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istence the writer has seen for some time. The sewer system, 

 which was put in eight or ten years ago, is of a most primitive 

 character, being simply a drain pipe leading from the laboratories 

 into a 'small ,ravine which finally finds its way into the Santa 

 Cruz. The pipe consists of short sections of tiling, with no 

 shoulders, placed end to end as closely as circumstances would 

 permit, no cement at all being used on the joints. This pipe was 

 laid about three feet under the surface through a hard calcareous 

 subsoil commonly designated by the Spanish name, caliche. 

 After the pipe was placed in position the trench was filled with 

 the white hard chunks of caliche together with pieces of brick 

 and scraps of iron and tin, refuse from the construction of the 

 building. 



This pipe recently became clogged, necessitating the removal 

 of a large portion of the tiling. While the laborers were exca- 

 vating, they discovered, just above the pipe and running parallel 

 with it, an unusually large contorted root which excited their 

 curiosity. This proved upon examination to be the root of a 

 Virginia creeper situated at a distance of nine feet from one end 

 of the trench. It had followed the wall of the building as far as 

 the tiling, turned an obtuse angle and then proceeded to follow 

 the pipe across the campus. The debris and hard masses of 

 caliche caused it to become exceedingly twisted and contorted, 

 but strange as it seemed to me the contortions were mainly in 

 one plane approximately parallel to the surface. In no instance 

 was the root in actual contact with the pipe, but it followed di- 

 rectly above it at a distance of one to two inches. Laterals, 

 however, were freely given off toward the pipe and in two in- 

 stances small roots were found actually entering between the 

 joints of the tiling and projecting into the lumen. 



The clogging of the pipe was due in a very large measure to 

 the entrance of the roots of plants which penetrated mainly from 

 the top and sides, forming dense mats around all the crevices. 

 All roots, whether isolated or in clusters, were imbedded in a black 

 slimy deposit characteristic of such locations. 



There is nothing surprising in the fact that roots in this arid 

 region should penetrate into such a structure as that described 



