. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture; Agriculture. 20 BULLETIX 1087, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGPJCULTUEE. area occupied by the roots of a single 3-year-old plant was estimated to be 3 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep. Taproots of Grimm alfalfa taper more rapidly than those of less- hardy strains, but just below the crown there appears to be only a slight difference in the diameters -of the taproots of the different varieties, as is shown in Table 5. In the number of branch roots the Grimm alfalfa exceeds the southern strains, as is indicated in Table 6. Grimm and Turkesta


. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture; Agriculture. 20 BULLETIX 1087, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGPJCULTUEE. area occupied by the roots of a single 3-year-old plant was estimated to be 3 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep. Taproots of Grimm alfalfa taper more rapidly than those of less- hardy strains, but just below the crown there appears to be only a slight difference in the diameters -of the taproots of the different varieties, as is shown in Table 5. In the number of branch roots the Grimm alfalfa exceeds the southern strains, as is indicated in Table 6. Grimm and Turkestan alfalfa show somewhat greater angles of divergence of the branch roots than southern-grown com- mon, but the variations are hardly sufficient to constitute distinguish- ing characteristics. As is shown in Table 7 the Grimm alfalfa dif-. FiG. 14.—Root systems of Grimm alfalfa plants, the growth of one season. fers from the less hard}' varieties by having more numerous fibrous roots, which are most abundant within 5J inches of the crown. In the southern-grown strains the fibrous roots are relatively sparse and quite uniformly distributed over the root system. Rooting rhizomes are often well developed; but, in this respect, the Grimm alfalfa is not quite so marked as the yellow-flowered kind. (Figs. 14 and 15.) The root systems of Grimm alfalfa and the strain of Turkestan alfalfa studied are so similar that even the closest examination will not serve to distinguish between them. The chief difference is the greater uniformity of the root systems in the Turkestan variety. It appears possible, however, to distinguish the southern-grown common alfalfa from either of these varieties by close study of the root systems of a large number of plants. This can not be done where only one or two are available for Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustratio


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