APRIL. 99 
greens which formerly were cribbed up in pots until their growth got 
stunted, and their roots very systematically coiled, which, now planted 
out, are extending themselves, root and branch, in a most natural 
and well-to-do manner, not only to their own individual comfort, but 
doubtless to the lasting satisfaction of those who may hereafter 
become their possessors. But although this fact informs us that a 
reformation has taken place in some establishments in this respect, a 
walk now and then through both metropolitan and provincial nur- 
series convinces us that the practice of keeping young hardy trees in 
pots for a much longer time than is either necessary or good for them, 
is by no means abandoned, but the contrary; and that bedding 
them out is not resorted to until their roots have become coiled in most 
cases beyond the power of curing them; for it is well known to all who 
have paid any attention to the subject, that when young trees have 
been kept for even a couple of years in pots, they are by that time 
almost if not quite irretrievably injured; and three years’ confinement 
would render them altogether useless to the planter, by the coiling of 
their roots. We will go even further, and say that even when the 
inclination to coil, has once commenced with the root of a young 
Conifer, there is great danger that it will continue the spiral form, 
unless at planting -you can manage to stretch out the root, and secwre it 
at right angles with the stem. How, then, is the planter to proceed 
_ with trees whose roots have become woody and fixed beyond any power 
of getting them straight, and which leaves him the only alternative of 
either cutting the coiled roots clean away, or of consigning the plants to 
the rubbish heap; and unfortunately, those who have planted Coniferee on 
an extensive scale will frequently have occasion to exercise their judgment 
which alternative to adopt. We have ourselves seen scores of young 
Conifers, and some other plants, turned out of pots, where their roots 
having coiled themselves round the inside of the pots in which they 
were first placed, had not been disturbed when next shifted, and by 
the time the plants were three or four years old they were perfectly 
useless, except you were to disroot them (and all practical men know 
that the effect of disrooting would be to stunt the plant for a year or 
more; and also the value of a stunted Conifer); to plant a tree with 
its roots in the coiled state would be folly ; for as the roots thicken by 
growth they press against each other, and cause the sap vessels to 
become contracted, and the passage of the sap upwards greatly impeded 
in consequence; and in course of time, through the increased pressure 
of one root against the other, this channel of communication between 
the feeding roots and the head of the tree is incapable of transmitting 
sap sufficient to maintain the tree in health, and it either becomes a 
sickly stunted specimen or dies outright. But this is not the only evil, 
for if we examine the roots of any kind of tree (as we were speaking 
of Conifers, we will take them as an example) which has sown itself or 
has been planted with judgment, we shall see how wonderfully adapted 
the shape and position of the roots are, not only for facilitating the 
ascent of the sap and distributing it equally throughout the stem, but 
also for supporting the trunk and head against the violence of the 
wind; for which ends the roots of trees present i eat most 
H 
