10 CIRCULAR NO. 115, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 
The behavior of the proliferous roots with respect to growth in 
diameter is quite peculiar. In comparatively few cases do they ex- 
ceed one-fourth of an inch, except at the swellings, the average di-— 
coos A — a | 
Fic. 4.—Sections of proliferating roots of alfalfa. showing buds of the new shoots in 
different stages of development. ; 
Fic. 5.—A portion of a plant of Medicago falcata (S. P. I. No. 28071), showing the origi- 
nal crown, with new plants that have resulted from proliferating roots. Some of the 
new plants, it will be noted, have already developed crown and taproot. 
ameter being about three-sixteenths of an inch, but it is by no means 
uniform. At the point of origin the roots may be much smaller than 
at some distance from this point. At 2 or more feet from the main 
root they may become reduced in size to one-sixteenth of an inch, en- 
[Cir, 115] = 
