Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-01-22


verse, as IN strawberry. In the earliest
stages Of the growth of the fir, if YOU
take the trouble TO cut one in halves, YOU
will see the interior full of closely packed
and genuine flowers.
Nearly twenty years ago, Professor
Baltour pointed out the singular fact
that, in the period from the termination
OF a seed 10 the time when the plant
which sprang from il had itself
some fruit, a certain and more or less fixed
quantity Of heat was required Every
species Of plant uses up a different guam
tity-lesS in some, more in others. When
this cannot be supplied by natural sources
within given time-say, such a period
as our English Summertime plant will
/ grow to some extent, but will neither
flower nor seed, or it may flower, but not
| seed, as the circumstances may be- We
now see the reason why tropical plants
| viii not blossom with us in the open air
- the heat supplied them during our short
/ summer is not sufficient. Perhaps if we
could continue it they might ultimately
/ flower though the time occupied in flow
/ ering and truiting would be much longer
| than in their native climates But our
! winter comes on and rudcly settles the
question by stopping the heat supplies,
and nipping by frost instead Baltour's
! discovery enables us to understand why
we have, in our English climate, flowers
which seed early in the summer, and
! Others late in the autumn. In the former
/ case they require less heat to bring
them to perfection--in the later, more.
What wonderful insight does this law
| give us into that constant adjustment of
vegetable life to its physical surround
| ings, by means of which the species are
| perpetuatcd! And this continuous adj.
! justmcnt is all the more marvellous when
we know that climate is not a fixed mat
ter, even in its heat supplies, as is evil
| denced by the geological discoveries re-
! lating to those changes of climate, dur
! ing the various epochs of the past, which
! have taken place IN every part of the
! globe.
1t is not heat alone that is required to
| ripen fruits, and to thus complies the
! great end of floral existence. Chemists
tel us that the unseen rays beyond the
violet spectrum are peculiarly chemical
| in their effects. The colors Of the rain
! bow, seen in AL light which has passed
through glass prism and been decom-
! posed, can be solved into three different
! kinds of physical action, as well rs three
! different colors. One of these gives
| light, another heat, and a third chemical
! action. The latter is termed actinic, and
! and as just remarked, its chief force APP
! pears to lie outside or in the violet part of
! the spectrum. Just as heat can be eX
| perienced below the red color as what is
| tamiliarlv called "black heat by per-
| ceptible vibrations, 50 can the actinic
| power be demonstrated beyond the other
end Of the spectrum. 1t is the action of
| this chemical principle of light, probably
| produced during the long summer, and
| manifested most markedly at its close,
| that so rapidly ripens fruit, even when
the heat has not been very great, and
the weather has been untoward
1t would appear as if a good deal of the
acid which makes young fruit so disagree
ably sour, during its - ST stages, is lost
by oxidation during the ripening process.
| The other part has been used in cOmbina-
| ton with the starch to form the sugar,
Green fruits are like leaves, in that they
take up carbonic acid from the surround
| ing atmosphere when acted upon by sun
! light, and then give outoXygen At night,
| when not so stimulated, this chemical
action is reversed; then they give out
carbonic acid and absorb oxygen, just as
ANIMALS 90.
The principal acids which form in
young fruits are maliC, CitriC and tartariC,
and it is owing to the notifications of
these and others, with the same starchy
or deXtrine base, that we have such
numerous varieties Of fruit, possessing so
many different tlayOrs The slightest
change in the combination may do this;
hence the varietal play we obtain even in
the same species of fruit Who can other
wise account for the almost endless varie
ties of apples and pears? BY supposing
such different combinations, and by the
slight presence or absence of other eIc-
ments, such as tannin, etc, we have an
easy explanation Of the facts. Tannin
usually disappears as fruit ripens, but
may linger slightly, and thus determine
the flavor Of "A variety of fruit. When the
surplus acids and The tannin of fruit have
disappeared, then the latter are at their
best In a short time another change
sets in, and the fruit becomes insipid, as
every one knows who has kept it beyond
a certain time. The hcshy substance Of
apples then becomes woolly and tastclcss.
| Various degrees of the oxidation Of the
acids of fruit must also end in giving
! them slightly different flavors For
nature knows no limit in her great
| laboratory, having combinations to play
upon such as we are only just beginning
to comprchcnd.-Cas Hagazjae.
Rival Anecdotes.