1911.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 45 



gaiued entrance to a drain tile. This tile was 12 inches in 

 diameter, and was laid about seven years ago to take the seepage 

 waters from a reservoir located in the town of Belmont, Mass. 

 This pipe passed through land owned by the Ilittinger Brothers 

 of Belmont, well-known and extensive market gardeners, and 

 part of it passed near a pear orchard. There was a constant 

 flow of water through this tile summer aud winter, but the pipe 

 was never full. At the time the tile was laid the joints were 

 not cemented, and of course there was an excellent opportunity 

 for roots of various kinds, if so disposed, to penetrate the joints 

 of the pipes and secure an abundant supply of water. During 

 Xovend)er, 1009, about seven years after the drain pipes were 

 installed, it became necessary to dig up a large part of them on 

 account of their inefficiency and replace them. It was found on 

 digging up this tile that it was badly congested by profuse root 

 growth. A careful examination of the location showed that this 

 growth of roots originated from a single off-shoot of a pear tree 

 located some 7 feet away. This enormous mass of pear roots was 

 removed from the tile aud carefully laid aside, and we gladly 

 accepted Mr. Minott's offer to present this to our museum. Mr. 

 Minott later packed and shipped this to us, at the same time 

 furnishing us full data concerning it. This mass of roots was 

 found to measure 61 feet in length. Only a single root entered 

 the tile, it having a diameter of about V2 oi" % of ^^ inch. This 

 root, when it entered the tile, immediately subdivided into in- 

 numerable rootlets, and these were again divided into countless 

 smaller roots. At the time the tile w^as dug up and the roots 

 removed the drain had been in operation seven years, although 

 a cross-section of the root, together with an examination of the 

 annular rings, wdiere it entered the tile, showed that it was only 

 five years old. Therefore it took only five years for this mass 

 of roots to clog up a 12-inch tile. 



The maximum diameter of these roots in the dry state is 6 or 

 7 inches, but when alive and flourishing in the tile their diam- 

 eter exceeded this. The roots as they reached the laboratory 

 had a decidedly bad odor, showing that if no sewage were pres- 

 ent in the tile there was certainly a considerable amount of or- 

 ganic matter in the seepage, derived from- the soil or some other 

 source, which ]u-ovod of value n-^ ])laut food. Soon after the 



