512 
[December, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
A Gate with Two Latches. 
“ J. B. C.,” British Honduras, sends a sketch and 
description of a Double Latched Gate, and writes : 
“ This gate is very convenient where hogs are to be 
provided for as well as cattle. Two latches, of the 
same size and length, and fastened on the gate the 
same distance from the end, are connected togeth¬ 
er by a strip of plank fastened with two small 
screws, so as to allow it to work easily ; the catches 
are placed so that both latches are fastened exactly 
alike. If the latches are placed on the bars of the 
gate they are not so likely to be opened by animals. 
A very convenient lever for opening the gate while 
on horseback, is shown in the sketch ; place a strip 
of plank level with the top bar of the gate, by 
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X DOUBLE LATCH GATE WITH A LIFTER. 
means of a pin or large screw through the center. 
Connect one end with the latches by means of a 
wire, the other end having a raised part, so that by 
pressing down on this part of the strip, the latches 
will be brought up out of the catches.” 
Science Applied to Farming— T.TTT 
more About Boots of Plants. 
The accompanying engravings illustrate the 
development and extent of the roots of the Sugar 
Beet. Like those of the po¬ 
tatoes and corn, in the late 
numbers of the American 
Agriculturist, they are copied 
in reduced size from photo¬ 
graphs taken from nature by 
Dr. Thiel, in Germany. Fig¬ 
ure 1 shows the very young 
plant, with only a few fine 
fibrous roots.—In figure 2, 
which is on a much more 
reduced scale, the fine roots 
have increased in number, 
and extended in all direc¬ 
tions, while the main “ tap¬ 
root,” which makes the beet, 
has attained some size. In 
figure 3, which is still further 
reduced, the beet has grown 
much larger, and the roots 
have extended further and 
deeper. That less of the fine 
roots appear in this picture, 
i is due in part to the diffi¬ 
culty of representing them 
in so small an engraving.— 
Figure 4 shows the matured 
plant, with the long root, 
which extended five feet into 
the earth, looped up and 
fastened, so that it might 
appear in the photograph 
Fig. 1.— A YOUNG 
BEET PLANT. 
Here, as in figure 3, the finer roots do'not appear. 
Extent and Depth of Boots. 
I have often been interested in noting the ideas 
most people have as to how far and how deep 
the roots of plants extend. The majority guess 
roots of grass and clover penetrate between five and 
ten inches, and are surprised to find that they reach 
several feet. I have 6ome roots of timothy, clover, 
and other plants, dug from a very heavy clay soil, 
a good quality of brick clay, so compact and hard 
that a sharp knife in cutting it leaves a sur¬ 
face as smooth and shiny as it would on the end of 
a pine board. I have traced the loots of the tim¬ 
othy to a depth of two feet and four inches and 
the clover three feet and two inches. A number 
of years ago a very intelligent German farmer, 
named Schu- 
bart, made 
some very in¬ 
teresting ob¬ 
servations up¬ 
on the roots of 
plants as they 
grow in the 
field. An ex¬ 
cavation five 
or six feet 
deep or more, 
was dug in the 
soil so as to 
Lave a vertical 
wall. Against 
this wall a jet 
of water was 
played by 
means of 
garden s P r ' 1 ’^ Fig. 2.— showing fibrous roots. 
ler; the earth 
was washed away, and the roots of the plants grow¬ 
ing therein laid bare. The roots thus exposed iD a 
field of rye, in one of beans, and in a bed of garden 
peas presented the appearance of a mat or felt of 
white fibres, extending to a depth of about four feet. 
Roots of wheat 60 wn September 26th, and un¬ 
covered the 26th of April, had penetrated three 
and a half feet, and six weeks later about four feet, 
below the surface. In one case, in a light subsoil, 
wheat roots were found as deep as seven feet. 
The roots of the wheat in April constituted 40 per 
cent of the whole plant. Hon. John Stanton Gould, 
I believe it is, says that he “ has seen the roots of 
Indian corn, extending seven feet downward,” and 
Prof. Johnson states that “the roots of maize, 
which in a rich and tenacious earth, extend but two 
or three feet, have been traced to a length of ten 
or even fifteen feet in a light, sandy soil.” Roots 
of clover, when growing in a rich, mellow soil, ex¬ 
tend far, both laterally and vertically. Prof. Stock- 
bridge “ wash¬ 
ed outarootof 
common clov¬ 
er, one year 
old, growing 
in the alluvial 
soil near the 
C o n n e cticut 
Ri ver, and 
found that it 
descendedper- 
pendicularly 
ggUlB to ttle depth 
SllfilB °f eight feet.” 
BUM Lucern roots 
are stated to 
_reach a depth 
gj of twenty and 
even thirty 
feet. Alder- 
H man Meehi, in 
_______ England, tells 
" of a neighbor 
■BEET ROOT, HALF GROWN. Who “dug a 
parsnip which 
measured thirteen feet six inches in length, but 
was unfortunately broken at that depth.” 
Trees, of course, send their roots further and 
deeper. “A British officer in India reports that the 
roots of a leguminous tree is often dug in that 
country for economical purposes, and that he has 
seen an excavation sixty-nine feet deep made for 
such a root without reaching its lower extremity.” 
Dr. H. A. Cutting, State Geologist of Vermont, 
writes me that he has examined the root of an elm, 
“ dug out of the soil in Burlington, Vt., thirty-five 
feet below the surface.” He also writes of seeing 
“ elm roots taken from a wooden aqueduct in 
Randolph, Vt., 375 feet from the tree.” The 
aggregate length of the roots of plants has 
been estimated by a number of observers. Thus, 
Dr. Hellriegel calculates the roots of a vigorous 
Fig. 3. 
barley plant to have a total length of 150 feet* 
while the roots of another barley plant, in a coarse 
grained compact soil, amounted to only 80 feet. 
The roots are as important to the growth of 
Diants, as the stems, leaves and fruit. But they 
are covered up in the ground, where we can not see 
them, nor do we appreciate their forms and uses 
until we study them carefully. And because we 
do not understand about them we neglect and in¬ 
jure them. Often the soil is wrongly tilled, or left 
untilled, the best growth of the roots is prevented, 
and their power to gather food for the plant di¬ 
minished. Fertilizers are frequently so applied as to 
be accessible to but few roots, and therefore are but 
partially utilized. Thus through error bora of 
ignorance we lose the produce we ought to have. 
Nor is the advantage we may gain from such 
study as that of roots, limited to the pecuniary 
profit it brings. Knowledge is valuable for itself, 
and its highest usefulness rests largely in its effect 
upon its pos- 
sessors. I 
often think 
that one of the 
greatest bene¬ 
fits that can 
accrue to the 
tiller of the 
soil is that 
which comes 
with a clearer 
appreciation 
of the wonder¬ 
ful processes 
by which na¬ 
ture furthers 
his work. We 
are far too 
prone to 
“grovel here 
below; ” and 
need to be lift¬ 
ed up into a 
clearer,health¬ 
ier, intellectu¬ 
al atmosphere. 
The man to 
whom a clod 
of earth is a 
clod of earth, 
and nothing 
more, is him¬ 
self a narrow 
man; but as 
the soil be¬ 
comes to him 
a laboratory, 
where a Divine 
Intelligence 
has set grand 
forces atwork, 
and keeps 
tnem in opera¬ 
tion in rhythm 
with all of H 
Nature’s har¬ 
monies, he 1 
will find his 
thought en- F| g' ^-full-grown beet. 
larged, his life inspired, and himself made there¬ 
by a stronger, better, and more useful man. 
But here I am at the end of my allotted 6pace, 
and many interesting facts about roots, and their 
practical application in the tilling of the soil, the 
application of manures, and the rotation of crops, 
are untouched. More next time. W. O. Atwater. 
Wesleyan University, Middletown , Conn. 
Throwing Sawdust Into Rivers. —lit 
answer to a question on this point, Professor Baird,, 
Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, writes us: 
“ The practice is everywhere considered as extreme¬ 
ly prejudicial to the fisheries of astream,.as the dust 
gets into the gills of the fish, and produces dis¬ 
comfort and disease; and settling to the bottom 
of the rivers, it covers the gravel and spawning 
grounds, preventing the eggs, especially those of ‘ 
the salmon family, from being properly treated.’^ 
