Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-03-31
4 NnM Zee for Eipriiic:iy.


never cease. The immense currcn, Il
force which pcryaJt> the universe
seems 70 choose it - the taTorifr
agency for lis manifestations. Eat;h,
air and water are file! with il. 1t i
inrNhaus,iblc ami inle>trd. Tile. IL
power IS uncomfortable. and Vet i can
be stored in th;mblc and held there to
send messages from MY lurh II Ia
rope. 1t can drive colossal hammers
or propcl ears. or Il can he r"a'le =
perform the most delicate operations.
Ii sends out message round the world.
lets US talk to each other miles apart.
rings cur tire-bcll>. lights cur streets
and houses, run, or machinery. cur'
our sick. performs surgical operations.
takes photographs. runs >e"ing-lna-
chimes, plates our dinner services. al
lows itself TO be condensed and stored
away in boxes. regulates the blood. ger
inmates seeds. is he most favOritc form
in which Nature chooses to display her
energy. and is even pronounced capa-
BILE of Transporting the tremendous
horsepower of Niagara To undertake.
mechanical work i'll Montreal. New
York, Philadelphia, and Boston at once
and all this though we are standing
ONLY on the threshold of its science. AMI
as yet know comparatively little of
its possibilities.
Almost every day seems 10 add to
these possibilities. The latest of them
is Mr.. Siemcns' curious experiments
with the electric light in its influence
upon vegetation. Hitherto it has been
known that vegetation needs light. and
it has been also supposed that vcgcta
ton must repose in the darkness, or, to
speak more Familiarity, tina: plants must
sleep at night, as they do not grow in
the darkness. Mr.. Sicmens boldly con-
ceived that they ought to grow in the
night as well as in the day, and that
they would do so if he could provide
them with an artificial sunlight. At
first his plants withered and sichened
in the electric light, but by ditlusng it
through q clear glass shade he repealed
the refrangible rays in the electric are
which destroy vegetable cells, and shed
upon them only those which quicken
their life. The result was marvellous.
He compelled his flowers and fruits to
grow night and dag. giving them no
rest except Sunday nights, and he says
that the "grapcs have stronger flavor
than others, the melons are more aro-
matte, the strawberries are richer col
ored, and the bananas have less than
usual the taste of unsccnted soap To
generate the electricity he has to have
an engine, but he manages to make it
profitable by substituting the waste
steam condensed for his former green
house stoves. What he does upon u
small scale he thinks can be done by
wholesale, which leaves the London
Times to draw the following glowing
picture of the possibilities of this inter-
esting discovery:
"There is no reason why the Man
chester mill-owner. after displaying his
calico machinery, should not usher his
guest into wineries and pineries on the
other side of the wall. There the light
which moves the shuttles will have
been up all night mcllowing fragrant
fruit. The iron and steel kings of the
North and the West will be able in the
morning to reveal to the bewildercd
| visitor Titanic hammers tractable to the
thrill of wirefui of electricity. After
dinner they may escort him mile of
to see one cornfield growing yellow
under the radiance of the same light
which subjugated the metal mass, and
another crop already falling beneath an
electric sickle. The neighborhood of Il
factory or forge, now the most insu-
perable of objections, will then be a
distinct attraction. Advertisements
may be expected to dwell rhetorically
on the advantages of garden land in
the near vicinity of busy manufacture
ing town with abundance of engine
power. If London do not spin cotton
| or forge iron, it is an Unsuitable con-
sumner Of mechanical force in other
shapes. The more electricity it accu-
mulateS for its ordinary daylight re-
quirements the better for its vegetable
produce. BY the time the metropolis
has rebelled finally against its gas COM
panies and bathes in q shower of cleo
trio moonbeams, fresh exemplifications
of the system may cover the roofs of
Lombard street with exquisite orch
ards. and raise bright gardens in the
then superiluous coal-cellars.'
There is something of the humorous
in the manner that Mr.. Sicmens has
taken hold of his flowers and vege-
tables and compelled them to disobev
the great law of Nature by working
night and day, giving them no rest, and
hurrying up their vitality at railroad
speed. 1t may be pleasant thought
for the farmer that his corn is growing
while he is sleeping. but it seems lit
tie hard that the corn should be bereft
of its rest and sleep. Itneeds its sleep,
and it does not seem consistent to force
Nature and upset her practices, nor do
we believe that the corn, or the grape,
or the banana will be anv the betterfor
doing compulsory night-work. 1t is in
keeping, however, with the tendency
of the present age to do everything On
perpetual high pressure. DIR: Siemens
may hurry up his plants, but they finish
their work all the sooner and disap-
pear just as human beings do. The old,
slow ways of Nature are the best, and
she is quick to revenge any interior
ence with her processes. Vegetation
no moro than man can overwork with
out danger.-Chicago Tribune.