A similar anastomosis may take place in the roots. Lindley cites a case wherein two carrots, of the white Belgian and the red Surrey varieties respectively, had grown so close to each other that each twisted half round the other, so that they ultimately became soldered together; the most singular thing with reference to this union was, that the red carrot (fig. 23, _b_), with its small overgrown part above the junction, took the colour and large dimensions of the white Belgian (_d_), which, in like manner, with its larger head above the joining (_a_), took the colour and small dimensions of the red one at and below the union (_e d_). The respective qualities of the two roots were thus transposed, while the upper portions or crowns were unaffected: the root of one, naturally weak, became distended and enlarged by the abundant matter poured into it by its new crown; and in like manner the root of the other, naturally vigorous, was starved by insufficient food derived from the new crown, and became diminutive and shrunken (see Synophty). [Illustration: FIG. 22.--Adhesion of the branches of two elms. 'Gard. Chron.,' 1849, p. 421.] The explanation of the fact that the stumps of felled fir trees occasionally continue to grow, and to deposit fresh zones of wood over the stump, depends on similar facts. In _Abies pectinata_, says Goeppert,[57] the roots of different individuals frequently unite; hence if one be cut down, its stump may continue to live, being supplied with nourishment from the adjacent trees to which it is adherent by means of its roots. [Illustration: FIG. 23.--Adhesion of two roots of carrot. 'Gard. Chron.,' 1851, p. 67.] A not uncommon malformation in mushrooms arises from the confluence of their stalks (fig. 24), and when the union takes place by means of the pilei, it sometimes happens, during growth, that the one fungus is detached from its attachment to the ground, and is borne up with the other, sometimes, even, being found in an inverted position on the top of its fellow.[58] The garden operations of budding, grafting and inarching have already been alluded to as furnishing illustrations of adhesion, but it may be well to refer briefly to certain other interesting examples of adhesion induced artificially; thus, the employment of the root as a stock, "root-grafting," is now largely practised with some plants, as affording a quicker means of propagation than by cuttings; and a still more curious illustration may be cited in the fact that it has also been found possible to graft a scion on the leaf in the orange.[59] [Illustration: FIG. 24.--Section through two adherent mushrooms, the upper one inverted.]