116 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



PT. II. 



From observation of the growth of the root in 

 potted plants, and also of the seedhngs of trees grown 

 in water (one of which I have in its seventh year's 

 growth, 1844), I am satisfied that the great downward 

 growth of the root takes place immediately after the 

 great upward growth of the head ; that is, at the end 

 of summer, during the autumn, and in early winter : 

 and that the wounds of the roots of trees, transplanted 

 immediately after they have made their upward shoot, 

 begin to heal or cicatrise, or, as the gardeners say, 

 callous over immediately. These callouses are a pro- 

 lific source of new shoots for the root, which besides, 

 from having been shortened, makes a profusion of 

 lateral shoots that same season. These shoots become 

 woody, and the root is consequently in a state to sup- 

 ply the great upward demand next spring. 

 Absurd It has been reserved for the nineteenth century to 



notion that - i • i 



trees dera- start thc uotiou that trccs deradicate as well as defoliate. 



dicate as 



defoikte Were a man to say that ' as stags shed their horns 



annually, in like manner they also shed their feet 

 annually,' visum teneatis 1 Yet not a whit less laugh- 

 able is the dictum that ' as trees shed their leaves 

 annually, which are the extremities of their stems, they 

 in like manner also shed the extremities of their roots 

 annually.' I speak from recollection from a work on 

 gardening by Mr. Mackintosh, and I think that he 

 mentions Dr. Lindley as among the sapient holders of 

 this brilliant notion. 



The idea was probably originated by some observer 



