202 



AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



Fig. 85. 



a. A pair of root stocks, pieces of root from mature trees. 



&. A pair of root stocks, pieces of the tap-root of one or two-year-old seedlings. 



should never be resorted to ; such stocks generally make only 

 a one-sided growth of root, and, as in the case of sucker stocks, 

 leave the tree to the mercy of the wind. It requires symmet- 

 rical roots to sustain a tree in erect and healthful growth (see 

 Fig. 89 5, page 204). Neither offshoot, nor sucker, nor root 

 stock will furnish these, unless, possibly, the tap-root of a 

 seedling cut into lengths, which, perhaps, may be expected to 

 retain throughout its growth the natural habit of its seedling 

 form (Fig. 85 b). 



ROOT SUCKERS. 



Fig. 86. 



Runner roots and their suckers, with feeble hair-like rootlets. 



ROOT SUCKERS are often used for stocks. These differ from 

 offshoots or stem suckers in that they are thrown up from pe- 

 culiar runner-roots, which do not supply food to the tree, but 

 rather abstract it to support the young brood they put forth. 

 This habit of throwing up suckers is transmitted to the suck- 

 er, and when it is used as a stock the tree becomes a nuisance, 

 not only generally failing to form sufficient root to support it- 

 self, but, instead of this, spreading around it a young forest of 



