The Story-Book of the Fields 



the threatened point. The edges of the 

 wound left by the amputation of a branch, 

 the parts of the stem choked by bandages, 

 or the bark where it has been injured by 

 blows, are the spots where they prefer to 

 appear. They are called adventitious shoots, 

 and their structure does not differ from that 

 of those that are normal. 



The adventitious shoots are used so as to 

 obtain valuable results. If young trees are 

 planted with a convenient space left between 

 each one and its neighbour, each plant will 

 grow up with a single stem, and the plantation 

 will become a forest. But it may be desirable 

 to replace this single stem by a group of 

 several, and to effect this the trees are cut 

 down to the level of the ground. Adventitious 

 shoots will appear on the edge of the great 

 wound caused by the amputation, and will 

 lengthen into so many stems. Each plant, 

 which would have produced one tree, is con- 

 verted into a stock with numerous branches, 

 all of the same age and strength. When the 

 branches have attained the required size they 

 are cut down afresh and more shoots are 

 produced as the wounds are multiplied. Thus 

 a stock which is constantly amputated and 

 restored by adventitious shoots produces 



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