They absorb food from the soil for the plants.

Some roots store food for the future use of the plant.

Some roots produce new plants.

How do the roots do this work? To answer this question it will be
necessary to study the habit of growth of the roots of our plants.


HABIT OF GROWTH OF ROOTS

The proper place to begin this study is in the field or garden. So we
will make another excursion, and this time we will take with us a
pick-axe or mattock, a shovel or two, a sharp stick, a quart or
half-gallon pitcher, and several buckets of water. Arrived in the
field, we will select a well-developed plant, say, of corn, potato or
cotton. Then we will dig a hole about six feet long, three feet wide,
and five or six feet deep, close to the plant, letting one side come
about four or five inches from the base of the plant. It will be well
to have this hole run across the row rather than lengthwise with it.
Then with the pitcher pour water about the base of the plant and wash
the soil away from the roots. Gently loosening the soil with the
sharpened stick will hasten this work. In this way carefully expose
the roots along the side of the hole, tracing them as far as possible
laterally and as deep as possible, taking care to loosen them as
little as possible from their natural position. (See Figs. 8 and 9.)
Having exposed the roots of one kind of plant to a width and depth of
five or six feet, expose the roots of six or eight plants of different
kinds to a depth of about eighteen inches. As this may require more