— 49 — 
‘- hes i an p \ as , tly , a fine sand - This soil from top to bottom 
was only slightly damp, and the sand and sandy clay in the 
cent tWe?' r r' XCaV T a r n W3S aS dry as any P^on °* * ex- 
cept tn . very top. These roots were the largest that I have 
srowtW tn anyW Th e and su PP°f ed the most luxuriant 
verv till The fi Cr °T nS W ? rC large and the stems w ere 
ver> tall, measuring five feet three inches. The streaks of 
lard clay had not caused the roots to spread out and seek 
hem° n to Ct S h? en !t and t n 6 sof ter soil but it had caused 
, to double upon themselves, to twist and knot 
a h d th , en , r V n horizontally for some inches when they 
as chffic!i 1 i fn' r C ^h Se and d T : u nded again - 11 was almost 
• d itficuIt to get them out of this without cutting or break- 
■ as !t had evidently been for them to make their wav 
•/ou g h-t I did not observe a single instance in which the 
root had divided in penetrating these hard layers. These 
plants sent their roots down eleven feet nine inches, with 
their ends, for the most part, in a fine sand ; but the deepest 
Daratke'lvli n ttle San n d l C ay Where - they WOllld have had com¬ 
paratively lttle work in penetrating to a greater deoth and 
.t was not the abundance of moisture which caused them 
to cease growing. 1 
The next place where I undertook to dig up roots was 
between an irrigating ditch and a railroad cut. Ouite a 
large quantity of clay had, at a previous time, beerTtaken 
from this point tor the manufacture of brick. The char- 
ac -°k t ^ e T was almost the same from the top to the 
bottom, here the roots, were not gnarled as in the precedino- 
inches^wbh^h^ a “, ai!led m - ength ° f tweIve feet three 
, TifVi e ! eir ends »? sod just as dry as that through 
which they had passed Though these roots were longer by 
about six inches than those from Mr. Walter’s place they 
rhlrdsTf C tV a n t a fTl’ th f lr diam< r ter b , ein g not more than twJ- 
awraop T1 f 16 r°T er: b , Ut they were sti11 above the 
vear« g T1 Fhe age °u ^ese plants was either six or seven 
} ears. j hese are all the observations that we have had 
opportunity of making upon the effect of the depth of the 
water plane upon the length of the alfalfa roots. We are 
convinced that, when it is encountered by the roots, it prac- 
lca ly determines their, length ; but when it is not actually 
encountered its effect is problematical. If for any reason 
the depth of the water plane should be permanently less¬ 
ened, as is the case when the higher land about a basin- 
? apec area I s brought under irrigation, or irrigation water 
s increased, it would undoubtedly have a very serious effect 
upon the alfalfa, even to the killing of it Tit should rise 
nearly or quite to the surface, especially if stagnant. 
