310 [ AssEMBLY 
The new roots, growing out above the old ones, makes it appear 
that the method commonly practiced in France of setting the plants 
in trenches may be based upon scientific principles. The asparagus 
growers about Paris set their young plants in furrows, gradually 
drawing the soil to them year by year until at length the rows occupy 
a ridge in place of a furrow. 
ONION. 
In the onion the root system is by no means extensive, but it is 
very much concentrated. The roots seem to take complete possess- 
ion of the soil beneath a circle about eight inches in diameter, for a 
depth of about ten inches. Ina sample of the Blood Red variety 
examined September 15, very few roots penetrated beyond these 
limits. An occasional one was traced horizontally a distance of ten 
inches from the bulb. The roots of the onion, like those of asparagus, 
do not branch, in the strict sense of the word, though they give rise 
to many short fibers. In the sample examined, the fibers were 
invariably simple, that is they never sub-divided. . 
The concentrated root system of the onion explains the fact 
that it develops to perfection only in highly fertile soil, and that the 
bulbs may be grown very close together. In no other vegetable 
that we have examined, does the root system occupy so little space, 
and no other vegetables with which we are acquainted endure crowd- 
ing so well as the onion, and the other plants of the onion tribe. 
RapisuH. 
July 9 we examined the roots of a plant of the Gray Summer Tur- 
nip radish, and also one of the London Particular Long Scarlet 
variety. The roots of both penetrated the soil a distance of two 
feet, while the branches extended on- either side more than twenty- 
one inches, mingling with those from adjoining rows. The tap 
root did not begin to branch much until some distance below the 
edible part. The branches at first were few in number, usually but 
two or three at the tap root. These extended nearly horizontally, 
and ramified towards their extremities into many fibrous roots. The 
-greater part of the feeding roots lay in the upper eight inches of 
the soil. 
Though the edible roots of these two varieties are quite different in 
form, their rooting habits show no difference. We seethat the rad- 
ish is a rather shallow rooting plant, and that its roots extend hori- 
zontally for a considerable distance. It is evident, therefore, that 
unless the soil contains abundant available plant food, the rows 
should not be planted as closely as the small size of the edible root 
might suggest ; also, that stirring the soil deeply between the rows, 
as the plants advance toward maturity, must latcerate the fibrous — 
roots. ; 
