Evening star., 1930-06-21

There is more than the thought Of
the flowers that have given beauty to
Death Valley, desert place of Cali
fornia, in the reports Of new vegetation
in that region, after years of barren
wastes. Americans are specializing as
to the source of the seeds that pro-
duced the flowers, and as to the pos
SibilitieS of making other waste places
contribute to the countrys agricultural
output.
For 10 days in May" says the
Omaha World Herald showers fell on
this forlorn stretch of country known
the world over for its barren, bleak,
menacing mien. One of those miracles
to talk about has been startlingly DEM
onstrated there. Seeds from ancient
flowers, perhaps ages old, buried in
this lava, mineral, dried-out soil of
the ages, have been quickened into
life. The seeds of life seem
unquenchable, all-powerful and all-pre-
serving under circumstances that afford
all sorts of speculations and parallels
for the philosophic mind. Our under
standing is, we often think, quite won-
derful in this progressive day. We tele-
phone, we motor, we fly, we radio
around the world and wonder what else
there is for the inventive mind to dis
cover that really amounts to anything.
But here are little seeds of life, dor
mant perhaps for centuries, bursting
into growing plants and varied bloom.
The thought makes us humble. We
are not sure we know very much after
ALL"
Those seeds 60 there in some way"
remarks the Akron Beacon-Journal
"and 1t will be a most interesting story
when the men of science tell us just
how it happened. One may also spec
ulate on whether resurrection also
awaits Death Valley. Mutation is
always going on in nature. AS strange
as it may seem, the deserts of Cobb
were once land of tropical luxuriance
and beauty. Figs once grew in abun-
dance in Labrador. Nearly all OF
Europe once lay under an ice pack
thousands of feet deep. A goodly part
of Ohio was also once covered with a
sheet of ice which may have been over
1000 feet thick. Just why the ice has
several times slipped down from the
Portable places into a long death Of
thousands of years, we do not know
for certain. But we do know there
has always been an end to that death"
X X X
"The phenomenon shows what may
be done in reclaiming deserts" accord
ing to the Miami Daily News. I'm less
torrid deserts of the West irrigation
has accomplished a great deal. A
Frenchman who hopes to make the
Sahara bloom Is in this country to
study such projects The resurrection
of Death Valley will interest him. If
engineers can find water under the
sands the same may be done with
Sahara"
quoting a report from the San An
tonic News on the subject, the New
Castle News discusses the scientific
question presented. This report states:
pick 100 varieties, and he covered a
radius of only so yards His collection
included asters, Towering grasses, wood
sorrel, columbine, larkspur, lilies, blue
bells. geraniumS, daisies, buttercupS,
poppies, paintbruSh, purple sage, cac-
tuS dandelions, hedge mustard and
other species less common and fami-
lar" The New Castle paper comments
on the report: How came all those
seeds there and how long had they lain
dormant waiting for the waters life
giving touch? Probably some had been
carried many miles by the wind; others
had lain there q half century or longer.
The vital spark is remarkably persistent.
Mother Nature is a prodigal Sower, vet
in another sense she is economical. She
overlooks no opportunity to propagate
species. She seeds the desert on the
chance that perhaps in 100 years or so
1t will rain"
+ 4 X
Death Valleys wastes of burning
sand" records the st. Louis Globe
Democrat, have become blankets of
thick purple. 1t appears to be one of
Natures wasteful gestures, for we must
believe that the millions of plants of
all description have been made to bios
som only that they may die under the
sufocating heat that Is probably al
ready upon them. It Is reasonable 70
expect that they viii wither and die