454 The Mezqutt. {May, 
ripe before the end of June, while in other localities they are not 
yet mature on the first of September. 
Roots —The roots of the mezquit séem, in a great measure, to 
exist independently of the stems, and may attain large proportions 
when hardly any foliage is visible above ground. It is probable 
that when the branches have been destroyed by fire, or stunted 
by hot, desiccating winds, the sap brought up by the deep rootlets 
is mostly assimilated by the upper superficial roots, which grow 
thickand tortuous. Sometimes, in the Southwest, camps are pitched 
on plains where no timber or fuel of any sort is visible. It is 
then that the frontiersman, armed with spade and axe, goes “dig 
ging for wood.” He notices a low mound, on whose summit lie 
a few dead mezquit twigs; within it he finds large, creeping roots, 
which afford an ample supply of excellent fuel. These roots can 
be pulled out in pieces fifteen to twenty feet long, with a yoke of 
oxen, as practiced by the natives in the sandy deserts of New 
Mexico and Arizona, where no other fuel can be had. 
Mezquit roots are of two kinds. Some dip vertically into the 
ground, solely in quest of food; others spread laterally, often many 
yards, before sinking inwards, their object apparently eee 
extend the area of supply and steady the plant. These rine 
roots, radiating in all directions, form a loose netting in the i 
soil, helping to hold and compact it together. The heapins 
the sandy soil around the base of the stems, by the wind, eee 
secondary roots and branches to start, which entrap and ý 
more of the light earth, so that presently each tree OF shru nt ; 
pears as if growing from a mound. Of the vertical roots, yee ) 
root is often the only large and conspicuous One. It p stue 
down to a prodigious depth, varying with that at which mo : 
is obtainable. On the sides of gulches one can trace ar" ie 
down thirty or forty feet. They branch off and decrease ™ a i 
if water is near by; otherwise they, even at t 
about the same diameter, giving off but few unimpo 
How much farther they sink can only be conjecture’ 
valley of the Rio Grande, big mezquit trees grow at a6 l 
of forty and fifty feet above the river level. arbores d 
It would seem, then, that the mezquit, at least in the noi q 
form, does not depend for the water it requires upon ae strat 
of the subsoil, but is enabled to extract it from the This È 
and that its spongioles are bathed in permanent water. 
