14 THE NATURE-STUDY OF PLANTS 
upon a saucerful of wet sand or a piece of damp flannel, 
it will soon push out a rootlet which, as can be seen 
quite easily with a lens, is covered 
almost, but not quite, to the tip 
with a fine felt of comparatively 
long threads, known as root-hairs, 
and it is they that absorb the soil 
water. 
It is also fairly easy to locate 
the water-pipes, at any rate in 
some plants, although we shall not 
see them very plainly until after- 
ie 92 Ceeninatiay 2 (00d deal of practice. It does 
seed of Mustard a not very much matter what root 
See aah sand, We take so long as it is large 
to show the root- enough to be handled and sliced 
gir eae and without difficulty ; let us try one of 
the thickest roots of the Yellow or 
the Blue Flag. We must cut it off near the thick top 
and put about an inch or so of the thickest part of it 
into a small bottle of methylated spirit and leave it 
there for three or four days or longer in order to 
harden it; then with a sharp knife or razor we must 
take the thinnest slice we can manage off the thickest 
end and put it into a drop or two of spirit, already 
placed upon a slip, and cover it as we did when pre- 
paring the skin of the snowdrop’s leaf for examination. 
The next thing is to hold the slip to the light and 
look at the section, as such a thin slice for the micro- 
scope is called, through a lens. We shall see small 
holes through the middle of it. 
Now, the pipes run up the root, so we shall have 
cut a ring off them, and, as it were, be looking into them. 
We now know the part of the root where they are to 

