Abstract

The study of the root systems of crops grown in the tropics and sup-tropics is a branch of agricultural research which has not received the attention which it deserves, in fact, so little information has been published on the subject that one is forced to fall back on inferences rather than to depend on concrete knowledge. This study is more important in the tropics than in temperate regions, because the range of environment is so much frenter, and there is no doubt that environment has a considerable influence on the root development and root system of any particular species, or of any cultivated race of a species. For example, the work which has been done at East Malling in examining the root systems of different races of fruit stocks has shown clearly that these vary both with the stock and with the type of soil on which they are grown.

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