26 
THE FOOD OF TREES IS IMBIBED [Part II. 
Experiments in 
proof. 
at present to deal with ; but with the great fact 
asserted by all physiologists, which I have given 
in Richard’s words,—that a radish with its end 
only in water will live and grow, with all but its 
end in water, will die. 
In physiology, as in many other things, we 
are apt to find — 
“ That witnesses like watches go, 
Just as they’re set, too fast or slow 
and certainly my testimony directly contradicts 
this double assertion. I assert, that if the end 
only of the main root of a radish newly taken 
up from the ground, is placed in water, in a room, 
but out of the sun, even to the length of an inch, 
the radish and its leaves will instantly die; pre¬ 
cisely the same, that is just as quickly, as if no 
part of the plant were in water. On the other 
hand, if all the radish is placed in water except 
its leaves and the end of its main root, it will re¬ 
main alive and continue to grow, even after the 
last inch of its main root is dead and dry. But 
the leaves will sometimes droop at first, unless 
they also have access to the water by their foot¬ 
stalks. Radishes have many side-roots (a new 
fact, perhaps, to most physiological writers ): and 
1 have found these results to be the same, whether 
