m 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[xNo. 2 



tionably in size. As these two parts of a plant 

 are intended to operate together, the one furnish- 

 ing the material and the other working it up ; in a 

 healthy state of a plant, they will always preserve 

 their relative size. It has sometimes been made 

 a question, whether it was advisable to lop the 

 branches of a tree when we transplant it. If the 

 ends of the roots are cut off', as is commonly the 

 case, I should decide the question in lavor of lop- 

 ping the branches also ; and perhaps even where 

 the roots are not cut off, as their action is checked 

 to a certain extent by being placed in a new situa- 

 tion, it maybe advisable to lop the branches to a 

 small extent. The only other office of the root, 

 which I shall mention at present, is that of fixing 

 the plant in the ground, and thus enabling it to 

 rear its stem in the atmosphere, and spread abroad 

 its leaves, so that under the action of sun-light, 

 they may be enabled to perform their appropriate 

 functions. 



Between the root and the stem there is no defi- 

 nite organic separation, but the two melt, as it 

 were, together. Nevertheless, the imaginary line 

 formed by their union, has received the name of 

 collar or neck, and great importance hat^ some- 

 times been attributed to it. A very common im- 

 pression is, that the collar is the seat of vitality; 

 and that if a tree be cut through at its collar it will 

 never grow again. If such trees as the pine and 

 the oak, be cut off' at the level of the ground, it is 

 true, that they never will sprout up a second time ; 

 but there are other trees, such as the Lombardy 

 poplar and willow, which may be cut directly 

 through the collar, or even below it, without pre- 

 venting the part which remamsfrom shooting Ibrth 

 young'stems, to take the place of those which have 

 been removed. This proves that the opinion that 

 the collar is the seat of vitality, is an erroneous 

 one. The fact that many trees, when cut off' at 

 the surface of the ground, are effectually killed, 

 whilst others are not, is to be accounted for in a 

 different way. As 1 have mentioned in a previous 

 chapter, the roots of some plants have the power 

 of Ibrming adventitious buds, and thus giving rise 

 to stems, whilst others are entirely destitute of this 

 power. If a plant of the first kind is cut off at 

 the surface of the ground, and its root is suffered 

 to remain in the soil, that root is placed in the most 

 favorable circumstances for developing adventi- 

 tious stems. If a plant of the second kind be treat- 

 ed in the same way, as its roots are inca|)able of 

 forming adventitious buds, it is of course effectual- 

 ly killed. That the collar is not the seat of vital- 

 ity, those farmers whose land are over-run with 

 sassafras, (^laurus sassafras,) must have found out 

 to their sorrow. 



In stating that the roots of plants do not, except 

 in extraordinary circumstances, form buds, it is 

 necessary that I should point out a distinction, 

 which botanists make, between true roots and un- 

 der-ground stems. Ofthese underground stems, the 

 tuber of the potato, {solarium, tuberosum,) or what 

 is commonly called the potatoe itself, may bemen- 

 tioned as an example. These always form buds. 

 They are distinguised from true roots by the for- 

 mation of buds; and from true stems by the charac- 

 ter of their buds ; for whilst the buds of true stems 

 send forth branches only, the buds of underground 

 stems always send forth both roots and branches. It 

 is necessary, both for the sake of exactness of lan- 

 guage, and for practical purposes, carefully to dis- 



tinguish between these two classes of organs. For 

 whilst an under-ground stem is one of the means 

 destined by nature for the multiplication of plants, 

 true roots never perform this office except in cir- 

 cumstances special and very unusual. Neither do 

 such stems appear to perform the office of roots.^ 

 They seem intended to act a part similar to that of 

 seed, their buds taking the place of the embryo, 

 and their mass the place of" the parenchyma of 

 the seed. Like seeds, they are destined to give 

 rise to new individuals of their species, and to 

 furnish them with nourishment, until their roots 

 are sufficiently developed to perform that office. 

 Hence it is, that before sprouting, they are filled 

 with nutritious matter, and form a very important 

 article of food ; but after sprouting they are shri- 

 velled and dry, consisting, like the roots of biennial 

 plants after their second year's growth, of nothing 

 more than empty cellules, which the growing 

 plant has exhausted of all nutritious matter; and 

 hence too it is, that a potato, although not buried 

 in the earth, will sprout and grow very well, so 

 long as the nutritious matter which it contains 

 lasts, but 80 soon as that is exhausted, will die. 



Under-ground stems present a very considerab'e 

 variety, both in form and in structure. The tuber 

 of the potato is generally more or less globular in 

 form, and always homogeneous in structure ; the 

 cormus of the tulip is far more regular in its shape 

 than the potato, but like that, is homogeneous in 

 its structure ; the bulb of the onion has the same_ 

 shape as the cormus of the tulip, but instead of 

 being like that, homogeneous in its structure, it 

 consists of a number of concentric bands, easily 

 separable from one another. The botanist consid- 

 ers these as modified leaves ; the scaly bulb of the 

 lilly is more evidently made up of modified leaves. 

 The root-stock of the sweet-flag, (acorus calamus) 

 which presents us with still a diffierent form of un- 

 der-ground stem, is a thick-jointed stalk, seriding 

 forth shoots and roots from every separate joint. 

 These are some of the common forms of under- 

 ground stems; there are others which are more 

 uncommon, and vvhich it is hardly worth our while 

 to notice on the present occasion. 



The wild onion, or garlic, (allionia vincale,) 

 forms its bulbs at the top of its stem, among its 

 flowers and seed; the orange lilly, (lilimn bulbi- 

 ferum,) a plant common in gardens, forms its bulbs 

 at the points where its leaves are joined to the 

 stem ; the common white lilly {liliiim candidum,) 

 forms its bulbs at the base of the old bulbs, and 

 not from the roots ; and the potato in like manner 

 forms its tubers at the extremities of short under- 

 ground branches, as is evident from inspection du- 

 ring the forming state of tubers, and not upon the 

 roots, as is commonly supposed. By particular 

 management, De Candolle states, that he has 

 caused potatoes to form on (he ordinary branches of 

 the plant, and even at the axils ot'the leaves. That 

 the tubes are formed upon the under-ground 

 branches, and not upon the roots of potatoes is a 

 fact vvhich should be borne in mind, in attempting 

 to determine the best manner of cultivating that 

 vegetable. The circumstances which seem most 

 favorable to the developement of these under- 

 ground branches on vvhich the tubers form, are, the 

 exclusion of light and a proper degree of moisture. 

 If the light be not excluded, the branches, if devel- 

 oped at all. will be like the common branches of the 

 plant ; if there be not sufficient moisture present, 



