178 AMERICAN HOMES AND \GARDEWS 
of 40 cm. (16 inches) in di- 
ameter and 40 meters (131.2 
ft.) hydrostatic pressure, the 
cart should, according to cal- 
culations, give about 3.5 horse- 
pow Cl 
The inventor has also con- 
structed a telescopic spraying 
apparatus which can be used 
tor disinfection and watering 
of fruit trees in parks, ete. 
Depending on the size of the 
apparatus, the point of the 
sprayer with distributors of 
different constructions, may be 
sent from 3 to 8 meters 
(11.84 to 26.24 ft.), accord- 
ing to its size, upwards. By 
this method larger surfaces 
can be reached than by the 
watering turbines, 
which as a_ rule sta- 
tionary on the ground. The 
apparatus is so constructed 
that it can be easily moved, if 
common 
are 
desired. 
Especially interesting is the drop-formation of water at 
the points of the stoppers, as by this invention irrigation is 
made possible with a very low water pressure on the sprinkler, 
a pressure so low, that if there were merely open holes in the 
sprinkler the water would not run through unless the amount 
of water be increased. 
March, 19c6 
How the Strainers are Arranged 
The telescopic spraying apparatus is also unique in the 
respect that the water is not released, or in other words, the 
act of sprinkling does not start until the full extension has 
taken place. 
The territory covered becomes very evenly saturated, giv- 
ing a trifle more water in the periphery. 
Radiant Flowers and Plants 
N THE year 1762 the daughter of the re- 
nowned Swedish naturalist, Karl von 
Linneus, brought a discovery which she 
had made to the knowledge of the Swedish 
Academy of Sciences. She stated that one 
warm summer’s evening, when in the garden 
of her father’s house at Upsala, she had observed flashes of 
light from the blossoms of the nasturtium or Tropeolum 
maius. A careful observation of the flowers showed that 
first one and then another would flash up or throw an eva- 
nescent beam of light. The asssertion was at first received 
with doubt, but confirmation of the fact was soon obtained, as 
Linneus’ son (also a professor of botany) witnessed the 
phenomenon. Other investigators have found the same 
thing to occur with marigolds (Calendula), lilies (Lilium 
bulbiferum), Tagetes, and more especially poppies (Papaver 
orientale). This lightning-like radiance has been very fre- 
quently observed in Sweden, and this points to the fact that 
we have here to do with a physical and not a vital phenom- 
enon. ‘The appearance is not confined to warm summer 
evenings, but has also been seen in the uplands, while a 
camelia (Matricaria inodora) has been seen to give off a 
bright white radiance in the midst of a mountain fog. Blos- 
soms in many parts of the country have been watched throw- 
ing out a bluish phosphorescent light for as much as seventy 
to eighty seconds at a time. ‘The mysterious light has long 
been a source of much speculation and curiosity, but at last 
the saucy sprite has been laid by the heels and turns out to 
be electricity. Professor Molisch, of Prague, Bohemia, has 
recently published a very interesting work upon luminous 
plants, in which the natural explanation of the appearance is 
given. It is nothing more nor less than brush light, or “‘St. 
Elmo’s Fire,” which is the name often given to a brush or 
silent discharge of electricity from masts, spires, or other 
pointed objects during a thunderstorm or during peculiar 
electrical conditions of the atmosphere. It is of the same 
nature as the light seen streaming off the points of an elec- 
trical machine, and is sometimes accompanied by a hissing 
sound. ‘This light has been produced in the laboratory, and 
Professor Freiherr v. Tubeuf (who has just published some 
conclusive data as to the origin of the apparition) has 
photographed this light on the leaves of ash, larch and fir 
trees when the branches were electrically charged by the aid 
of a static electric machine. From Molisch’s investigations it 
appears that radiant energy in the form of light may be de- 
veloped in plants, in addition to chemical and electrical 
energy and heat. In its microscopically small laboratories, 
the chlorophyl grains, the green cell receives the radiant 
energy of the sun and transforms it into chemical energy, by 
building up, out of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the organized 
tissue which is a storehouse of energy. These organic sub- 
stances serve as food for luminous animals and luminous 
plants and thereby reproduce heat and light. Within vege- 
table life, therefore, there is a complete cycle from light to 
light! In every case—the radiation of the glow worm, the 
sudden flash of Noctiluca or the Peridinea when lashed by 
the waves or stirred by a ship’s keel, the illumination of the 
sea bottom by luminous crustacea, the soft radiance of a 
fungus in the forest or of bacteria in decaying flesh—the 
light emitted by living organisms is essentially nothing but the 
radiant energy of the sun, received and transformed by plants. 
It is sunlight born anew. 
er 7 
ee nent el ll 
i teat i ee ee 
