1804

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

Woods,Src.,Dec. 1836.” (Sec also the Bath Society'’s Papers, vol. xv. p.41—67.;and an article entitled “ Minutes on the Method adopted by Mr. Robert Turnerof raising Oaks, fyc.,” by T. Davis of Warminster, and G. Sturge of Bristol, inthe 13th volume of the Gardener’s Magazine .)

Whether Oak Plants or Acorns ought to be used in forming Oak Plantations is aquestion, respecting the answer to which planters are not fully agreed ; though,upon the whole, we believe, plants are preferred. A doubt, it is probable, wouldnever have been raised on the subject, had it not been found that, under ordinarycircumstances, the oak suffers more by transplanting than the elm, the ash, thebeech, and other similar trees ; which is partly owing to its natural delicacy, andpartly to its depending, when young, chiefly on its taproot, and from its notproducing, for some years, many lateral roots, unless forced to do so by art.When, however, the oak has been two or three times transplanted in the nur-sery before its final removal, it will produce a sufficient number of lateral rootsto insure its growth, if carefully removed; and, for this reason, we should, inalmost every case, prefer using strong transplanted plants to acorns. Wehave already remarked that oaks, after they have attained a certain size, aremore successfully transplanted than seedlings of one or two years; a factwhich will be found to hold good with all trees whatever which have taprootsof extraordinary dimensions when young. One reason which some give forpreferring acorns is, the alleged injury which oak plants sustain by the lossof the taproot, which, it is said, they never regain. This opinion, however, iswell known to be erroneous ; it being as natural, in the case of seedlingoaks, for that part of the plant which is under ground to reproduce a leadingor tap root when that has been cut off, as it is for the part above ground toreproduce a leading shoot after that has been removed. It is also equally wellknown, that the taproot is only found, in oak and other trees, when in a youngstate; and that no oak or other tree, when cut down, was ever found to haveanything like a perpendicularly descending main root in any way comparableto the perpendicularly ascending trunk of the tree above ground. The con-sequence of sowing an acorn where it is to remain, and not cutting throughthe taproot, is, that it remains a longer period before putting out any lateralroots; but whether these lateral roots are put out sooner or later, can havevery little influence on the growth of the tree under ordinary circumstances,and certainly none on the value of the timber which it produces. It is easy toconceive that, if the surface soil on which an acorn is planted is much richerthan the subsoil, something in rapidity of growth will be gained by cutting offthe taproot, so as to force the plant to send out lateral roots sooner than itotherwise would do ; but, though something is gained by this, something, also,will be lost; because the supply of water, so essential to all plants whichhave naturally taproots, in a very young state, will be considerably diminished.In warm climates, therefore, and in all cases where a saving of first cost is anobject, we should prefer acorns to plants; but in tolerably moist climates, andin deep alluvial or marly soils, or where the surface soil is rich, and where theobject is to produce oak trees as soon as possible, we should recommend strongplants.

The following judicious observations on the subject of the taproot werecommunicated to the Bath and West of England Society by a planter andmanager of timber of very great experience, Thomas Davis, Esq., of Portway,near Warminster. The taproots of young oak trees, Mr. Davis says, supportthe trees during a given period, which may vary in the number of years fromvarious circumstances, soil, situation, &c., but is limited in effect by the ne-cessities of the plant; and so soon as as the lateral roots take firm hold ofthe land, and are enabled to undertake the duty of support, from that time thetaproot ceases to be useful, and at no distant subsequent period ceases to in-crease, and is very soon not distinguishable from the other roots. Mr. Davistherefore concludes, — “ 1st, That an oak seedling, or sapling, from 3 to 5years old, planted out with the taproot cut off, will again root downwards;sometimes singly, sometimes forked. 2dly, That the practice of cutting off the