And then the leaves will begin to droop

And then the leaves will begin to droop

And then the leaves will begin to droop

If the tree be girdled the roots sooner or later suffer from lack of food supply from the leaves. Owing to this food stoppage the roots will cease to grow and will soon be unable to take in sufficient water, and then the leaves will begin to droop. This, however, may not happen until several months after the girdling. Sometimes a partly girdled branch grows much in thickness just above the girdle, as is shown in Fig. 29. This extra growth seems to be due to a stoppage of the rich supply of food which was on its way to the roots through the bark. It could go no farther and was therefore used by the tree to make an unnatural growth at this point. You will now understand how and why trees die when they are girdled to clear new ground.