554 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 27,1883. 
care must be used to prevent rotting or mildew until roots are emitted. 
For L. auratum, if possible, a large portion of the potting material must 
be good open peat (not retentive peat), and no water until the stem 
appears. I lost some of the finest bulbs I bad last year by premature 
moisture. Sand at the base helps root-formation. I never force Lilies, 
except what heat comes from tan. — W. J. Murphy, Clonmel. 
STORED-UP SAP IN VINES. 
Nine years ago I had to shift my vinery to new premises. The Vines, 
seven in number, were lifted a day or two after the new year. The 
weather was mild and dull, and as each Vine was lifted the roots were 
carefully covered. They were then carried into a wash-house near their 
new home. The vinery was then taken down, everything carted off, even 
to the border, as it was only six years old. The masons went to work at 
once, but were stopped by frost and snow after getting the back wall to 
a height of 5 or G feet. It was then the 22nd of January, and to all 
appearance we were going to have a spell of frost. I had taken pre¬ 
cautions for such in this way. 1 spread G inches of dry sawdust on the 
floor of the wash-house, laying out the roots of the Vines on the top of 
this, and covered the whole with 2 feet of the same material. My object 
was to keep air from the roots ; and although I had never tried sawdust 
before, I would strongly recommend it to anyone who should get into the 
same difficulty as I was at that time. As the frost became stronger I 
got a quantity of sacks and an old carpet and packed these carefully over 
the dust. The taps in the wash-house were by this time frozen, and out¬ 
side the thermometer was registering from 12° to 25° of frost. The second 
week in February brought a change, but in a day or two it was as hard 
as ever. Near the end of the month a thaw took place, and March was 
ushered in with “ dirty ” weather. 
I examined the roots of my Vines as soon as all danger was past, and 
found them quite comfortable. The masons made a start once more, but 
owing to rain, snow, and frosty nights it was the second week in April 
before I saw the furnace ready for a fire. The joiners had the house 
ready for the Vines on the 24th ; and on the 25th, after being sixteen 
weeks in a wash-house, the Vines were planted. They were carried out 
of the house one at a time, planted, and tied to the trellis. I hope 
“ Non-Believer ” will ponder well the next sentence. Every eye on every 
^ ine was started, some an inch, some even more. I would ask your 
correspondent to account for these Vines starting into growth. They had 
made no fresh roots, nor could they in dry sawdust, yet here was as fine 
a “ break ” as any Vine-grower could desire. 
It caused me no surprise to see these Vines starting, but after reading 
“ Non-Believer’s ” theories I am certain this “true tale” of mine should 
surprise him.— S. Halliday. 
My reason for giving the whole of the quotation from Lindley’s work 
was simply to complete the sense, and to show it expressly referred to 
fluid food —namely, that which had not passed through the process of 
assimilation. My thanks are due to “Non-Believer” for pointing out 
where the other passage occurs, and I have now obtained the later 
edition. The remarks are, however, as I conjectured they would be, of a 
general and not of a special character, serving merely to illustrate the 
ordinary processes of absorption. This will be best perceived when the 
passage is seen in its entirety, and I therefore reproduce it 
“ The sap then ascends in consequence of an attracting force exer 
cised from above downwards by the foliage of plants. But it is evident 
that this is only a partial explanation of the phenomenon ; for it does 
not account for the ascent of sap in winter when leaves are absent. In 
order to explain that fact we must have recourse to the action of endos- 
mose, a force the effect of which is to produce propulsion. A tree may 
be assumed to be a combination of hollow tubes freely communicating 
with each other, and enclosed in a skin through which fluids are capable 
of being absorbed on the one hand and expelled on the other. If we 
conceive a body of this kind, in which the tubes are nearly empty, to 
have its lower extremity plunged in water, the absorbing power of the 
skin at that part will begin to introduce the water into the interior, and 
this continuing to go on for a sufficient time, the tubes must necessarily 
become at last filled with water rising upwards from below.” 
After some further remarks explanatory of this system Lindley 
continues :— 
“ A tree is just such an apparatus. Its tubes are nearly empty at the 
fall of the leaf. During winter the roots absorb water from the soil and 
fill the tubes again. By the arrival of spring they are filled almost to 
bursting, and then if the stem is cut it bleeds, or if the roots are cut they 
bleed. Bleeding ceases as the leaves unfold. The Vine, the Walnut, the 
Birch, are all as incapable of bleeding as o her trees when their leaves 
are formed, because the leaves gradually empty the tubes, put an end to 
their distension, and prevent its recurrence so long as they remain in an 
active state.” 
The whole of this is intended to render clear the principles which 
regulate absorption in plants, and throughout the fluid or crude sap only 
is referred to. 1 hat the cells of the Vine stem are not empty after the 
leaves fall is conclusively proved by the statement of a microscopist 
last week, page 529, and the matter is such a simple one that it admits 
of easy proof by anyone possessing a microscope of moderate power. 
The starch granules have been derived from the sap altered in the foliage 
during the summer, and that they are stored there for the future support 
of the plant cannot be doubted by any reasonable person. Before this 
staich can, however, be utilised in the growth it must undergo some 
change, and this change is effected by an increase in temperature and 
sufficiency of fluid present in the cells. Other compounds are formed 
which can be at once converted into the growing tissue of the plant, 
and so the process advances. 
It is obvious that the contiguous cells—namely, those composing and 
immediately adjoining the bud,, must be the first to yield the requisite 
supply, and the cellular tissue of plants is permeable by fluid or semi¬ 
fluid contents, the direction of the flow being determined towards that 
portion of the plant where the demand is greatest. Thus until the 
absorbing and assimilating forces of the Vine are balanced—that is, when 
the roots are active and the green foliar surface sufficiently extensive to 
elaborate the sap so rapidly transmitted to the leaves, there is a demand 
upon the reserve force constituted by the starch and other matters con¬ 
gregated in the cells. Afterwards the processes of absorption and assi¬ 
milation would be conducted in the usual way. The precise period when 
the change takes place is difficult to determine. It probably varies 
according to the condition, strength, and other characters of different 
Vines. In some cases nearly the whole of the starch would be exhausted, 
and in others comparatively little would suffice. These are matters that 
are well worthy of investigation, and much valuable information might 
be obtained by a course of judiciously conducted experiments. 
On page 465 “ Non-Believer ” remarks, “ There is really no such thing 
as storing up sap in the sense Mr. Taylor states, in plants like the Vine. 
Only bulbs and tuberous roots store food for reasons apparent to any¬ 
one.” After the evidence of the competent microscopist on the page 
quoted, “ Non-Believer ” has no other course than to withdraw this unsup¬ 
ported assertion, and then there will be little difference of opinion 
between us.— Credo. 
This discussion is not only one of great interest, but it is also of 
great importance to everyone connected with horticulture, because in 
his operations the gardener must to some extent be actuated by those 
theories which are impressed upon his mind in respect to it. Judging 
from the discussion, it is, as well as the precise manner and time in 
which roots commence growth and absorb food, a physiological subject 
somewhat shrouded in mystery ; at least the teachings of the authorities 
past and present, unless they have been misunderstood or misquoted, do 
not appear to coincide thereon. Books are invaluable aids to the 
gardener, but when the principles they set forth do not perfectly agree 
with the practical lessons he has received, it behoves him to accept them 
with extreme caution, till by actual experience he has thoroughly proved 
whether they are correct or not. 
Without attempting to say more on this subject, or even to hazard a 
reason for saying this much, save that the minds of physiologists, like all 
others, do and .will differ, I should like to record a few practical 
observations made at different times and places, which to me appear to 
bear either directly or indirectly on the question at issue. 
In the winter of 1849, in the gardens where I then was, a large Apple 
tree was uprooted by the wind. On one side the roots were found to be 
quite decayed, and the only live ones it possessed were snapped off 
close to the butt of the tree, and it became rootless, with the exception 
of about 12 inches of tap root only. It remained in this position 
for several months, and produced blossoms, foliage, and even set fruit, 
and then succumbed. My note-book contains the query, How were these 
leaves and blossoms supported during this period ? 
In 1861 I took charge of a Peach house, which contained three very 
large and very old trees, one of which had upon its stem an enormous 
boss 18 inches in diameter, at about 4 feet from the ground, and 
just at the junction of the stock and scion. Immediately below this bos3 
the stem was quite decayed, and had entirely disappeared with the 
exception of the dead heartwood and a strip of bark and young wood 
scarcely an inch wide, which formed the only living connecting link 
between the boss and the roots. How long it had been in this state I 
could not ascertain for certain, but it continued for ten years afterwards 
to make a fair amount of annual growth, as well as to produce regularly 
fair crops of good fruit. Is it possible this thin shred of bark conveyed 
all the sustenance the tree obtained ? 
When the practice of preserving ripe Grapes by placing the shoots in 
bottles of water was first mooted, I gave it an early trial. The mouths 
of the bottles after inserting the shoots were made perfectly tight by 
fitting in corks and cotton wool. Notwithstanding this, the water dis¬ 
appeared and had to be replenished from time to time so as to cover the 
bases of the shoots. Where did the water go, and by what means did 
it go ? The Grapes were cut as required for use, and compared with 
similar ones left hanging on the Vines, and their comparatively inferior 
and watery flavour solved the first question, but not the second. The 
shoots were allowed to remain in the bottles till late in the spring ; the 
terminal buds expanded, leaves and shoots were developed, but no roots 
were visible, as could be plainly seen through the clear glass bottles, till 
ten days afterwards. 
In the spring of 1877 I had occasion to take up some eight-year-old 
Vines which were completely denuded of fibrous roots, and for the sake 
of experiment two of them were replanted in a new border. The stems 
were completely covered with moss, which was kept frequently moistened. 
They broke fairly well, and made considerable growth before even roots 
were formed, and these started at the surface of the border inside the 
house. As these advanced the stems were severed just below them, and 
on lifting the old roots no new ones were found upon them. 
For several years we have used shoots of Privet for tying up the 
flower stems of Hyacinths and other bulbs in the flower garden. They 
