110 THE PLANT WOKLD 



Mr, Burrouglis' observations of the offshoots from the corms of 

 dog's-tooth lily are valuable as a suggestive key, that should indeed lead 

 the scientist or nature student, beyond the fact, to the true cause that 

 nature has in giving this lily its unique power of planting its bulbous 

 root deeper each year in the manner as observed. 



In attemping to sever from the soil, the other day, one of the bulbs 

 of this lily, I was surprised at its depths below the soil, and, indeed, 

 fatigued before I really obtained the root entire. 



The bulbs of lilies in general are near the top of the ground, yet 

 Mr. Burroughs remarks, "Here is a lily with the bulb deep in the ground. 

 How it gets there is well worth investigating. The botany says the bulb 

 is deep in the ground, but offers no explanation." Now it is only the 

 bulbs of the older or flowering plants that are deep in the ground. 

 The bulbs of the young plants are near the top of the ground. The 

 young plants have but one leaf, the older or flowering ones have two. 



If examination be made of the one-leaved plants they will be found 

 to " set upon the surface " of the soil " barely tAvo inches below the 

 earth, while the two-leaved plants bulbs lie buried often to a depth of 

 eight inches." 



Mr. Burroughs observes, " Of course they are started from the seed 

 at the surface" of the mossy couch and "yearly sink deeper and 

 deeper." 



" The young botanist, or nature lover " will find " in late May or 

 early June, after the leaves of the Erythronium have disappeared, that 

 the ground or mossy beds where these plants stood " show curious- 

 looking, twisting growths or i^oots, of a greenish white color." If they 

 are examined they prove to be as smooth and large as an angle-worm 

 and very brittle. Both ends will be found in the ground, one attached 

 to the old bulb, the other boring or drilling downward and enlarged till 

 it suggests the new bulb." Mr. Burroughs observes also that as yet, " he 

 is not certain that this mother root in all cases comes to the surface." 

 " Why it should come at all is a mystery, unless it be in some way to 

 get more power for the downward thrust." 



Mr. Burroughs thus made the pioneer observations tending toward 

 a scientific truth; if not proving the cause, he shows us the effect of the 

 cause, of " how the bulb of this dainty root pierces the hard soil, and so 

 blunts itself, and forms, as Doderus writes, a "theball" or bulbous 

 root shaped like a canine's eye tooth from whence "dog's-tooth" originated. 

 Let closer observations be made of our common plants and we shall 

 soon find that the oaks will indeed talk, as of old, and the plants them- 

 selves will give forth the true causes and origins of their existence, and 

 their names ! 



