MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



where they will most surely absorb the 

 amount of water that in each case runs 

 down to them. So much is this true that 

 in transplanting trees foresters and ' nursery- 

 men know well you must lop the roots and 

 the branches so as to cover equal super- 

 ficial areas, or else the water will not fall 

 on the parts best adapted to receive it ; 

 for, just as the lopped branches put forth 

 new leaves and twigs at the point of 

 section, so do the lopped roots put forth new 

 rootlets and absorbent hairs at the place 

 where they are now most urgently needed. 



Not every kind of plant, however, man- 

 ages its water-supply on the self-same system. 

 There are dodges and devices. For herbs 

 with leaves that spring from the rootstock 

 alone, for example, without any visible above- 

 ground stem, two main plans have been very 

 widely adopted. One plan is that invented 

 by plants like rhubarb, which have chan- 

 nelled leaves with grooved leaf-stalks, con- 

 ducting all the water that falls upon their 

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