The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-08-11
Agricultural.
T. X. HosklNs, N. D., Editor,
Newport, Vermont.
About the Travels Of Plant Roots.

Our respected brother who edits the
agricultural department of the Brattle-
boro Ph@nir copies our remarks on the
above subject, and says
"The above is a rational explanation
of the reason that the roots of plants
appear to have kind of instinct that
directs them in their search for food
Still it is not conclusive; il is ques.
ton whether plants can only grope
blindly in all directions for nutriment.'
Is it any more for the roots of plant
to turn IN the direction where its food
is to be found than for the sunhower
to turn toward the source of light and
heat? If the roots which strike into the
richest spots grow fastest, that fact is
hardly sufficient to account for their
taking the direction of the rich spots,
and passing through barren soil, some-
times for considerable distance, to
reach them. If they do not do this a
large number of writers, observers and
scientists are at fault. Professor S. w.
Johnson says the length of the roots
depends on the nature of the soil.
where this is rich, the roots tend to
remain; they branch and ramify through
all the pores of small bulk of earth.
Where this is poor, they stretch off and
are sparsely distributed. Where they
find plenty of food, they grow and ramify
upon it. Where nourishment is lack
ing, they seem to 90 IN search ofh.'"
Professor S. w. Johnson is an au-
thority in agricultural science to whom
all must bow. He once wrote to us
that our paper Qhe Vermont Farmer
was remarkable, in comparison with
others, for what it did not say" re-
ferring to the large number of undi-
gested and incorrect statements current
in the agricultural press. This was
recalled to us by the above quotation
from the professor, who does not say
that plants ego in search - of nourish-
ment, but that they "seem " to do so.
1t is this very &c seeming" which has
misled superficial and sentimental
writer's on the subject. A careless
view of the matter gives apparent
confirmation to the idea, but when we
reflect that plant has no nervous sys-
tenn, and consequently no senses, we
must at once realize that it can have
nothing in any way analogous to what
is called " instinct" in animals.
The turning of the sunfower to the
sun is no more the result of instinct
than the rising and falling of the mer-
curry in thermometer, both being the
result of physical causes. The whole
question of the action of plant roots, as
regards their dispersion in the soil, has
been made the subject of many expert
ments, the results of which prove that
in an insoluble soil, of finely divided
mineral substance, the roots of plants
fed by watery solution of plant-food
will be produced with perfect symmetry
on all sides. But if solid but soluble
plant-food is distributed in layers, or
irregularly in pockets, in such soil, the
development of the roots will coincide
with those deposits with perfect &C
curacy. When root reaches such
deposit it branches so thickly as to per-
fectly occupy and include it; but as
soon as it exhausts the soluble matter
there, root tlbres are again sent out
symmetrically in all directions through
the infertile soil, until another fertile
spot is found, when the same thing
takes place, and will occur again and
again, so that when the plants washed
out from the soil in which it was grown
the positions of the fertile deposits
may be mapped out with perfect &C.
curacy from the roots themselves. II
was these experiments to which Pro.
fessor johnson no doubt refers, and
they thoroughly prove the truth of the
views expressed in our remarks, quoted
by our friend of the Ph4nir.