Growth Under Colored Glass

Tho following statoment, from tlio N. Y. World, touohing experimenta made upon the growth of plalits attd animáis ander eolored glass will bo found of great intm'est : At tbs roopnt meeting of the Philudelphid Society for Promoting Agrinulturo, held in that city, General A. J. Pleasonton, by request of the society, read an inti'i'i ■fitina memoix upotl his experimente in accelerating tho growtli of planta and animáis by the nse of colored glass which " solocted " certain rays of tho solar spectrum. The paper bas beenprinted under the curicmsly inexact title of "The Inllmiuc of the Blue Color of tho Sky in Developing Animal and Vegetable Lií'e, as Illustratcd in the Experirnelits of General A. J. Ploasonton between tho yi'iirs 1861 and 1871, at Philadelphia." A sliht sketch of the results of the experiments uiay not bo uninteresting to our readers. Sir Isaac Newton, to wnom wo owo the flrst reul positivo experiments pon Ught, :tltlioufih prismatic analysis was shown from tlie earliest timos in the rainbow, first discovored the different retnmgibility of tho rays of light, and Sir John Herschel subsequently showod that diíJcicnt parts of tho solar spectrum are remark.ible for different properties. Hearing these two footfl in mii.d Genera] Pleasonton, following in the track of liobert Ilunt, of England, and other European experimentalists, undertook to test tho powers of the different raj's of light in hastening tho maturation of planta and and animáis. Ho determined to mako the first experiment upon grapes, and for this purpose in the early part of 1861 U sut about building a cold grapery. He says : " Finding no beatón track, I was lef t to gropc my way as best I could under the guidanco of the violet ray alone. My frapery was finished in March, 1861. lts imensions were - eighty-four fcet long, twenty-six fcet widc, sixteen feet high at the ridge, with a doublo-pitohed roof. It was huilt at the foot of a terraeed garden, in the direction of N. E. by E. to S. W. by "VV. On threo sidos of it thero was a border twelve feet wide, and on the fourth, or N. E. by E. side the border was only five feet wide, being a walk of the garden. The borders insido and outside were excavated three feet six inches deep, and wero fillod xm with tho usual nutritive matter, carefully prepared for growing vines. I do not think they differed esseutially from thousands of othcr borders which have been made in nmny parts of the world. The first question to be solved on the completion of tho frame of the grapery was the proportion of blue or violet glass to be used on the roof. Should too much be used it winil'l n duet: the temperatura too niuch, nnd causo a failuro of tho expeiïmont, if too littli; it would not afford a fair test. At a venture I atfopted cvery eighth row of glas8 on the roof to bo violet colored, alternating the ro ws on opposite sii tltp roQf, so tlit the 'aun iu Ua daily couraa, sïiuuld caot i lt..f! nf i lol(;t Ugut OU every ledf in tln grapery. Cuttiugs of vines of somu twenty varíe tics of grapes, each ono year old, of the thiekness of a pipe-stem, and cut close to the pots containing them, were planted in the borders inside and outsido of the grapery, in the early part of April, 1801. Soon after being planted the growth of tho vines hogan. Thoso on tho outside were trained through carthen pipes in the wulls to the inside, and as they grew they wero tied up to the wires liko those which had beun planted within. Very soon tho vines began to attract great notice of all vilo síiw mem iroin me rapia growtn bey were making. Every duy discloscd ome now extensión, and the gardenor was kept Imsy in tying np tho now wood ivhich the day before he had not observd. In a fe w weeks af ter the vines had been plantod, the walls and incide of the roof were closely covered with the most luxurious and hoaltliy development of foliage ind wood." In September of that year a noted 3eedsman (R. Buist, Sr.,J froni whom the general had procured his vines visited his grapery. He meaaured soine of the vinos and found them forty-fivo feet long, and an inch in diameter, while varieties of like ago and size when planted - at the samo time too - were, under the ordinary treatment, only puny spindlings not more than five feet long and scarcely incroased in diameter since thoy were planted. In tho following soason the growth was if any thing more remarkable. They were started to grow in March, aftcr having been cleaned and pruned in the preCeding J:miary. "Besidcs the formation of new wood," says the general, " and the display of the most luxuriant foliage, thero was a great number of bunchesof grapes, which soon assumed the most romarkablo proportions - tho bunches being of extraordinary magnitudo, and the grapes of unusual size and dovelopmcnt." In the following September tho samo seedsman camo to visit tho grapeiy again, and after having critically examined its contents estimated the weight of' grapes as being 1,'iOO poxinds. One may woll bcastonished at this product whon it is congidered th:it in grapo-growing countries where that fruit has been cultivated for ccnturics, a pcriod of timo of f rom fivc to six years will elapso bofore a singlo bunch of grapes can be prodnced froui a young vine, whilo here were plants only seven1 11 -ïi months undor cultivation giving a most remarkable yiojd. It was of course predicted that tho fertility of the vino would be aoon exhausted, but up to May, 1871, nothing of tho kind had oocurred. UOW ÏIIE VIOLET KAY MATL'llED PIGS. Tho suceoss of the goneral's experiments in grapc-growing, ledhim to mako soine experiments upon animal lift'. He selected pigs upon which to first try bis hand. In tho autumn of 1869 ho built a piggery, into tho roof and three sidcs of which he introducod violet colored and white glass in cqual proportions. He geparated a recent littor of pigs into two partios, placing one in a common pen under ordinary sunlight, and tho other under the violent ray. In order to mako it :is far as possiblo an agfwimentvm AHIM, lic BCdeoted tin; lightestwoights:uiil puinest specimens to bo acted upon by the tiiiic raya of light. The two sets ot pigs werc treated exactly aliko ; fed with the saine kind of food at equal intervals of time, and with equal quantitios by measure at each mcal, and wero attended by the same man. Thoy were put in the pons on the third day of Novomlur, 1860, and kept thero until the fourth day of March, lo, when they wore weighed again. ïho aggregato weight of the thrco sows under tbc violet light on the 3d of November, 1809, was 122 pounds; on the 4th of Maich, 1870, it was (30 pounds, incrcase 398 pounds. Tho aggregate weight of the throe sows in the old pens on thq 3d of Novemlur. lSli'.t, was 1-1 1 pounds, and on the 4th of M;i rob, 1870, it was 530 pounds, increaso 386 pounds, or 12 pound Icjs than thoso under the violet glass liad gained. Tho inJluence of the violet ray was thus even here very marked, though owing to tlie latonoss of the season it is doubtful if it was then as powerful as in spring or midsummer. HOW A BULL-CALF ACTEB UXm-.ll i'HK EAY. The story of General Pleasonton's succossful treatment ot' a sickly ealf is ao oxtiuin'. linary that it is best told in his own lunguage. " My next oxperiuiönt," he s:ivs, "was witn an Aldorney bull-i aU bom on the 2Gth of January, 1870. Atits birth it was so puny and feeble that the man who atteiids ujion my stock - a very experionced hand-- told nio that it oould nut tve. I directed him to put it in one of the peus under the violet glass. H was done. ix twkxty-four kours a very sensible chango had occurfèd ia the üiiiiiKil. It had riscii ofl is feet, walked about the pen, took its food ficely by the finger, and manifested gSMt vivacity. In a few days it feeblo condition had entirely disappearcd. It begao to grow, :iinl its developnaent was marvellous. On the ilst ofmarclwí87CÍ, iwo nioii t lis and five days after its birth, its rapid growth was so ajiparent, that as its hin.l quarter was thengrowing, I toldmy son to measure its height, and to note down in writing the hèlght of the hind (juarter, and the timo of measurement - which hc did. On the 20th of the i'olkuving May (1870), jus!, Ri U:rvanls, my sou agam meaanred Ého liind cjuartev, and fouml in that titne that it had g;uni il exactly six inches in lu:ight, oorrying its lateral development witn it. B(;liuving the question solved, the ca] f (ras turned into the barn-yard, and wlicn mingliQg with the eows he manifested every symptoni of full masculinc yiaor, though at the timo he was onïy tour months old. Sineo tho lst of April of this yi'ar, wlum lu' w.is just fourteen months olil, he has buen kopt with my hord of eows, and has fultilled every expectation that I luid fonned of him. lic is now ono of tho best d(?vulopcd aniuniis that oaa be fouml .mywhere." ( IIILDREN EEAKED IX THE SAJIK WAY. In view of all the circumstancfis of the case - that is always providing the General's experimente be confirmed- perhapa the glowing language in which he closethe account of his experiments is not too eloquent. " It by the eombination," saya the experiineiiter, " of sunlight and blue Hght trom the sky, you can mature quadrujieds in twelvu montlis with nu givater supply of topd than would ba used l'ur au immature animal in the game period, you eau scarcely'eoneoivo of the immcasurablo value of this discovery to an agricultura! people. You would no loiigor have to wait five yéars for the maturity of a colt; and all your animáis could be produeed in the greatest abundanee and vaiiety. A prominent muniber of the bar u short time sinoe told me that his sister, who is a widow of a late distiuguighed General in the army, had applied blue light to tho rearing of poultry, with tlie most remarkable success aitir havisg heard of my experimente. In regard to tint human family, its influence would be wide spread - you could not only in tiie températe regions produol the early maturity of tho tropics, but you could invigorate tho constitutions of inValids, and develop in the young a géneration phvsiö.,u a : i-i' come a marvel in mankind. Arehitects would be required to so arrango . the introduotion of these mixed rays of light into our houses that the occupants might deiivc the greatest benefit trom their influence. Mankind will then not only be able to livo fast, bilt they can live well and also live long."