Taproot

“ In any event, a prime factor for good planting stock is a medium top and well-developed taproot like a long radish in shape. All seedlings with slender taproots may be regarded as culls, particularly if the tops are over 8 to 12 inches in length. If seedlings are 3 feet or more, they can be set with or without cutting back the tops. One-year-old seedlings are universally used, as 2-year stock is practically always too large to handle economically. ”

“ No water can percolate athwart it, and consequently where it is, there the superincumbent soil is resolved into a quagmire. No tree can grow in it, for the moment the taproot touches the Black Ram the tree dies. ”

“ As the taproot is piercing the earth it is also sending out new fibrous roots, while the upper ones, decaying, are leaving humus and providing innumerable openings for air, the rains, and fertilizing elements from the surface soil. The mechanical effect of this root-growth and decay in the soil constitutes one of the greatest virtues of the plant, and by its roots alfalfa becomes, self-acting, by far the most efficient, deep reaching subsoiler and renovator known to agriculture. ”

“ Seeds of bonsai-type plants are available from several growers. Should they need special preparation, such as nicking or stratifying, the seed packets should say so.
When seedlings have several true leaves and are ready for transplanting, cut back the strong taproot (should there be one) by at least one-third. This will encourage root-branching. When potting seedlings, spread the side roots so they will develop evenly near the soil surface. Pruning and training can begin while the plants are still quite young. Plant the stem on a slant. Pinch new tip growth for development of side branches. ”

“ Tap roots, grow vertically down into the soil. Tap root systems are less common in the tropical rainforest than in the temperate forest, partly because nutrients are concentrated in the surface layers of soil and partly because deep roots are also unnecessary as far as seeking for water is concerned. The physical work of anchoring the plant that is another function of deep taproots is often carried out by aerial or buttress roots to compensate. Lateral roots, which grow horizontally. Fibrous roots which form thick interwoven mats as in palm trees. Aerial roots, which grow in the air. ”

“ The taproot is used for gonorrhœa and dysentery (Mukerji, Cuttack) . The leaves, singed and beaten, or rubbed with water to a pulp, make a useful application to glandular swellings (Forsyth) . Watt's Diet. i. 491.
The gum is astringent and demulcent ; the seeds nutrient and demulcent ; the young fruit stimulant, diuretic, tonic, aphrodisiac, expectorant, and exercises a great beneficial influence over the membranes of the genito-urinary organs ; the tap-root is demulcent, tonic, slightly diuretic, and aphrodisiac ; the bark is demulcent, diuretic, tonic, and slightly astringent ”

“ More often we find a species developed along a single line. For instance, the tendency to store food materials in a fleshy taproot has been developed in the case of Turnip, Beet, Carrot; the fleshy scale-leaves which form bulbs have been exploited in the case of the Onion; increased stem-growth is promoted in Asparagus; increased leaf-growth in Spinach and Lettuce; while by the development of seeds and fruits of many kinds artificial selection has supplied us with the foods on which the human race mainly subsists. ”

“ This breaks the taproot and makes the plant more dependent on lateral roots seeking moisture in the top 18 inches of soil.
Melons
Sowing date: As soon as they'll germinate outdoors: at Elkton, May 15 to June 1. Thin to a single plant per hill when there are about three true leaves and the vines are beginning to run.
Spacing: Most varieties will grow a vine reaching about 8 feet in diameter. Space the hills 8 feet apart in all directions.
Irrigation: Fertigation every two to three weeks will increase the yield by two or three times and may make the melons sweeter. ”

“ In the first rains, which are here called seasons, after the vernal equinox, the tobacco plants are carefully drawn while the ground is soft; carried to the field where they are to be planted, and one dropped upon every hill, which is done by the negro children. The most skilful slaves then begin planting them, by making a hole with their finger in each hill, inserting the plant with the taproot carefully placed straight down, and pressing the earth on each side of it. ”

“ Thick horizontal surface roots, and well-developed taproots and sinkers. Weak surface roots, but a rich system of many oblique roots and a prominent taproot. Numerous sizeable aerial roots, plus a network of weaker underground roots. #⁠roots of emergent trees
Emergent trees are those that rise to become part of the canopy and which therefore dominate the tropical rainforest. These trees all tend to have thick horizontal surface roots which frequently merging into large spurs or buttresses. However they may or may not have taproots, while the vertical 'sinkers' can be weak or well developed. ”

“ On the other hand, the seeds I have planted have grown into very vigorous trees.
Mr. Rush: I have had a little experience with the tap-root theory. You can't dig a walnut tree without cutting the tap-root, and that tap-root, I find, is practically of no benefit at all after you have your upper laterals, and an abundance of them; by cutting the tap-root growth is stimulated and a new tap-root is made. It is very largely in the mode of pruning the tap-root. You can readily stimulate the tap-root system. ”

“ It has a tap-root below ground thicker than the trunk above ground. The reason is that it grows naturally on those bottomless places; the root goes down till it strikes water, then runs off laterally. If you cut the roots they are bound to make new tap-roots. You can see the place where they have been cut and in place of one tap-root you have two, going right down into that sandy soil till they find a water-table. I believe that a nurseryman who will cut off the root of the pecan tree when it is transplanted, will cause it to form more lateral roots and make a better tree. ”

“ As most long Tap-rooted Plants are; for I have often try’d the Transplanting of Plants, of St. Foin and Luserne; and could never find, that any ever came near to the Perfection that those will do which are not removed, being equally single.
Tap-rooted Grasses and Turneps are always injured by Transplanting; their long Root once broken off never arrives at the Depth it would have arriv’d unbroken; as for this Reason they cut off the Tap-root of an Apple-tree, to prevent its running downward, by which it would have too much Moisture. ”

“ That the age of bearing depends largely on the distance the tap-root has to grow to reach the sub-soil moisture.
Peculiarities of Growth
The growth of the English Walnut is different from that of most fruit trees. The small trees grow about six inches the first year, tap-root the same; the second year they grow about twelve inches, tap-root the same; the third year they grow about eighteen inches, tap-root nearly as much. For the first three years the tap-root seems to gain most of the nourishment, and at the end of the third year, or about that time, the tree itself starts its real growth. ”

“ The tap roots go down deeply into the soil. Usually they penetrate the same to about 2 feet, but in some instances, as when subsoils are open and well stored with accessible food, they go down to the depth of 5 or 6 feet. The tap roots are numerously branched, and the branches extend in all directions. When they are short, as they must needs be in very stiff subsoils and on thin land underlaid with hard soil, the branches become about as large as the tap roots. It has been computed that the weight of the roots in the soil is about equal to the weight of the stem and leaves. ”

“ To plant them directly in permanent sites is to run the risk of losing a great many, as has happened to several parties I could name. If, on the other hand, they are placed in nursery in preference to much smaller cuttings, their tap-root will be so developed, even only after a year of stay therein, that it will be necessary to cut it back when they are to be transplanted, which will reduce their ultimate chances of growth and will at least make them languid and sickly for a year or two. ”

“ A single eye, with a portion of the tuber attached to furnish nourishment to the bud until sustenance can be secured from newly formed rootlets, may produce one, occasionally more, strong upright stems. A most interesting study of manifold reproduction may be made even in the winter time by planting in a fertile soil a piece of potato containing a single eye (Fig. 273) . As soon as the rootlets begin to start, divide each eye and piece into two parts and re-plant. In a few days after the rootlets have again started, divide the two pieces into four and re-plant. ”

“ It is to be remarked, that the tubers of every seedling should be kept separate, as scarcely two will be of a similar habit and quality, whilst many will be comparatively worthless, and but few of particular excellence. If the seed is obtained from a red potato that flowered in the neighbourhood of a white-tubered variety, the seedlings, in all probability, will in part resemble both of their parents; but seldom or never does a seedling resemble exactly the original stock. At all events, only such should be preserved as are recommended by their superior earliness, size, flavour, or fertility. ”

“ In his essay in the Philosophical Transactions, published in the year 1810, he propounded the theory, not merely of a natural limit to varieties from grafts and cuttings, but even that they would not survive the natural term of the life of the seedling trees from which they were originally taken. Whatever may have been his view of the natural term of the life of a tree, and of a cutting being merely a part of the individual that produced it, there is no doubt that he laid himself open to the effective replies which were made from all sides at the time, and have lost none of their force since. ”

“ It has a Tap-root that penetrates deeper into the Bowels of the Earth, than any other Vegetable she produces.
Tho’ one Luserne-root be much more taper than another towards the upper Part of it, ’tis sometimes seen, that a single ho’d Plant of it has many of these perpendicular Roots, some of them springing out from the very Branches of its Crown.
Its Roots are abundantly longer than the Roots of St. Foin: I have One that measures very near Two Inches Diameter: Those which are higher than the Ground have a Bark like a Tree. ”

“ But let the plant have a chance for its life—a fair field, but no favour—let the ground be free from the shade of tree, walls, or anything else. Let the plant have light and air, and let the Peronospora do its worst. Then every plant which is not immaculate when ripe, which does not resist the shock absolutely, destroy it. No matter how beautiful; no matter how protific, destroy it. It is not to be depended on for a moment. It is not a "staff of life," and why cultivate it; when any number of millions as prolific and as palatable as it, can be obtained with the utmost facility? ”

“ I have tried the Stringfellow Method of cutting back top and root until my men asked me if I didn't want to transplant another tree instead, and they have grown just as well as trees on which I took great pains to preserve fine branching roots.
The Secretary: The last thing in my thought was to start a discussion of this perennial subject of the tap-root, but I should like criticism of this little circular, no matter how severe, because I am not finally committed to it and want to make it as useful as possible.
Prof. Smith: Every man likes to ride his own hobby horse. ”

“ Plants which produce a large number of tubers are apt to be sterile, as occurs, to a certain extent, with the common potato; and Mr. Fortune informs me that the sweet potato (Convolvulus batatas) in China never, as far as he has seen, yields seed. Dr. Royle remarks [104] that in India the Agave vivipara, when grown in rich soil, invariably produces bulbs, but no seeds; whilst a poor soil and dry climate leads to an opposite result. In China, according to Mr. Fortune, an extraordinary number of little bulbs are developed in the axils of the leaves of the yam, and this plant does not bear seed. ”

“ I planted in my garden, in the last season, some tubers of a variety of potato of very early habits, but possessing more vigour of growth than is usually seen in such varieties. The soil in which they were planted was in good condition, but not richer than the soils of gardens usually are, and the manure which it had received consisted chiefly of decayed oak leaves, which I prefer to other manures, because it never communicates a strong taste or flavor to any vegetable. ”

“ After the plants have flowered they should be cut down, and they will reappear in the autumn. They have long tap-roots that are easily injured, but where they flourish they spread laterally—that is, they send up young plants at the side. These you can take up. Whenever a plant has a root like a carrot, it is called a ‘tap-root,’ and you must be careful not to break it. ”

“ It has long been known that abundant crops of late and luxuriant varieties of early potatoes may be obtained by planting very small pieces only of their tuberous root: for the plants of those varieties always acquire a considerable age before they begin to generate tubers, and therefore do not too soon begin to expend themselves in the production of tubers; and the size which these acquire within any given period in the spring will be to a great extent regulated by the strength of the plants at the period when they first spring from the soil ”