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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



veloped in the plant as in the animal, which in the latter 

 is, without doubt, the outcome of conscious perception 

 and thought brought into action through the medium of 

 the brain. 



Take, for instance, that wonderful plant. Mimosa pu- 

 dica, sensitive not only of the most delicate touch, but, 

 like most other genera, of the approach of darkness, or of 

 even shadow thrown upon it, of which the poet says : 



Weak with nice sense, the chaste Mimosa stands, 

 From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands ; 

 Oft as light clouds o'erpass the summer glade. 

 Alarmed she trembles at the moving shade. 

 And feels, alive through all her tender form. 

 The whispered murmurs of the gathering storm ; 

 Shuts her sweet eyelids to the approaching night. 

 And hails with freshened charms the rising light. 



Other species of Mimosa possess this property, and, in- 

 deed, most of the genus in a greater or less degree. They 

 have their leaves beautifully divided, again and again 

 pinnate with a great number of small leaflets of which 

 the pairs close upwards w'hen touched. On repeated 

 touching the leaflets of the neighboring pinnje also close 

 together, and the fact that when the touch is given to one 

 of the pinna; the movement is conveyed to the others, 

 until at last the entire leaf sinks down and hangs as if 

 withered, points to the power of transmitting impulse ; 

 after a short time the leaf-stalk rises and the leaf expands 

 again. It is noteworthy that a touch upon the upper side 

 of the leaf has no effect. This appears to be an analogous 

 trait to that which is found in many insects, and, in fact, 

 all over the animal kingdom, of feigning death at any- 

 one's approach or when touched. 



The Mimosa, too, goes to sleep when night comes ; even 

 a cloud passing over the sun will cause it to fold up its 

 leaves and sink them down ; in fact, the entire plant ap- 

 pears to go to sleep. In going to sleep this plant is not, 

 however, at all singular, as most species of plants close 

 their leaves and flowers at night. On the other hand, 

 there are some which, like many beasts of prey, sleep 

 during the day and hail the setting sun as the signal for 

 activity. This sleep of plants, which without doubt is 

 physiologically the same as animal sleep, does not exist 

 without a reason. The act of sleeping is. in the higher 

 animals, symptomatic of repose in the brain and nervous 

 system, and the fact of plants sleeping is one proof of the 

 existence of a nervous system in the members of the veg- 

 etable kingdom. Plants sleep at various hours, and not 

 always at night. Light and heat appear to have, in many 

 instances, little to do with plants sleeping, as different 

 species go to sleep at various hours during the day. Thus 

 the common ]\Iorning Glory, Ipomcea purpurea, opens 

 its flowers at dawn ; the Star of Bethlehem, Ornithogalum 

 umbellatum, about ten o'clock; the Goat's-beard, Trago- 

 pogon pratensis, opens at sunrise and closes at midday, 

 and for this reason is also known as Go-to-bed-at-noon. 

 The flowers of the Evening Primrose, Ginothera biennis, 

 open at sunset, and those of the night flowering Cereus, 

 Cereus grandiflorus, when it is dark. Aquatic flowers 

 open and close with the greatest regularity. The white 

 Water Lily closes its flowers at sunset, and sinks below 

 the surface for the night : in the morning it pushes its 

 flowers to the surface again and the petals expand. 

 Other members of this family exhibit equal regularity in 

 their movements. So regular are many plants in their 

 habits that floral clocks have been formed by planting 

 circular beds with plants which awake at consecutive 

 hours. This sleep of plants is not, of course, confined to 

 their flowers, as their leaves open and shut in the same 

 way ; indeed, it is altogether so conspicuous a phenome- 



.non that it was commented upon by Pliny, who wrote 

 nearly two thousand years ago. 



Continuous attempts have been made to elucidate 

 sleep, but with little success. Many theories have been 

 promulgated, but they fall short of really explaining it. 

 We know that sleep rests the mind more than the body ; 

 or, to put it another way, the mere mechanical, as apart 

 from the nervous, portion of the organism, can be rested 

 without sleep. Negatively, the eft'ect of insomnia proves 

 the value and necessity of sleep. Electric light is used to 

 stimulate the growth of plants, and, coupled with other 

 means of forcing, a continual period of growth secured, 

 thereby obtaining earlier maturity than w-ould be the case 

 under ordinary circumstances. This method is used most 

 successfully in the case of winter grown lettuce and about 

 four weeks are saved upon each crop, but it must be borne 

 in mind that the stage at which lettuce is cut is a very 

 long way from being the mature period of the lettuce 

 plant, and as it is, the best results are secured when the 

 light is used for a few hours only, and not continuously 

 during the night. In this case the increase of growth is 

 obtained by curtailing the period of rest, but where this 

 has been tried upon perennials the result has been to con- 

 siderably weaken their constitution, the following year's 

 growth being poor and scanty, and in some instances the 

 plants w'ere scarcely alive. A sufficiency of sleep is there- 

 fore as important to the vegetable as the animal. 



The carnivorous plants afford very strong evidence of 

 brain-power, among which the Venus Fly-trap ("Dioncea 

 muscipula) — which Linnseus called "the miracle of na- 

 ture" — is the most striking and which is the climax of 

 the order Droseracece. Its leaves, about four inches long, 

 consist of a spatulate stalk, which is constricted to the 

 midrib at its junction with the broad blade. The halves 

 of the blade are movable on each other along the midrib. 



New Carnations 



WM. ECCLES. The First Prize winner at Detroit 

 last year in the Red or Scarlet class, and the Silver 

 Medal winner of the New York Horticultural Society 

 for the best undisseminated seedling. 



The scarlet everyone was waiting for. Has a strong, 

 rigid stem, a perfectly formed 35^-inch flower, non- 

 bursting calyx, highly perfumed, a grand keeper, and 

 as free as any scarlet to date. 



LADY NORTHCLIFFE. (Engelman.) A beautiful 

 Salmon pink in color, much resembling "Pink Delight." 

 Has a well built-up flower, and just enough in it not 

 to burst the calyx. While the flower is not the largest 

 (about 3 inches), it is fully as free as "May Day" and 

 will surely make a grand bread and butter sort. 



BRITISH TRIUMPH. (Engelman.) One of the 

 finest things ever raised in England. The color is a 

 striking shade of Crimson. The flower is 312 inches in 

 size and well built up. It has the sweetest perfume of 

 any carnation ever raised and its keeping qualities are 

 the best. Has a fine stem, good constitution and free. 



Prices, Rooted Cuttings, Doz $3.00; 100 $15.00 



Prices, Out of 214-inch Pots, Doz. .$3.50; 100 $20.00 



SCOTT BROTHERS 



Elmsford Nurseries 

 Elmsford New York 



