174 ANNUAL REPORT 



their length; the natural consequence must be a shortening of the 

 whole tissue. This shortening of the fully mature roots acts in all 

 directions as a pulling force. At the lower end of the mature 

 root we still find an immature part, the growing piece of the root 

 which is trying to penetrate deeper and deeper into the soil; at the 

 upper end we find the mature part from which the roots started. 

 The lower and still growing end or tip of the roots is covered 

 with hair-like sucking cells, which are closely united with 

 the surrounding earth, and thoroughly imbeded in it. This end 

 therefore has assumed a fixed position which cannot be overcome 

 by the pulling actions of the part of roots above. The growing 

 part of the roots is stretched by an elongation of the cells, and yet 

 the tips of the roots can enter deeper and deeper into the soil not- 

 withstanding the pulling actions above. The power exerted by 

 the shortening of the cells can consequejtly not act in this direc- 

 tion, or downward, but must act in the oppositie direction, or must 

 pull down the tips of the shoots, since here there is no opposing 

 force, as nothing is held securely in position, and in this way the 

 tips of the shoots are actually pulled below the surface of the soil. 

 Such remarkable cases, in which parts of plants are pulled be- 

 low the surface of the soil can only be found in such species, in 

 which the roots grow in a perpendicular direction into the soil, 

 and is most common in such that store up food in the subterranean 

 tissues of their stems or roots. Roots, which grow in a horizontal 

 direction, are not apt to act in this manner, but on the contrary 

 may even — under certain conditions — lift the stem above the soil. 

 JJOf course in species of blackberries which thrive in extremely 

 cold regions this method of wintering is a very beneficial one, as 

 the plant is thus not alone enabled to multiply, but is also enabled to 

 secure all the important substances still remaining in the dying 

 parent plant, and to store them away for future use. The off- 

 springs of the mother-plant remove everything, that is no longer 

 of any use to the doomed plant, below the soil, and thus store it 

 in a place where the cold of winter will not injure it, and where 

 they can make use of it for their own benefit. 



INSECTS AND HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 

 By R. J. Mendenhall, Minneapolis. 



To the experts of today our remarks may not be very scientific, 

 for we confess we have not kept abreast with the subjects of botany 

 nor entomology, having some years ago become discouraged by the 

 vastness of the fields; nevertheless, we will pen a few thoughts. 



The contempt with which the Insectarian is looked upon, not 

 only by the old-fashioned farmer himself, but by even the more in- 

 telligent masses, is, to say the least, very amusing. 



In the preface of that admirable and highly interesting work, 

 Kir,by &, Spence's Entomology, (and by the way we shall draw a 



