The Washington herald., 1921-03-31
ACID SOIL MAKES WILD
FLOWERS GROW IN GARDEN.

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dent
ACID SOIL MAKES WILD
FLOWERS GROW IN GARDEN.
Wild flowers like acid soil and
they will grow in the backyard
garden il the earth Is like that In
which they naturally grow. DR.. Ed
gar T. Wherry Of the Department OF
Agriculture, told the Wild Flower
Preservation Society at its meeting
at the Wilson Normal School Com
munity Center last night
TT has been found that. contrary
to the opinion often held. the reac-
tion Of a soil appears to be very i'm
portant in determining what plants
can thrive in a given place" he said.
"Dr. r. V. Coville has shown. for
instance. that IL Is possible to do
mesticate the wild blueberry. the
trailing arbutus. and other plants OF
the Heath family IL care is taken 20
keep the soil acid. Tests OF the
soils supporting plants belonging TO
this family in many localities in the
Northeastern States have shown
that they. with few exceptions. IA
vor soils Of moderate to high acid
ity. other families Of plants which
have given interesting results in
this connection are the ferns. the
orchids. the saNifrageS and sedunrsi
and the gentians. Some Of these
require acid soils and others need
earth Of alkaline reaction"
Acids can be recognized by their
sour taste, n concentrated enough.
but a much more delicate means Of
detecting them consists in the use
of indicators. that is, dyes which
change their colors when mixed
wI:h acid solutions. he explained.
The most familiar Of these dyes is
litmus. which becomes red when
acid is added. and blue when an
slkslf. the opposite Of an acid. is
added. In recent years the Depart
ment % Agriculture has perfected a
series Of indicators which show
characteristic colors with different
degrees Of acidity and alkalinity.
DR.. wherry has applied these to the
study. in the field. Of the soil reac-
tions characterizing the growth Of
many wild flowers. shrubs and
trees.
DO not water your wiid-hover
garden with the piped city water"
warned DR.. wherry- He explained
that the Potomac River. which fur
nishes the city water supply. drains
limestone valleys and il quite aka
line Instead. rain water should
be collected in a barrel. and kept
acid by throwing in some bits or
partly decayed wood OF bark. pref
erably from pine trees. He pointed
out that soils could be made acid
by keeping them mulched with half
rotted oak leaves, sphagnUm moss.
chips of bark, and other such ma
terials BY this means il is not
difficult 20 grow many interesting
species which would die IL planted
in ordinary garden soil because IL
is neutral or alkaline. and usually
: too full OF clay and lacking in hu-
mus TO suit the wild flowers. he
declared.
Many lantern slides OF wild now
ers. carefully colored in natural
tints, were shown.
URGES FEDERAL PHYSICAL
TESTS FOR ANIATORS.
Physical fitness plays a greater
part in aviation than any other oc-
cupstion." declared Mai. L. II. Bauer.
z in charge Of the Medical Research
, Laboratory OF the Air Service. in
urging proper licensing Of air pilots
Now that aeroplanes are used. not
only by the army and navy. for war
purposes. but for photography. map
pinc. coast patrol. forest FIRE patrol
and by the Post Office Department
for the carrying Of mail. and by va
rious civilian concerns for carrying
passengers and freight. the flyer
should be examined for physical fit-
ness as well as nols a certificate OF
training II is even more important
that the aviator be physically Mt
than il is in the case OF the naVigs-
tor or the automobile operator. he
says. A Federal license based on
the rules formulated by the Allied
Conference on Aviation, and periodic
physical examinations during the
hying career should be required, he
urges.
Take the question Of the eyes.
for example" says Maj. Bauer. The
ordinary individual is concerned
chiefly with straight ahead vision.
Ia his vision is defective he can
wear correcting glasses. The svis-
tor should not wear glasses. GLASSES
blur the edge Of his visual field and
may become broken. lost or fogscd.
The automobilist can keep his eyes
fixed on the road straight ahead.
He needs to see a short distance On
either side Of the road also. The
aviator. however. must he able to
see in all directions and at all levels.
To do this he must turn his head as
! far as possible and then turn his
eyes to an extreme angle. His visual
fields must be normal in size SO be
may pick up images at the periphery
Of his fields There are six muscles
which control the movements Of
each eye. These muscles normally
function together in such a way that
the image received in one eye falls
on a corresponding spot in the other
eye, with the result that we see but
one object
IF any one OF these muscles is
defective TO an important degree.
the image may fall in different
places In the two eyes when the
eyes are turned in a certain direc-
tion. with the result that two i'm
ages Of one object are seen and the
man cannot tell which is the correct
one. Weak eye muscles are very
common. The ordinary person is
unaware Of IL because he looks
straight ahead most Of the time.
| IL he looks to the side he turns
his head to do so. But the aviator
has to look in all directions and II
] he has any defect in his eye mus-
cles he will see double at some time
or other.
WILL ExcAvArE ANCIENT
PREHISTORIC RUIN.
! To unearth and reconstruct the
Yucka House Monument ruins that
were inhabited in prehistoric times
by the first Americans will be the
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