Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1870-12-09
9ortitmlture.
ARE PLANTS IN ROOMS INJURIOUS TO
HEALTH!

ILANTS IN hOOMS.-AllOW me 10 say
word in reference to plants us being healthful
botany that under the influence of direct
solar light, plants absorb carbonic acid and
give off oxygen, and in the absence of the |
same they absorb oxygen, and it is decom-
posed and carbonic acid is given off One
strong proof of this is that plants grown in IA
cellar or any dark place, where they receive
little or no light, are very light in color. The
cause of this is that they continue to absorb
oxygen and expel carbon, and having no
light, absorb very little carbon, and this be-
ing the coloring to the leaf, it is easily seen
why the plant is so pale. An example of this |
can be seen by II potato that has sprouted
in the cellar. These things being correct,
and proving that all plants give off carbonic
acid in the night time, | should infer plants
would not be healthful in sleeping rooms
NELLIE, Poultney, VT, 1870
Ideas such us are contained in the above
extract are constantly floating about in the
newspapers, and occasionally find their way
into the columns of the agricultural press.
We do not believe that the able conductors of
the Rural NeW Yorker are ignorant of the
error into which their correspondent has
been ledby the obsolete teachings other botan-
ical instructors. But, probably through haste
or inadvertence, they failed to correct her
mistake, and leave it thus with Il quasi in
dorsement.
The truth is that plants, except in rare
cases and under unusual circumstances, do
not give off any appreciable quantity of car
bonic acid gas, either by day or by night
As NELLIE refers to botany for her au-
thority. we will give the statement on this
paint of Prof. Asa Gray of Cambridge, &C
knowledged as one of the first botanists of the
world. In his BOTANICAL TEXT Book"
(4th ed. page 2O4,) he says:-" The evolu-
ton of carbonic acid by plants, which has so
long been taken for granted, and misinter-
preted, has no existence rs a general phe-
nomenon." He explains, further, that most
of the exceptional instances, where carbonic
acid is really thrown off by plants, are the
results of want of health, rs in the case of
the potato growing in the dark, instanced by
NELLIE" Even under these circumstances
the quantity exhaled is but small, while Wig
orous or healthy plants absorb carbonic acid
and throw of only oxygen, thus exercising
a purifying influence upon the mir.
So much for science; let us now quote an
equally eminent practical authority. Peter
Henderson, in his PRACTICAL HORTICUL-
TURE," page 1872, devotes a brief chapter to
the question, "ARE PLANTS INJURIOUS TO
HEALTH?" which we consider worth copying
in full. He SAYS
If physicians are asked if plants are inju-
rious to health, three out of six will reply
that they are.
They will generally follow up the reply by
learned dsquisition on horticultural chem
istry; will tell you that at night plants give
out carbonic acid, which is poisonous to ami
NAL life, and consequently if we sleep in a
room where plants are kept, we of necessity
inhale this gas, and sickness will follow
These worthless generally succeed in their
specious reasoning, and the poor plants, that
have bloomed gaily all summer, are often
consigned to the coal cellar for their winter
quarters, if given quarters at all. No theory
can be more destitute of truth; that plants
give out carbonic acid may be, but that it is
given out in quantities sufficient to affect our
health in the slightest degree is utter non
sense.
No healthier class of men can be found
than greenhouse operators, which makes me
sometimes think that plants have II health
Al..... H.