WATER REQUIREMENT AND ADAPTATION IN EQUISETUM 7 



necessary to cut the underground stems. In a few cases dor- 

 mant buds on the plants transferred developed into plants of 

 moderate size. This suggested that it would be necessary to 

 dig up the stems before the spring growth started, but by this 

 time it was too late to find any more buds. 



Early in June similar attempts were made to transplant 

 Equisetum hyemale with similar results. In one case a block of 

 soil twelve inches in diameter and eighteen inches deep was cut 

 out and carefully lifted into a large jar. This was done on a 

 rainy day when conditions were ideal for transplanting, but by 

 the next day the plants were wilted. A trench was then dug 

 in order to trace the root systems. Underground stems were 

 frequent at a depth of two feet, although most of them were in 

 the first twelve to fifteen inches of soil. Roots were traced to a 

 depth of three feet and one inch from which point they were 

 submerged in the water of an underground spring. 



Potometers with cut stems of Equisetum hyemale were then 

 tried but, although there were no signs of wilting, the rate of 

 transpiration decreased so rapidly and steadily that this method 

 was discarded as unreliable. The only possible solution seemed 

 to be to get the buds on the underground stems during their 

 resting period. 



During October and November large clumps of earth matted 

 together with the root stocks of Equisetum fluviatile were dug 

 from the edge of a tamarack swamp near Glenwood Park, Minne- 

 apolis and brought to the greenhouse. Profiting by past 

 experiences, pieces of soil were cut to just fit into their pots but 

 it was soon found that too much competition between the many 

 Equisetum stems and other plants in the soil was hindering 

 good growth. Other Equisetum buds were then carefully sepa- 

 rated from the soil in which they had grown and planted in 

 porous pots containing ordinary garden loam. The stems began 

 coming up at once and very good plants developed in the course 

 of six weeks. Some of the material brought in from the swamp 

 was covered with a sack and left out in the yard all winter. In 

 March, when the frost was beginning to leave the ground, thes-e 

 were brought in and planted in loam just as the others had been. 



