JOURNAL OF AGWCOLTCRAL KESEARCH 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Voe. V Washington, D. C., December 13, 1915 No. 11 
TRANSLOCATION OF MINERAL CONSTITUENTS OF 
SEEDS AND TUBERS OF CERTAIN PLANTS DURING 
GROWTH 
By G. Davis Buckner , 1 
Chemist , Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station 
INTRODUCTION 
Several years ago it was observed by Dr. J. H. Kastle, Director of the 
Kentucky Experiment Station, that the morning-glory vine (Ipomoea 
purpurea) after removal from the soil would continue to grow when 
its roots were immersed in rain water. Often the growth of this vine 
attained a length of several feet, bloomed, and produced seeds. During 
this period the lower leaves etiolated, withered, and ultimately dried up. 
Evidently the new growth attained by this plant under these conditions 
was largely at the expense of the various materials contained in the roots, 
the lower part of the stem, and the lower leaves; especially was this true 
of the mineral matter required by the new growth, inasmuch as no mineral 
substance was supplied by the rain water. It therefore occurred to Dr. 
Kastle that it would be of interest to determine the translocation of the 
mineral matter in this vine under these conditions. Accordingly, a 
number of morning-glory vines were completely removed from the soil in 
which they had grown, and the soil was carefully washed from their roots, 
which were placed in wide-mouth bottles containing distilled water, the 
vines being trained on strings arranged vertically in a window. Under 
these circumstances the vines were found to increase in length by several 
feet. They put out new roots and a large number of new leaves and in 
many instances bloomed and produced seeds. Unfortunately, with the 
limited space at our disposal we were unable to secure a sufficient amount 
of material to determine the translocation of the mineral substances of 
the plants under these conditions, and it was found necessary to abandon 
the experiment with the morning-glory for the time being. However, 
1 The writer wishes to acknowledge the many valuable suggestions made by Dr. Kastle during the 
progress of these experiments. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Dept, of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
bf 
(449) 
Vol. V, No. 11 
Dec. 13, 191 s 
Ky.-a 
