CONIFERS AND TAXADS. 
231 
nutritious matter from as it were so many tightened wires, which cannot unaided 
become slack or alter their position, whether the plant which bears them is repeat- 
edly shifted into larger pots or tubs, or planted in the open ground. This circum- 
stance respecting the roots of the plants of this family may seem of little moment, 
but in reality it is not so. From such a simple cause alone we have known strong, 
many years old plants of the Chilian Pine, (. Araucaria imbricata), though planted out 
under the most favourable circumstances of soil, &c., remain almost quite inactive for 
years ; and when they had at length formed sufficient new roots to enable them to 
start, they did not do so till all their lower branches had become so stunted that no 
further development of consequence was made by them ; therefore had the destruc- 
tion of the real symmetry and beauty of the future specimen been accomplished. Its 
effects usually show themselves in this way, but there are also other results ; a re- 
markable instance of which is, the case of several Pinasters, ( Finns Pinaster) rooted 
up by violent wind, notwithstanding they were growing together in a sufficiently large 
mass to protect each other, and were further sheltered by full-grown forest trees 
closely adjoining. 
The specimens had attained as great dimensions as fifteen feet in height, and 
nearly as much in diameter ; they had grown rapidly, being in excellent loam, and 
had abundance of roots, the main ones of which still remained in the shape they had 
been forced into at the time of their formation, in pots of a few inches in diameter, 
and therefore had little hold of the soil ; hence the destruction of the trees. It may 
be that any one pretending to have a knowledge of gardening matters would not 
have committed the roots of plants to the soil which were in so fettered a condition 
as those must have been which the above-mentioned plants bore when they were 
planted ; at least, they ought not, by any means, to have done so ; but it not unfre- 
quently happens that other than strictly professional people interest themselves in 
such things ; therefore ought points like these to have attention directed to them in 
proportion as their observance is of importance or otherwise, leaving wholly out of view 
any knowledge of who is to profit by their elucidation. The course which ought to 
be pursued in planting Conifers, & c., when any of these root-bound plants are met 
with, is simply the complete disentanglement and thorough spreading properly out of 
every root, however difficult a task it may be. It is most easily and effectually accom- 
plished by washing all the soil away from the whole mass of roots, thereby leaving 
them clear and traceable without difficulty in the complicated confusion they too 
often get into. In finally fixing the plant in the position it is to occupy, if its 
dimensions are such as to require it, a stake should be provided and it fastened 
permanently thereto, the roots afterwards being arranged and carefully covered with 
soil. A plant thus treated, whether it be introduced to a pot again or to the open 
ground, may require a good deal of water the first season after planting, may want 
shading from powerful sun, possibly would lose some of its foliage, and make little 
progress the first year or two, but let it once get established, and it enters on a new 
career of existence, and eventually, in a highly satisfactory manner, proves that the 
additional trouble taken with it has by no means been thrown away. 
