8 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 3, 1884. 
stage referred to 1 I am acquainted with several persons who have 
watched for its appearance and could not detect it, but after it was once 
pointed out to them in even a single leaf they had no further difficulty. 
True, I cannot prove to the letter that this colouring is the result of the 
commencement of root-action ; but as I have proved hundreds of times 
within the last twenty years that the colouring and root-growth com¬ 
mence exactly simultaneously, I may be pardoned for believing that 
there is some sort of connection between the two. 
“ Beta ” proceeds : “ Is he also prepared to adhere to his statement 
that root-action and root-extension are synonymous terms? ” With the 
addition of the words used by me to qualify this sentence—viz., “ for 
all practical purposes,” I am prepared to adhere to it. I presume from 
“Beta’s” very fair and sensible letter that he does not want to enter 
into any physiological hair-splitting on the wording of this sentence, 
but that he is only anxious to get at my meaning. It must be distinctly 
understood that mere absorption of water is not root-action, because the 
same thing goes on when cut flowers and cut stems of Vines are placed 
in water. I have, I believe, laboured as hard as anyone to show that 
water is continually being absorbed by plants during the winter in large 
quantities, and I take some credit to myself for assisting to bring the 
old-fashioned drying-and-resting theory and practice into disrepute, 
which was so common scarcely a dozen years ago. Water can, of course, 
be absorbed by any part of the root or any part of the stem placed in a 
moist medium ; and if it is correct, as some authors assert, that some 
salts in solution are also taken up at the same time, that does not 
constitute root-action. 
It would appear, however, from the following quotation that Dr. 
Masters thinks that only the aqua pura is so absorbed. He says in 
“ Plant Life,” page 21, “ The soil, therefore, is not to be looked on as 
containing so much liquid food ready for instant use ; that may be so as 
regards water, but for other substances the digestive action of the roots 
is necessary As he, in common with all other modern authors to 
which I have access, maintains that plants having root hairs feed only 
by those hairs, and as I take it for granted that most people will agree 
that root hairs are only of annual duration, and produced only on young 
growths, it seems clear to me that no root-action (by which I mean 
feeding by means of the root) can take place before these root hairs are 
formed.— William Taylor. 
Permit me to inform “ Credo ” that when I spoke of there being no 
such thing as stored-up sap “ in the sense Mr. Taylor states,” I meant 
Vines did not store it “ like an Onion,” as explained at page 528 ; or to be 
plainer, I meant that Vines did not lay up a store of food “ the previous 
autumn ” or live upon that without any assistance from the roots, as I 
took Mr. Taylor up to mean at the beginning, and which declaration he 
has not withdrawn. If “ Credo ” understood me in any other sense I am 
sorry, but I thought that the whole discussion showed what I meant. 
That being so I have nothing to “ withdraw.” “ Credo ” will see that at 
the same page from which he quotes me I acknowledge Lindley’s theory 
of storing up sap against the spring to be “ the right one.” 
I notice “ Credo ” approaches the subject of the “elaborated sap” 
stores in a rather doubting manner this week. May I solicit a more 
precise and explicit reply to the last paragraph of my letter at page 528 in 
regard to the return of the elaborated sap to the leaves ? Does the 
elaborated sap of 1883 return to the leaves in 1884 in any degree, and 
where is the proof of it ? By elaborated sap I don’t mean starch alone 
■—Non-Believer. 
Feeling somewhat indebted to Mr. Taylor for his teaching relative 
to Vines storing up sap and making considerable growth the following 
spring before root-growth commences, I take the present opportunity of 
thanking him. The readers of this Journal will no doubt remember the 
many able articles which have appeared in its columns on Vine-lifting, 
advising deferring the operation until growth had started. Well, as I 
wished to lift a whole house of Vines, sixty in number, all planted 
inside, I was led to consider very seriously what Mr. Taylor had 
advanced on the stored-up sap question. Lifting sixty Vines after 
pushing into growth seemed to me to be a very dangerous affair, as I 
wanted to pave the bottom of the border with tiles and Portland cement 
to prevent the Vine roots passing into the clay, as they had done, making 
it difficult to thoroughly ripen the fruit. All this work would occupy 
much time, and in the month of March, when we hope to have bright 
sun and a dry atmosphere, it would not be an easy matter to keep the 
roots moist during the operation, and there would be the danger of 
knocking off small shoots ; but if, as Mr. Taylor says, Vines burst into 
top growth a considerable time before the roots start, why not lift the 
Vines soon after the foliage falls ? Having confidence in Mr. Taylor’s 
statements, I set to work soon after New Year’s day, taking plenty of 
care and time, and secured splendid roots. The result was quite as I 
expected, for in March every one started growing as if they had not 
been moved until the shoots reached about 6 inches in length, when they 
suddenly stopped top growth for nearly a fortnight ; but as soon as the 
roots took hold of the border they went ahead to my entire satisfaction, 
ripening about half a crop of good Grapes, proving to me at least that 
Mr. Taylor is in the main right. Having turned his advice to practical 
account I will again beg him to accept my thanks, and subscribe myself 
—A Believer. 
Like many more I have read with considerable interest the writings 
on this subject, and would gladly have continued to read them could 
those able contributors have seen their way to go further, or equally glad 
to have seen it concluded in a satisfactory manner. It is to be hoped 
that it was nothing but a desire to benefit lookers-on practically which 
prompted “Non-Believer” to lodge his objection, for I fail to see what 
benefit can be derived by trying to expose the failings of any writer 
unless abundant proofs are brought forward. 
I write to say only a few words on the subject, for speaking generally 
I am of opinion that although most gardeners who attain to positions of 
importance are very practical, yet we are not able to go far scientifically,, 
and in that respect may expose ourselves to many lookers-on, who, 
though they could not pot, plant, or prune a Vine, could give us much 
information on other plants. It has often been my lot to practise where 
Vines have been very successfully treated, and have always been a close 
observer of their habits, and venture to think with our practical friend, 
Mr. Taylor, that the first growth produced on Vines, which of course 
varies considerably, is from stored-up sap,and to this I mainly attribute the 
weakening effects produced on some Vines which are forced compared 
with those which have been well ripened and prepared, and those allowed 
to start themselves. The latter in many cases have numbers of fibrous- 
roots by the time growth commences, and sooner assist in developing the 
foliage, whereas those forced early drain the supply in store before root- 
growth begins ; yet to suppose that the numerous fibrous roots which 
Vines in good condition have are doing nothing seems absurd. It has 
always been my impression that as the foliage matured and ripened for 
the fall of the leaf, so in proportion did the white or hair roots disappear 
and the hosts of fibres left naturally sufficient to keep up the supply 
already stored, or in other words to prevent it diminishing. 
As some little confirmation of this view I will endeavour to relate a 
few instances which it was my not-very-pleasant lot to witness some- 
years ago in the month of March, I having taken charge in the previous- 
July. “Ah !” some may say, “all wrong the first year ; always so with 
a new gardener.” These Vines had been neglected for some years, and 
at certain times, perhaps, treated too liberally, been started at 75° to 80°, 
and expected to bloom at 55°, with roots inside and out, and were then 
about ten years old. Soon after taking charge the remainder of the 
crop was cut. The leaves were quite ripe and fast falling. The Vines 
were in due time pruned, and started about the middle of January, and 
owing to their extreme weakness at the top were tied straight up in their 
places. The buds began to move in about a fortnight, strongest at the 
bottom, and eventually the foliage expanded, but before it reached the 
measurement Mr. Taylor speaks of, one fine Sunday morning I was 
almost paralysed to notice several shoots on every Vine suspending from 
the spurs, for not many had grown enough to tie to the wires. As the 
next few days were dull they appeared to recover, but only to succumb- 
again on the return of bright days. The only plan suggested was to cut 
the Vines down to within a couple of feet from the ground, in the hope 
that they might break and produce young canes. They did not bleed 
after amputation because the leaf-growth had used all the stored-up sap, 
and a close examination at the roots showed there were few or no fibres- 
to supply more. 
By the middle of May it was evident that no strong shoots were 
coming from these often-viewed remains, and the Vines were removed, 
when not a fibre could be found. Now I would ask anyone who disbelieves 
in stored-up sap, What did these Vines exist on even so far ? I maintain 
they existed on the sap of the previous year, and when that was ex¬ 
hausted. and no fibrous roots to produce the necessary supply, the Vines 
died.—E. B. 
Although Mr. Taylor may not be strictly accurate in the terms he¬ 
lms employed in the discussion on this interesting and important subject, 
there are probably not many readers who do not feel that he is sub¬ 
stantially correct in the views he has enunciated. His statement that 
the laterals of Vines are dependent on the stored-up sap in the rods for 
support until the growths are 7 inches long and the leaves 4 or 5 inches 
in diameter cannot be maintained if applied to Vines generally, though 
his vigorous and well-matured canes may possess sufficient stored-up 
nutriment to enable them to do what he has stated, but not without 
a supply of moisture which the roots absorb from the soil, whether the 
cellular hairs are formed on them or not. In all probability he is right- 
that these root hairs are not produced before the expansion of foliage, 
and that they jvither with the fall of the leaves; and if that be so we 
have conclusive proof that the roots imbibe moisture independently of 
those annual appendages, in the excessive bleeding of many Vines before 
the unfolding of the smallest leaf. Whence comes this fluid if not from 
the soil ? and yet the root-hairs then are “ non-existent.” 
The truth about the matter appears to be this. Sap or watery fluid 
is not stored in Vines to any appreciable extent in winter, but is essen¬ 
tially the vehicle by which food is conveyed ; the water, which composes 
at the least 90 per cent, of the volume of -what is termed sap, being dis¬ 
persed by transpiration, the nutritive matter being deposited in the stem3 
as a food store for incipient growths. Vines, therefore, do not store up 
sap in winter of the nature of that which escapes from bleeding canes 
in the spring; but they store the food that the sap has conveyed and 
the foliage prepared, and this is diluted and rendered actively nutritious 
by further imbibition of water by the roots long before any leaves, and 
consequently, according to Mr. Taylor, long before any root hairs are- 
formed. I shall be a little surprised if, on reflection, your correspondent 
seriously quarrels with this view of the case; and may almost venture 
to assume that if it had been so stated at the first “ Non-Believer '* 
would not have felt constrained to have seriously combated the statement. 
As to the amount of matter stored, and to what length it will support 
growth, depends entirely on the strength of the Vines, the development 
