide by the distinctions of the textbooks. Botanists 

 define a root by various characters, one of which is that 

 it grows downwards ; they define a stem by other char- 

 acters, one of which is that it produces buds. The woody- 

 growths inside hollow trees must be called roots, for they 

 descend towards the earth, and indeed enter it, forming 

 branched rootlets and root-hairs, just like an ordinary 

 root. But though they are undoubted roots, they are also 

 by definition stems, for they produce buds and shoots. 



Uninjured aspens, poplars, elms, peaches, plums, 

 cherries, raspberries, roses and other woody plants more 

 than I care to quote throw up stems from their roots. 1 

 Where trees grow on a river-bank, it sometimes happens 

 that the soil is washed away from the main roots, which 

 then send out a profusion of leafy shoots. Willow- trees 

 are sometimes purposely bent down and their crowns 

 buried in the earth. When a sufficient number of new 

 roots have formed on the top of the stems, the bases are 

 cut through and the trees inverted. They grow ever after 

 upside down, but in full vigour. In the eighteenth century 

 what was called " reverse planting " was fashionable for a 

 time, and I have seen it practised forty years ago. 



I have examined a yew-tree which grew in a hollow, 

 where it was shaded by older trees to such a degree that 

 it was unable to ascend. It grew out horizontally, and 

 after reaching the light sent out many upright branches 

 from its upper side, while from its lower side it sent out 

 nearly as many air-roots, which entered the soil at different 

 places. Spruce-firs when prostrated by wind, often 

 behave in the same way. 



1 This has long been known. Virgil (Georg. II. 17) mentions the 

 cherry, elm and laurel (bay-tree) as sending up shoots in this way. 



