The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-13

ample. which are supposed 10 have sucb a
large influence upon the climate OF the earth
Nooody IS quite certain 10 the nature Of
sun spots, but apparently they are due TO
enormous disturbances in the Are envelope
OF the solar orb. sometimes creating flaming
chasms capable Of swallowing half a dozen
globes Ike the terrestrial sphere without any
perceptible effect
As is well known, there are a multitude OF
cotors In nature which are invisible TO the
human eye Beyond the red at one end OF
the rainbow spectrum and beyond the violet
at the other end. are vast color regions as vet
unknown TO mankind. These together en-
brace great majority Of the light rays that
reach the earth from the sun Something
about them IS known already; for example,
that the ultraviolet rays are chemical rays.
and that the infra-red rays contribute far
more than the visible light r1ys to the growth
OF plants From this latter fact differences
may be drawn that have no.able siEnifcance
In connection with the extraordinary de-
velOpment of certain kinds Of plants In the
red dollhouse. the glass Of which admits no
rays above the red Of TIRE spectrum
Daylight Ii white, ard one naturally thinks
OF II as composed simply Of coiorless rays
but. OF course, the fact IL that II is a mixture
Of rays Of ever 50 many hues. comprising the
few visible and more numerous invisible COL
ors- New, from data already OBJ aired by ex-
pertmentatton. Il Is evident that some OF
these rays exert a very much mere powerful
influence upon vegetable life than rays OF
other classes. ard this Is one OF the ques-
lions investigated by Flammarion and his
the inquiry was the object for which the
hothouses Of different colors were construct
Cd. red hothouse, q green dollhouse a blue
dollhouse and a hothous OF ordinary glass
were placed side by side ard plants OF the
same species were cultivated under exactly
similar conditions 20 SOIL temperature
etc. IN all.
The red gssss shuts cut al but the rays
at the red end Of the rainbow spectrum, and
50 i is not surprising that plants in the red
hcthouse grow much faster than IA the
green, the hire or the viii hothouss For
as is well known. the light rays. which chief-
y make al the vegetation CT the earth, are
the red rays and the invisible rays beyond
the red al the lower end Of the spectrum
On the other hand. the rays at the violet
end OF tie rainbow belt have very little in
huencs On the plant growth. and % II IS mo-
surprising TO ind that the pants IN the bfus
dollhouse are scarce able 10 EpTout. ard pre-
sent AZ their best a sickly and abcr i've as
pect To reduce the matter TO figures pants
IN the red house attain size fifteen times
as great as in the blue house. In truth, the
red light produces an effect equivalent 70
that CT A fertilizer.
The experiment with lettuce was very in
teresting As with other kinds CT pan s.
nothing. In the green hCthorse il WIS grea.-
er. but still wretehed. In the red hcthouse
the lettuce. instead CT furnishing a head"
In the conventional manner. ran up like
Jacks beanstalk TO a considerable height
II too anxious for growth = foliew the
ordinary custom OF its kind Furthermore.
!
white or normal hothcuse. Ga the other b. NJ
las n TO show that al plants are not alike
from natures point o. viev-Indiaa corn.
subjected TO precisely similar conditions
measured IN height IL a red hCth5use IS
inches. IN the green hothouEe s inches and
IN the blue hcthoEse inches. Beals b coined
ard fruitcd equally well IN the white ard
red hcthouses. but persisted in tire green and
blue. Peas bloonned in all the hOtE0usss ex-
eept the blue. oaly the peas IN the red ard
white houses fruifed. Grapsvines IN the red
house developed most, but seemed % lack
sfgo-.
Perhaps the most interesting experiments
ware made with various fruit-producinz
nsalts-foT instance. with strawberry vines
Il was found that three strawberry plants
n TIE blue hothouse produced FIVE small
berries- Ike number CT plants. reared
un6sr conditions cxsct-y similar in tire
gresn koshouse yielded twelve berries Three
mere IN the red house brought forth twenty
IKE bGTriss. while three in the white house
pTc@uced sevenfy-f1rrs. The berries grown
n the white house we're nearly twice as
large as the best Erown In other houses. the