FLORIDA ,STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
it is to grasp the fundamental principles, 
the understanding of which adds so much 
more to the life which they are following 
from both mental and financial points of 
view. 
Our first step at this time is to examine 
the plant. Whether tree or vegetable the 
process of growing is practically the same. 
There are three distinct parts,—the roots, 
the stem and the foliage. Different veg¬ 
etations have different root systems, but 
all are alike in 'that there is no real open¬ 
ing into the roots, therefore all nourish¬ 
ment must be taken in liquid form: also 
in that it is only near the tips of the root¬ 
lets that the absorption of fluids—osmosis, 
it is called—can take place. 
The extreme tip of a rootlet is protect¬ 
ed by a hard cap that it may push its way 
through the soil, while its “feeding” sec¬ 
tion is often covered with hair-like protu¬ 
berances, multiplying the surface many 
times. These tiny rootlets also give off 
certain acids which render soluble much 
plant food that cannot be dissolved by 
water alone. 
It is a root’s nature to avoid light and 
to seek moisture. It will go in the line 
of the least resistance, growing around 
obstructions, and wherever a good feeding 
ground is found rootlets are formed rap¬ 
idly, giving full service to the plant which 
they support. If, however, the environ¬ 
ment is not congenial, rootlets wither and 
die, and the plant receives no nourish¬ 
ment from that portion of its root system. 
Roots demand a proper supply of both 
air and water. To supply this demand 
the grower must cultivate his soil proper¬ 
ly. Lumpy soil is bad for several rea¬ 
sons. The hard lumps act as obstructions, 
1(D 
wasting the energy of the roots as they 
grow around them! and checking capillary 
action by the large spaces between them. 
The excess of air in these spaces rapidly 
dries out any moisture that the rains may 
give such soil so that often the rootlets 
die in the attempt to encompass such ob¬ 
structions. Plants must have water not 
only for itself but as a vehicle of food. 
The ability to hold moisture decides to a 
great degree the productiveness of a soil. 
Fine particles of soil not only increase 
capillary action by which underground 
water is brought to the plant’s service but 
they present much greater surface to re¬ 
tain the rain water and to be acted upon 
by dissolvent forces. We all know how 
much more readily a lump of sugar dis¬ 
solves when crushed, and in the same way 
all other things yield to dissolution ac¬ 
cording to the surface exposed to attack. 
Soil should hold water in a film around 
each particle—as seen on an orange that 
has just been dipped in water—and this 
is all it will retain when there is a chance 
for the water to pass off. If there is a 
lack of drainage so water fills the spaces 
between these particles there is no room 
for air and therefore the supply of oxy¬ 
gen necessary to the bacteria of the soil 
is shut off and trouble begins. 
We must not look upon the earth as an 
inert mass. A fertile soil is alive with bac- 
.teria. Bacteria are the lowest form of 
vegetable life,—tiny one-celled plants— 
but their influence for good or ill is incal¬ 
culable. We who are working the soil 
are more especially interested in nitrify¬ 
ing bacteria which are essential to the 
changing of nitrogen to nitric acid, or in 
other words, making the element nitrb- 
