80 The Root 



soil firmly together. In countries where shifting sand 

 dunes make cultivation of the land impossible one of 

 the first things that is done is to plant quantities of one 

 of the pines (e.g. in the Landes, a sandy district in the 

 South- West of France, the cluster pine is used). These 

 trees grow quite well on dry sandy soil and their thickly 

 branching roots soon hold the sand together and prevent 

 it from shifting, while the pine needles cover the ground 

 and gradually improve the soil. Trees are also useful 

 where the land is subject to floods, as the roots bind 

 the loose soil together and enable it to resist a sudden 

 rush of water. 



PRACTICAL WORK. 



1. Draw your mustard seedling x 4, paying special attention to 

 the root hairs. If these are stuck together you can pin the seedling 

 to a cork and float it in water. 



2. Examine the root of your bean plant. Do the rootlets seem 

 to grow out from the root in any definite way or not? Give a 

 drawing of the root to illustrate your answer. 



3. Explain what has happened to your geranium cutting in the 

 past three months. What do you think would have happened if you 

 had put it into the ground the other way up ? 



4. Draw a map of the school garden, marking the position and 

 name of each tree. Tie your piece of rope into a loop, sling it round 

 your neck, and use it to support the drawing board. With a little 

 adjustment of the knot the drawing board will lie level and you can 

 use it as a portable table to draw on as you walk about. The map 

 you make now may not be perfectly accurate, but you can be careful 

 to make it neat and to get the positions of the different trees as 

 nearly right as possible. [For details about map making see books 

 on Practical Geography.] 



HOME WORK. 



Make a fair copy in ink of the map you made in the garden. 

 Bring both copies to school with you. 



