6 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1879 



in another place, we pass naturally to the development of buds 

 underground. A leaf -bud — that is, an incipient stem — develops 

 by lengthening the distance between the successive leaves. 

 Under ground, in firm soil, such buds develop at great disad- 

 vantage ; and the stems soon become more or less distorted ; 

 the degree of distortion depending somewhat upon the character 

 of the soil in which growth takes place. The extremes are to 

 be found in Beach Bind-grass (^Calamagrostis arenaria), which 

 has long internodes or joints of stem, and such plants as /m, 

 or Blue Flag, and Solomon's Seal. In not a few cases, the 

 growth of the underground stem gives rise to very curious 

 forms, which may be puzzling at first ; for instance, the solid 

 bulb or corm of crocus, and the thickened tip of the underground 

 branch of potato, namely, the tuber itself. The " eyes " of the 

 potato are merely disguised buds which have a good stock of 

 food behind them. Potato-planting is colonizing, in which the 

 tubers are the colonies separated from the home community. 

 A very bad kind of such colonizing takes place when the under- 

 ground stems of Witch-grass {Triticum repejis) are only broken 

 off, but not taken out of the soil, in hoeing the ground. The 

 helpful parts are detached from each other, and each fragment 

 serves as a starting point for a new plant. In grafting or bud- 

 ding, one or more groups of helpful parts are removed, not to 

 soil where they would have at once to shift for themselves, but 

 to a kindred plant which furnishes nutriment from the very 

 first. 



As we have seen in the examination of seedlings and cuttings, 

 roots can start from different points of the stem. In some 

 cases, they can arise from the leaf-stalk or even from the leaf- 

 blade itself. The root, whatever its origin in any case may be, 

 grows in length only in one way; namely, at a point just behind 

 its very tip. This growing point is usually protected by a 

 peculiar cap, which insinuates its way through the crevices of 

 the sojl. If roots should grow as stems escaping from the bud- 

 "state do, — that is, throughout their whole length, — they would 

 speedily become distorted. But, since they grow at the pro- 

 tected tips, they can make their way through the interstices of 

 soil, which from its compactness would otherwise forbid their 

 progress. 



[The relation of roots to soil were spoken of in detail.] 



If the roots of the youngest seedlings of wheat or flax are 

 carefully examined, they will be seen to be covered, except near 



