544 Brenchley and Jackson . — Root Development in Barley and 
was filled with sifted soil and at each 2 or 3 in. a square of 2 in. wire 
netting was placed and each square wired to the corner parts of the frame. 
Two or three seeds were sown in each frame, and the seedlings when well 
established reduced to one. When a plant was almost mature, the soil 
was washed out of the frame with a spray ; in this way the roots were left 
spread out in the different layers of netting. In 1892 another American 
worker, 1 F. H. King, made comprehensive studies of maize roots growing in 
the field. A trench 2 ft. wide was dug, leaving a prism of soil 1 ft. thick 
and extending at right angles across two rows of corn, so that a hill of corn 
stood at each end of the prism. The trench was deepened until all roots 
had been passed. The prism of soil was then fitted with a cage made of 
galvanized iron and wire netting, and when this was in place sharpened 
wires were pushed through the soil in parallel lines along the meshes of 
the netting. The wires reached right through the soil prism and were 
fastened at each end of the netting. The loose surface soil was taken off 
and replaced by a block of plaster of Paris ; then the soil was removed 
from the cage by a force-pump with a stream of water y 1 ^ in. in diameter. 
This method has been adopted by several investigators ; Goff 2 in 1897 used 
it for examining the root systems of raspberry, strawberry, grape, and apple, 
while Ten Eyck 3 in 1900 and Shepperd 4 in 1905 employed the method for 
various field crops. A more recent investigation was carried out by Masch- 
haupt in 1915. 5 Having selected a shaft of soil of sufficient breadth and depth 
to include the root systems of the plants under investigation, he cut away 
the soil from one side. A board studded with needles of sufficient length 
to penetrate the breadth of the shaft was then driven in a vertical position 
against the exposed side, the needles entering horizontally and so keeping 
the roots in their original position. The shaft was then cut loose on the 
opposite side by driving down to the desired depth a piece of sheet iron, 
and the soil was carefully washed away from the roots. 
Rothamsted methods. The field trials which were started here were 
intended for comparison with the pot cultures, and five plots were set out 
for wheat and five for barley. Their arrangement is illustrated in the 
accompanying table, the manurial system being exactly the same as 
that followed in the pot cultures. The wheat and barley were sown on 
Feb. 25, and twelve days later several plants were dug up, brought down 
1 King, F. H. : Natural Distribution of Roots in Field Soil. Wisconsin Sta. Report, 1892 and 
1893. 
2 Goff, E. S. : A Study of the Roots of Certain Perennial Plants. Wisconsin Sta. Report, 1897, 
pp. 2S6-98. 
3 Ten Eyck, A. M. : A Study of the Root Systems of Cultivated Plants grown as Farm Crops. 
North Dakota Sta. Bull. 43, 1900, pp. 535-50. 
4 Shepperd, J. H. : Root Systems of Field Crops. Ibid. 64, 1905. 
5 Maschhaupt, J. G. : Root Systems of Agricultural Plants. Verslag Landbouwk. Onderzoek. 
Rijkslandbouwproefstat. (Netherlands), No. 16 (1915), pp. 76-89. 
