The true northerner., 1883-03-16

The touch-me-not" and mallow are
affected in this way by drought. Mr..
Darwin tried to see how long a little
plant he had from Chill would live
without water. He watched it three
weeks without giving it drop to drink.
It's leaves became dry and dusty, so
that some of them would drop off from
the stem every time he shook the pot.
The earth about the roots became like
the dust on q summer road. The leaves
that remained on the stem did not close
in sleep at night. Finally, ut the end
Of twenty-one days, he watered the
earth and sponged off the dry and
thirsty leaves. The next morning it
seemed as fresh as ever, and when night
came it nestled itself down comfortably
to its rest.
Some plants will go to sleep if they
can make themselves comfortable,
while if they are much chilled by ex-
posure to the cold night air they will
not make sleep movement. There is
something almost human in all these
freaks of wakefulness in the plant
world.
In some plants the leaves stand up
to go to sleep, as horses do; in others
they droop down, or lie close to each
other like little children. One kind of
clover which has yellow blossom
sleeps very curiously; it has, as of
course you know, three leaflets on each
stalk. Each of the three twists itself
around through the quarter of circle,
turning one of the side edges to the sky.
Two of the leafets-the side ones
face toward the north, one little to
the east Of north, the other little to
the west The middle leahet turns
sometimes eastward. sometimes west
ward in doing so it twists itself over so
rs to protect its own upper surface and
one of the other leaflets at the same
time The common white clover sleeps
very curiously.
There is very singular plant which
bears three leaves on stem, the mid
die one being large, and the other two
long, narrow leaflets which stand
straight from the stem just below the
bottom of the large central leaf They
look like pair of oars poised in the
hands of rover when he is waiting to
dip them into the water. When this
plant goes to sleep the small stem
which holds the leaf stands straight up,
and the leaf turns directly down flat
against the stalk. The plant hardly
look like the same thing awake and
asleep.
Beside the sleep movement, this
plant has some wonderful motions,
which seem to be without any particu-
lar reason and to come generally from
the change of temperature. Mr.. Dar-
win put the stem of one of these leaves
into some water cool enough to be
pleasant to drink and then changed the
water for some about as warm AZ luke
warm tea. The leaflets began to move
and in minute and half had made a
complete circle. In very young plants
of this kind the leaflets jerk all the
while, very much as baby kicks its
legs and moves it's arms, without hav-
ing any particular reason for doing it.
When leaves get sleepy they do not
sink steadily and quietly down. There
is nobody to take them and lay them
down to sleep when they feel drowsy,
so they go off by themselves in slow
sort of nodding motion.
The cause of all these movements is,
as / have said, the shifting of water
from cell to cell; but the reason for
/ them is the same which makes two
little children sleeping side by side
draw closer together when they feel
chilly and nestle down together in the
bed The warmth of their bodies then
is not lost, but passes from one to the
other.-Harper's Young People.