I40 THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



Obsen-ations made iu Alabama, New York, North Dakota, 

 Iowa and elsewhere, have shown that the roots grow horizontally 

 for some distance from the plant, within four inches of the sur- 

 face. These lateral roots are very abundant, especially in the 

 early part of the season. Later in the season, however, roots 

 are sent downward in greater number, the lateral roots mean- 

 while continuing to grow and rebranch, so that in the course of 

 eight to ten weeks the soil between the hills, under ordinar)' 

 culture, is completely occupied by a dense ramification of roots, 

 One hundred branches have been counted on a piece of maize 

 root fourteen inches long. Many instances have been reported 

 of roots growing four feet deep, and in some cases roots have 

 been broken off at a depth of fifty inches, showing that they 

 must have grown somewhat deeper. Hays reports maize roots 

 eight feet in length, although not in depth. In most soils, how- 

 ever, the amount of root surface below the first two feet is 

 comparatively small. This suggests that the relatively fe^v 

 unbranched roots which descend to greater depth do so to 

 supply the plant with water. The requirements of the plant for 

 water are very great, both because of the large amount of dry 

 matter per acre produced and because the season of activ(2 

 gro\\th is during the hottest portion of the year. 



In the early stages of the plant the root gro\\1;h is rapid. A 

 maize plant one-half inch high has been observed with a root 

 eight inches long; one three inches high with a root thirteen 

 inches long, and two five inches high with roots eleven to twenty- 

 four inches long. Unlike the wheat plant, which throws out a 

 whorl of three temporary or seminal roots, the radicle of the 

 maize plant enlarges and remains prominent, while two or three 

 other roots of lesser size are thrown out. Compared with the 

 lower portion, the stem is very much enlarged at the point where 

 the permanent or coronal roots begin. In a plant thirty days 

 old and twenty-one inches high the stem between the temporary 

 and permanent roots was one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, 



