The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1890-07-05
POPULAR SCIENCE.
Information on Many Points c.
Genera! Interest

II 41I0ISON
Temperature of Trees-Iongevity OF E1e.
Decentralization OF Plants to Soil
Structure %! PUPPY Fruits
or Ecrr,cs.
TEMPERATURE OF TEEEs.-From some
observations recorded by Mr.. II. L. Rus
,el in the Botanical Gazette, it appears
that as a general rue tho temperature
# the interior Of a tree Is somewhat
higher than that Of the air, except dur.
ing the warmer PARTS of the day, the
maximum temperature Of the air be.
.ng generally between n and two p.
n, and the minimum between six and
seven a. m. The comparative tables
show that heat is absorbed and radiated
more rapidly in the outer layers than in
the center.
Experiments made at a time when the
buds were starting, in order to de.
terraine whether the chemical actor
carried on in tho Tissues gives rise te
heat, led to tho conclusion that it is
very doubtful whether the metabollic
processes involved generate enough
heat t influence the ordinary thermom.
eter. A curious difference, however,
was discovered in the wood of the oak
Iand pine in winter, the author having
found that the temperature OF the pine
was lower than that Of the oak at all
times except during the latter parto of the
night and early morning. This is at.
tributed to the thick coating of the
leaves on the pine preventing absorb
ton of heat by the trunk, since the
larch, which has similar wood, resem-
bles the oak rather than the pine in the
matter Of temperature. The further
conclusion is reached that the direct
absorption of heat is the main cause Of
the high temperature of trees, and that
1t is largely dependent upon the charac.
Ger Of the bark, smooth-barked trees be.
ing warmer as a rule than thick-barked
ones.
LONGEVITY OF E1.EpHASTs.-The journ.
ais of Ceylon have recently mentioned
the death of an elephant that was we'll
known on the island and had been seen
by several generations of Englishmen.
He was called Sello and had belonged
to the lastof the Kings of Randy. He
was one Of the hundred elephants that
were taken by the English Government
in 1915, when the kandyan Dynasty wa
overthrow. At this epoch tho elephant
was said to be fifteen years old. If this
is correct, he died. natural death at the
age of eighty-nine years.
RELATION OF PLANTS TO So1L.-Mr. G
Vile, in a paper read before the Acad.
envy of Sciences Of Paris, shows thai
the composition of the soil influences
plants in five principal characters, viz.
The stature, the color, the amount O..
caroline and chlorophyl and the guam.
tity of vegetation. A table is giver
showing the difference in stature an6
color of plants of tho common hemp &C.
cording to the manur USED, from which
it is evident that this plant flourishes
manure without potash and in
without nitrogen. The absence of lime
and phosphate in the anu in the
case of hemp did not interfere SO large.
~ with the color and stature of the
plants. It would appear, therefore
that rich manure is essential, at least
to the development of foliage.
STRUCTURE OF PUFFY FKUITs.-To thu
Annals of Botany Mr.. J.. b. Farme'
contributes an article in which, afte'
pointing out the very different sources
of the pulp in different fruits, he gives
detailed descriptions of its mode of for
nation in the elder, dulcamara, black.
berry and ivy. The term berry is
usually applied to fruits in which
the pulp or succulent tissue i.
derived from the pericarp, but in Daphne
mezereon it is formed not only from the
pericarp, but from the outer integumen'
of the seed also. In Citrus it is due te
hairs which spring into the ovarian
cavities and become distended Hitt
fluid. In Wits and Solanum Dulcamars
the pulp is formed partly from the pla.
centa and partly from the pericarp. Ir
the latter, after fertilization of the
ovary, the cells of the placenta grow
out between the seeds, SO as to give
them the appearance of being sunk in
it, and this growth is continued until
met by a similar growth from the peri.
carp, so that the cavity Of the ovary is
then filled up with pulpy tissue. The
outermost layer Of cells of the ovules
also undergo a change, their inner and
side walls becoming lignitlcd and the
outer wall becoming muci1aginous and
forming part CT the ,nurilagc of the
pulp, just as it does in linsecd. The red
color of dulcamara berries is duo to the
appearance of q large numbered chrome
plastids derived from the chlorophyl
granules. At the same time that this