544 Traxsactioxs of the American Institute. 



the pitcli pine {j)hius rlgida), in order to succeed at all satisfactory 

 must be put out when they are very small, or, what is still better, be 

 raised from the seed where the trees are to grow. By pulverizing 

 the subsoil several feet in depth, where it is so compact that the 

 earth cannot be shoveled easily, the tap-root will strike downward 

 readily, and the trees will flourish satisfactorily where they would not 

 grow at all if this precaution had not been taken to prepare the 

 ground for the tap-roots. I know the tap-root is removed entirely, 

 many times, from fruit trees when thej are transplanted ; and many 

 persons, whose opinion is respected as authority, will always say 

 remove the tap-root of every tree. Some trees appear to thrive quite 

 as well after the tap-root is removed, even with the upper system of 

 coronal roots. But, when it seems to be the habit of a tree, or plant, 

 to send down a large tap-root, the stem will always gi'ow far more 

 luxuriantly if the entire tap-root can be retained, than if it were 

 severed. 



Red clover may be cited as an instance, which no one will contro- 

 vert. It is a habit of red clover, that many other leguminous plants do 

 not have, to send down a large and strong tap-root. Indeed, the 

 transcendent excellence of this plant as a subsoiler, as a civilizer, 

 and renovator of a stubborn soil, depends almost entirely on the tap- 

 root. Let the tap-root be severed near the upper system of coronal 

 roots, and if the plant survives the injury, it will be no more of a 

 renovator of the soil than a stool of timothy {Phleum pretense). 



All plants and trees, when not growing where sand constitutes the 

 largest proportion of the soil, will throw out a system of coronal or 

 secondary roots near the surface of the ground. If a system of 

 secondary roots were not essential to the requirements of the growing 

 tree or plant, most assuredly such roots would never appear there. If 

 a voung fruit tree be deprived of the uppemiost system of secondary 

 or coronal roots, another system will soon be sent out just below the 

 surface of the ground, except with old trees. Let the earth be hauled 

 up around a stalk of Indian corn before the pollen has fallen, so that 

 the soil covers another joint above the last system of roots, and in a 

 few days nature will push out another system of brace or coronal 

 roots. 



The same is true of young fruit trees. If the roots are transplanted 

 too deep the trees will not grow satisfactorily, until a system of 

 secondary roots has been formed near the surface of the ground. Let 

 the soil be examined around a young fruit tree, where a dressing of 



