CH. in. DOWNWARD GROWTH OF THE ROOTS. 



97 



Thus, at every turn do we find how minutely perfect 

 in detail is the work of that Almighty hand which, 

 in the gross, swings the countless orbs of the firma- 

 mental universe through infinite space 1 



I believe myself, then, that the tap-root is merely a Tap-root 



^ ^ ^ i- only proper 



provision of the Creator for this first fixing of the seed ; [J,5!tnd a 

 that it is only proper to seedlings, and that it ceases to for fiTing^^ 

 be continued after the first year's growth. Will no 

 clever experimenter invent a mode of putting this 

 question to nature? 



I do not mean but what a tap root might, under 

 peculiar circumstances, be continued ad libitum by a 

 main root. But the circumstances must be very 

 peculiar. For instance, were a irionster manufactory 

 chimney filled with good soil, and any tree planted at 

 the top, you possibly might necessitate the growth of a 

 main root of a hundred feet long vertically downward ; 

 and probably, were a tree planted below, a main root 

 of the same length might be grown vertically upward : 

 though, after the first year's growth, not one single 

 inch might have the organisation proper to tap-roots. 

 On the other hand, I think that, were a tree planted on 

 a draw-well filled with soil, the vertical root would 

 soon cease on account of the want of atmospheric 

 influence. Were some violent tap-rootist to try this 

 experiment, his descendants might supply the dock- 

 yard with a p(9^-oak, which, if drawn by the hydrauhc 

 press, and its radical or tartarean growth added to its 

 vertical or ^ethereal growth, would double its proper 



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