Evening star., 1936-12-31
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

lilies, garden gentians. several kinds of
gardenia and several species of orchid.
She pictured time when there may be
only a few Zealously guarded specimens
of all these plants in botanical gardens,
laboriously pollinated by hand by scien-
fists, while the Government tries to
establish hawk moth and bumblebee pre-
serves.
The possible insect preserves pictured
by DR.. Patch would be gardens" in
charge of Government entomologists
where such weeds as milkweed, wood
bine. ETC.. would actually be cultivated
for the benefit of caterpillars and where
creatures now often regarded as pests
would be rigidly protected.
Surplus material, she said, could be
transplanted from place to place by
squads of reserves" on emergency call.
Another possibility, she said, will be the
planting on all farms of hedges of haw-
thorne. wild plum, wild cherry and other
trees. Then, instead of killing cater
pillars on orchard trees. the farmer could
remove them by hand and transport them
to these hedges. 1t may become neces-
sary. she intimated. for farmers to plant
few extra rows of potatoes or tomatoes
as food for the insects which normally
live on these plants and are considered
as pests. Also it may be necessary for to-
bacco growers to set aside about l
per cent of their crop for the rearing Of
sphinx caterpillars.
Insect destruction today, she stressed,
may be in about the stage of soil de-
struction a generation ago. It now is
eroSion-waSted soil and insect deStruc-
ton may lead to similar result If it is
not taken in hand.
ATLANTIC CITY, December 3d.
There are self-generated electrical cur
rents In plants which may have the same
function as the animal nervous system.
. Experimental evidence to this effect
was presented before botanists of the
American Association for the Advance
ment of Science here today by DR.. E. J.
Lund of the University of Texas. A plant
cell, DR.. Lund said, produces through its
chemical structure continuous electric
current which always flows in one di-
rection. Work with onion roots has
demonstrated that such cells may be
arranged in the form of batteries of cells
in series and parallel, thus sending
constant current in one direction
through the structure Of the plant.
Where such currents are found In
growing regions. such as root tips and
buds, the growth is always in the same
direction, he said. Complex internal ar
rangements Of plant growth also are gov
erned by the direction Of the currents.
The University Of Texas experiments, DR..
Lund said. lead to the hypothesis that the
primary function Of such currents is for
the transportation of such things as
growth hormones and water in the di-
rections in which it is the inherent nature
Of plant to grow.
The plant electricity seems to be
created in some complex way, he said, by
the alternate processes in breathing in
and out Of carbon dioxide. the elemental
process by which the vegetable kingdom
increases its own substance and provides
food for the animal kingdom.
OF fundamental Importance. he said, Is
the discovery that the direction Of growth
in roots and the tips Of plants by sending
through the cells electric currents from
without. Thus they may be maeA -