THE PLANT WOULD UNDER CARE. 



421 



AFTER SHAKING. 



certain so-called higher forms of life. 



Surely the more one studies the sen- 

 sitive plant, the more one must realize 

 that it is alive, and who am I to draw 

 distinctions between one life and an- 

 other?'' Can there be more than one 

 kind of life? Are not all forms of life 

 merely the opposite of death ? If so, 

 why not admit or even assert that 

 plant life differs from ours only in 

 quantity. 1 his is not merely fancy. 

 Let us go to the plant itself. For a 

 few cents, seeds may be obtained from 

 any seed house, and the plant grown 

 in any bed in the garden as easily as 

 turnips, beets or lettuce. In fact the 

 ■-oil requires about the same treatment 

 for the sensitive plant as for turnips, 

 and the method of sowing the seed is 

 practically the same as for any garden 

 \ egetable. 



I have, however, in my third 

 season's experiments found it a great 

 advantage to have several plants 

 growing hi boxes or in (lower pots. 

 By this method one can get a side 

 view more readily and successfully, so 



as to be enabled to study the wonder- 

 ful movements of the leaflets, or of the 

 leaf-stalk as a whole, than when the 

 plants are sprawling over the ground 

 like unsupported tomato vines. 



The accompanying illustration 

 shows a profuse growth in a box about 

 eighteen inches long, ten inches wide 

 and five inches deep. ibis box was 

 set on a table in front of a white sheet 

 and a view taken of the plants in their 

 normal condition. The plate was then 

 changed and another view taken after 

 their peculiar and characteristic move- 

 ments had followed the intentional 

 disturbance. Perhaps the logical 

 method would have been to reverse 

 this process, and to take the normal 

 appearance first but I disturbed it by 

 moving it from the greenhouse plat- 

 form, so that all the leaflets were 

 closed when 1 placed it on the experi- 

 mental table, and I had to wait for 

 nearly five minutes before the- plant 

 lost its fear of the intruding enemy, if 

 1 may use the expression, and gave me 

 the open view that I then desired. 



