Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-03-12
POPULAR SCIENCE.
Information on Many Points of
 General Interest.
Temperature of Trees-Longevity of Ele- Phants-Relation of Plants to Soll- Structure of Pulpy Fruits
 or Berries.

or Berries.
 TEMPERATURE OF TREEs.-From some observations recorded by MT. H. l.. Rus sel in the Botanical Gazette, it appears that as a general rule the temperature of the interior of 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- ing generally between one and two D. m., and the minimum between six and seven a. m. TLe comparative tables show that heat is absorbed and radia ted more rapidly in the outer layers than in the center.
 Experiments made at time when the buds were starting, in order to de- termine whether the chemical action carried on in the tissues gives rise to heat, led to the conclusion that it is very doubtful whether the metabol.:c processes involved generate enough heat to influence the ordinary tn rmom- eter. A curious difference, however, was discovered in the wood of the oak and pine in winter, the author having found that the temperature of the pine was lower than that of the oak at all oAhASS o<ASS Po uui AhS ohS 1obOCI par UoI Guo night and early morning. This is at tributed to the thick coating of the leaves on the pine preventing absorp- tion 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- ter of the bark, smooth parked trees be- ing warmer as 2 rule than thick-barked ones.
 LONGEVITY OF ELEPHANrs.-The journ- als 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 last of the Kings of Randy. He was one of the hundred elephants that were taken by tho English Government in 1915, when the Kandyan Dynasty was overthrown. At this epoch the elephant was said to be fifteen years old. If this is correct, he died a natural death at the age of eighty-nine years.
 RELATION OF PLANTS TO Sou.-Mr c. Vile, in paper read before the Acad- emy of Sciences of Paris, shows that the composition of the soil influences plants in five principal characters, viz: The stature, the color, the amount of caroline and chlorophyl and the quan- tity of vegetation. A table is given showing the difference in stature and color of plants of the common hemp &C., cording to the manure used, from which it is evident that this plant flourishes least in soil without manure, next in manure without potash and in manure without nitrogen. The absence of lime and phosphate in the manure in the case of hemp did not interfere so large ly 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 PULPY FRU1Ts.-To the Annals of Botany MT. J. B. Farmer contributes an article in which, after of the pulp in different fruits, he gives oetailed 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 Uuo Pu1p UT 6uCCul0uC L1SSQ0 IS derived from the pericarp, but in Daphne mezereon it is formed not only from the perioarp, but from the outer integument of the seed also. In Citrus it is due to hairs which spring into the ovarian cavities and become distended with fluid. Tn Vitis and Solanum Dulcamara the pulp Is formed partly from the pla- centa and partly from the pericarp. In 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 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 Iignified and the outer wall becoming muoilaginous and forming part of the mucilage of the pulp, just as 1t does in linseed. The red color of dulcamara berries is due to the appearance of large number of chromo- plastids derived from the chlorophyl granules. At the same time that this formation takes place the starch in the fruit becomes changed to surar.
 95.495,5OO
 POPULATION in America, 315, ,929, ,OO0 I in Europe, 834. 707 ,000 in Asia, 2O5, 679, ,001 in Africa and 27, ,896 ,OOO in Ocean ica, but these figures will rapidly increase