io6 The Great World's Farm 



lifted from the earth, as its roots are only fibers growing 

 from the base of the bulb; while a dock may resist the 

 full strength of a man. 



Water-plants have few roots, as their food comes to 

 them already prepared, without their having to search for 

 it; bog-plants have more roots, as they have more work 

 to do; and land-plants have most of all, as their roots 

 frequently have to explore the earth for a considerable 

 distance in search of food. 



In a fertile soil, where there is plenty of food, roots 

 are generally short and much branched. They branch 

 out, in fact, where the food is to be found. But in a poor 

 soil they have to go further to find what they need, and 

 are usually long and slender. 



But the mere mention of so many feet gives no idea at 

 all of the real length of a plant's roots; for besides the 

 long main roots, there are rootlets innumerable branching 

 from them, and these rootlets, though they may be mere 

 threads themselves, are covered with millions of hairs, 

 generally so minute as to be hardly visible without the 

 help of a microscope. 



But here again, as we have seen in various ways before, 

 it is the small, insignificant workers which are of the most 

 importance. It is through the younger, threadlike root- 

 lets, and through these millions of minute hairs, that food 

 is chiefly taken up; and this is why, in moving a plant, the 

 gardener is careful to keep a ball of earth round its roots, 

 that the small, delicate rootlets may not be injured, and 

 its food-supply lessened. 



The root-hairs are being constantly produced in fresh 

 millions, for each individual lasts but a few days. 



It is difficult in any degree to realize what length of 



