THE ROOT. 



3 



paradise apple, nsed as a stock for dwarf trees, and the 

 quince, are always quite fibrous, the former never, and 

 the latter seldom requiring root pruning. 



5th. The Sjpongioles are the extremities of the fibres, 

 porous and spongy, through which the food of trees de- 

 rived from the soil is mainly absorbed ; these points are 

 composed of soft, newly formed, delicate tissue, and are 

 exceedingly susceptible of injury. The slightest bruise or 

 exposure to a dry or cold air is fatal to them ; and this 

 is the reason why transplanted trees receive generally 

 such a severe check and so frequently die. If trees could 

 be taken up in sucl^a way that these spongioles could all, 

 or mostly, be preserved, trees would receive no check 

 whatever ; hence large trees are removed in midsummer 

 without a leaf flagging. 



6th. Growth of Boots. — ^The most popular theoiy at this 

 time is — that the growth of roots is produced by the pro- 

 longment of the woody vessels of the stem, which descend 

 in successive layers to the exti*emities of the roots, and 

 thus promote their extension. 



"When these descending layers are interrupted in their 

 course by some natural or accidental cause, or by ai*t, as 

 when we cut off the ends of roots, they pierce the bark 

 and foiTQ new roots or new divisions of the root in the 

 same manner that branches are produced on the stem. 

 Thus the roots furnish food to the stem and branches for 

 their support and enlargement, and inretani,thestem and 

 branches send down layers of young wood to increase and 

 solidify the root ; the one depending entirely upon the other 

 for its growth and existence. Practical cultivators ^re 

 familiar with many facts that illustrate the intimate rela- 

 tions and mutual dependency of the roots and stems. 

 Eor instance, where one portion of the head or branches 

 is much larger or more vigorous than the other, if the 

 roots be examined, it will be found that those immediately 



