XCIII 
TREE ROOTS ARE WATER-HUNTERS 
I SN’T IT ODD that trees have other selves that they 
hide under the ground and these other selves are often 
as marvelous as the tops that they flaunt to the skies! 
Some trees have tap roots that go straight down into 
the ground for distances as great as the length of their 
trunks above ground. The tap root of an oak is of this 
sort. These trees feed far under the ground. The water 
and the mineral salts that they need are drawn from 
great depths. 
Other varieties of trees follow a different program. 
They send their roots out on all sides but not down to 
any great depth. They get their food from near the 
surface. The pine is a good example of a tree that does 
this. 
When oak trees have grown on a piece of land for a 
long time, they may have exhausted the soil at the greater 
depths at which they feed. If they were cut down and 
pines were planted, an entirely different food supply near 
the surface would be used and the pines might do well. 
Where pines have exhausted the surface soil, oaks, on the 
other hand, might be planted and might thrive. 
It is the business of roots to go water-hunting. A tree, 
for example, might stand ten feet from the edge of a pond. 
Its roots would develop to much greater size and length 
on the pond side than on the other side. 
Out in the desert country the mesquite tree grows. 
186 
