Growth of Roots and Shoots. 
271 
estimating the results. Measurement would, especially as 
regards the roots, have given quite unreliable data, for it 
might well happen that, with a short main root, the number 
and bulk of the lateral roots should be relatively large. 
Moreover, the determination of the gross weight of the 
harvested roots and shoots would not be a sufficiently accurate 
method, since the loss of water by evaporation during the 
process of weighing, would not be equal in all cases. Hence, 
in several experiments, the dry weight of the roots and 
shoots was determined after several hours’ exposure to 
a temperature of ioo°-iio° C. 
In addition to the results of the experiments carried out 
in the manner already described, I also append those of some 
others in which the seedlings were not laid on glass or on 
earthenware, but on a thin layer of moistened silver-sand 
spread on glass. In these, only Series 1 and 2 are strictly 
comparable ; for in Series 3 the seedlings were obviously at 
a disadvantage, as compared with those of Series 1, in that 
they were deprived of the means of absorbing the available 
liquid water. 
At the conclusion of all the experiments it was ascertained 
that starch was still abundantly present in the endosperm or 
the cotyledons, as the case might be, so that even the most 
fully developed seedling was still provided with plastic 
material for further growth. 
