CORNEIvL READING-COURvSE 

 FOR FARMERS. 



READING-LESSON 

 No. 4. 



FEBRUARY, 1899. 



By B M DUGGAR. 



How the Plant Gets Its Food from the Soil 



I. Roots feed obscurely. — The poultry yard is a proper place 

 to observe how the chicken takes its food and drink, but garden 

 observations alone do not furnish us equal evidence concerning 

 the garden plant. Every one knows that the plant takes water 

 and soluble substances from the soil by certain root structures ; 

 but the facts about the interesting activities of these roots too 

 often remain a secret of the soil. These activities may seem 

 obscure, but let us handle the plant, make a few simple experi- 

 ment«^, and see what the study yields. In this study we are 



concerned with the one question of how 

 the plant gets this water and other food 

 materials from the soil, disregarding 

 entirely the various kinds of substances 

 that may be used as foods. 



2. There are roots and there are root- 

 lets. — In Figure i we have a radish plant 

 read}' for the table. It has developed 

 no seeds, but it has stored up food ; and 

 for present purposes we ma}' consider 

 it a mature plant. To begin with, ob- 

 serve how its root system is constructed. 

 The plant has been pulled out of 

 the soil in which it was growing. The 

 large fleshy root terminates in a com- 

 mon-sized root ia) to which little rootlets 

 {b) are attached. Then there are little 

 rootlets [b"^) attached to the fleshy root 

 at various places near the base ; and this we expected, knowing 

 that the fleshy root is nothing but the enlarged tap-root. But 

 the rootlets which we so readily see are only intermediary, and 



Radish. 



