20 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



asparagin, or more accurately, nitrogen in the form of asparagin, exceeds the rapidity 

 of the decomposition of the albumins. 



Another series is described in which 4 experiments were made with Pisum mtivum, 

 in order to ascertain the influence of the temperature upon the energy of the decom- 

 position. Comparative experiments at 20°, 28°, and 35° C. were made with the fol- 

 lowing results: The increase of temperature produces on the process of the decompo- 

 sition of albumin an influence analogous to that which temperature produces on the 

 respiration, but unlike the influence on the process of growth. 



The formation of albumins, in the process of assimilation, from the products of 

 their decomposition, is described. Numerous experiments were made in the years 

 1895, 1896, 1897, and 1898 with Vicia faha, Pisum sativum, Phaseolus vmltlflorus, 

 Luphms luteus, and Cucurbita pepo. The results can be summed up as follows: 



Plants which germinate in the light destroy albuminous substances just as energet- 

 ically as those germinating in the dark; at a later period, when the leaf surface has 

 developed, there begins the regeneration of albumin. In some plants this stage 

 occurs 10 to 15 days from the beginning of the germination, while in others, Vicia and 

 Faba, considerably later. The regeneration of albumin takes place at the expense 

 of asparagin, as well as of other amido compounds, or the consumption of asparagin 

 falls behind the consumption of other amido compounds. The leaves must be con- 

 sidered as the place of the most energetic regeneration of the alljuminous substances, 

 and analyses corroborate this a priori conclusion. 



In the fourth and last chapter are communicated the results obtained in an exper- 

 iment undertaken to verify results obtained by Zaleski in his study of the germina- 

 tion of Allium cepa in the dark. The work of the author corroborates the results 

 communicated by Zaleski, namely, that in the germination of A. cepa in the dark, albu- 

 min is formed—the first reported case of formation of albumin in the dark. After 

 a survey of the literature on this subject, the author concludes that the observations 

 which Zaleski made on the germinating A. cepa have for the first time proved that a 

 regeneration of albumin is possible without the aid of light; but the observations of 

 Zaleski, as well as of others, have not yet furnished clear evidence that a synthesis 

 of alljumin in the dark from nitrates and anunonia is i)Ossible in higher plant«. — ■ 



p. FIR KM AN. 



Upon the gaseous exchange bet^veen plants and the atmosphere, T. 

 ScHLOESiNG, Jr. {Compt. Rend. Sd. Paris, 131 {1900), No. 18, pp. 716-719).— The 

 author has made a study of the effect of different forms of nitrogen upon the gaseous 

 exchange of plants, using for his experiments buckwheat and Tropxolum minus. 

 Plants were grown in sand cultures and given appi'oximately the same amount of 

 nitrogen in the form of nitric nitrogen and ammoniacal nitrogen. It wai? found that 

 the plants were able to utilize the ammoniacal nitrogen almost as readily as the nitric 

 nitrogen, the development of the buckwheat being essentially the same in both 

 media. As a whole the volume of oxygen given off by the plants was greater than 

 the carbon dioxid taken up, and there appeared to be a relationship between the 

 amount of gaseous exchange and the available mineral matter contained in the soil. 

 The author states in conclusion that there is a direct relationship between the gas- 

 eous exchange which causes the formation of vegetable tissues and the composition 

 of the mineral salts which are in contact with the roots of the plant. 



The action of dry and humid air on plants, Eherhardt ( Compt. Rend. Acad. 

 Set. Paris, 131 (1900), Xos. 3, jjp. 193-196; 11, pp. .513-.51.5).—X report is given of an 

 extensive series of experiments conducted by the author to ascertain the effect of 

 dry and humid air on the growth of beans, lupines, spinea, cytisus, acacia, and castor 

 beans. Comparisons were made with the same plants grown under normal condi- 

 tions. It was found that humid air increased very materially the development of 

 the plants, both stems and leaves, while the diameter of the stem was diminished. 

 There was a tendency to greatly increase the leaf surface and diminish the chloro- 



