CH. I. 



BY THE SURFACE OF THE ROOTS. 



17 



If a lono^ vine-branch is coiled round the inside of The coiled 



branch im 

 bibes from 

 the surface 



^ branch im- 



a flower-pot and covered with earth, as it is ten times ^ibes f.om 



as long below the earth as a common cutting, it will 

 shoot with ten times as much vigour ; and if heat is 

 given, it will bear fruit the first year. It will also Radishes 



imbibe by 



appear, from experiments which I shall detail, that if the surface, 

 every root is cut or rubbed ofi' a radish, it will grow, 

 either in water or in earth. Nay, if the bulb is cut in 

 two, and the upper half planted, this rootless half-hvlh 

 will grow. 



In the first growth of the seed, in the growth of 

 cuttings and of coiled branches, and in the growth of 

 the half-radishes, there must be absorption firom the 

 surface without the aid of the small fibres or ends of 

 roots, since no roots of any sort exist in any of these 

 cases. 



Let us now consider the negative assertion, that The unripe 



ends of 



plants do not imbibe by the unripe ends of their roots. [,Xiie''"''' 

 Take the end of a freely-growing root ; break or Formation 

 nip the silver end across. An internal tube will be roots, 

 found, distinct from the external tube. The difierence 

 in the organisation of the internal tube from that of 

 the outer one will be plainly seen by the naked eye, 

 and very frequently a circle of cells or tubes round the 

 outside of the inner main tube. These two main tubes 

 are what an Englishman would like to call the outer 

 and inner bark : but he must not think of doing so ; 

 he must call the outer tube the cuticle or epidermis, 

 and the inner tube the parenchymatous under-layer or 



c 



