The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-08
wA-Klra AND MovINa PLANTS.
sundry Motions which Almost Com pei Thought that Vegetables See
 and Think.
ail Man Gazette.

London Pail Mall Gazette. 1
 Tn our common purple orehfds ana a may term geographical movement.a real traveiing of the plant If we dig ,,r one of these--the Tong purples oi Shakspeare-we shall find it's roots in which liberal shepherds call by srosser names" one in the process Of formation tho other formed last year. and now pe- ing drawn upon by the growing stem TOT have become wasted. while the new tu- Der will be supporting the new stem. and a newer tuher will be forming on the further side. This process goes on year after year. with the result that the stem spot the plant occupied twelve months previously, and in the course of dozen years Cfor the plant Is a perenniaD It VIII have moved about six inches toward the other side of the meadow. And so the poet feels justified in singing:
 The orchis takes
 It's annual step across the earth
 It Is somewhat extravagant to describe Is as moving toward the girdling of the earth, for the passing from one side Of field to the other would occupy vast period of time-even supposing that the annual movement were persistently in one direction, which there is some reason to doubt. Still 1t Is quite fair to include the orchis among walking plants.
 A similar action. though much more garden lilies and several of our spring towering bulbs. Tulips, If planted in the shadow of thick shrubs, such as ever greens, will walk away from them into the. lighter portion of the oorSer, ,,,ns nns does not actually move as such. but its substance is transferred piecemeal, and only the old chaffy skin is left. The bulb sends out a white shoot that runs hori- zontally below the ground until 1t has reached distance of several inches from the bulb. Then near it's point a swelling begins to assume the shape of tutp bulb which enIarges as the substance or the old bulb Is brought into 1t by way Of the white shoot. Next year the position, if not suitable, may be further changed by similar process. The solid form or a crocus. if examined by clearing on the soft fibrous skin that invests 1t. will be seen to have a number of "eyes' on it's surface, indicating the position ana number of future Towering stems. The material for these stems and howers IS drawn from the corm, which consequent ly becomes wasted: but while the flow ering goes on and after, the leaves and roots are at work elaborating new ma terial. The leaves become broader than they were and very long, but as summer aprpoaches, they become cOngested: their work is done, but the leaves do not drop of as do those of the tree. Instead. the whole of the nutritive substance they contain is drawn down to the base of each stem, where a new corn Is formed on the remains of the old one. As there were probably half dozen stems from | the old corm. we have now, instead of | that solitary corm, six new ones. By this means the patch of crocuS grows | larger every year. and the corms ap- proach nearer to the surface and become more accessible to the deIredations of mice.
 Then there comes a spring. when the sprouting corms are seen to be just below the surface, and consequently when the new ones are formed they are above 1t. When ripe and dry they get scattered about and so the clump that had per- haps got too crowded Is broken up and the corms are distributed. What hap pens next? The intelligent crocus. by the action of the wind or the scratching of some animal. having got upon new soil, proceeds to occupy it by sending down a shoot straight into the earth, and down this shoot all the substance of the corn descends and forms new crocus below.
 The movement of garden lilies, he con- tinues. especially Lilium auratum and Lilium speciosum, is still more apparent. Place bulb of Lilium auratum, the Japan. in the center of large flower pot. For a season or two 1t retains it's position: then 1t breaks up into num- Der of smaller bulbs. equaling or exceed ing in number the towering stems sent up the previous summer; but when these in turn give off each stem. 1t does not at once assume vertical direction, but shoots almost horizontally until 1t reaches the side of the pot. when 1t ris ,s erectly. You may plant. such bulbs in the garden border, and put in stake to mark the spot, and in the course of few years you will find that stake and plants are by no means so near each other as they were It will be obvious that some such method of dispersal is an advant- age, in some cases a necessity-with per- eniaI plants that increase far more rap Idly by divisions of the bulbs or tubers than they do by seeds. It Is probable that actual dispersion does not take place until the soil surrounding the clump of tulip or crocus or lily is becoming eX- hausted for that particular species, and the individuals are getting crowded.