The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-01-28
Pswsr Il ersvlas Piasts.

= suggested above.-H. A. xassee'd, is
Posltyv World.
Pswsr q crswiss Piasts.
THE New York Obsesser says: Our
readers viii remember an article pub
lished in the Observer about . year ago
detailing the very interesting expert
ments carried on at the Massachusetts,
Agricultural College, Amherst, to illus
trate and measure the power of sap in
circulation in growing plants. Presi-
dent Clark has been carrying on another
experiment during the last season, the
results of which are truly marvellous
Some accounts of the lifting power of a
vegetable in its growth, as determined
from week TO week by putting peculiar
test upon squash, have been published
from time to time, but the whole prog
ress of the experiment was detailed by
President Clark at late meeting of the
Massachusetts, State Board of Agricul
ture, in a lecture on Plant Growth"
We take the account from the report in
the New England Farmer:
1t had been known for long time that
plants exerted considerable force during
their growth. Beans, acorns and other
seeds lift an amount of weight as they
rise up from the soil in the early stages
of their growth. Mushrooms have been
known to lift flag-stones weighing eighty
pounds from their bed in garden-walks,
and shade-trees in our streets frequently
lift the pavements and even crowd in
basement walls under our houses with
their roots. The force measured in a
black birch was equal to raising column
of water eighty-six feet, while the sap
was in motion. The idea was conceived
at the college of measuring the force of
growing plant and squash was Sc
lected as subject for such an expert
ment. 1t seemed to be the most avail
able of anything we could try. So last
spring bed of rich compost was pre-
pared and placed in one of the glass
houses at the college, where observa-
tions could be made night and day
through the summer and during all
weather. The soil was placed in large,
tight box or tank, in which the roots
were made to stay, and during some of
the stages of the squash's growth it was
watched and hourly observations made
and recorded for whole week at a
time.
Squashes are made up of fibrous It's
sues; the outside fibers run lengthwise,
then another set, like bands, cross these,
holding the squashes together the other
way, and then, on the inside. is another
set running lengthwise, to which the
seeds are attached. (The embarrassed
squash was now exhibited, showing I'M
mistakable signs of having been driven
in a harness much too small for it, A
strong box had been prepared to re-
ceive it, with boards set edgewise in the
bottom on which the squash was laid,
like baby in its cradle; but, unlike the
baby, it was told to lie there during its
entire growth to the period of mature
squashhood. Iron bolts and straps easily
secured the cradle, but something must
be done to keep the growth from rising,
or, if it did rise. to indicate the power
exerted. An iron CRATE, or harness,
made open to admit light and air, as the
squash would rot in a tight-closed box,
was formed, in shape similar to the sad
die of cart harness. This was placed
over the squash, and weights placed
upon it, first light one, then, as it was
lifted by the growth of the squash, a
heavier one was laid on-twenty-iv
pounds, then fifty, next 100, then 200,
and after that 200 at time.
1t soon became difficult to find weights
or room for them. The saddle got full
Then an inch bar of steel was arranged
on the principle of steelyards; one end
being fastened down to the cradle bed
of the squash, and at one foot from the
emu, or just over the middle of the
squash, bearing was made, and beyond
this bearing weights were hung as
weights are hung upon a weighingbar.
Weights were piled ON till the bar broke.
Then chestnut tim Der FIVE by six inches,
good and sound, was put in place of the
broken bar, and loaded with bags of
sand and anvils till it held six of the
latter and as many of the former as
there was room for Still the squash
grew, and as it grew it raised the sand
and anvils one after another as they
were piled on, until one morning the
timber was found broken under its
weight, but the squash all right, and in
creasing in size hourly. A heavy, wide
cart-tire was bolted on to the next lever,
used for stifening it, and this one
lasted till the harness crushed In the
shell of the squash on one or two of its
bearings. Thus ended the expert
ment of testing the vital force of
growing squash. At this time it had
tipped the beam under weight of two
tons and 100 pounds, and had carried on
its back, but without lifting it, load of
50Opounds for ten days.
Many harness gals were made during
viz eiiois ooe III CNVA luotouCC TIC squash
healed itself in short time, and came
out healthy at last with perfectly formed,
plump seeds and cavity in each half,
when cut-as it was before the audience
large enough for large-sized hens
nest. The meat or rind of the squash
was about three inches in thickness, and
by estimation contained Ga ,0O0, OO0, 600 Of
cells, each of which had been formed
from sap prepared by the leaves of the
vine, and carried through the vine and
stem of the squash itself, with instruc-
tions to appropriate as best it could un-
der the circumstances The force ex.
erted by the vital power Of the vine was
sufficient to raise a column of water
forty-eight feet high in forty-eight hours,
at the end of which time it burst.
And now what is the use of all this
Simply this: We have asked nature q
simple question and she has given us .
correct answer. There has been much
dispute about the question whether trees
grew except at the extremities, and i'm
portant law cases have grown out of it.
Parties on both sides were sure they
were right, but the weight of evidence
was nearly all against the theory of elon-
CATION except at the ends of the new
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