The times., 1898-10-16
THE sUNFLoWER.
1t Wns Originally Not Larger Than
q Silver Quarter.
(From the Baltimore Sun,

From the Baltimore SUM-
Prof Philip r. Uhler, provost of the
Peabody Institute, has just completed an
experiment at his country home, near
Buena Vista, by which he believes he has
evolved the original sunfiower plant.
The evolution OF the sunfiower has
been remarkable. Scientists have sought
for the original plant, guessed at its
size and made calculations about 1t. with
out having settled upon from what size
flower the towering golden blossom
sprang.
The changes in animals and plants,
their progress or retrogression and the
search for the original is 4 never-ending
and always interesting pursuit OF men Oh
science. Prof. Uhler tells of his expert
ment and how he found the original sun
flower as follows:
During the last week in May / selected
two very fine sunflowers. They were
large full-grown and fine in every way
One was a single and the other double
flower. l then picked out the richest, fulI-
est most vigorous and most perfect seed
from these two flowers and, keeping
them separate, planted in continuous
row in the very poorest ground could
find The flower with the single petals
! 1 planted all in one day, and on the same
day put in part of the seed Of the double
| petal flower.
Then came the long dry spell of June
| and the ground where the seed was
| PLANTED became hard and baked. They
| got very little moisture, and had 10 Ieed
| off of sand and clay. There was lach
of carbon and of phosphoric acid, which
| acts on a plant as liquor does on a man
| 1t was almost a complete Starvation ana
| the result showed it. When the rains
| did come the ground had become so had
| that the water ran off Instead OF soak
| irg in. The ground itself was enficheu
| some. but very little, and found that IN
| two months time my suntiowers had
| grown only H. inches
| when they began 10 come up an IN
,eresting thing showed. They grew with
| out order as to size. but so consistently
| and so true TO the type that there was no
| doubt at all that IT was a plain case oil
reyersion to the original Hover Even
| here IL did not stop. and found that the
| starvation had been so complete as 10
| carry the flower back TO a lower form
| than the original 1t was degraded and
| distorted In some Of the lower forms
The smallest plant that l got was not
| l2 inches high. and the largest was Just
| . 10 feet. There were no flowers over
inches across. It took them three months
to attain this growth
| THE most remarkable part about the
| whole thing was the unfailing consistency
about the diminished growth. The reduc-
| ton was along the lines OF the construc-
ton of the plant and 1t did not vary
| From the largest one of the plants IN ths
lot down to the original. every part ever
| formation was perfect The dwarfinS was
| general.
las the plant approached closer and
closer to the original, some OF the part
were missing, the number of petals dimln,
ished. but 1t still retained its nature ana
| followed the stalk. Below the orlslndI
plant there was shrinkage and as
| tortion. which showed that 1t had ho'
| reached its full growth. Ascending from
,ba very smallest plant, only a foot high
noting its peculiarities and impertectohs
until the plant Is reached where every
mart is perfected and the distortion ceases
then YOU know that you have iouho ','
original flower, and the ones aooVe II
while quite as perfect. are only lul'eE ue
velonments of the original, and sno" pFOs
ress. 49,, -,.,,+ ;s =
~ found that the original plant Is
sImple little flower, with a stalk aoou'
t,yo feet high and a flower just about as
| big as a silver quarter of a dollar ms
nroeress that has been made upon tni'
nIant and the evolution as shown IN oui
gardens of immense stalks eight Zee
high and flowers ten inches across, L
certainly wonderful. 1t has been eoi''
simply by taking advantage OF
thing that can affect the growth OF t','
nIanf and aid it. Fertilizer. phosphori'
acid carbon and plenty of moisture ar
some of the elements that have EVOLVED
the great blossom that is commonly seen
, ..T'he remarkable part about TINS eN
neriment of mine is that this chang
, from the very finest specimen to tn
, original and even far below the ortgina
, has taken place in one season II grea
many years had been required for tn
change naturalists would say that It wa
what could be expected from the doctrin
of evolution. But the abrupt and sud
den change in a few months Is some
thing that have never heard of before.
The specimens of Prof Uhler's sun
flowers have been pressed and will b
, preserved at the Maryland Academy 0
Sciences. Cathedral and Franklin Streets
, Prof. Uhler says that next summer he In
! tends to select seed from these dwar
plants. put them in fertile ground and TT
a number of further experiments