Firm Planting 



temperature up to about 90° F. ; and when the 

 delicate root-hairs are in intimate contact with the 

 soil particles. 



The intimate contact of the root-hairs with the 

 soil particles effects the fixing of the plant, which 

 is the other function of the root. Frost, flooding, 

 ill-advised soil cultivation, bad planting, such, e.g., 

 as " hanging plants up," winds, burrowing animals 

 and the like, may break the contact or render it 

 difficult to effect, as may readily be seen. 



The coarseness or fineness of the root-fibres and 

 other structural peculiarities, into which we cannot 

 enter here, are in the main connected with the kind 

 of soil, clay, sand, etc., in which the plant is most 

 at home. The firmness of the soil also influences 

 the kind of shoot-growth made, for it modifies the 

 water supply. The firmer the soil the more compact 

 the growth. 



The stem, be it long or short, simple or branched, 

 has two main functions : to convey materials from 

 place to place in the plant and to produce leaves 

 and place them where they can make the best use 

 of the light. 



A section across a stem shows, as a rule, a central 

 pith surrounded by a cylinder of wood ; this again 

 by soft inner bark or bast with probably fibrous and 

 green tissue outside of it, and lastly, either a thin skin 

 or a layer of cork. Between the wood and the soft 

 bast lies a very delicate ring of cells, caUed the 



9 



