178 



The Roots of the Wheat Plant. 



fest themselves, through which shoot branches { fibres), which 

 themselves go through the same process of branching, giving 

 rise to (fibrils), a process which will be 

 the better understood by examining the 

 following diagrams. 



Now during winter this root develop- 

 ment is fast or slow, according as the 

 weather is open or mild, and cold and 

 fi'osty. In cold weather it is nearly 

 quiescent ; a few mild days, however, 

 result in one or more fresh rootlets bud- 

 ding from near the base of the old ones, 

 coincident with which a bud starts from 

 the axil of the first leaf. 



If the plant be hardy, each of its early 

 leaves may develope a like bud, when 

 new roots Avill also start for their nutri- 

 tion, until we have the initiative of 

 several heads of wheat from a sinarle 

 seed. (Diagram 5, figs. 1, 2, a, a.) 



Thus we have in the early growth 

 of wheat the two organs, roots and 

 Diagram 3.— Germinating Wheat. leaveSj keeping pace with cach other in 

 a. Radicle. W.j^ootiets. ^^^-j, ,|e,,eiopment, new buds always 



Fi!;. 2. 



Fig. 3. 



Fig. 1. 



f Diagram 4 (one-tliird of the actual size). — Winter wheat sown at different times. 



Fig. 3. September, 1855. Fig. 2. January, 185G Fig. 1. February, 1856. 



a. Kootlets. h. Root fibres. c. Fibrils. 



