PREPARATION OF LAND FOR THE SEED 147 



underlaid with wet clay, it tends to become 

 fibrous -rooted. Even long-lived perennials, as 

 trees, do best when the surface soil is well pre- 

 pared to a depth of ten to twelve inches, since 

 many feeding roots of trees, especially of young 

 ones, find nourishment in this prepared soil. 



246. Plants differ greatly, however, in ability 

 to adapt themselves to unfavorable conditions. 

 Many common plants send their tap-roots into 

 the subsoil for two to three feet, even if it be 

 hard, while sugar beets become fibrous -rooted, 

 and may be pushed up and partly out of the 

 ground if their tap-roots attempt to enter the 

 undisturbed hard subsoil. Land devoted to 

 clover need not necessarily be subsoiled if it 

 be fairly free from stagnant water, while that 

 planted to sugar beets should be subsoiled, 

 for the reason that a long, fusiform root is 

 desired, all or nearly all of which should be 

 below the surface ; for that part of the beet 

 which grows above the ground is not nearly so 

 valuable for making sugar as that part which 

 grows under ground. 



247. Nearly all of the common and quick- 

 growing plants secure the larger part of their 

 nourishment and moisture from the first, or sur- 

 face foot of soil. This being so, it is seen how 

 necessary it is to prepare the soil in the best 

 possible manner. If the upper soil is not well 



