Nutrient management in the nursery showed a strong potential for modifying the morphology of Q. In contrast, differences in root collar diameter gradually vanished. Differences in stem height between control seedlings and those subjected to nutrient manipulations increased in the field as a result of shoot dieback and scarce growth. Short-term seedling survival was not related to nutritional regimes, seedling size or root growth potential. Nitrogen deprivation increased biomass allocation and decreased root growth potential. Nutrient deprivation decreased total biomass accumulation and slenderness ratio (ratio between stem height and root collar diameter). This hypothesis had been previously tested with five Mediterranean species in a semi-arid environment. We tested this hypothesis by assessing the effect of different fertilizer types and doses on the morphology and field survival of Q. We hypothesize that traits associated with nutritional stress, such as reduced biomass allocation and changes in root morphology, may promote seedling resistance to. However, there is no consensus on the set of plant traits determining establishment success in these environments. The success of forest plantations in areas subjected to seasonal drought is strongly dependent on seedling traits. How could writers write such stuff and how could editors publish it? And what if I wrote down my own gibberish and sent it off to these editors? Would they publish it? Some did. Reading what others had written and what other editors had decided to publish, I saw that some writing was brilliant and beyond any ability I had to emulate.

I published nothing because, in my censorious view, I had written nothing worth publishing. Because I could not write a paper which satisfied my own internal censor I sent nothing to journals.

As a writer I abandoned articles and essays because, as an editor, I could not accept their errors and weaknesses. This meant that not only was I unproductive as a writer but I was also brutal as an editor. For years I sinned: my sin was that I wrote and edited at the same time. Every sentence might be further improved although it's also true that work can be overedited…Editing is in fact simply more writing – a higher-level (or lower-level, if you prefer) version of the same process whereby you produced the creative draft in the first place. It's a thinking process…Nor is editing ever really finished.

Lynne truss eats shoots and leaves