Plant Roots Conserve SoilAuthor(s): F. R. M.Source: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 50, No. 5 (May, 1940), p. 402Published by: American Association for the Advancement of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/17118 .

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402 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

capable of great sacrifices; the best human mate- rial with which the rulers of a new state could start if they honestly and intelligently planned to create a good, progressive civilization. In point of rulers, however, Yugoslavia, like all the rest of the Balkans and most of Europe, could be in no worse plight. The Belgrade govern- ment is part of the post-war political gangster- ism in Europe. But for the support it receives from the Western powers, the people of Yugo- slavia would have swept it into the Danube and the Sava long ago. As it is, it continues to oppress or discourage nearly every virtue in the country. . . . But eventually the vitality now suppressed is sure to burst its bonds. Meantime, it will enable the people to endure all the evils and misfortunes with which the immediate future seems ready to smite them. This goes not only for Yugoslavia, but all Slavic countries in the Balkans and eastern Europe.

And again, I see now that the salvation of the Yugoslav

people and other small backward nations in that part of the world lies, clearly and inescapably, in the direction of Russia. They will have to overthrow their present racketeer rulers, from a Balkan or East European federation of collectiv- ist national republics and, in some mutually satisfactory way, attach themsel-ves to the UJ.S.S.R.

And indeed the reappearance of Russia in the Balkans has given Yugoslavia courage to resist Nazi demands. The country has no desire to increase its ex- ports to Germany unless it is sure of pay- ment, and it demands payment in goods that it needs and can use. It no longer wants to be a dumping ground for any and all surplus goods Germany may have on hand, regardless of quality. Yugo- slavia's attitude has stiffened markedly since Rumania failed to receive the goods which the Reich promised it last spring.

In other words, the country is in the process of internal Balkanization as a re- sult of short-sighted government policies. In a half-hearted effort to foster owner- ship of land by the peasants, the govern- ment has destroyed security of tenure. The result is an uprooted peasantry ready for any change that might again stick their roots deep into the earth that they have tilled for centuries.

But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroy 'd, can never be supplied.

-Goldsmith, " The Deserted Village."

PLANT ROOTS CONSERVE SOIL

IN order to determine the relative efficiency of various cultivated crops in prevention soil erosion; Dr. Howard J. Dittmer, of Chicago, has investigated the root systems of several plants. The results will be surprising to those who are not familiar with the aggressive fight plants make for life.

It was found that the average number of roots in each cubic inch of soil in the top six inches ranged from 80 for soybeans to 2,000 for Ken-

tucky blue grass. The total lengths of the root hairs of soybeans in a cubic inch averaged 40 feet, and in the case of blue grass more than 4,000 feet. The total surface area of the root hairs in a cubic inch averaged only 3.5 square inches, while in the case of blue grass it aver- aged over 200 square inches. These figures are a measure of the contact of these plants with the sub-surface world as well as of their power of presenting soil erosion. F. R. M.

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