1913.1 PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 45 



EFFECTS OF ILLUMINATING GAS ON VEGE- 

 TATION. 



G. E. STONE. 



It is well known that escaping illuminating gas in the soil has 

 an injurious effect on vegetation, and occasionally kills trees. 

 In States where records ^ are required of the amount of gas 

 manufactured, and that unaccounted for, the loss is found to 

 amount to considerable in some cases, but this does not always 

 mean that all unaccounted-for gas escapes in the soil or air, 

 since these measurements are dependent on different meter read- 

 ings. The meters may run too slow or too fast, requiring a 

 great deal of care to warrant any degree of accuracy. More- 

 over, gas varies greatly with temperature, and even G or 8 

 per cent, of unaccounted-for gas is not necessarily all leakage. 



There are several kinds of gas used for lighting and heating, 

 i.e., water gas, coal gas, gasoline gas, acetylene gas and others, 

 but their effects on the plant are quite similar, and they are all 

 very poisonous to vegetation. Even the same kind of gas varies 

 to quite an extent, as the process of manufacture is not always 

 the same. This difference in composition is often very sliglit, 

 but to any one who has had experience in diagnosing trees killed 

 by gas it is discernible; for example, the gas manufactured by 

 one corporation will produce different effects on a tree from that 

 manufactured by another; yet gas from the same plant differs 

 very little as a rule. 



Illuminating gas is very poisonous to vegetation. The poi- 

 sonous properties are largely confined to the numerous products 

 which are absorbed by the soil moisture in small quantities, 

 taken up by the roots and translocated through the tissue. 



• Consult Ann. Repts. of Insppntor of Gas Meters and Illuminating Gas, Mass. Public Docu- 

 ments, No. 55; Ann. Repts. of Board of Gas and Elec. Light Comm., Ma.ss. Pub. Documents, 

 No. 35. 



