ROOTS. 13 



Have you ever seen a tree which has been blown 

 down ? Then you can see its roots. How large and 

 strong they are, and how firmly they have fixed them- 

 selves in the earth so firmly that you see a great lot 

 of earth still sticking to them, and quite a large hole 

 in the ground where the tree used to stand. When 

 the wind is very high, and we see the branches of the 

 tall, strong trees bending to and fro, it is the deep, 

 strong roots which hold it in its place so firmly, and 

 make it able to resist the wind. 



But the plants we shall look at will not be large 

 ones, like the trees or bushes, but the little ones that 

 we can get at easily, and carry in our hands. 



We will begin with a root of common grass. Pick 

 out a single plant as well as you can, and, when you 

 have well loosened the earth all round it, you can lift 

 it gradually root and all. Now, if you shake the 

 earth from it, you will see that it has many rootlets. 

 They grow separate from each 

 other from one part of the plant 

 just under the ground ; and are 

 like long threads, some of them 

 being again divided into still finer 

 branches. Look for the common 

 groundsel, and compare its root 

 with that of the grass. In the 



groundsel you can see where the 



, . Fig. io. A Branch- 



root begins to divide or branch, i ng Root. 



and how the branches get smaller and smaller 



