SOME PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTS 229 



cess of etherification, which has been so much discussed 

 recently, and which consists in placing the plants to be 

 forced in the vapor of ether or chloroform for twenty-four 

 to forty-eight hours. Afterwards when placed in a hot- 

 house, the branches begin to develop almost immediately. 



"A very ingenious botanist, Hans Molisch, professor in 

 the University of Prague, has devised a method of forcing, 

 simpler still and quite as effective. It consists in plunging 

 the branches into warm water during a time that varies with 

 the species. The best method is to plunge the plants in a 

 reservoir of warm water, head downward, without moistening 

 the roots, which would injure them. After a certain time, 

 the plants are withdrawn, turned right side up with care, 

 and placed in a greenhouse, where they develop at once. 



"The duration of the warm bath should be nine to twelve 

 hours at most. The best temperature is 30 to 35 [86 to 

 95 F.]. . . . That is to say, in the majority of cases, one 

 may simply employ the water available in hothouses, which 

 is just at the proper temperature. The process is thus at 

 the disposal of all gardeners. 



"It should be said that the good effects of the hot baths 

 are confined to the parts actually immersed and do not 

 extend to the whole plant. Thus, on the same stem we may 

 see developing only the branches that have been treated 

 with the bath, while the others remain torpid. This is easy 

 to verify with the lilac or the willow. 



"If Lobner is to be believed, we may substitute for the 

 water bath one of steam. He has obtained good results 

 with the lily of the valley. The thing is possible, but the 

 method used by Molisch is more practical. 



"How shall we explain the good effect of warm water on 

 branches in a resting state ? We are absolutely ignorant of 



