The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1876-05-12
Wonderful Influence of COlOred Sun
light on Animal aud Vegetable Life.


To return to Gen. Pleasonton. The
writer asked him how he had first got the
idea of experimenting upon plants and
animals with the violet light transmitted
through blue glass combined with the
ordinary sunlight. "From the fact, "
answered tha general, that had long
thought the blue color of the sky, so
permanent and all-pervading, and yet so
varying in intensity of color, according
to season and latitude, must have some
abiding relation and connection with the
living organizations on this planet. L
knew that various experiments had been
made in England and on the European
| continent with homogeneous glass colored
with the several primary rays, but they
resulted ir nothing SO far as any i'm
provement in the process of developing
| vegetation was concerned. As the only
approach to any good results was pro-
duced by the violet ray, determined to
experiment with this alone"
A very long conversation followed, in
which the general developed his views.
Finally he said: "There is nothing so
satisfactory in matters of this sort as see
ing things with ones own eyes so if you
can spare me tomorrow, l will take you
to my country house, and there you will
be able to judge Of my experiments and
their results for yourself" The offer was
| gladly accepted.
| THE GRAPERY EXPERIMENTS.
The next day we repaired to the gen.
erals country house. Upon our arrival,
we at once proceeded to the grapery,
| where Gen. Pleasonton's first expert,
ments were made in the year 1861. OF
these experiments he gave the following
| fInIChnd N
| March, 1861. Its dimensions were "a
feet long, 26 feet wide, 16 feet high at
the ridge, with double pitched roof 1t
stands, as you see, at the foot of a ter
raced garden, in the direction of north
east by east to southwest by west. On
| three sides you netice the border twelve
feet wide. On the fourth, northeast by
east, the border is only five feet wide;
being a walk OF the garden. The borders
inside and outside were excavated to a
depth of three feet six inches, and were
| filled with usual nutritive matter, care
fully prepared for growing vines. The
| first question to be solved was the pro-
portion of blue or violet glass to be used
on the roof At a venture / adopted
every eighth row of glass on the roof to
| be blue or violet glass, so that the sun,
| in its daily course, should cast beam of
violet light on every leaf in the grapery.
Cuttings of vines, each one year old, OF
the thickness of pipe stem, and cut
close to the pots containing them, were
| planted in the borders inside and outside
| of the grapery in this early part OF
| April, 1861. Soon after being planted
| the growth of the vines began. The
rapidity with which they grew soon at
tracted the attention Of all who saw
them. In few weeks the walls and in
| side of the roof were closely covered with
the most luxurious growth of foliage and
wood. The scotsman who sold me the
vines was lost in amazement when he
saw them. He stated that he had never
seen anything similar in an experience OF
forty years. He measured some OF the
vines and found them forty-five feet IN
| length-an inch in diameter at one loot
from the ground. This was the growth
of five months. Vines of the same va
rieties, of like age and size, planted at
the same time, with the best possible
care and attendance, were at this same
period puny plants, five feet long,
scarcely increased at all in diameter; In
September of the next year (l862) had
on these vines 1,2OO pounds of grapes.
In 1863 had about two tons.
The number of instances of similar re-
suits from the use of mixed light Is large
and only few more can be given. These
it is, perhaps, better to give IN the gen
erals own words:
" A lady of my acquaintance, residing
in this city, informed me that having
some very choice and rare Towering plants
in pots in her sitting room, which were
dropping and manifesting signs OF disease,
she threw over them green gauZe veil,
| such as ladies wear, and exposed them to
the sunlight, when she was highly gratl-
| fed to discover that in a very short time
they we're fully restored to health and
vigor. A gentleman in West Philadel-
phia, having large lemon tree, which he
priced highly, placed it in his hall near
to the vestibule door, the side lights OF
which we're of glass of different colors,
blue and violet predOminating; the sun
light passing through these side lights
fell upon a portion of the branches OF
this lemon tree; great vigor was impaired
thereby to the vitality of these branches,
which were filled with very fine lemons,
while the other branches of the tree that
did not receive the light from these blue
and violet panes of glass were small, very
feeble, and apparently unhealthy, and
were without fruit"
General Pleasonton's next experiment
was with an Alderney bull calf, born on
the 26th of January, 1870. He says:
"At its birth it was 50 puny and feeble
that the man who attends upon my stock,
a very experienced hand, told me it could
not live. l directed him to put 1T in one
of the pens under the violet glass. 1t
was done. In twenty-four hours very
sensible change had occurred in the ami
NAL. 1t had arisen on its feet, walked
about the pen, took its food freely from
the finger and manifested great vlvaclty.
In few days its feeble condition had ell
tirely disappeared. 1t began to grow
and its development was marvellous. On
the 31st of March, 1870, two months and
five days after its birth, its rapid growth
was SO apparent that l told my son to
measure its height and to note down in
writing the heightof the hindquarter and
the time of measurement, which he did.
On the 20th of the following May (1S7O),
inst fifty days afterward, my son again
measured the hindquarter, and found
that in that time it had gained exactly
six inches in height, carrying its lateral
development with it. Believing the ques-
tion solved, the calf was turned into the
barnyard, and when mingling with the
COWS he manifested every symptom of
full masculine vigor, though at the time
he was only four months old. At the
age of fourteen he was sent TO my herd
of COWS, and has fulfilled every expecta-
ton that 1 had formed of him. He is
now one of the best developed animals
that can be found anywhere"
TRYING IT ON LAMBS AND MULES.
On the 18th of February, 1874, two
newly born lambs, one weighing three
and a half pounds, the other weighing
four pounds, were taken from their moth
ers and placed in one of the pens on my
farm fitted with blue and uncolered glass;
they had not received any nOurishment
from their DAMS they were fed alike, and
without any designs to increase largely
their weight, with skinned cows milk.
When they were 8 months old they were
weighed-one of them weighed fiity-one
pounds, the other fifty-five pounds. At
two weeks old their teeth were so much
developed that they began TO eat hay"
This seems extraordinary enough, but
the following is still more so. The gen.
eral says.