The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1922-02-24
BY RosER. H. fioULTcN

he SCIGullSIS are uDSSIIluS
many of our popular notions
nowadays. The latest theory
Al they have disproved has to
80 do with the effect of cold up
sP on plant life in our northern
states. While we have al
ways believed that Jack Frost was the
arch enemy of plant life, and that if it
were not for him we would have flow
erS and fruits and grass perhaps all
the year round, the scientists now tell
US that Jack is in the main a Denefi-
cent old fellow.
They admit that if he comes too
early or stays too late, his visit is like
~ to prove embarrassing. Yet if he did
not come at all, which means if we did
not have any cold weather, the ma
jOrity of plants in our northern lati-
tudeS would show slow growth in the
spring. 1t is hard to believe that the
effect of cold is to stimulate rather
than retard plant growth, but that is
what we are now informed actually
happens. Experts of the Department
of Agriculture are responsible for this
Revolutionary theory. They back up
the theory with the results of numer-
Gus experiments, however, and results
are what count.
One fact stands clear in these eX-
perimentS-the dormant condition of
certain plants in winter is not the re-
suit of cold and freezing; moreover,
cold stimulates the revival of life in
the plant when spring comes. Such
an explanation Of the effect of cold is
new to the everyday reader, who is
used to looking upon winter air as det-
rimental to plant life, forcing the
shrub into a dormant state scarcely
better than death. But healthy, husky
blueberries which were in a govern
ment greenhouse event to sleep" just
the same, despite the fact that the air
was kept at a growing temperature.
The shrubs, it is true, did not go to
bed so early as they did when Jack
Frost used to hurry them off, and in
the warm greenhouse the plants went
into a dormant condition exactly like
that of others outside in the cold and
SHO". cONSI, Lllcy were ldIt III
waking when spring came. Some, in
deed, slept through the whole year.
The inference is that the plants pc
Rod of dOrmancy is a seasonal matter
not induced by the cold, but that the
early and luXuriant growth cannot Oc-
cur unless the plant has been through
a period oS chill temperature
Two interesting experiments were
conducted with blueberry plants as
proof of this. In the middle of Feb
ruary a BURBERRY plant which had
shed its leaves and become dormant
temperature Of 20 degrees was repOt-
ted and set in the south end of the
greenhouse. A small opening was
made in the glass, and through this
opening one of the two stems of the
plant was thrust, the open space about
the stem where it passed through the
glass being carefully plugged. During
the rest of the winter the plant re-
manned in the same position, the pot
and one stem continuing in the warm
temperature of the greenhouse, while
the other stem, projecting through the
glass, was exposed to the rigors of
winter, with its alternate freezing and
thawing. About the middle of April
the outdoor branch started into nor
NAL growth, while the indoor branch
continued dormant.
A modification of this experiment
was conducted at the same time with
another plant. In this case the plant