72 
FIRST BOOK. 
ROOTS.— I 
1. One day Mr. Grey brought home a basket 
filled with a number of different roots for his 
children to see. 
''I know this one/' said Frank. ^^It is a 
carrot." 
2. " And here is a beet-root/' said Jane. It 
is nearly like a large carrot." 
Yes/' said Mr. Grey. " And I may as well 
tell you about that kind of root first. 
3. " Some plants, as they grow from seed, have 
a strong root^ which grows straight down into 
the soil, haying other roots branching from it. 
It is the chief or main root of the plant. You 
may see it in this young coffee plant. A root of 
that kind is called a tap-root, 
4. '^Sometimes it thickens out, as in the carrot; 
but not always. It sometimes ceases to be soft 
or fleshy, and becomes woody, as the tree or 
shrub to which it belongs grows larger, and needs 
to be firmly held in its place. 
5. " Now let us find what the other roots in my 
basket are like," added Mr. Grey. Here is the 
root of a corn plant." 
6. It is just like a bundle of long threads," 
said Frank. 
^Mt is/' said his father. ''I could not help 
