Sanborn, working at the Utah Station in 1893, found results very
much the same
Although these results are not concordant, they show that the weight
of the roots is considerable, in many cases far beyond the belief of
those who have given the subject little or no attention. It may be
noted that on the basis of the figures above obtained, it is very
probable that the roots in one acre of an average wheat crop would
weigh in the neighborhood of a thousand pounds--possibly
considerably more. It should be remembered that the investigations
which yielded the preceding results were all conducted in humid
climates and at a time when the methods for the study of the root
systems were poorly developed. The data obtained, therefore,
represent, in all probability, minimum results which would be
materially increased should the work be repeated now.
The relative weights of the roots and the stems and the leaves do
not alone show the large quantity of roots; the total lengths of the
roots are even more striking. The German investigator, Nobbe, in a
laborious experiment conducted about 1867, added the lengths of all
the fine roots from each of various plants.
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