I 8 THE FIRST BOOK OF FARMING 



when they have started to grow pull them up and 

 notice how difficult it is to remove all of the sand or 

 dirt from the roots. This is because the delicate 

 root hairs cling so closely to the soil grains. The 

 root hairs are absorbing moisture laden with plant 

 food from the surface of the soil particles. The 

 root hairs are found only near the root tips. As the 

 root grows older, its surface becomes tougher and 

 harder, and the hairs die, while new ones appear on 

 the new growth just back of the root tips, which are 

 constantly reaching out after moisture and food. 

 The moisture gets into the root hairs by a process 

 called osmose. The following interesting experi- 

 ment will give you an idea of this process or force 

 of osmose. 



Experiment. Procure a wide-mouthed bottle, an 

 egg, a glass tube about three inches long and a 

 quarter-inch in diameter, a candle, and a piece of 

 wire a little longer than the tube. Remove a part of 

 the shell from the large end of the egg without 

 breaking the skin beneath. This is easily done by 

 gently tapping the shell with the handle of a pocket- 

 knife until it is full of small cracks, and then, with 

 the blade of the knife, picking off the small pieces. 

 In this way remove the shell from the space about 

 the size of a nickel. Remove the shell from the 

 small end of the egg over a space about as large as 

 the end of the glass tube. Next, from the lower end 

 of the candle cut a piece about one-half inch long. 

 Bore a hole in this just the size of the glass tube. 

 Now soften one end of the piece of candle with the 



