SECRETS OF SUNLIGHT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 53, 2 March 1918, Page 2

SECRETS OF SUNLIGHT

SOME INTERESTING OBSERVA- i TION-S. j

•Some unsuspected influences of the j sun were indicated by Colonel H. E. j Rawson in a lecture on "The Sun as j Empire Builder," delivered to g. meet- j ing of the Royal Colonial Institute at the Royal Society's Lecture Theatre, ! Burlington House., in London, recently, j He pointed out that the Monterey Pine, \ which is of poor growth in California, ( when transferred to New Zealand had j become a highly productive and very I valuable tree. This and other instances j of variations in plant life, under differ- j ent conditions of life p_nd environment j had led him jto make experiments in his •; own garden and conservatories, and re- j markable were illustrated on the j screen. He had developed a system of j controlling the incidence of light, which j in the case of the nasturtium had chang- < ed the colour and formation of the I flower, and had caused the simply j shaped leaf to divide and to show as j many as five lobes. Several of these I variations had become fixed and came j true from seed. Experiments with to- i mattes had increased the production of { fruit, and he. anticipated that by atten : ! tion to sunlight the fruit supply would j be greatly augmented. As to colour, the j law seemed to. hold that the low sun of early morning fostered yellow, midday sunlight produced violet, blue, and purple, and middle sun brought out reds. Roses and* crops need'not suffer from certain diseases and pests if influenced by the particular rays' that would keep them healthy. Plants' attacked by black aphides, which notified the presence of disease, Ihad been entirely relieved by screening. Hopeful experiments were being made with a view to stowing that certain human diseases supposed to correspond with those of plants migjat be cured in the same. way. "He believed "that the what first caused variations in„ plants was, cleared away by these proofs of*tlie influences of light. ;