346 



PRUNING. 



and induce the formation of fruit buds. If judiciously performed, the opera- 

 tion will not be carried so far as to reduce too much the vigour of the tree, 

 and prevent the second result, that of pushing a number of fibrous roots from 

 those amputated ; for in defect of these, the health of the tree must decline 

 under the load of, in that case, imperfectly nourished fruit. With a view 

 to the production of a greater number of fibrous roots, old trees may be sub- 

 jected to a cautious root pruning ; but it must not be performed on subjects 

 unable to bear the shock, or on those in which the power of throwing out 

 fi-esh roots is very weak. If, however, it is found that fresh roots have been 

 emitted from one amputation, others may be performed as the roots resulting 

 from each preceding operation come into action. Root-pruning is generally 

 performed with a sharp spade, and generally only on the main roots, at the 

 distance of several feet from the stem, according to the magnitude of the 

 tree. Mr. Grace (^Gard. Chron. 1841), to check the luxuriant growth of 

 dwarf pear trees, and retain them of a fit size for his small garden, pmnes 

 the roots annually, leaving them each time about an inch longer than before. 

 " He does not leave the roots with their ends wounded as they would be if 

 chopped through with a spade ; but he cuts all the larger roots obliquely 

 with a sharp knife, so as to leave a clean slanting wound, three inches or four 

 inches long, with its face downwards. The effect of this, he says, is to cause 

 the wound to send forth a fan of fine fibres from its whole circumference. 

 The young fibrous roots of a plant proceed in all cases from the surface of 

 the wood, and not from the bark ; they only pierce the bark when they seem 

 to grow from it. When the root is crushed by the blow of a blunt tool, all 

 the part exposed to the blow is killed, and soon decays. That decay may 

 either proceed no further than the vicinity of the injury, or, as will happen 

 more frequently than we suppose, it will spread and infect the sound parts 

 in contact with it. In either case, the production of young fibrous roots can 

 only take place by forcing them through the bark which lies over the wood 

 from which they have to spring. But when the wound at the end of a root 

 is clean, decay will not take place ; and the surface of the wood will produce 

 fibres from that part whicli is in contact with the earth. No resistance is 

 offered to this process ; on the contrary, from the moment that the fibre 

 begins to form, it finds itself in contact with the earth, where its food resides, 

 and there, imbibing vigour from the soil, it immediately contributes to the 

 general system something of that organizable matter out of which more 

 fibres are to be produced." — (^Gard. Chron. 1841, p. 763.) 



Though root-pruning is chiefly employed to check the luxuriance of 

 young fruit-trees and throw them into blossom ; yet it may be employed for 

 these purposes with all trees and shrubs whatever, and even with some 

 kinds of herbaceous plants. The dahlia may be rendered more pro- 

 ductive in blossoms, either by ringing the stem just above the root 

 stock, or by cutting through the main roots just beneath it. The Chinese, 

 it is well known, are celebrated for their dwarf or miniature trees, and these 

 are formed of the extremities of the branches of very old trees rooted by the 

 process shown in fig. 190, page 276, and afterwards planted in shallow pots, 

 in very poor soil ; and as the roots are produced, they are cut or burnt, so as 

 to cramp the growth to any degree required. 



777. Girdling and Felling. — From the following account of the eflFects of 

 this operation, it would appear to deserve being generally adopted before 

 trees are felled. It is very general in America, not for the sake of iraprov- 



