December 13, 1883. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
507 
by the one patent fact that, root-hairs or no root-hairs, the sap in Vines 
is in motion weeks and months before the rods are “in action ” in Mr. 
laylor s sense, for a leafless Vine will suck up a basin of water by the 
Toot and pour it out at the top of the rod in bleeding and in a short time. 
. tu Mr. Taylor faces that question he wastes his breath by such side 
issues as he raises. He quotes other authorities, but none in the sense 
e writes viz., that established Vines are “dependent” on stored-up 
eap till the lateral shoots are 7 inches long and the leaves 5 inches in 
lameter. Where are his supporters on that head, which is the real point 
ol contention ? The question is Vines, and whether or not they absorb 
sap from the ground from the moment they are started. I say they do, 
tb’ 176 *! lm ever yday, familiar, and visible proofs of it. Will he tackle 
bese first ? Why does a Vine bleed, and why does it stop bleeding when 
deprived of its roots ? 
., I most positively deny having implied that Vines had completed 
their store of sap at the fall of the leaf,” says Mr. Taylor. Very well; 
us s ® e \ He has constantly implied that stored-up sap is “elaborated” 
sap, and in his letter this week he quotes the “ Gardeners’ Assistant ” to 
•prove that “ these shoots are supported by sap contained in the trunk and 
which has been elaborated by the leaves.” Where, then, was the sap 
•e aborated that in another part of the same letter he says was stored up 
111 *• i 8 ) 1Qes “ s * x weeks” after the leaves fell? Again, in his first 
article he says “ the stored-up ‘ food ’ was prepared last autumn and 
preserved in the stems for early use.” The word “ food ” here and 
prepared” imply elaborated sap, and, therefore, that it was stored 
Th 11 vT e * eaves were on the Vine, and not as he says now. In another 
getter he tells us that the sap pumped up when the Vines are leafless is 
pure water ” only. There is, therefore, no mistake about what Mr. 
Jayior “implies,” only his theories and his facts are now completely out 
Ox. joint, and this is what comes of writers who get out of their depth I 
always notice. But Mr. Taylor’s troubles do not end here. If his Vines 
went on storing sap weeks after the leaves had “ fallen,” which would 
be late in the year, they must have been storing it up to, if not beyond, 
the time he started them, which means they had hardly ever ceased 
sending up sap at any time. I might pursue him further in his 
dilemma, but I have said enough to show the unreliable, indeed totally 
•untrustworthy, nature of his teachings on this subj'ect. 
In answer to “ J. C.,” let him lift a newly started Vine eye out of the 
soil and note its behaviour, or that of any rootless cutting, which alone 
■disposes of Mr. Taylor’s “hair-roots” theory. 
P.S. As I am only anxious to get at the facts in this matter, may I 
;ask any competent authority at Kew, or elsewhere, if, in the pres nt 
state of our knowledge, it is a fact that the root-hairs (of Vines, for 
example) which supply the food and sap to the stem, are “ non-existent ’’ 
tnl after young roots are produced ? Would they kindly answer that 
-question, and also say if a Vine does depend solely on the “ sap preserved 
in the stems ” from the following autumn till the shoots are long an 1 
■^he leaves 5 inches broad ? —Non-Believer. 
In common with many other readers of the Journal I have been 
■watching the discussion between Mr. Taylor and “Non-Believer,” with 
much interest; and though not wishing to interrupt their consideration of 
the subject, I am desirous of pointing out what may be considered defects 
in the arguments on both sides. Possibly this may clear the ground a 
little for a better understanding. 
*-he fi rs t place with regard to “Non-Believer’s” quotation from 
Lmdley’s “Theory and Practice of Horticulture.” In my edition 
‘(published 1840) the passages cited do not occur on the pages named— 
n. e., 2G and 52, but the first is on page 17, and as only a portion of it was 
given I will complete it. “ There is no period of the year when the roots 
■become altogether inactive, except when they are actually frozen. At 
all other times during the winter they are perpetually attracting food 
from the earth and conveying it into the interior of the plant, where it 
at that season is stored up till it is required by the young shoots of the 
succeeding year. The whole tissue of the plant will therefore become 
distended with fluid food by the return of spring, and the degree of dis¬ 
tension will be in proportion to the mildness and length of the previous 
winter. As the new shoots of spring are vigorous or feeble in proportion 
to the quantity of food that may be prepared for them, it follows that 
the longer the period of rest from growth, the more vigorous the vegeta¬ 
tion of a plant will become when once renewed, if that period is not 
excessively protracted.” 
The second quotation, which reads as a continuation of the former, to 
the effect that “ the tubes are nearly empty at the fall of leaf,” I have 
searched for without success. Will “ Non-Believer ” state the chapter in 
which it occurs ? as, if there is no context qualifying or explaining this 
observation, I have no hesitation in saying that it is quite contrary to the 
facts. Undoubtedly Lindley has some errors to answer for, but I can 
scarcely think that he would have made so strange a one as this, 
especially as I can find no passage either in the work quoted or in any 
other of his that would lead to such a conclusion. 
It would seem that the real difficulties in the matter are the following. 
First, that Mr. Taylor has confounded root-extension with root-action, 
which “Non-Believer” rightly asserts are distinct; and, second, that 
Mr. Taylor considers sap is stored up in summer and autumn, which is 
utilised by the plant in its first growth the following season, while 
“Non-Believer” regards the growth as due, not to a reservoir of 
elaborated materials, but to the constant supply of crude sap rising from 
the roots. These were the two matters under consideration, and as it 
appears to me the difficulties on both sides admit of easy removal. There 
can be no doubt that root-extension, meaning thereby root-growth, is 
quite distinct from root-action ; and though in some cases they are con¬ 
temporaneous, in many others root-growth follows root-action. Further, 
as Lindley states in “ Theory and Practice,” page 37, “The flow of the 
sap must not be confounded with the motion of the sap, which takes 
place in winter as well as in the summer, and is a mere repletion of the 
system, caused by the attraction of the roots, unaffected by the exhala¬ 
tion of the leaves.” When growth is started in the spring the upward 
current is increased, sap passes into the partly formed leaves, is exposed 
to light and air, altered in its chemical constitution by a process of 
deoxidisation, and is returned to the stem, thus producing a downward 
current which causes growth of the tissues of stem and root. 
Turning to the second part of the subject, the storing of sap, it seems 
that though Mr. Taylor is right in the main, he has carried his views a 
little too far. That the stem of a Vine, as of most other deciduous plants 
or trees, contains in autumn and spring an accumulation of elaborated 
sap—that is, sap which has been passed through the leaves and chemically 
changed in its nature, there can be no doubt, as the firmness acquired by 
ripened Vine wood is entirely due to the hardening of the cell-walls and 
the matters stored within them. Similar examples are found in nearly 
all trees, the cells of which become gradually filled with various 
substances until that peculiar solidity is reached which characterises the 
heartwood of timber. The comparatively small amount of crude sap 
absorbed during winter and until leaves are formed serves in the case of 
the Vine as a dilutent of the elaborated sap, and it is possible that 
chemical combinations may take place to a small extent ; but before it 
can become of real service to the plant it must pass into the leaves, which 
in a measure correspond to the lungs of animals. When the buds com¬ 
mence expanding in the spring they unquestionably obtain their full 
supplies from the “stored-up sap” in contiguous cells, but immediately 
a green surface is exposed to the air elaboration commences, and the 
crude sap is then speedily utilised. It is in this respect that I cannot 
think Mr. Taylor quite correct in assuming that the leaves are entirely 
dependent on the stored-up sap until they are 5 inches broad, as the 
smallest green foliage surface exposed to light suffices to produce the 
requisite change in the fluid absorbed from the Vine. At the same time 
they undoubtedly derive much assistance from the previously elaborated 
cell-contents.— Credo. 
At a general meeting of the Loyal Horticultural Society held 
December 11th, James J. Wheble, Esq., in the chair, the following can¬ 
didates were elected Fellows of the Society—viz., George Chorley, Mrs. 
A. Harford Pearson, W. H. Michael, Miss Michael, Edward Edwards, 
and William Peayters Stock. 
- “ Novice ” writes respecting Exhibiting Chrysanthemums as 
follows—“Will some of your readers kindly state if Chrysanthemum 
Snowball is admissible in the same stand as Empress of India? also if 
White Queen of England is synonymous with Empress of India? In 
this locality the variety grown under the first name has petals more flat 
and more obtuse than Empress, as well as having a slightly glazed or 
shining surface, something like White Venus.” 
- We have been favoured with a report of the York Chrysan¬ 
themum and Fruit Show, but it did not reach us in time for insertion- 
The Exhibition is described as a very good one. Mr. J. Hazel, Cockcroft 
Hall, Morpeth, won the cup for cut blooms, and Mr. Smith the first prize 
for specimen plants. Fruit and vegetables appear to have been also well 
represented, and miscellaneous collections of plants. 
- “ T. W. S.” writes—“ The exceedingly showy Senecio pulcher 
is still flowering with us in the open borders. We have groups of them in 
the herbaceous borders and on rock beds, and these have yielded without 
intermission a constant supply of its purple-crimson flowers for months 
past. The recent frosts seem to have had no injurious effect on their 
blooming propensity, for the flowers continue to open. This is a 
decided acquisition as a late-flowering plant, and deserves to be more 
generally grown.” 
- We are informed that at the first Chrysanthemum Show of the 
Taunton and District Gardens Association (a benefit and mutual 
improvement society) held recently, there was a very good display in the 
various classes, and altogether the show, although chiefly local, was a 
great success and highly creditable to the Managing Committee and Mr. 
R. H. Poynter as Hon. Treasurer. Among the exhibits most worthy of 
