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- New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 345 
ROOT DEVELOPMENT. 
Investigations®® were made at various times during the history 
of the Station as to the root system of various plants. This work 
was started by washing out the roots from the soil to determine 
their position and extent. It was found that strawberry plants 
washed out about the middle of August had roots extending “ nearly 
vertically downward to the depth of 22 inches. The horizontal 
roots were few and short, the largest being traceable but 6 inches.” 
Nearly all of the fibrous roots were found directly beneath the 
plant. 
Similar investigations disclosed that “the roots of the tomato 
plant are in their manner of growth opposite to those of the straw- 
berry plant,’ the greater part of the roots extending horizontally 
and being situated about eight inches below the surface. The 
writer draws the deductions that in the case of the strawberry, 
since the feeding roots are situated almost directly beneath the 
plant covering an area scarcely larger than the leaves, “ there is little 
danger of injuring the roots of strawberry plants by cultivation 
between the rows, even if the soil is disturbed to a considerable 
depth,” the inference being that in the case of the tomato the 
opposite is the case. 
The cauliflower was found to be a deep-rooting plant, the roots 
extending downward to a depth of three feet and horizontally about 
two and one-half feet. It thus appears that the cauliflower draws 
its sustenance from a greater area and depth than the tomato 
plant. The fibrous roots, however, are less numerous in the upper 
layers of the soil.” 
This was continued in subsequent years. Its importance is per- 
haps best indicated by the statement of the investigator in one of 
his introductions “that it would seem that before we can give an 
intelligent opinion as to the best system of cultivation to be ob- 
served, or the best method of applying fertilizers, for any crop, we 
should know something of the character of the roots that sustain 
the plants, and the position that these occupy in the soil. If the 
fibrous roots through which the plant receives its nourishment grow 
very near the surface, it is certain that any but the most shallow 
cultivation must lacerate these to a great extent. If, on the other 
hand, the fibrous roots chiefly lie deeper than the ordinary plow 
* Rpt. 2:219 (1883); 3:305 (1884) ; 4:233 (1885); 5:157 (1886); 6:90 
’ (1887); 7:171 (1888). 
