THE TREATMENT OF ROOTS 83 



were left intact. How can the root system, which has been 

 damaged and cut in taking it out of the soil, absorb sufficient 

 water for the full development of all its leaves ? However 

 much we may water the root, it will be of little avail ; it may 

 even be injurious to the plant, as the saturation of the soil 

 with water may cause decay to set in at the cut ends. 



In consequence of what has been said in the previous chap- 

 ters about the function of the delicate root-tips, we must 

 emphatically contradict the view which is still held and acted 

 upon by some, that in transplanting trees and bushes the 

 branches should be left unpruned. 



In support of this view it is often mentioned that pot-plants, 

 in which the root system has been considerably damaged by 

 transplanting, need not be pruned in. This argument, how- 

 ever, though it is actually true, is fallacious, for pot-plants can 

 be, and are, placed after transplanting either in a shady place, 

 or in the moist atmosphere of a frame, which reduces the 

 amount of their transpiration in accordance with the reduced 

 Absorption. 



Transplanted woody plants must therefore have their crowns 

 reduced. It is only a question as to how the pruning should 

 take place, so as to assist as much as possible the speedy 

 formation of new roots. If we assume the roots to be pro- 

 perly pruned, the production of adventitious roots depends upon 

 the excess of food substance formed in the leaves over their 

 consumption. This excess will find its way down the stem 

 into the root system. Again, other things being equal, the 

 amount of assimilated food matter available for the roots will 

 depend upon the rapidity of development of, and upon the 

 amount of work done by, the foliage. The more rapidly, there- 

 fore, we can produce a large number of actively functioning 

 leaves, the sooner will the stem be in a position to pass down 

 material for the formation of new roots. 



But with regard to a rapid and strong development of leaf 

 surface, the several buds of a branch behave very differently, 

 and we may take it as a rule that the uppermost buds of every 

 branch are the first to develop and produce the largest amount 

 of leaf surface. Now, for the purpose under consideration, we 

 require a large amount of foliage at the earliest possible period, 



