BOOTS 01* CONlFEROtJS PLANTS. 9 



We now proceed to note the most evident characteristics of 

 Coniferous plants in their external aspect, including the parts buried 

 in the soil. 



Boots. — The Eoots of Coniferous plants are produced freely from the 

 very first starting of the germ into active growth; they do not descend 

 straight down into the soil like a tap root, but soon begin to spread 

 horizontally near the surface.* At first but slender fibrous threads, 

 ramifying at very short intervals and sub-dividing repeatedly, they 

 form a network spread over a circular area, which in all the kinds 

 cultivated in this country is generally greater than the spread of 

 branches of the stem. As the plant increases in age the primary 

 roots increase in diameter "simultaneously with the stem, and under 

 the influence of exactly the same causes," t and spreading, as they 

 do under all ordinary circumstances, on all sides of the tree, they not 

 only form a broad base for the support of the superincumbent mass 

 of stem and branches, but they are also exceedingly tough in texture, 

 and cling tenaciously to the soil through which they penetrate and to 

 the rocks over which they creep. Hence it is that Coniferous trees 

 are so well enabled to withstand the force of high winds without 

 being blown down. The rootlets are exceedingly numerous, so that 

 their terminal spongelets must possess an enormous absorbent power, 

 a power evidently necessary to the well-being of the tree on account 

 of the comparatively large diameter of the tubes through which the 

 sap flows, and which, while the tree is in active growth, are not 

 only always full, but the sap is also in motion. Like other Exogenous 

 trees, the roots of Coniferas have, at least in temperate climates, a 

 period of comparative if not absolute repose, during which, except in 

 frosty weather, the plant may be taken out of the ground and 

 removed to another spot, even after it has attained a considerable 

 size.J The vitality of the roots of Coniferous plants is remarkable, 

 especially in the Fir and Pine tribe. Many instances have been 

 observed of which the roots not only live but continue to grow for 

 many years after the trunk has been cut down. 



The foregoing characters are, generally speaking, common throughout 



* The primary radicle is, of course, an exception ; but this is too minute to affect the 

 general statement. 



t Dr. Lindley, Theory and Practice of Horticulture, p. 21. 



t It is not, however, advisable to remove large trees, especially of the Fir and Pine 

 tribe, whose roots extend far from the trunk, and which cannot even with the greatest 

 care be removed without destroying and injuring a large proportion of the rootlets. 



