The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger

EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON PLANTS

Observations made during the Arctic Expedition have brought to light one or two curious facts in connection with the powers of growth possessed by different plants under varying conditions of climate. American research has proved that the seeds of certain plants, if gathered in one climate and sown in another will germinate earlier or later, and with more or less vigor, according as the new climate is warmer or colder than the old. And even a perceptible change of climate is not required to show these results; a difference of a few degrees only in latitude is sufficient to do so. For example, wheat from Scotland, sown in the south of England, will germinate and ripen much more quickly than wheat of exactly similar quality gathered in the South and planted in the same latitude in which it was grown.

This fact is of the utmost importance to agriculturists. To secure early-growing wheat, it is only necessary to take care that the seed is gathered in a colder climate than that in which it was sown. The process is perfectly practicable, as it might be so arranged that the wheat sown in the North should not be consumed, but preserved for seed for the next season in the South. The same thing is noticeable among other plants, and florists and horticulturists might take advantage of this circumstance to produce both earlier and stronger plants than they do now without the appliances for forcing.

Another curious fact is that seeds—especially wheat—will stand an immense amount of cold without injury. Some wheat left in the Polar Regions by Captain Hall of the Polaris, in 1871, and found by Captain Nares, in 1875, germinated and produced healthy plants when sown under glass on board ship.

Capt. Allen Young, of the Pandora, has on board his yacht a curiosity in the shape of a rose tree, grown in England, which has been on board ever since he left England for the Arctic Regions. When in the Polar cold the tree drooped, and to all appearances, died; but as soon as the vessel reached a warmer climate the rose tree revived, and is now in full bloom and in a perfectly healthy condition. The functions of life had been suspended while the tree remained in the cold latitudes, but they were not destroyed. This fact is curious, as tending to prove that a tree which will stand frost at all will bear almost any amount of cold; and also that, if its natural growth and development are retarded at the proper season, the plant cannot defer the revival of its development till the next normal period, but will continue its development at the first opportunity, which, in this case, after the intense cold of the Arctic Regions, occurred in the more moderate cold—the comparative warmth—of an English November. It will be interesting to see if this plant blooms naturally at the proper season next year.—London Country.