AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
197 
HEALTHINESS OF THE ROOTS OF PLANTS ES¬ 
SENTIAL TO THEIR SUCCESSFUL GROWTH. 
BY A PRACTICAL FARMER. 
As the roots of plants are the chief. medium 
through which they receive nourishment, 
some account of their structure, and of the 
curious and simple mode by which they ef¬ 
fect their object, will, I hope, prove of some 
utility to the readers hereof. 
The root may be defined to be that portion 
of a plant which grows in an apposite direc¬ 
tion to the stem ; and differing from the lat¬ 
ter in its remarkable downward tendency, 
and from its disposition to shun the light of 
day. So powerful, indeed, is this disposition 
to descend, “ that no known force is suffi¬ 
cient to overcome it.” The chief object of the 
root appears to be that of fixing the plant 
firmly in the earth, and of taking up a sup¬ 
ply of moisture from the humid medium by 
which it is surrounded. It usually consists 
of several ramifications, from the sides and 
extremities of which, without any apparent 
order or regularity, proceed an indefinite 
number of delicate fibrils with spongy points. 
Now these fibrils are the only true roots, 
and to their soft extremities (spongelets) is 
consigned the whole office of absorbing 
fluid ; the more woody portions of the root 
merely serving as canals, to convey the 
fluid thus obtained to the upper part of the 
plants. The roots generally pierce the soil 
in a downward or horizontal direction, ac¬ 
cording to the individual habit, but more es¬ 
pecially in that course which offers the least 
resistance, and yields the greatest quantity 
of soluble food. Hence the propriety of 
mulching is, by some gardeners, called into 
question, because the richness of the mulch¬ 
ing materal, and the warmth produced by its 
fermentation, has a tendency to attract to the 
surface the young fibrils. And then, upon the 
removal of the manure employed in the op¬ 
eration, their extremely succulent and tender 
tips become exposed to the influence of 
drouth, &c., than which nothing can be more 
injurious, as it quickly destroys their absorb¬ 
ing power, and thus deprives the plant of its 
chief source of nourishment. It has been 
said that the fibrils are the only true roots, 
and that the feeding function is chiefly con¬ 
fined to the lax tissue of their extreme 
points. That this is really the case, there 
can be no reasonable cause to doubt, or why 
should the success of planting depend so 
materially upon their preservation! it being 
a well known fact, that subjects of any 
size, such as fruit trees, are invariably less 
prolific the first season after transplantation, 
than on the previous and ensuing years. 
Why these little spongelets should possess 
the power of absorbing moisture with great 
force, and of transmitting it to every part of 
the plant, is a curious question, and has given 
rise to many ingenious conjectures. But it 
has at length been satisfactorily answered by 
that clever French author, M. Dulrocet. If 
a small glass tube, having its end covered 
with a piece of bladder, be partially filled 
with gum-water, and then plunged into sim¬ 
ple water, sufficient to wet the outside of the 
bladder, the latter will be permeated by the 
water, and the volume within the tube will 
continue to increase, so long as the density 
of the fluids on each side of the intervening 
membrane remains unequal. “ But there is 
also a contrary current to less amount—the 
interior fluid passing out to mix with the 
surrounding water.” The first and more 
powerful of these currents is called endos T 
mose (flow inwards), and the second and less 
powerful, exosmose (flow outwards). The 
cause of their motion was by Dutrocet re¬ 
ferred to galvanism ; but it is now more 
generally believed to arise from “theattrac¬ 
tion exerted between the particles of the 
different fluids employed, as they meet in the 
porous membrane.”—(Dr. Reid.) 
“ Now the conditions requisite for this 
action are two fluids of different densities, 
separated by a septem or partition of a por¬ 
ous character. This wc find in the roots. 
The fluid in their interior is rendered denser 
than the water around by an admixture of 
the descending sap ; and the spongeole 
(or spongelet) supplies the place of a parti¬ 
tion. Thus then, as long as this difference 
of density is maintained, the absorption of 
fluid may continue. But if the rise of the 
sap is due to the action of endosmose, there 
ought also to be an exosmose. This is found 
to take place ; for if a plant is grown with 
its roots in water, the fluid surrounding 
them is soon found to contain some of the 
peculiar substances they form, and which 
are contained in the descending sap-; thus a 
pea or bean would discharge a gummy mat¬ 
ter; a poppy would communicate to the 
water an opiate impregnation, and a spurge 
would give it an acrid taste. 
“ Thus we see how beautifully and how 
simply this action, extraordiary as it. seems, 
is accounted for, when its whole history is 
known on principles which operate in other 
departments of nature.”—(Dr. Carpenter.) 
From this it must appear obvious to every 
one that, to keep plants in a healthy state, 
the conditions of endosmose and exosmose 
must be carefully maintained. Thus in the 
case of bulbs maturing and at rest, and of 
plants cut down in the autumn, such as Pe¬ 
largoniums and Fuchsias, the actions of the 
leaves being destroyed, the fluid, rising by 
the force of endosmose, must gradually 
subside, and the plants languish into a state 
of semi-vitality, till such time as genial 
warmth shall expand the fluid within their 
latent buds, and cause them to open and put 
forth new leaves. This is the reason why 
the application of water to plants thus cir¬ 
cumstanced should be carefully avoided, 
excepting, indeed, a few special subjects, 
whose succulency is not sufficient to keep 
them from being shriveled up. 
Floricultural Cabinet. 
COUCH OR TWITCH GRASS. 
TRITICUM REPENS. 
To the Editors of the American Agriculturist : 
Some question having arisen in spring 
last, as to the identity of the Couch grass, I 
took the trouble to forward you some speci 
mens of the flowers and roots, or stolons, 
found in this vicinity. You doubted, at first, 
whether they were the true Couch grass of 
your farmers, as the specimens were large 
and full grown, the spikes being very much 
like wheat. Specimens of Chess were for¬ 
warded at the same time. No notice having 
been made in your columns, of the fact that 
the Couch grass of our farmers is Tnticum 
repens of Botanists, or Agropyrum repens of 
some, it struck me as probable that you did 
not consider me as competent authority. 1 
am surprised, however, to find that, several 
months after the receipt of my specimens, 
you publish, from the Agricultural Gazette, 
without comment, an article wherein it is 
stated broadly, that the Couch or Twitch 
grasses are of the Agrostis family. Here is 
the sentence : “ The Couch or Twitch grass¬ 
es are plants of the Agrostis family.” Fam¬ 
ily, in this sense, is coextensive with genus, 
and I submit that the Couch or Twitch grass, 
known as such to intelligent agriculturists, 
is not a plant of the genus or family Agros¬ 
tis, but is the Triticum repcns, or Agropyrum 
repens (creeping wheat grass) of the Botanist. 
I desire to have the improving, reading farm¬ 
ers protected from error, and when questions 
requiring scientific accuracy are involved, to 
have them decided by scientific rules or prin¬ 
ciples. 
There is a grass of the Agrostis family, 
(A. stolonifera,) but this is the Fiorin of ag¬ 
riculturists. I trust you may not deem my 
authority of less value than that of “ J. N.”, 
whom you have quoted on page 146. 
Philadelphia, Pa. K. K. S. 
Our correspondent slightly misunderstands 
us. Our doubts were not that the specimens 
he sent us were the true Couch grass, but 
that they were not the same as are usually 
called Couch grass among the farmers of 
this State, more particularly wesl of Albany. 
HOW TO TOAST BREAD 
Chestnut brown will be far too deep a color 
for good toast; the nearer you can keep it to 
a straw color, the more wholesome it will be. 
If you would have a slice of bread so toasted 
as to be pleasant to the palate and whole¬ 
some to the stomach, never let, one particle 
of the surface be charred. To effect this is 
very obvious. It consists in keeping the 
bread at the proper distance from the fire, 
and exposing it to a proper heat for a due 
length of time. By this means the whole 
of the water may be evaporated out of it, 
and it may be changed from dough—which 
has always a tendency to undergo acetous 
fermentation, whether in the stomach or out 
of it—to the pure farina wheat, which is in 
itself one of the most wholesome species of 
food, not only for the strong and healthy, but 
for the delicate and diseased. As it is turned 
to farina, it is disintegrated, the tough and 
gluey nature is gone, every part can be pene ¬ 
trated, it is equally warm all over, and not so 
hot as to turn the butter into oil, which, even 
in the case of the best butter, is invariably 
turning a wholesome substance into a poison. 
The properly toasted slice of bread absorbs 
the butter, but docs not convert it into oil; 
and both butter and farina are in a state of 
very minute division, the one serving to ex¬ 
pose the other to the free action of the gas¬ 
tric fluid in the stomach; so that when a 
slice of toast is rightly prepared, there is not 
a lighter article in the whole vocabulary of 
cookery. [Household Cookery. 
New Food For Sheep. —In the neighbor¬ 
hood of Geneva many persons may be seen 
collecting the fruit of the horse-chestnut. A 
traveler on inquiring their use, was told that 
the butchers and holders of grazing stock 
bought them for fattening sheep. The 
horse-chestnuts, it appears, are thoroughly 
crushed, like apples for cider. They are 
crushed or cut up in a machine, kept solely 
in Switzerland for that purpose, and about 
two pounds weight is given to each sheep, 
morning and evening. It is necessary to be 
careful that they do not eat too much, or they 
would prove too heating. It is said to give 
a fine rich flavor to the meat. The Gene¬ 
va mutton is noted for being as highly fla¬ 
vored as any in England or Wales. How 
would this food answer for poultry 1 
^ Poultry Chronicle. 
Increasing the Strength of Metals. — Ac¬ 
cording to an experimental paper read at the 
late meeting of the British Association by 
Mr. VVm. Fairburn, all bodies solidifying un¬ 
der great pressure have their strength and 
specific gravity increased. No law has yet 
been given for the increase of either, but it _ 
would appear from the experiments detailed 
by Mr. Fairburn, that great results are ex¬ 
pected from the solidification of metals un¬ 
der high pressures. He and his colleagues, 
Messrs. Hopkins & .Toyle, have carried their 
experiments as high as 90,000 lbs. pressure 
to the square inch, or exceeding 42 tons. 
Be slow to give advice—ready to do any 
service. 
