THE PLUM 325 



They are stupefied and their condition of 

 dormancy or lack of vital activity is curiously 

 analogous to the unconsciousness of the nar- 

 cotized human subject. 



But so soon as the closed case in which plant 

 and narcotized fumes are confined is removed 

 and the plants resume normal relations with soil 

 and air, they take on at once a relatively pro- 

 digious and quite unprecedented capacity for 

 growth, shooting upward at a rate that soon 

 sends them far above their companion plants 

 that have not been similarly put to sleep. 



This obviously suggests that the rapid growth 

 of the young shoots of herbs and trees in the 

 springtime is probably enhanced greatly by the 

 period of rest out of which the buds have just 

 come. And the further corollary suggests itself 

 that the period of rest forced upon a seedling 

 that is, for example, dug up in Japan and 

 shipped half way round the world may ultimately 

 prove of benefit to the seedling, stimulating it 

 to such growth as it would not have found pos- 

 sible had not the period of dormancy been forced 

 upon it. 



FREEZING "RESTS" ANIMAL TISSUES 



An analogy from the animal world which 

 seems to have application is furnished by the 



