The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-08-28
WONDERS OF VEGETATION.
Great Lifting Powers of Plants-Re

Great Lifting Powers of Plants-Re- markable Growths.
 The fertility of some members of the vegetable world is really astounding. Thus, an ounce of onion seed which was sown in garden at Newton Ab- pot produced no less than four hun dred pounds of onions. This will give some idea as to the prolific nature of vegetables, but it is by no means an isolated example.
 ! For instance, at Musbury, village near Administer, an agriculturist planted an ordinary winter cattle bean The average individual, if asked how many beans made five would make a different answer from that which the agriculturist would give. His single bean produced no fewer than six hun dred and sixty beans.
 Very extraordinary is the force ex- erted by growing vegetation, A curi- ous example of this fact has been fur nished in the gardens at Kelsey Park, lBeckenham. Signs of cracking were observed in the brickWork of a frame and gradually block was. pushed out of position. This weighed in the ag- gregate over one and one-half hun ldredweight. Several bricks had to be lcut out by the workmen, and then they found 8 mass of mushrooms, only lthree pounds three ounces in weight lgrowing in the center of the wall
 Melons are extremely strong; in fact, lnna hos t,o raica o i.rI,t amounting to two and half tons. A
 well known student of nature tried to estimate the strength of melon when lit was eighteen days old and measured twenty-seYen inches in circumference. He fixed sort of harness around it.,
 with long arm or lever attached, and Iso was able to measure the force of the
 melon by the weight it lifted at the
 end of the lever, When about twenty
 days old-that is, a couple of days af-
 ter the harness had been fixed omit lexerted a strength of sixty pounds, !, while seventeen days afterward it ac-
 tually lifted five thousand pounds
 weight
 | The seed of the globe turnip meas NASo OAiiS NAbOul lllG lh NAAlANNAl peAl Y VI
 an inch in diameter, yet in the course of month or two 1t will enlarge into !, twenty seven million times its original
 bulk, In addition to the large crop of
 leaves.
 In fact, by careful experiment it has
 been found that turnip seed. under
 favorable conditions, will increase its
 own weight fifteen times in minute. | ITurnips growing in peat ground have
 been found to increase more than if teen thousand times the weight of
 their seed in a single day. By excep-
 tlonal means, such as by drugging even this may be exceeded,
 In this connection it may be added : that by drugging plants and other veg } etables their rate of growth can be in. creased to an astonishing extent When placed in alright dens and fec , on either for twenty-four or twenty. six hours, until they become permea. ted with the fumes, they mature II about half the time 1t takes them tC
 devulop naturally, It Is confidently ex. Ipected that this method of druggine , will work revolution in the methods , of forcing flowers and garden vegeta , blel
 The cleverness of plants Is extremely
 remarkable, and some of them employ the most ingenious strategems when ever danger threatens them. There is
 for example a species of minosa fl
 South Africa which feigns death fl
 times of danger. This is evidently fol
 the purpose of preventing grass eating animals from plucking It. While in { natural state the plant Is of vivit
 hue, yet directly 1t is touched by any living animal 1t collapsed into a tangl,
 of apparently dead and withered stems
 Among British wild plants, by far tht
 most sensitive Is that of the insectlv, orous sundew, which Is found on bog
 gy land,
 Notwithstanding their vitality, mem bers of the vegetable world will no flourish in smoky towns, Even thu hardy trees have no love for those pro
 ducts of modern civilization It is wei , to know that horticulturists are al most unanimous in giving their vote tt : the plane as the best tree for planting in smoky towns Where the smoke il not too dense, 1t is found that lines ) sycamores, poplars, elms, horse chest , nuts and Turkey oaks do well, but tha , practically exhausts the list. Amonl
 the shrubs which will grow are hollies , laurelc, japonicas, mountain ashes ant almost any hardy evergreens.-L , ITit-Bits.