164 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
DETRUNCATION OF THE ROOTS OF PLANTS. 
Messrs. Editors— The Jan. number of the Cultivator, 
nas induced me at this time to make a few remarks upon 
die cutting of the roots of plants, which our friend Dr. 
Cloud, admonishes his neighbors upon doing, and as I 
may have to traverse partly the same ground that I have 
heretofore, I hope that yourselves and your readers will 
excuse any repetition, if such should be found necessary. 
I have heretofore given two laws of nature, upon which 
[ supposed Mr. Comstock based his improved system of 
■“ Terra-cultureand in referring to these, I have no 
other apology to offer, than their importance to our 
every day work upon our farms; for if in nature, all ara¬ 
ble lands are covered with vegetable growth, is it not 
evident that our practice should conform so far towards 
her example in this respect, as to keep our soil as well 
covered as the nature of our crops will admit. Do we 
attend in this respect, to nature’s teaching, in our hoed 
crops? I think not; they are generally planted at such in¬ 
tervals, seed from seed, as to admit of luxuriant growths 
of weeds—which it appears to me nature intends for a 
protection to the soil—and these weeds have to be kept 
in check, by the frequent use of the hoe or plow, or they 
would otherwise injure the crop. In eradicating these 
denominated pests, do we not disturb and injure the plants 
we are anxious to grow? there is a law or order of na¬ 
ture, requiring both in the vegetable and animal king¬ 
doms, a certain maturity of growth and distention and 
completion of absorbent and secretory vessels, before a 
plant or an animal is capable of reproducing its kind by 
seed, and my impression is, that there is generally an ex¬ 
tensive depredation committed by the tiller of the soil, 
upon plants, abusive of this law, and with your permis¬ 
sion, I will make a few brief remarks in regard to inju¬ 
ries done to the roots, by disturbing and cutting them 
with the plow, &c. It has been said, long since, I be¬ 
lieve, but I cannot say by whom, that the more mouths a 
plant has, the greater its growth, and this I think, we 
will all admit; but to obtain an increased number of 
mouths, it was proposed to cut and lacerate the roots, so 
that they might branch out and thereby form more 
mouths, and these being pushed into new situations in the 
soil, was considered highly advantageous; this in some 
districts of our country, is a popular error of the present 
day. 
How far the cutting of the roots would be conducive to 
the growth of a young plant, is not my present purpose 
to inquire; but at the time the pubescent state of the plant 
is attained, and possibly before this time, every root that 
is cut lessens instead of increases, the number of mouths 
or absorbents for the use required by the farmer. At this 
stage of growth, the farmer wants a deposit of matter for 
seed or fruit, and the absorbents of the newly formed suc- 
ciferous roots, do not appear to furnish this matter to the 
plant. The new roots or rootlets must have time to pass 
from their papescent state, to one of a denser medium be¬ 
fore they can be organized for the conveyance of matter 
for seed or fruit, and during this period, the upper part 
of the plant must suffer in proportion to the injury, and it 
is very doubtful whether any of this matter is conveyed 
through the original channels of all plants, as for instance, 
a depredation of this kind committed upon the apple tree, 
induces new shoots from the trunk, or from some one or 
more of its main branches, instead of any accelerated in¬ 
crease of the previous growth, or if the end of the root 
cut off is drawn to the surface, a new plant is there form¬ 
ed, and the injury on a good soil, is not otherwise per¬ 
ceptible in the woody fibre, unless these shoots or sprouts 
are not sent forth by nature; in that event, some of the 
branches go into decay, and this is more particularly the 
case with old than younger trees, for like the animal sys¬ 
tem, the vigor of youth is capable of sustaining disease, 
that would be vitally destructive to old age. The corn 
plant is capable of overcoming an injury to the root, in a 
great degree if not wholly, while young, by the forma¬ 
tion of a new plant, which we denominate a sucker; but 
this plant in a more advanced stage of growth, refuses to 
throw up suckers; what then is the result of the injury? 
does the root go into decay, or does it communicate dis- 
«ase, by conveying the papescant matter, afforded by the 
new succiferous roots, into the body of the old plant, and 
the vital principle being unable to reject it, does it change 
the requisite juices of the plant into an unhealthy state? 
My own conjecture is, that the new roots do convey ex¬ 
traneous matter, that the plant upon poor or medium soils 
is unable to reject, and produces a disease that hastens the 
plant into early maturity and decay and thereby prevent¬ 
ing the proper elaboration of matter for grain; but upon 
soils producing a rapid and luxuriant growth, gives such 
vigor to the plant, that the vital principle finds no diffi¬ 
culty unless the injury is very extensive, in rejecting all 
matter foreign to her wants, and the loss felt by the plant, 
of the root cut off, nature soon overcomes by an increased 
absorbent power given to the other roots; therefore, 
plants are less injured by roots being cut upon rich land, 
than upon poorer land. Upon rich land, and when the 
plant is making or preparing to make, either fruit or 
seed, an injury to the roots produces a slight cessation in 
the growth; but this soon reassumes its work, and a cas¬ 
ual observer would not notice that any change or cessa¬ 
tion had taken place.* But upon poor land, or land de¬ 
ficient in an abundant supply of material for the immedi¬ 
ate wants of the plant, the injury soon becomes evident 
in the upper part of the plant, either in its seed, fruit, or 
woody fibre. 
I am strongly impressed with the belief that the fungus 
growing upon our cultivated plants, is frequently from 
this cause; that is, the extraneous sap proceeding from an 
injured root, is thrown out upon the upper part of the 
plant and forms a fungus; but my experiments for this 
purpose, are not sufficiently full to admit of my express¬ 
ing such an opinion as I would desire. I wish to be un¬ 
derstood in regard to this fungi, as not taking in the 
whole cryptogamia class; but only such fungus as affects 
our agricultural productions. As this is a subject worthy 
of research, will not some of your learned subscribers in¬ 
terest themselves for the public good, by making suitable 
experiments to ascertain whether this suggestion is cor¬ 
rect. I am aware that much of this fungi, has been attri¬ 
buted to animalculse; but from whence does these animal¬ 
cules spring, are they not the effect, instead of the cause 
of these fungi? With much respect, your friend, 
Ararat Farm, Jan. 9, 1844. Lyttleton Physick. 
MANURES. 
Messrs. Editors— One of the most important subjects 
to the Long Island farmer, is the making and management 
of manures. It is true a decided improvement has been 
made upon the old fashion of foddering cattle in the open 
field, by substituting snug yards with hovels sufficiently 
large to protect the cattle from storms; but this does not 
prevent the most valuable parts of manure from leaching 
ofi and wasting during heavy rains. I would advise all 
who have advanced no farther than this, and I know there 
are many, to have one animal stabled every night through 
the winter, and then when the manure is carted out, to 
spread one load from the stable adjoining, an equal quan¬ 
tity from the yard, and witness the difference; my word 
for ii, it will be found that the latter, like the corn which 
I spoke of in another communication, has been soaked 
too much. 
With horses, probably the old method (of allowing the 
manure to remain in the stable as long as the horse can 
climb in at the door,) is as good as any for the purpose of 
making manure, but as standing and sleeping upon the 
fermenting manure is sadly uncomfortable to the ani¬ 
mals, it is a sufficient reason for the change which has 
been made. The general practice now is, to throw out 
the manure once a tlay and allow it to collect in a large 
heap until wanted for use; in this way, its enriching 
qualities are much impaired both by leaching, and the 
escape of gases during fermentation. A decided improve¬ 
ment wili be found both in quantity and quality, by hav¬ 
ing it drawn out once a fortnight and put in a snug heap 
in the field where it is wanted for use, covering the heap 
* Tliis check in growth can be readily seen in the corn plant, 
by taking two stalks of equal growth and forwardness, at the 
time the tassel is just discovered, at which time the brace roots 
appear; by cutting these off, or any other roots, the difference in 
growth is soon discernible. 
