102 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
and in mountains, associated with cool growths of coniferae. The professor 
terminated his address by observing that there was a mutual bearing of all 
the natural sciences on each other, and that the student of nature must 
take a comprehensive grasp of all. 
Artificial Fertilization of Corn and consequent Increase of Crop. — Perhaps 
one of the most important discoveries, in a utilitarian aspect, that has been 
made for the last quarter of a century is that which has been just announced 
in France. The merit of the discovery is not, however, due to a Frenchman, 
but to a Dutchman, M. Hooibrenk ; and the results of his researches have 
been so well marked and valuable that he has been awarded the Cross of the 
Legion of Honour by the Emperor, who has directed that a scientific com- 
mission be appointed to investigate and report upon the matter. M. 
Hooibrenk supposes that the number of grains in an ear of corn can be 
increased by bringing a larger* quantity of pollen into contact with the 
stigmas than they usually receive. He conducts his experiments as 
follows : — He takes a cord of from twenty-five to thirty yards long, and 
fastens to it a stiff woollen fringe of about ten inches long ; he steeps it for 
a short time in honey, and then drags it over the fields of corn two or 
three times, after flowering. It catches the pollen from the anthers and 
applies it to the stigmata (it is, in fact, Mr. Darwin’s bee-process on a 
gigantic scale), and the result is a greatly increased crop. This method 
has been tried in conjunction with the old one, on a farm near Epernay, in 
Champagne, the property of the celebrated wine dealers, Messrs. Jaquesson. 
The results beneath show the relative advantages of both systems : — 
Hooibrenk’s System. 
Old System. 
Kilogrammes. 
Kilogrammes. 
Wheat 
31 
21 
%e 
25*5 
16 
Barley 
24 
16 
Oats 
17 
... 12 
It has been conjectured that the results would have been still more strik- 
ing had not this season been such a favourable one. Fruit and garden 
vegetables have been similarly treated, and with a like success. It has 
been found also that an inclination of 112° of the branches of the vine 
produces some effect upon the flow of the sap, and increases the fruit crop. 
M. Hooibrenk maintains that by his process, and without any material 
additional outlay, crops of fruit, vegetables, and corn can be increased in 
value 50 per cent. 
Presence of Sap in the Vessels of Wood. — Notwithstanding the generally- 
received opinion that the sap is only to be found during certain 
seasons, in the woody tissue, M. Gris asserts that it is invariably present 
during the life of the plant, and that it is not mixed with air, as certain 
botanists imagine. In addition, he has in most instances detected sugar by 
the application of the sulphate of copper test, and he supposes this to arise 
from the serial conversion of starch into dextrine and glucose. 
* May it not also be due to the influence of the foreign pollen thus 
rought to bear on each plant? — E d. P. S. R. 
