1843.) 
THE GARDENERS 
CHRONICLE. 
755 
Roots OF NEW DAHLIAS for sale, which gained 
~\ prizes at Teddington and Kingston Exhibitions :—Twicken- 
ham Rival; yellow, tipped with red, beautiful round petals; a 
Superb show-flower. # s.d. 
Ground Roots, each. AON 
Pot do. +, . . 210 0 
Gaines’ Princess Alice; clear white, beautiful form, well up in 
the centre ; constant show- flower nd . 
May be obtained of N. Garnes, Florist, Surrey Lane, Battersea ; 
also his list of first-rate Pelargoniums, i aria 
Fuchsias, Verbenas, Auriculas, Cinerarias, Chrysanthemums, &c., 
which contain many seedlings and new varieties not before 
offered to the public. 
The Gardeners’ Chronicie. 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1848. 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 
Wednesday, Noy. 
Friday No i 
Society of Arts. 
Botanical . 
Tuesday, Nov. 7. Linnean. 
» ” Horticultural . 
Tux first step which a gardener should take in 
order to determine the best method of cultivating a 
plant is to make himself perfect master of its structure 
and natural habits. When he has ascertained what 
ature has intended the plant to do, and what means 
she has furnished it with to accomplish the ends for 
which it is destined, then, and not till then, will he be 
able to judge correctly of the way in which it may be 
treated under the artificial circumstances of a garden. 
Then, too, he may know how far it is possible to 
alter its nature in order to render it more subser- 
vient to his purposes. One would think this to be a 
truth which there is no disputing, aud we do not 
imagine any one hardy =e altogether to deny it ; 
and yet it is practically neglected every day. 
We dare not ask a farmer whether he perfectly 
comprehends the natural habits of Wheat; anda 
ardener would probably be affronted if the same 
inquiry were made of him as regards a Strawberry 
plant. Nevertheless we will undertake that nine- 
tenths of both farmers and gardeners have never con- 
sidered the exact mode of growth of either the one or 
the other of these common plants. “ It is impossible 
not to understand what is daily before our eyes,” 
would probably be the gentlest answer we should 
receive. However, let us see what the fact is as 
regards the Strawberry. It is not long since we were 
obliged to explain circumstantially the reason why 
the leaves of the Strawberry plant should not be cut 
off in the autumn, according to a barbarous practice 
which exists in many parts of the country. The 
endless questions put to us on that occasion afford the 
Most conclusive proof that the real nature of the 
plant, so far as its leaves are concerned, was not at all 
comprehended. Now we are asked why we object to 
the custom of digeing between the rows of Strawberry 
plants, classing that too among barbarous practices ; 
and this shows that the questioners have also Roe 
(ag the manner of growth of this common 
enb. 
A Strawberry plant consists of a very short stem 
Seated just at the surface of the ground, covered with 
leaves, and throwing out from its lower end long 
slender woody perennial roots, which divide into a 
multitude of branches. The stem itself consists of a 
Soft centre, with a woody outside, over which is the 
bark, which bears the leaves. The soft centre is a 
very large pith, and the Strawberry stem is in fact 
Not essentially different from the branch of a tree, one 
year old, with all its joints so contracted as to touch 
each other. The pith is a great receptacle of organi- 
zable Matter; it is the source whence the leaves and 
fruit are fed in the spring and early summer; its 
Starchy and gummy contents may be observed at this 
time of year, by any one who will cut it across and 
touch it with iodine ; the gum will then become 
brown, the starch violet, and the woody matter will 
vemain of a clear yellow. he roots extend to a 
Considerable distance from the stem, branching in all 
Irections in search of food, and inereasing in number 
as the stem increases in age. ‘Their object is to 
obtain unorganised food from the soil, especially 
Water, of which we know the Strawberry to he greedy. 
en undisturbed they live for a long time, and are 
as all times ready to answer the demands made upon 
em by the leaves and fruit. 
alsa is the natural state of things with the Straw- 
Ris y- e are aware that some persons believe that 
sreeatoots are only annual, and that the Strawberry- 
rs itself becomes hard and lifeless after the first 
Ae but these are so evidently mistakes—as any 
may satisfy himself by a little examination of the 
Pant—that it seems almost unnecessary to notice 
5 em further: the only evidence we need offer in 
PPosition to these views isto be found in those Straw- 
eens which are allowed to remain for twenty 
years and more without replanting, and without any 
deterioration of the produce. The stem of the Straw- 
berry, no doubt, perishes—and so do the roots, after a 
time ; but by no means after the first season ; and, so 
far as the roots are concerned, not till after even many 
seasons, if they are allowed to remain undisturbed. 
Mr. Knight long since exposed the error of supposing 
the Strawberry roots to be annual productions only. 
“I deny,” said he, “ their being annual productions 
only ; and I contend that whenever they are found 
wholly lifeless round the surface of the mould of pots, 
as they often are after unfavourable winters, the 
growth and produce of the plants in the succeeding 
year will be much diminished.” Nothing can be 
More true, as those Gardeners found to their cost, who, 
in the winter of 1337-8, allowed their Strawberry- 
plants in pots to be exposed to the severe frost: the 
flowers of all such plants became “ blind.” 
Such being, as we conceive, the true nature of a 
Strawberry-plant, it is obvious that the roots should 
be preserved. If we ask what advantageis gained by 
destroying them—as necessarily happens by digging 
among them, for they are very long rooted—the 
answer, and the only answer, is, that the soil near the 
Strawberry-plants becomes so hard after a season’s 
gathering, that itis unfit for their support. This may 
be, in some places; but if so, it would be better to 
loosen the ground with forks as soon as the crop is 
gathered, when the destruction of a few roots would 
be of less consequence, than to break it up and destroy 
alarge proportion of the roots in winter or late in 
autumn, 
No possible advantage can be derived from destroy- 
ing the Strawberry-roots, whatever may be gained by 
loosening the soil in which they grow. But the disad- 
vantages of destroying them are serious. These roots 
contain within them organizable matter in consider- 
able quantity ; as soon as their growth is renewed in 
spring, they extend by the assi of that suk 
which enables them to form their spongelets, and to 
advance into the earth in search of water, &c., which 
they immediately convey to the stem, while all the 
organizable matter in that stem is expended, as Nature 
intends, in the nourishment of new leaves and fruit. 
But if the roots are wholly destroyed, then the organ- 
izable matter in the stem must be directed downwards 
for the formation of more roots, and of course the 
supply intended for the leaves and fruit is diminished 
in proportion to the quantity of roots which the stem 
has to form ; for it must always be remembered that 
roots cannot be organised out of nothing. The Straw- 
berry-stem, which is intended to form leaves and fruit 
only, cannot have its power diverted to the formation 
of roots without diminishing the vigour of the leaves 
and fruit. 
Aw 1 correspondent says that he is well 
acquainted with the practice of market-gardeners, and 
has often regretted to see, in the process of digging 
between the rows, the number of healthy root-fibres 
that were destroyed; nevertheless that his theorizing 
has been sadly puzzled by the handsome crops that 
followed the operation. But it does not appear to us 
that this fact affects the question so much as he sup- 
poses. We have not to consider whether good crops 
are obtained in spite of this partial destruction of roots, 
but whether better crops would not follow its discon- 
tinuance. That Nature has a wonderful power of re- 
pairing her losses is well known; that this power 
should be assigned to plants in a greater degree than 
to animals is one of the most admirable manifestations 
of Divine Wisdom: for without it the Vegetable 
Kingdom would disappear from the face of the earth. 
But it does not exactly follow that, because'plants have 
a wonderful power of resisting the effects of Mmutila- 
tion, they should be called upon to exercise it need- 
lessly. Moreover, it is to be recollected that in market- 
gardens the cultivation of the Strawberry is much 
higher than in private grounds ; that} the soil is 
extremely deep and rich, the vital energies of the 
plants excessive, and that all the vegetable functions 
are in such a state of excitability, that the loss of a 
portion of the roots—for after all, but a small portion 
js destroyed there—is of far less importance than in 
the majority of private gardens. 
However useful and interesting it may be to the 
scientific Agriculturist to have extremely accurate and 
minute analyses of different soils with the view of 
discovering the efficient causes of fertility, the real 
practical farmer is only interested in the ultimate 
results of scientific researches. ‘These, however, have 
not yet been satisfactorily explained. Theories have 
been suggested, which may be founded on fact or may 
be erroneous, for all that has yet been proved ; and 
until it shall have been satisfactorily shown that 
certain specific ingredients in a soil are either indis- 
nensable to the growth and maturity of certain plants, 
or at least greatly assist in rearing them in perfection, 
the practical farmer will not vary his usual operations 
for the sake of mere experiment ; and if he did, so 
many circumstances may concur in rendering an 
experiment apparently successful in one case, or 
defeating expectation in another, that the safe plan is 
to adhere to those principles which universal experi- 
ence has proved to be sound. With respect to 
fertility, no man who has the least practical know- 
ledge of Agriculture will deny that the best soils all 
possess certain mechanical as well as chemical proper- 
ties, and that the former seem fully as important, if 
not more so, than the latter. These mechanical 
properties may be ascertained by persons the most 
ignorant of chemical science. The first of these is 
porosity : without pores in the soil no vegetation can 
goon. If the pores are too large and numerous to 
retain moisture in dry weather, we have a barren 
sand ; we need only take some of this soil in our hands 
and we see and feel that the water will filter through 
it so fast, that, unless there be a constant renovation 
of it, all moisture must soon be gone. Yet even such 
barren sands may be rendered productive by irriga- 
tion; grass will grow, if there is a constant and 
regular supply of moisture, even in pounded glass. 
The roots of the grass will produce a greater continu- 
ance of moisture, and in time fill up so many of the 
pores, as to correct the barrenness. This is a fact 
which many can vouch for, who have converted the 
loose old beds ‘of rivers, composed of round pebbles 
and sharp sand, into rich water meadows. In 
southern climates water is all that is necessary to 
make any soil productive. The heat of a tropical sun 
supplies all the stimulus required for perfect vegeta- 
tion. Hence the great ingenuity displayed, and the 
yast labour employed, to raise water, without which 
the most fertile plains are soon converted into deserts. 
But water alone will not produce the most useful 
products of the earth; something more is required, 
and this is organic matter, which, by its decomposition 
and subsequent recombination, affords all the sub- 
stances usually found in plants. Some soils contain a 
considerable store of this organic matter, preserved by 
a wise law of nature in adormant state, if we may so 
call it, requiring only light, air, heat, and moisture to 
call forth its latent energies, and to enable it to supply 
the elements of vegetable growth. 
Organic matter, however it may have been formed, 
does not seem to constitute any of the original minerals 
of which the earth is composed. We can generally 
trace it to some probable origin, and conclude that it 
once formed part of some vegetable or animal which 
had life, and of which it is the dead remains, All 
soils which contain much organic matter intimately 
blended with different earths appear to have been 
deposited from suspension in water, and consequently 
consist of very small particles, whatever be the nature 
of the earths, or the proportions in which they are 
mixed. If these particles are very minute, and, with 
water, forma thick mud, which dries into a hard 
clod, it requires to be made sufficiently porous to 
allow the roots of plants to strike into them, or else, 
however rich be its composition, no perfect vegetation 
can take place : but in these soils there is generally 
such a portion of minute crystals insoluble in water, 
which are only kept suspended by the viscidity of the 
other substances, that, when they are examined with a 
good magnifying glass, they show sufficient pores for 
the transmission of moisture and the expansion of the 
minute fibres of the roots. Such soils are eminently 
fruitful, so long as the organic matter is not exhausted. 
This is often for a long period, especially when the 
rich soil is deep, and fresh portions are brought to the 
surface by deep ploughing or trenching. It may be 
that in such soils an able chemist will detect minute 
portions of various mineral substances, and to these 
he may in part ascribe some portion of the fertility ; 
but unless it be shown that the absence of these, or a 
different proportion in other similar soils, has a deci- 
ded influence on the fertility, may we not, till we 
have further light thrown on the subject, conclude 
that these minerals are there accidentally—not neces- 
sarily ? 
Txpedienee has long proved that no soil which has 
a certain texture, neither too stiff nor too loose, and 
which contains organic matter in that state in which 
it is easily decomposed by exposure to the atmosphere, 
has ever been found unfruitful ; and that where there 
is sterility there is always an evident cause visible in 
the texture, in the want or superabundance of mois- 
ture, or in the admixture of some mineral injurious to 
vegetation—unless it be from a total and absolute want 
of organic matter,in which case every farmer knows the 
remedy, and gives ample manuring. It is but seldom 
that land with a good texture, and without excess of 
water or noxious minerals, is entirely barren. It ma: 
have been exhausted, it may have been left untilled— 
but ordinary tillage and sufficient manuring never 
fail to make it productive. 
Experience has taught that the most fertile soils 
may be exhausted, and that repeated crops of the same 
kind of produce will exhaust it faster than if a variety 
of plants succeed each other. But it also teaches that 
judicious cropping and manuring will perpetuate the 
fertility. It is proved that the exhaustion of the 
oR 
organic matter is not the only reason of a falling off of 
the crops when the same plants recur too often, 
