The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-08

ana allowing the dirt around their roots to get very dry. Under the old systems of forcing they would now be planted in the hothouse, but when the autumn Is warm and damp the immediate results are small. The shrubs will develop a few flowers, but the majority of the flower buds will abort or dry up; the flowers that bloom will be of little value and the horticulturist, left to himself. is at the mercy of natural conditions
 Now with the application of anaes- thetics all changes. The grower Is not obliged to wait till early spring to force his towering shrubs, but can make them bloom again from July and August on. from four to five months earlier than is possible by the old methods. Further more, the forcing-time is shortened by fif- teen or twenty days. and all Instead of only a few of the flower buds, are forced to bloom" E
 ,''You have taken your shrubs up." I said, to hurry him.
 'Unless they be planted in pots," he corrected.
 What do you do next?''
 Using the Ether.
 "They must, in both cases. be allowed to stand a few days under protected shed, to dry the earth around their roots. because the, ether penetrates wet earth with too great facility. We use pure sul- phurous ether. marking 65 degrees and weighing 72o grammes. The etheriz- ing must be done in some absolutely tight space, which must not be opened during the process; a great wooden box, with its joints filled with putty and well paint ed all over, will serve. though the ideal. I fancy, will be found to be an immense zinc bell, such as M. Aysard. in the south of France. is using.
 "The shrubs are placed very close to each other. and the soil around their | roots Is we'll covered with sand. Then the | big wooden box or zinc bell Is lowered | over them, and dirt is packed around its lower edges to prevent the ether fumes escaping"
 How do you put in the ether. then?' "You understand that the box is plac- | ed over the plants upside down, so that
 what I call its top is really it's bot | tom?'
 "Certaintly."
 "As the specific gravity of the ether
 vapors is greater than that of the att mosphere, the ether ought to be always | suspended in a can from the top of the ! box or bell inside 1t, so arranged that
 the ether can be poured into 1t by means of a funnel through a hole that can | be afterward dramatically sealed. The | dose of ether to employ. no matter what may be the number of bushes, Is from ! fnlTIy-nV6 tO IOILy bi dhHS pCA hCStOhsOA | of air (capacity of the box or belD at an average temperature of r to 19 degrees eentigrade. This is for. northern tenn perate climate. In the climate of the south of France and along the Mediter-
 raneon less ether has been found to work better" "The plants remain in this state, gets ting drunk during forty-eight hours in July-August,, but they often require sev- -xxun nf if fV 2anfaVnhor- -OrAn- Der. Or we can very advantageously apply two ether trunks of forty-eight hours each with forty-eight hours be- tween" "Then what happens?"
 Result of the Drunk. "The result of the drunk is this: If
 the shrubs are still covered with leaves | these fall, as under the influence of a | first frost or prolonged drought. The
 buds swell. and if you look carefully you can note a tension of their scales. l indicating that vegetation has begun.
 And this continues rapidly if they are | put immediately into the forcing hot | house and treated by the ordinary meth
 ods. If before giving them their ether | drunk the bushes have already lost their
 leaves. the swelling of the buds becomes
 marvelously rapid"
 Do you always use ether?" asked
 finally.
 NO; chloroform will do as well; and
 in some cases, such as the duetzia gra. l ellis the prunus triloba, it does better
 but in reduced doses It's density Is twice
 as high and its action four times as
 strong as that of ether. Therefore it's
 dose, by cubic meter of air. ought to be | between eighty and 100 grammes. And
 further, as 1t penetrates more slowly and
 acts less quickly, it demands a longer
 time to make your plants properly drunk always more than forty-eight hours '' Happy flowers!" I exclaimed. Does
 anyone know how and why booze has so fortunate an effect upon them?" Now you are coming to biology" said
 my horticulturist. There is hot dispute
 among biologists Some say that as
 plants have no nervous system they can
 not get drunk"
 That seems reasonable" answered. others say that as plants get drunk. | they must have a nervous system"
 And that seems reasonable, too. | Sterling Heilig.