857 



root fibres may be formed and the top, during this time, must draw water 

 from the reserves stored up in the wood body. Because of the mutual 

 dependence of the subterranean and aerial axes^ it is necessary to cut back 

 the top of the transplanted tree, corresponding to the change in the root 

 system. The further advanced the foliage of the tree, the more necessary 

 is this pruning. In practice, other means for reducing, as far as possible, the 

 evaporation of the aerial parts are used, such as, for example, the wrapping 

 of the trunk, frequent sprinkling of the top, artificial shade, etc. 



Trees are usually sold from nurseries in a leafless condition but even 

 here the quickly developing foliage requires a sufficient supply of water. 

 This can be made possible only by newly formed roots. It is, therefore, of 

 the greatest importance to deliver the trees in such a condition that they will 

 form new roots as quickly and abundantly as possible. This depends upon 

 the method of growing the trees and the way in which the roots have been 

 cut. The older the root is, the scantier the development of new fibrous 

 roots on the cut surface ; the larger the cut surface, the more slowly it is 

 overgrown and the greater the danger of root decay. R. Hartig- has thor- 

 oughly described this for conifers and deciduous trees. 



On this account, the first rule is to grow the trees so as to avoid as far 

 as possible wide spreading, large roots, such as trees usually form when 

 developing undisturbed in one place and to produce a root system in the 

 form of a ball of close standing, short but well branched roots. This is done 

 best by repeated cutting of the roots in the first years of growth. 



Twisting the long tap root is often recommended instead of cutting it, as 

 this would avoid decay. The widely experienced Goppert^ holds to this 

 view. As a fact, twisted roots develop lateral roots quickly on their convex 

 side"^. In the water cultures of fruit trees, which I made in Proskau, some 

 seedlings of the apple, pear, pine, maple, etc., had curved tap roots because 

 they had reached the bottom of the small receptacles and remained there for 

 some time. The root tips of other plants were injured when taken from the 

 sand. The majority of both kinds of seedlings developed lateral roots 

 much sooner than the uninjured experimental plants, set earlier in larger 

 receptacles. This circumstance seems practical, as a confirmation of the 

 view of those who recommend striving for early root branching in trans- 

 planting by bending the tap root and not injuring it. We cannot, however, 

 approve of this method ; in heavy soils, especially, where we had experi- 

 mentally planted apple seedlings with cut back tap roots and others with 

 uninjured but spirally twisted ones, the removal from the soil for the second 



1 Kny, L., On correlation in the growth of roots and shoots. (Second paper.) 

 Annals of Botany, Vol. XV, No. 60, Dec, 1901. 



2 Hartig-, R., Die Zersetzungserscheinuhgen des Holzes der Nadelbaume und 

 der Eiche. Berlin 1S7S. — Lehrbuch d. Pflanzenkrank. 3rd. ed. Berlin 1900. Springer, 

 p. 263. 



3 Goppert, Innere Zustande d. Baume nach ausseren Verletzungen. Breslau 

 1873. 



4 Noll, Fr., trber den bestimmenden Einfiuss von Wurzelkr-iimmungen auf 

 Entstehung und Anordnung der Seitenwurzeln. Landwirtsch. Jahrbiicher 1900; cit. 

 Zeitschr. f. Pflanzenkrankh. 1902, p. 55. 



