Show arck Jack frost Frosi dd a ft INS 1 1 wi aa Q S N I 1 by ROBER H fl MOULTON OULTON HE scientists are am upsetting many of our popular notions nations nowadays ad the th latest test theory ill they lie have disproved baa be to do ad with th the floor effect ot of cold it apon pla plant I 1 life in our northern etalea tat ratio valle we as be hae ol 01 1 arst araia believed battered that jade jack frost was a the arch client enemy y 0 of blant le nt life to and that if it lair ere not lard f for or him m a we e heie have fl flowre and a fruits and grads perhaps all the tha year fear round mund the scientists now tell us that jack Is in the main a burned cent of old fellow they adult admit that if lie cornea comes too mary early or stays to y 6 too lot late his bis visit Is like aka ly IF I 1 to a prove embarrassing yet it if he did pot not come at all which me means if we me did mot cot but haie say any cold weather the majority 1 of plants in our northern catl fad budea would mould law blow grow growth th in the all tpring ring it Is as hard to believe th that the be at effect t of cold 1 Is to stimulate stimulant A rather the I 1 than retard plant growth but ba that Is 1 what we ire are now informed actually happens experts of the department tf of agriculture are responsible tor for this theory they back up the theory v ith the results of tudd numerous on experiments however and it results are ahat count one fact stands clear in these i ft t tha h dormant condition of certain plants in winter Is not lot the file result of cold and freezing moreover cold sit stimulates diatto the r revival jal of life to in the file plant n I 1 when spring comes such A n exploration explanation ot of the effect of cold Is to new 0 or to the everyday reader made who is d used oil to looking boll 9 upon winter air aa a dot det to plant life forcing the all eurus rud b into a dormant state scarcely c aly better belle e than death but healthy husky bosky blueberries B hah wom vere 1 in a poi go ei n input a greenhouse it im went want to sleep imp just L the same do despite the fact that tile the air 1 we was kept at a grow lag tempe temperature ratum GB rt og she hie shrubs it Is true ru d not go to bed bad so early as they dill did when wee jack jeck frost front used to hurry bourry them film off air and in the warm nind greenhouse the plants went rat into a dormant condition exactly like that of others outside in the cold a and d an snow allow Mo moreover they were late in missing when spring came some in ID if deed ad slept through the whole bear ear I 1 ahe he intercom inference 1 ie that the planca ita period id of dormancy Is 1 a seasonal at matter it not lid induced at d by ili the cold but that filet ili the early at and luxuriant growth grooth mount cannot occur octo to unless the plant has fins been through period a period of chill temperature two interesting experiments were conducted with blueberry plants planta as proof of lilt tills 1 in the middle ot of fob mary a blueberry plant which had she it its leaves imm and become became dormant ado 1 in a warm c greenhouse maintained at a grohse temperature of 70 dec degrees s w was put ted red and set eat in the mouth slid end of the greenhouse A small 11 opening mes as made andie la f the ch glass cad rid through in sh this opening one crall of ft the two stems of the plant plat t was t thrust h grusd the open space apace about the stem m where heit passed through the glass being carefully plugged during fit the re reft t of fit the odid winter or lie plant remained in tile imme position the pot and add one me train item continuing in the arm te a p etude of the greenhouse while oz tile the stem projecting electing pr through h the glass aras Ir exposed posed to the rho rigors of winter later with its alternate free freezing zig and ft thawing owing A about b out tile the middle of april tl alie a out outdoor door braich started into at nr am mal fraid growth ch the tail indoor branch continued combined dorbart A modification of this experiment vi was 1 to conducted duct oil at the hie same vale time with another plant lant in this mose case the plant was bet act on a shelf outside the green house and a single branch run ran through the glass into ft uie warm interior r W when is jezior Il spring tirla came in it n as ad the interior b brunch ch that re remained allied dormant all 11 the out at aid elda branches putting out it leaves promptly thus thug the two tort experiments served it to cheek check each tr other F from fda da a colip comparison le rif of these as two a chrt i experiments it JS is evident ideal that t the alt furnace in boda behavior vior of 0 the indoor and outdoor branches could not tiare ham ham caused by any special action of the root a system astern tor for in one ex experiment parlin e nt the roots mow were vere onside cialdea and 1 in the tha other out it la Is clear that the causes that stimulated growth 1 in tho the exposed sterna atoms operated la in the stem atom itself not at 1 IQ the roots T the he theory la is that the cold weakens ili the plant I 1 at tells cells and imrch by domi destruction dern 1 lu part to turna tl the starch to sugar thus assuring new growth this event it 1 la asserted I 1 cannot t take place it if the plants are protected from train frost a and cellular injury A little cong consideration 1 dera it hlll 11 1 show allow now bow important the principle of chi chilling ling ts is to those game species of trees times and shrubs which are subjected each ch year to se eral aral months of ft freezing weather the it it th they cy are am so ad constituted as to start into growth as a easily a ally in the A warm arm das dais of late tall fall alt aa they do to in the warm marm days of early spring many species would mould mine come lito flowers and lent leaf in those autumn spelts spells that we tell call radio indian zonal summer luer and the stored stated food that the plant required f for or it its normal li vigorous gormas growth grooth in the following spring would mould be wasted led 1 lo 10 a burst buret of new autumn growth which would mould be killed by the ft farst heavy 1 freezes z an and d would amal it be followed by a int winter e r of weakness no and it probable it each death but when two or thron three months of chilling calling ate aie necessary before a new a ta ly IF dermint plant will respond illo old to the A bual effect 1 hat of o warmth radt such auch plants giants are pro protected t acted against the dangers of growth in indian summer it 1 Is able that ai all I 1 our native t trees reas and all shrubs are thus protected anyone may nake make a simple and 1 in structure tive experiment in the foil fall and ad winter inter with much auch early spring bloom mrs ers na as alder hazelnut pussy willow yellow bush jasmine I 1 foray amyth tb I 1 la japanese a quince A peach and ad plu plum in mid autumn irma bring into to your ihling bmg room dad set in water freshly cut dormant leafless bran branches chas ot of these them plants they will not bloom at intervals of a few weeks acobe during I 1 the he late autumn town and add winter try the same ex petticoat again it will be found that the branches cut at later late dates will come into bloom u under ider this treatment they will not at d do 0 do ao however until the lite expiration of the period chilling appropriate to the various kinds of plants included tn in the experiment I 1 it alit ill argued that J in tile me I 1 trap P im there 1 Is no chilling weather yet that tross trees rod and flamboe spring into gride growth t 11 after the dormant period of the dry season ramada just a as they do in tion fern el elaire fire utter the dormant period of winter the critical scientific man mill therefore ask are there them not oth gib re er agencies than chilling which will start dormant time and shrubs limbs into growth men in our mor a own latitude it mut be said in ri reply that hot the A it are and it li bi worth rth while to a conf cider some a of the these causes f for or out not only italy or are they of interest in but also alan in stead of weaL weakening the hypothesis hes here presented they serve to en bud and conom it the of a long dormant plant i will often start it into growth girdling girding produces a similar result notch ing m the at stem a in does doea the sand bame rubbing bi the 1 felem I also starts the plant into growth in ai all these theme inta examples plat of the stimulation tin alit 0 of growth by injury it I 1 conceded led l that the eney or soluble ferment which to la found in all plants and which thich transforms starch into sugar 1 la brought tat into comat contact rt with ith 0 the starch BB as a direct result of the breaking and straining of the mile cells thus musing causing sugar bugar to be formed and growth to begin tropical plants plant a probably have various methods of coming out ot of their dormancy and ad there them 1 la aery cry real reason to expect flair some borne of them will be found to accomplish this act I 1 in the flat same way a aa our long dil dormant greenhouse greenbaum by the weakening at f their that cel call lids Is in effect add substantially ly identical with sith chilling As IL ft single ea example dample of the practical 1 of the principle of chill ing it may be stated that the fists ot I 1 the he department of agrical lif to lure in e efforts to domesticate the wild bid blueberry a hairy plant til ant have succeeded sucie eded through d gh the medium of hybrids in taing thee plants lot into highly orighly productive ducai a be bearing ling they have ham made ad so them fruit GO 1 luxuriously and it shard antly that they brought returns to the g grow a era at tile the rate of more than 1 en an acre in a word t they ll 11 ey changed the blueberry from a sma email 11 wild fruit tile the size of a pea pan to a ircia fruit almost the size of a concord grape and they th ey he hae made its culture a profitable b industry TI these less things they would mould not have been able to do however hammer note unless they had first worked out the principle of chilling an understanding of was essential to their work of breed lag ing and ad G going mil still fill furt further he ili the A re its si tor far these improved verb tits if of at blae blueberries berries have made do yield in greenhouses rip alpo blithe in february and march the larg largest car b berries chat reaching a diame diameter I 1 er or of over me three quarters of an well inch at various times from arld midsummer r to autumn the tha plants desere were placed in t i ass flamm wit artl delally chilled after two too or thres three months th chilling illing they were taken into a greenhouse and at once began grow ing and flowering ave idu allar plants that had bad not been through tile chilling period continued dormant in the saim mine greenhouse this 1 la adOl additional thadd proon or of the fad fact that a period of 1 g U lic a general requirement ot of northern plants plant |