40 
Correspondence. 
<  Am.  Jour.  Pnariu, 
1    January,  1907. 
I  cannot  recall  just  how  long  since  the  first  plants  were  put  down, 
probably  fifteen  years  ago,  but  most  of  them  are  still  alive  and  have 
produced  new  ones  ;  a  few  more  were  added  about  two  years  later 
which  have  also  done  well,  and  from  some  one  of  them  a  new  one 
came  which  in  turn  produced  the  specimen  now  in  your  hands. 
I  judge  the  oldest  part  of  this  plant  is  from  four  to  six  years  old  ; 
the  small  runner  (with  the  sprout  at  the  end)  is  about  two  years  old  ; 
while  those  sprouts  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  longest  runner  made 
their  appearance  last  spring  (1906). 
Knowing  that  on  a  commercial  basis,  the  first  crop  of  marketable 
root  would  be  obtained  at  the  end  of  the  third  year,  the  above 
named  lengths  of  time  and  the  quantity  of  actual  root  obtained  do 
not  seem  to  promise  large  returns  ;  but,  considering  that  these  plants 
have  lived  and  made  their  way  of  their  own  accord  in  a  layer  of 
common  dirt,  with  a  hard  massy  clay  bottom,  under  the  bricks  of 
the  pathway,  without  any  cultivation  or  transplanting,  only  ordinary 
care  in  summer  and  none  at  all  in  winter,  I  think  the  present  speci- 
men not  only  gives  us  a  very  good  sample  of  what  an  entire  plant 
looks  like,  but  of  what  it  is  capable  when  the  conditions  are  made 
to  suit  it ;  and  the  conditions  would  not  have  to  be  at  all  severe  to 
enable  it  to  produce  the  equal  of  any  that  is  brought  here,  and  that 
too,  within  the  normal  time. 
As  I  said,  this  specimen  is  the  outgrowth  of  some  one  of  the 
original  plants  ;  the  lower  ends  of  the  tap-roots  (the  real  licorice 
root)  were  so  tightly  embedded  in  the  clay,  and  so  deep,  that  I  could 
not  get  them  out  for  their  entire  length  ;  I  left  probably  a  half  of 
the  longest  one  in  the  ground  ;  had  the  soil  been  appropriate,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  for  the  length  of  time  the  plant  has  grown,  the 
yield  of  root  would  have  been  excellent. 
Directly  from  the  parent  plant,  the  runners  have  spread  until  the 
one  with  the  small  sprout  forced  its  way  up  to  the  surface  between 
the  bricks  ;  the  next  one  (with  the  bud  on  the  end)  I  found  in  good 
position  to  come  to  the  surface  next  spring,  and  the  longest  one  had 
worked  its  way  in  almost  a  straight  line  just  under  the  bricks  for  its 
entire  length,  until  it  too  found  an  opening  to  come  up. 
Notice  at  intervals  the  young  roots  on  the  lower  side  of  this  long 
runner,  they  also  are  the  real  root  and  are  the  points  at  which  new 
shoots  would  appear  when  the  plant  is  free  from  obstructions. 
From  this  one  specimen  it  is  plain  to  see  how  the  plant  spreads, 
