2. _Fleshy Roots_.--The scholars are already familiar with the storing of food for the seedling in or around the cotyledons, and will readily understand that these roots are storehouses of food for the plant. The Turnip, Carrot, and Beet are _biennials_; that is, their growth is continued through two seasons. In the first year, they make a vigorous growth of leaves alone, and the surplus food is carried to the root in the form of a syrup, and there stored, having been changed into starch, or something very similar. At the end of the first season, the root is filled with food, prepared for the next year, so that the plant can live on its reserve fund and devote its whole attention to flowering. These roots are often good food for animals. There are some plants that store their surplus food in their roots year after year, using up in each season the store of the former one, and forming new roots continually. The Sweet Potato is an example of this class. These are _perennials_. The food in perennials, however, is usually stored in stems, rather than in roots, as in trees. _Annuals_ are generally fibrous-rooted, and the plant dies after its first year. The following experiment will serve as an illustration of the way in which the food stored in fleshy roots is utilized for growth. Cut off the tapering end of a carrot and scoop out the inside of the larger half in the form of a vase, leaving about half of the flesh behind. Put strings through the upper rim, fill the carrot cup with water, and hang it up in a sunny window. Keep it constantly full of water. The leaf-buds below will put forth, and grow into leafy shoots, which, turning upwards, soon hide the vase in a green circle. This is because the dry, starchy food stored in the carrot becomes soft and soluble, and the supply of proper food and the warmth of the room make the leaf-buds able to grow. It is also a pretty illustration of the way in which stems always grow upward, even though there is enough light and air for them to grow straight downwards. Why this is so, we do not know. 3. _Differences between the Stem and the Root.--_Ask the pupils to tell what differences they have found. _Stems_. _Roots_. Ascend into the air. Descend into the ground. Grow by a succession of similar Grow only from a point parts, each part when young just behind the tip. elongating throughout. Bear organs. Bear no organs. There are certain exceptions to the statement that roots descend into the ground; such as aërial roots and parasitic roots. The aërial roots of the Ivy have been mentioned. Other examples of roots used for climbing are the Trumpet Creeper _(Tecoma radicans)_, and the Poison Ivy _(Rhus Toxicodendron)_. Parasitic roots take their food ready-made from the plants into which they strike. The roots of air-plants, such as certain orchids, draw their nourishment from the air.