338 Appendix. 



droop under it for a time, and this subject will receive more attention wlien I 

 come to speak of the root system. 



And now let us advance our growing plant to the time when it is no longer 

 dependent upon the food stored up for it in cotyledons or in endosperm, but 

 has thrown off its shell, expanded baby leaves, sent its first root down deep 

 into the soil, lias begun to send out many auxiliary lateral roots and is finally 

 in condition to care for itself. It can then be readily divided into four main 

 parts ; first, a root system, to hold the plant fast in the ground and procure for 

 it the water and salts from the soil ; second, the stem, to convey the sap from 

 the root to the leaves, and to support the leafy crown above or perchance push 

 it hundreds of feet upwards in ensuing years where it may bathe in the sun- 

 light and air : third, the leaves, those beautifully constructed laboratories of 

 the plant, where the crude materials which have ascended the stem or been 

 taken in through the leaves' myriad mouths may be recast into other forms 

 essential for plant or beast ; and, fourth, following at a later date, the flowers, 

 or organs for the reproduction of fruit and seeds. 



The Root. — Let us gently remove from loose earth the root of a young, 

 growing plant. I shall not stop to note those diverse forms of root, so interest- 

 ing to the botanist or other lovers of nature, but fix attention upon certain 

 parts of it. a proper understanding of which is so essential to him who would 

 grow pl.ants properly. Taking up the delicate end of a young root, and inspect- 

 ing it even with an ordinary magnifier, you will observe at its extremity a small 

 l>rown cap, fitting closely over the soft, growing end and protecting it from 

 ■abrasion as it pushes its way through the soil. More important for our con- 

 sideration, you will find a little way back of this cap delicate, finger-like, 

 single celled hairs just beginning to appear, and if we observe the root still 

 further back,' we shall see these "root-hairs," as they are called, growing 

 longer till their full growth is reached, when further on they begin to wither, 

 sind finally entirely disappear. Through these little hairs, covering a slight 

 zone near the tip of each rootlet, and hardly observable with the naked eye. 

 takes place practically the whole of the enormous absorption of water and 

 salts from the earth. This leads us directly to two very important observations. 

 On plants which are intended to grow in water, wet soil, or air saturated with 

 moisture, we find a root system not spreading nor much dividing, but condensed 

 tind with few thick branches. The orchids give us good examples, as do pond- 

 lilies, cat-tails, and others. Where, however, the plant is intended to grow in 

 dry soil, or in soil holding but a moderate amount of water, the roots divide 

 and subdivide till they are lost from their very minuteness, the root-hairs being 

 very abundant. And now, to which class do most of our cultivated plants and 

 especially our fruit trees belong? "To the last, undoubtedly," I hear you 

 answer. Then beware how you give them too much water, either naturally or 

 artificially ! In one district of California, a gentleman told me they blasted 

 down into the hardpan, but not through it on account of its thickness, and then 

 |)lanted the trees in the holes thus made, "and they expect," added he, "to 

 raise fine fruit there, as the soil contains all of the food elements." I would 

 like to warrant a guess, without having ever seen the orchards, that the trees 

 -.ire in a state of decreptitude today, if not dead, and no matter whether they 

 used water or did not use it at all. In the first case the trees would die from 

 drowning, in the latter from thirst. On the other hand, in certain places in 

 Southern Idaho, where there is a thin hardpan, which can be completely blasted 

 •through by the use of dynamite, so that the irrigating water does not stand 

 about the roots of the trees, good orchards are growing and fruit raised. To 

 liim who has a farm underlaid by hardpan near the surface not treated in this 

 manner, or to him who has good soil, but with the water rising to within a foot 

 or two of the surface, I would say do not plant an orchard, or, if you have 

 started one, dig it up and put in something else, for ill success will surely attend 

 your efforts. The roots of the tree must be free from standing water, and they 

 must be provided with abundant oxygen, which can only be in a soil moderately 



