PROCEEDINGS OP THE ANNUAL MEETING. 135 



Thursday Evening Session. 



The evening of Thursday was devoted mainly to two important papers, 

 the first by Dr. W. J. Beal, on " Some important points in plant growth," 

 the second by Prof. L. R, Taft, on " Plant food, the supply and demand." 

 Music was interspersed, and the evening passed most pleasantly to the very 

 large audience present. 



SOME IMPORTANT POINTS IN PLANT GROWTH. 



The following brief abstract of the illustrated paper is furnished by the 

 author; 



I might occupy an hour in showing the relations of botany to horticul- 

 ture, but that was my theme once, before this society, and the substance of 

 the essay has passed into print. 



Here are a number of fine topics for consideration: Movements of plants; 

 the fertilization of flowers by insects; parasitic fungi that injure farm 

 crops; those that infest orchards; those that trouble ornamental plants; 

 those that annoy the vegetable gardener; those that benefit us by infesting 

 weeds; weeds and their extermination; grasses and other forage crops; 

 bacteria or microbes; popular errors about plants, including spontaneous 

 generation, vitality of seeds; does wheat turn to chess? planting in the 

 moon, errors about crossing plants, errors about pith and about roots and 

 the circulation of sap, potatoes mixing in the hill, flavoring watermelons 

 on the vines. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF GKOWTH. 



Let us now see what the different parts of the higher plants of farm 

 crops do, how it is all done, or the tools they work with. We will begin 

 with the root of the matter. A kernel of wheat contains five small roots, 

 which can be seen by a section before the wheat sprouts. The central one 

 appears first, then one on each side of this, and later another on each side 

 of the three. The tips of these roots, when carefully taken from sandy 

 soil, will be found to be naked for about a quarter of an inch, back of 

 which adhere numerous particles of soil held by fine root hairs. The root 

 elongates only by the rapid multiplication and enlargement of cells, a very 

 short distance back of the apex. The apex is a root cap and contains in 

 the front portion some loose cells, or cells easily loosened, that secrete 

 mucilage. These cells make a slippery path for the young root to penetrate; 

 other cells take the places of those cast off or rubbed off in the progress of 

 the root. This root tip is remarkably sensitive and readily turns away 

 from pressure or any little thing in its path. In this way it turns here and 

 there, finding the place of least resistance. The root hairs mostly perish 

 in a week or two from the small rootlets and are never reproduced, but 

 fresh hairs appear on new branchlets. In experimenting with sprouting 

 corn and beans, placed over water, I find the roots do not always grow down, 



