ALFALFA ROOT STUDIES. 7 
ing through the soil remains restricted, and after growing in the 
field for several months the plants can be easily pulled out. The 
effect of transferring seedlings of Grimm alfalfa, 40 days old, to 
flowerpots for a period of 39 days is shown in Figure 5. These 
plants were taken from the drilled row on June 24, 1920, and put 
in small pots which were set in the ground. On August 2, 1920, 
the flowerpots were broken, so that the roots were permitted to 
spread through the soil. • The plants were removed from the field 
Fig. 
4. — Reset plant of yellow-flowered alfalfa (Medicayo falcata), showing the very 
extensively branched root system. 
and photographed on October 19. Such treatment appeared to pro- 
duce distortions of the roots and to promote the growth of many 
more branches. The effect of limited space for root development on 
young plants is again illustrated in Figure 6. In this case Grimm 
alfalfa was sown in small pots on June 24, 1920, and the pots set in 
the ground. The young seedlings were thinned to one plant to each 
pot and permitted to grow in this limited area until August 2, when 
the pots were broken, permitting the roots to spread through the soil. 
Although the growth of these plants was less than that of the older 
seedlings (Fig. 5) which were transplanted from the field to the 
pots, nevertheless the roots showed the same tendencies toward 
