coRx. 67 



not vary at all. He tried the same experiment with a 

 variety of cultivated crops, and the conclusion which he drew 

 from the result was, that the normal extent of the root was 

 measured by the amount of pulverized soil which it required. 

 Of course, that amount varied very considerably in different 

 crops. He never tried tlie experiment with indian corn, but 

 I have myself measured the roots of indian corn, in places 

 where the capacity of the soil was such as to allow the fine 

 roots to permeate the soil to the extent of twelve feet, and I 

 have been informed by reliable experimenters, in whose word 

 I would place as much confidence as I should in my own ob- 

 servation, that they have traced the roots of corn to the length 

 of eighteen feet. I have myself traced an onion root down 

 fully two feet into the ground. I think people generally very 

 much misappxehend the length to which the roots of plants 

 are capable of penetrating, when the circumstances are favor- 

 able to their growth. 



Now, if this is the habit of the plant, as I am very sure it 

 is the habit of the corn crop, it is very evident that the 

 amount of soluble food within reach is increased by every 

 inch of length you give to the corn roots. Therefore it fol- 

 lows, as a matter of course, that the more you pulverize the 

 soil, the more you enable tlie roots to spread out, the greater 

 is the amount of food which it is possible for the crop to take 

 up. Therefore, this is a confirmation of the general law 

 which I stated, that the growth of the plant is directly pro- 

 portional to the depth to which the soil is pulverized. 



I was speaking to-day of some experiments with plowing 

 which were conducted at Utica. There was one piece of land, 

 wliicli was afterwards sown with oats, which was plowed to 

 the depth of twelve inches. I requested Mr. Butterfield, on 

 whose farm it was, to pay special attention to the growth of 

 tlic crops on the lands plowed at different depths, which he 

 faithfully did. The result was, that on the land where the 

 soil had been plowed to the depth of twelve inches — and that, 

 let me remark, was seven ijiches deeper than it had ever been 

 plowed since Christopher Columbus discovered America — he 

 found there was an addition of eight bushels to the crop, and 



