Show Artificial Light H Helps Speed Growth of Plants By MAUD CHEGWIDDEN Telegram Garden Editor It sometimes happens that an average housewife stumbles onta onto ont onton a n scientific fact in her ordinary pursuits about the home which i is later discovered and disseminated among a great blare of publicity by scientific men Such uch a case has been brought to to tomy my notice in connection with house plants just recently A few years ears ago a friend told told me the tho following story She Invariably in invariably invariably in- in variably sat at in the evenings in a certain chair to read or sew Bew At Ather Ather Ather her left was a small table on which she kept her sewing basket or books booles and where she also had placed a dish garden made with tiny plants set in earth Over the table was a reading lamp which besides giving her illumination for her work cast a a bright light for three or four hours each evening on the dish garden Grows Faster She began to notice how this dish garden grew and flourished far more than plants plan which she had in ina a a. window of the same room As an experiment she took the dish garden garden garden gar gar- den away from the table and re replaced replaced replaced re- re placed it with one of ot the tho window plants That too grew more be beneath beneath beneath be- be neath the rays of the electric light bulb than it had in the window Ve We talked about it at the time I re remember remember re- re member but paid no more than passing Interest to it Now comes a scientist who ha has proved b by long and complicated experiments that plants may b be made t to really do wonders b by means me-ans of artificial light Commercial Commercial Com Corn mercial growers may make their plants bloom earlier than is usua usual by using artificial light combined with the available hours of daylight daylight daylight day day- light and thus they will obtain higher prices for blooms which ar arthe are the first on the market It was proved that by using this thi supplemental lighting along wit with ordinary daylight flowers could b be obtained from plants as much a aa as asa asa a whole month earll earlier r than th the same varieties grown in like Jlko concH cond except without the added art artifIcial arU arti- I light and not only were flowers flowers flow low lowers ers forced into bloom earlier but bli thero there were more individual blossoms blos- blos bios bios- on each plant and they were larger and the thc stems longer an and stronger Scientists foresee great poss possibilities in this knowledge O Of course its main benefit will be t to the commercial grower but there ther I is no reason why the home gardener garden garden- er or with his wIndowsills filled tilled with potted bulbs cacti ferns and other house plants may not have some Interesting in interesting interesting In- In things thing to tell in connection connection tion with experiments he conducts too Let us try it shall we wel QUERIES Mrs H. H F. F Magna writes Can the Christmas rose niger be grown in Magna Ans I 1 I see no reason why it shouldn't Do you know that some of the finest dahlias I ever saw Imy i imy in my life were grown in Magna an anby and by no less a person than your sheriff slier sher Itt iff The Christmas rose sometimes called the Lenten rose is is' is isone one of the loveliest things one can have Inthe in inthe inthe the garden Plant it any anytime ime now now when your our soil Joil can be worked so Ol that it will wm be well wen established be- be tore winter comes if it not planted until fall faU it sometimes mes dies the first winter It likes partial shade shado and a soil soU of light texture rich in Ie leaf at j mold and it must have plenty of ot moisture This last is one of the most frequent causes of ot failure failures with it Itin in our climate |