II. THE ROOT. 33 



6. In thus contriving access for itself where it 

 chooses, a root contorts itself into more serpent-like 

 writhing than branches can ; and when it has once 

 coiled partly round a rock, or stone, it grasps it tight, 

 necessarily, merely by swelling. Now a root has force 

 enough sometimes to split rocks, but not to crush 

 them ; so it is compelled to grasp by flattening 

 as it thickens; and, as it must have room some- 

 where, it alters its own shape as if it were made 

 of dough, and holds the rock, not in a claw, but 

 in a wooden cast or mould, adhering to its sur- 

 face. And thus it not only finds its anchorage in 

 the rock, but binds the rocks of its anchorage with 

 a constrictor cable. 



7. Hence — and this is a most important secondary 

 function — roots bind together the ragged edges of 

 rocks as a hem does the torn edge of a dress : 

 they literally stitch the stones together; so that, 

 while it is always dangerous to pass under a tree- 

 less edge of overhanging crag, as soon as it has 

 become beautiful with trees, it is safe also. The 

 rending power of roots on rocks has been greatly 

 overrated. Capillary attraction in a willow wand 



intercept the roots. But he saw with surprise those of the roots which 

 had not been cut, go down behind the slope of the ditch to keep out 

 of the light, go under the ditch, and into the field again." And the 

 Swiss naturalist Bonnet said wittily, apropos of a wonder of this sort, 

 " that sometimes it was difficult to distinguish a cat from a rose-bush." 



