LECT. IV.] THE ROOT. 135 



low. It has not the tapering point of the two 

 former, but a number of long fibrils which hang 

 from the centre of the lower depression. The 

 Sow-bread, Cyclamen europceum (fig. y), which 



is an example of this 

 root, does not attain its de- 

 cisive character in the first 

 year of its growth ; and al- 

 though a reservoir of nu- 

 triment, yet it is not ex- 

 hausted in perfecting the 

 flower and fruit, but con- 

 tinues to increase for se- 

 veral years. 



The nutriment which is deposited in the cau- 

 dices of all these species of the simple root, is not 

 that which is directly absorbed from the soil by 

 the fibrils ; but the proper juice of the plant, pre- 

 pared from the sap exposed to the action of the 

 light and' air in the leaves. The necessity of a 

 luxuriant and healthy state of the herbaceous part 

 of the plant, therefore, for increasing the quantity 

 of nutritious matter in the simple roots, which are 

 cultivated for food, is very obvious. It may be 

 thought that the practice pursued to produce earlier 

 and larger Radishes, " which is by sowing them in 

 " hot-beds in the early spring, and exposing the 

 <c tops to the cold air during the day, as this pre- 

 " vents the luxuriant growth of the summit, and 



K4 



