Chap. ILL] DOWNWARD GROWTH OF THE ROOT. 
107 
earth, it pierces through the earth from above, 
even without the aid of a foreign fulcrum to 
press against. When this perpendicular descensus 
(as the whole root has been, perhaps improperly, 
called) has, by boring, buried itself, branch-roots 
strike out, which grow horizontally or vertically 
upward or downward, or at any intermediate 
angle, according to the level of the ground, at 
the exact proper distance from the atmosphere 
which the particular constitution of each plant 
requires. Thus, at every turn do we find how 
minutely perfect in detail is the work of that 
Almighty hand which, in the gross, swings the 
countless orbs of the firmamental universe 
through infinite space! 
I believe myself, then, that the tap-root is 
merely a provision of the Creator for this first 
fixing of the seed; that it is only proper to seed¬ 
lings, and that it ceases to be continued after 
the first year’s growth. Will no clever experi¬ 
menter invent a mode of putting this question 
to nature ? 
I do not mean but what a tap -root might, 
under peculiar circumstances, be continued ad 
libitum by a main root. But the circumstances 
must be very peculiar. For instance, were a 
monster manufactory chimney filled with good 
Tap-root only 
proper to seed¬ 
lings, and a 
contrivance for 
fixing them. 
