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Stems Pierced by Rootstocks. 
I think it is Emerson who says a person finds what he looks 
for. In the absence of leaves on the trees I have several times 
been surprised at the number of natural grafts to be found in a 
few hours.

One of the interesting things in connection with transplanting 
is the opportunity it affords for seeing what has been going on 
out of sight beneath the surface of the ground. Much remains 
to be learned in this line of study, as few people are giving the 
subject any attention, while during the growing season green 
foliage and beautiful flowers are everywhere in sight in myriads 
of eyes. 

Several of our grasses, such as quick grass, June grass, Bermuda grass and red-top, produce large numbers of stout underground stems, known as rootstocks. 

The tips are sharp and stouter than might be supposed. While

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digging potatoes I have several times come across tubers that 
had been pierced by rootstocks of June grass or quick grass. In 
one hill I once found two tubers thus threaded by grass. A gardener 

Fig. 12. LILY STEM PIERCED BY JUNE GRASS ROOTSTOCK. 

in 1884 brought me a bulb something like a small onion 
that had grown in a flower-pot, and through it was an underground stem of June grass. In 1888 one of my students found 
an herbaceous stem with June grass extending through it, and the 
same year another student brought me the lower portion of a lily 
pierced by a June grass rootstock, and this rootstock was itself 
pierced by another rootstock of the same kind of grass. The 
specimens above referred to are well preserved in the college 
herbarium, and are objects of considerable interest. Monstrosities of this character and of other kinds are well worth preserving. 
W. J. BEAL. 
Michigan Agricultural College.