324 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



crops, but it appears to us that, in a large majority of in- 

 stances, the malformation of the root is caused by the me- 

 chanical condition of the soil, its inequality being her,e 

 and there caused by portions of unequal solidity or 

 degree of pulverization. It may be accepted as a truth 

 that, in the growth of a root, there is a certain tendency 

 which is the rule, that tendency being to assume a certain 

 form, and that that form will be assumed if it is grown 

 under circumstances which do not introduce any conditions 

 antagonistic to the normal growth of the root. The chances 

 are then that if roots are grown in perfectly homogenous 

 soil of equal condition throughout the root being per- 

 mitted to grow as easily in one direction as another that 

 they will naturally assume their normal shape. But if a 

 root is surrounded by soil of unequal character, if for in- 

 stance, one side is pressed up against a piece of hard im- 

 penetrable soil, or say a stone, it is obvious that in trying 

 to avoid this the root will assume some abnormal form. 

 This power of plants to choose position of growth is indeed 

 remarkable, and has been much overlooked in considerations 

 affecting the culture of some of our farm crops. If then 

 our opinion is correct as regards the cause, or at all events 

 one of the causes, of finger and toe or what we may call 

 abnormal root development it will follow that the more 

 completely the soil is prepared, and the more uniform the 

 condition of that soil, the fewer will be the examples met 

 with of roots displaying this abnormal development. And 

 here practice comes in to corroborate this. We have also 

 further evidence in the results of various experiments 

 directly instituted to test the point. So direct has been 

 the evidence of some of those that we could, knowing the 

 condition the mechanical condition of the soil, predicate 

 with some degree of certainty as to whether the roots grown 

 would have "finger or toe." "We do not say that the 

 chemical condition of the soil has no influence upon the 

 tendency of roots to have "finger and toe;" but on this 

 point, so far as we can judge, only conjecture is left us. 

 We may guess certainly, but it cannot be said that we 



