162 
PARSLEY. 
In this plant the root system was found to be extensive, 
and, especially, deep. On Sept. 17 the roots of a plant of the 
Common Curled, and one of the Hamburg, or turnip-rooted 
variety, were washed out. Little difference appeared in the 
roots of the two sorts. In each the tap root was traced to 
the depth of two and a half feet without coming to the end. 
At this depth the horizontal branches were frequent, being 
little if any more than half an inch apart. At the depth of 
eighteen inches, the soil was pretty well filled with fibrous 
roots. The branches usually left the tap root in a horizon- 
tal direction, and not infrequently grew slightly upward. 
At the depth of four inches below the surface, a horizontal 
root was traced a distance of two and a half feet. Many 
fibrous branches came to the surface. 
The feeding ground of this plant appears to extend de- 
cidedly deeper than that of most other garden plants, and 
the roots reach horizontally a considerable distance. In 
books upon gardening it is usually recommended to plant 
parsley closely. For the garnishing sorts this is probably 
best, as a large leaf growth is less desired than a compact 
tuft of small leaves. For the Hamburg variety, it would 
doubtless be best to give the plants abundant room. 
SQUASH. 
The roots of this vegetable were examined with consider- 
able interest, because it has been often stated that they ex- 
tend as far as the runners. Observations showed that this 
view is based upon tact; indeed in the bush varieties, the 
roots extended much further than the stems. In a plant of 
the Yellow Scallop Bush squash, examined Sept 8, a root 
was traced horizontally a distance of eight and a half feet 
without reaching the end, while the longest runners ex- 
tended but about four feet. This long root grew almost its 
whole length within three inches of the surface. In a plant 
of the Hubbard squash, of which the roots were washed 
out Sept. 11, one of them was traced horizontally a distance 
of ten feet from the base, and at this point it was an eighth 
of an inch in diameter, or about a third of its thickness at 
the start. It might doubtless have been followed much 
farther, but was accidentally broken at this point, and the 
remainder could not be distinguished among many other’ 
roots. This long root grew at a depth of two to five inches 
below the surface. It frequently changed its course, but 
pursued’ in general a rather straight line. It put out 
branches throughout its length, some of which were an 
eighth of an inch in diameter. The number of branches in 
the ten feet was 385, or on the average 38.5 per foot. 
