arithmetic is clearly at fault. I can not follow the 

 directions in their entirety, for if I make a hole 

 four feet deep and leave the roots two feet of loose 

 soil to work down into they will be two feet under 

 the surface instead of one; and if I plant them 

 one foot under the surface they will have three 

 feet of loose earth under them instead of two. 

 Perhaps allowance is made in the calculation for 

 the roots being a foot long, which mine are not, 

 and the tubers are only about two inches. I there- 

 fore solved the problem, especially as labor is a 

 consideration with me, by making the holes three 

 feet deep and placing the tubers so that they have 

 one foot of soil above them and two beneath. 

 They have been located in various likely shady 

 spots, so I hope some of them will thrive. 



The other day I sawed a slice off one of my 

 blocks of the fallen elm branch, to make a rustic 

 table-top, and I had the curiosity to count the 

 rings in the cross-section. There were ninety- 

 four of them, besides a homogeneous core of about 

 an inch diameter in the center. As each ring 

 must signify a year's growth, I suppose, there- 

 fore, the branch must be about a hundred years 

 130 



