The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-14
THE GROWTH OF PLANTS.
An Apparatus Amy Smart boy Can
Make.

Make.
Any boy possessing little ingenuity can
construct a device which viii enable him
10 watch a plant growing He may act
ually see the plant moving upward as II
grows, if the recording apparatus is made
with accuracy. The various parts OF this
apparatus are to be found in any wel reg
ulated household. First, you need an empty
spool, next a clothespin, then the leaden
weight off of a dipsy fish line, a short
length Of board, a wooden stick and rye
or wheat straw. These form the principal
parts Of the recording instrument
a glance at the illustration, which al
most explains Itself, win show how these
things are assembled. The spool Is secured
al right angles to The end of the wooden
stick by means of a round nail. The spool
should turn easily on this nail. The stics
is thrust firmly into the flower pot con-
tanning the plant The clothespin should be
nailed or glued 10 wooden base SO that
1t will stand points upward. IL Is to he
used as fulcrum support for a lever The
lever is TO be made Of a straw. II should
be firm and strong and about one yard
long. AT about two inches from one end It
should be secured between the arms of The
ny lIH hSI4HB olIbbE Hii
through the arms and straw in the manner
shown In the Illustration. See that It see
saws easily on its pivot
You will observe that IL the short end of
the see-saw moves up or down an inch
the long end win move up and down near
ly foot and q half. This exaggeration
will be found most useful 1t enables us
10 see the plant growing. For instance,
IL you tie a string to your plant, run the
4 IT. a
sly weight on the other end of the string
rest on the short end of the straw, the
plant In growing will let down the weight
gradually The weight will push down
the straw, the long end of which will rise
up with an exaggerated movement which
will show the rate OF growth, nagni6ed.
If you wish to record this growth you can
draw scale on a fiat piece OF board and
note how high your plant rises each day.
OF course your dipsy weight should just
over-balance your straw, otherwise you
stand in danger of having the top Of your
plant cut off.
In order that you may get some visible
movement Of your straw pointer, you
should experiment on a quick-growing
plant. The lily, the narcissus and the
common onion are all very fast growers
| Perhaps the onion would be the best of
| the three, because II is the most common
fctltGt al OAilCAi Aildt ~ ADguN 10 iOWtE.
| The end of the flower stalk will be slight
| ly dubious and the neck of this bulb will
make a good place over which to put a
| slip moose on the end of your string. Adj
just the weight SO that your straw pointer
| win point 20 the bottom of your scale and
then await results. An onion will grow
| ever an inch in a day at certain periods
| of its life. This being the case, your
pointer win rise IS inches in a day. But
the onion will not grow uniformly at this
rate. II viii grow faster at one period Of
| the twenty-four hours than at another.
! You may keep record and find out how
| much IL varies. 1t will not be too much
| to expect that your pointer win rise an
| inch an hour at certain periods Of the day.
| Experiment with all the plants at your
comamnd and find out which are the
| quickest growers. Theodore Walters.