DUST PLANTS. 15 



DUST PLANTS 



We have seen from the dust-garden that dust does 

 contain living plants which, when they find food in a 

 moist, warm place, will grow and multiply. 



They were not seen when they settled out of the 

 dust on the jelly, and not until they had reproduced 



Fig. 6. (a) One Colony of Bacilli or Rod-Shaped Bacteria 



"Dust Garden." Highly Magnified. 



(b) Eight Bacteria from the Colony, Magnified Much More. 

 (After Prudden.) 



themselves many times, so that a "colony" was formed, 

 were we able to see that Anything had been planted 

 in the dust garden. But each colony or spot shows 

 where a single plant dropped on the gelatine; the spot 

 becomes visible only after it contains thousands of in- 

 dividuals, which are kept close together by the gelatine. 



