20 :ffiotanB 



the ends, and they do not absorb by capillary attrac- 

 tion, but by their entire surface, as their "walls are 

 porous. . When we speak of tubes, pores, surface, in 

 this connection, and pause to consider that in many- 

 cases each entire hair is almost microscopic in its 

 smallness,- we wonder, as we are always wondering 

 when we study plant life, at the singular perfection 

 in detail, at the marvels of minutiae, at intricacy and 

 accuracy in smallness. The life of each of these 

 tiny root hairs is short, as the root grows and its 

 thimble-cap, its armored apex advances, new hairs 

 develop on its surface, and the previous ones die. 

 Always there is a fresh series of absorbing hairs, 

 these not only sucking moisture from the soil, but 

 each one is a little laboratory, where chemical pro- 

 cesses are carried on. The wall of the hair-cell di- 

 vides the liquid which it receives into its different 

 parts. It separates the crystals from the albumen oi 

 starch, and so passes it on, nicely prepared food-stuff 

 for the plant. 



Hairs are not found n)erely on roots. They occur 

 on every part of the plant. In this month of 

 Januar}^, so unsympathetic with plant life in our 

 northern zone, we can make interesting studies in 

 plant hairs of various kinds. In a wide botanical 

 sense any appendages of the plant skin are hairs. 



Here is a rose bush, raising its dry, reddish stems 



