92 
Indian Forest Records. 
[VoL. II. 
Serial No. 
Depth below the sur- 
face at which hard 
moorum was met 
with. 
Length of tap- 
root in inches. 
Remarks. 
1 
8 inches 
9-80 
Fig. III. 
O 
8 .. 
8-38 
Incomplete, tip broken. 
3 
8 „ 
11-33 
4 
8 
9-20 
5 
8 
9-64 
Last 2-28 inches were in hard 
moorum which was with 
difficulty broken away. 
6 
10 .. 
1115 
7 
16 
16-10 
8 
16 .. 
6-51 
Fig. IV. At 2 inches the 
root met an obstruction of 
a piece of broken tile, and 
divided into two branches. 
Soil mixed with stones and 
pieces of broken tile. 
The extraordinary power of the tap-root in be ng able to pierce through 
what appeared to be almost solid rock was the most noticeable feature in 
the above experiment. 
Fig. IV is of interest as showing the manner in which the tap-root 
avoided and worked round obstacles which it could not pierce. The 
breaking up into two main branches is exceptional, and was only brought 
about by the stony nature of the soil. 
On September 1st, that is to say, a month later, we again examine 
our seedlings. Rain has been neither excessive nor deficient. The first 
thing that strikes us is that practically no further development has taken 
place above ground, while below ground the tap-root has only made an 
appreciable advance where the soil is so deep that growth in length is 
easily accomplished. Otherwise only a slight thickening of the tap-root 
is noticeable. 
In exceptional cases a difference is seen, and it will be of interest to 
quote an example. A particularly healthy and well developed seedling 
was dug up. The part above the ground measured 5| inches, and had 
nine leaves developed (compare this with Figs. Ill and IV), but the 
length of the tap-root, when laid out straight, was only 12'75 inches, and 
the end was not at this depth below ground. This particular example 
was dug up with the expectation that a particularly long tap-root would 
be found, and a good depth of soil. Quite the contrary, however, was the 
case- The soil was found to be very shallow, hard moorum being met 
