Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1874-10-09
Importance Of Tap Roots.

IT is a habit of trees and some vines to
send down strong and large tap root
directly beneath the body of the tree. If
that was not essential to the well being
of the tree the tap root would not be
formed. CIV" in Cult6oat0r and Country
Gentleman, states that Seeding pear trees
always, and Seeding grapevines gener-
ally, have vertical roots which thrust
deeply downward and supply the leaves
with the necessary cold water through
the severest droughts. But as these get
older, and especially if grown from
sprouts or layers, we find the roots
directed horizontally, and then, if they
are in open, dry, unsheltered soil, few
summers will disease them SO that the
leaves become open to blight and mildew
and winter finishes what the trials of the
summer time had weakened. 1t is diff
cult problem in tree culture to constantly
secure a sufficiency of moisture in the
soil, and at the same time to encourage
the roots to run deeply. A wide mulch
ing of the surface will retain moisture in
deed, but it infallibly attracts the roots
to grow and feed close under the mulch,
within the grip of either drought or frost
when the mulch has decayed away.
Thorough draining and deepening of soil
not naturally well drained, and either a
constantly mellow or open surface, or
constantly close-cropped sward of grass,
are most favorable to healthy and regular
root supply. English books and practice
advise the suppression of tap root. 1t is
an established principle in their arbori-
culture that these should be checked and
horizontal roots encouraged as Much as
possible. In planting wall trees in
n OF. 1nrr
vious pavement down in the soil under the
trees as precaution against the dreaded
canker of the stem. We follow this
lead. Our nurserymen find that a
tree transplants better for having
many small roots, disposed to run
through the rich surface soil, rather than
two or three vertical prongs. But it is
very doubtful whether there is substan-
tial advantage in this course, applied in
our hot, dry climate, for we find that
trees in forests and along fences, which
have come by chance" and have never
felt steel in their roots, either of pruning
knife or pillow, will maintain health and
prOductiveness to an extreme old age.
Nursery grown trees, cultivated in
orchards, sicken every few years after
severe visissitudes of weather, and perish
prematurely. Even where the subsoil is
impervious hard-pan all around, SO that
there is no drainage, we find the self
planted tree enduring, although its roots
are all necessarily horizontal, because
they cannot penetrate the hard-pan, or if
they do they are pinched off by the pois-
onous nature of the subsoil, or drowned
off by the water which is held all the
year near the surface. In such soils the
forest trees-which are apt to be blown
over in storms because they are only
standing on the hardpan and not an
chored in it-show, when uprooted,
perfectly fiat mesh of horizontal roots.
A tree with this form of roots will not
live long in rich, well-drained soil in our
Enthusiastically because it is irregu-
larly supplied. 1t is all feast or famine
with it-repletion or drought. After a
rain the growth is suddenly inordinate,
and again in our frequent summer
droughts even the roots are dried. Soon
the stems begin to decay, owing to these
alterations, and then the tree irretrieva-
bly, declines.-N. 7. HerGld.