The First Book of Farming by Charles Landon Goodrich
page 35 of 307 (11%)
page 35 of 307 (11%)
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or force of osmose.
[Illustration: FIG. 10. A plow stopped in the furrow, to show what it does to the roots of plants when used for after-cultivation. Notice the point of the plow under the roots.] [Illustration: FIG. 11. A corn-plant ten days after planting the seed. To show how quickly the roots reach out into the soil. Some of the roots were over 18 inches long.] =Experiment.=--Procure a wide-mouthed bottle, an egg, a glass tube about three inches long and a quarter-inch in diameter, a candle, and a piece of wire a little longer than the tube. Remove a part of the shell from the large end of the egg without breaking the skin beneath. This is easily done by gently tapping the shell with the handle of a pocket-knife until it is full of small cracks, and then, with the blade of the knife, picking off the small pieces. In this way remove the shell from the space about the size of a nickel. Remove the shell from the small end of the egg over a space about as large as the end of the glass tube. Next, from the lower end of the candle cut a piece about one-half inch long. Bore a hole in this just the size of the glass tube. Now soften one end of the piece of candle with the hole in it and stick it on to the small end of the egg so that the hole in the candle comes over the hole in the egg. Heat the wire, and with it solder the piece of candle more firmly to the egg, making a water-tight joint. Place the glass tube in the hole in the piece of candle, pushing it down till it touches the egg. Then, with the heated wire, solder the tube firmly in place. Now run the wire down the tube |
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