METHODS AND PRACTICE 173 



Sufficient living and functional roots mud he lifted 

 with the plant to carry on the absorption of ivcder from 

 the soil. This condition varies in importance with the 

 one first named. With well-ripened wood the plant is 

 able to survive for a limited time, two or three weeks at 

 the most, whether direct root action, other than the 

 mere physical absorption of water by contact with 

 damp soil, takes place or not. If new roots can be 

 formed before any injurious desiccation has taken place, 

 the life of the plant is assured, and growth, however slow, 

 Avill go on. But if new roots are so long in forming, or 

 the weather immediately after planting is so dry and 

 warm that the above ground parts of the plant dry up 

 in a week or two, death usually ensues. Failures of this 

 kind are most likely to occur with species like Corsican 

 pine, Austrian pine, oak, hickory, and others with long 

 straggling roots, the ends of which are invariably torn or 

 broken in lifting. In most cases of this kind no living 

 root tips are moved with the plant at all. 



Cold, wet soils also delay recovery from planting by 

 checking healing and renewal of roots, and before the 

 latter occurs the plant either dies altogether, as in the 

 case of a conifer, or dies back to near the ground level if 

 a deciduous tree. Occasionally Austrian and Corsican 

 pines exhibit the power of remaining almost dormant 

 for an entire season, the buds alone slightly lengthening, 

 but the plants otherwise showing no signs of growth 

 above ground. 



Even in cases where living roots are lifted and trans- 

 planted, death often ensues with spring planting in dry 

 and warm seasons, as the roots are not brought sufficiently 

 into contact with the soil for them to carry on water 

 absorption fast enough. Larch is a frequent sufferer 

 from this cause, and it can only be avoided by autumn 

 or early spring planting. 



