. Carnegie Institution of Washington publication. 102 ROOT DEVELOPMENT IN THE GRASSLAND FORMATION. The roots of both crops reached a maximum depth of 5 feet in the hard clay subsoil, but only relatively few roots penetrated so deeply. Those of the common rye had a working depth of feet, while the absorbing level of the "Rosen" variety was about feet. The soil was fairly moist to the maximum depth of excavation, about feet. The roots were exceedingly well branched to the working depth. In fact, branching is usually better developed in rye than in wheat or oats when growing
. Carnegie Institution of Washington publication. 102 ROOT DEVELOPMENT IN THE GRASSLAND FORMATION. The roots of both crops reached a maximum depth of 5 feet in the hard clay subsoil, but only relatively few roots penetrated so deeply. Those of the common rye had a working depth of feet, while the absorbing level of the "Rosen" variety was about feet. The soil was fairly moist to the maximum depth of excavation, about feet. The roots were exceedingly well branched to the working depth. In fact, branching is usually better developed in rye than in wheat or oats when growing in the same soil type and under the same conditions of moisture. This is one reason why rye is adapted to drier climates than wheat and will thrive on poorer and sandier soils than any of the other cereals (cf. Miller, 1916, on corn and sorghums). In this connection the work of Nobbe (1869) is interest- ing. He compared, measured, and counted the roots of winter wheat and rye plants 55 days old and grown in soil. He found that the roots of the first to the fourth order num- bered 16,000 in rye and 10,700 for wheat. The combined lengths of these roots measured 118 and 82 meters respectively. The root system of oats, Avena sativa, was also examined at three different stations at Lincoln. Two of these stations were in the crop plats adj oining the high and low prai- rie stations respectively, while the third was in the experimental fields of the State University farm. White Kherson oats were examined at each place, but the soil types were very different. The crop plats adjoining the low prairie were on rich, black, alluvial soil known as Wabash silt-loam, which was under- laid with a rather tenacious sub- soil of clayey texture. A full de- scription of the mechanical and chemical composition of the soil, together with its water-content through the growing season, is given on pages 140 and 141. The oats, following a crop of potatoes, were sowed quite thickly on April 24, after the
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