CHLOROFORMING TREES.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2143, 28 December 1920, Page 22 (Supplement)

CHLOROFORMING TREES.

That plants are conscious of nervous Stimuli has long been known, anil the manner in which they are affected by the latter closely resembles manifestations of a like nature in animal life, jays a "Daily Chronicle''* correspondent. Thus the tendrils of certain climbing plants do not curl until they. feel the touch of something which they can grip. The leaves of a clematis or a nasturtium, or the growths joi a scarlet runner, will not twist into a spiral until tbey can clasp some supporting object. It is now also realised that plants derive stimulus from influences other than tfcose which might be attributed \a sunlight, moisture, or fertilisers. The experiments in electrifying srops point to this, and it is beginning to be reAliied that the spraying of potatoes in itself, quite apart from any question of disease or fertilisation, promotes prolificacy. It is a " nerve tonic.'' Sir Jagadir Chunder Bose, the wellknown Indian .scientist and authority 0" the subject of nervous impulses in Vegetation, has told us in a recent lecture that the chloroforming of trees way be successfully carried out, much in the same way and with the same object as when anesthetics are applied to animal life. For example, a,- tree which could not be transplanted without eertain death was safely moved whilst under the influence of chloroform, and that without feeling the shock. Anesthetics have also been used by gardeners in the forcing of early blooms. Thus it has been proved that lilac bushes submitted to the fumes of chloroform or ether for 24 hours were thrown into a deep sleep, with the result that when they '' came round'' they behaved precisely as if they had passed through their normal winter rest. In the light of these facts it seems highly probable that further investigations may enable us to apply nervous Stimuli to plants in the interests of food production.