NEW YORK, OCTOBER 28 
PRICE, THREE CENTS 
Si .00 PER YEAR. 
tions are just right for them. They never could do it 
in a hard, cold and soggy soil, and thus we see the 
need of doing all we can to prepare a light, porous 
and warm surface soil. Then take the pictures show¬ 
ing the growth of roots across the rows—see what 
you do when you put the plow down deep into the 
corn-plant’s big roots ! Figure 232 was taken when 
the corn was about three feet high—about the last 
cultivation. You see that the roots occupy the entire 
soil down to a depth of two feet. This picture shows 
only the main or trunk roots. Branching out in all 
directions from them are slender rootlets from two 
THE ROOT OF THE MATTER 
with the leaders within four inches of the surface. 
As Professor King says: “Nothing could illustrate 
more forcibly than these samples, how deeply and 
how broadly this great American food plant is able to 
send its roots foraging through the soil.” Just think 
what the effect is when you go slashing between the 
rows with your deep running cultivator or plow. You 
do not help the root growth at all because the roots 
easily penetrate the soil far below your cultivating 
and plowing. You simply smash up and tear a neces¬ 
sary part of the plant. You find fault with the cow 
when she bites off the top of a corn plant, but 
you glorify yourself when you slash off 
_ _ _, its roots. 
THE FARMERS’ UNDERGROUND FRIENDS. 
The Feet of the Corn Plant. 
In growing a crop of corn, most of us consider only 
the part that grows above ground, viz., the stalk and 
grain. These are the parts that we use—the only 
portions that can be said to have any direct money 
value. We cannot eat or sell the roots of the corn 
plant, and, therefore, we give them less attention 
than they deserve. It is true that in cultivating corn 
we recognize the fact that the old-time plow cuts 
and hacks off the roots that are needed to 
nourish the plant, but who can properly _ 
estimate the amount of damage actually 
done by such butchery ? From one point 
of view the stalk and ear of corn are the 
only portions that have practical value, 
and yet the unsalable roots are of far 
greater importance. Without them tbe 
plant could not possibly live. They not only 
enable the plant to stand up straight, but 
they do the preliminary work of preparing 
the plant’s dinner. Just as a study of the 
human stomach is necessary in order to 
cure the ills of dyspepsia, so a study of 
corn roots is needed to understand just how 
that plant lives and thrive^. 
Prof. F. H. King, of the Wisconsin Ex¬ 
periment Station, has been conducting 
some remarkable experiments in regard to & 
the roots of the plants and the amount of 
water needed to produce a good crop. This 
week we give the pictures to show the roots mm 
of corn; later we hope to give others, show- mW ( 
ing the root growth of other farm crops. fKfc 
These pictures are taken from the report of 
the Wisconsin Station, and are well worth ¥■> 
preserving. 
In order to show this root growth, it was 
necessary to invent an arrangement for 
getting at the masses of roots without 
breaking any of them off. For example, 
the pictures shown at Figures 232 and 233 
represent the entire growth between two 
rows, 3% feet apart. To get this out whole, 
a trench was dug across the rows deep 
enough to reach the bottom of the root 
growth. This left a block of soil one 
foot thick and the width of the rows. 
This block was inclosed in wire netting, 
after which the soil inclosing the roots 
was carefully washed out by a force pump, 
which, of course, left the roots just as 
they were in the soil. To obtain the speci¬ 
mens shown at Figures 230 and 231, the - 
corn was planted in “cages,” which could 
be pulled up at will, and have the soil 
washed from the roots as in the other ex¬ 
periment. To obtain the specimen shown 
at Figure 229, the corn was grown in a 
large cylinder, so that all the roots were f 
secured—the soil being washed out as before. 
While this gives the exact amount of root growth, of 
course it is not spread out as in field culture. 
Our Underground Friends : 
Total Root Growth of Four Stalks of Corn. Fig. 229 
to six inches long, reaching to the very surface of the 
ground and into every possible part of the upper soil. 
These rootlets are the feeding organs of the plants, 
and if they are destroyed, new ones must be thrown 
out by the roots before the plant can thrive. Figure 
233 shows the roots just as the corn is going into full 
tassel. Now the whole upper three feet of soil is 
filled, and in the center of the row the leaders or main 
roots are nearer the surface. In this case, too, the 
smaller rootlets fill out all the spaces between the 
larger roots. At the time of maturity of the crop, 
another sample (not shown here) was taken. It was 
then found that the roots filled a space four feet deep, 
What the Roots Teach Us. 
A lesson that any one may read on the run Take 
those baby roots in Figures 230 and 231. In 18 days 
after the seed was put into the soil, the roots were 12 
inches below the surface, and had spread laterally to 
a distance of 18 inches. In 27 days after planting the 
roots had sunk to 18 inches, and had reached 24 inches 
from the hill, with tips within two to four inches of 
the surface. It is easy to see that these baby roots 
cannot make this rapid growth unless the soil condi- 
