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Flowers In Our Dwellings

Flowers In Our Dwellings image
Parent Issue
Day
5
Month
December
Year
1879
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Why do pin nts jiot thrivc in the wiuciows of our dvvclHnffs? is the question of many disappointed hm.ekeeperg, having in v;iin trioel year after year tho cultivution of flowers, to iinpart their beauty uid fragrance to the drawingroom. Sornetimes the florint iseharged w'ith Improper bultiratlDn; but generallvth fduit is ascril-,t( to " abominable gas." ludecd, niany have diícontinued ii!i it 071 account oi its kuagincd tnjurious efl'eeta upon plants, but have round that they do r.ot thrive betterwith otlier artificial ligtit. It By be iiKiat oonyenieat to dispose of the gud thoory ol destruetion tere. In Irupure gas the element eliïninated whioh mi.-iit pruve injurioüa to the growth of plants is sulphurous acid 411S. If tltia tííE ijiimuiated in Sulllcient q-j:üU!.y tp niure plrmts, it would p.lso destrov animn! Ilic: at least, It wouid ,rotc highly .jvirious. The burniiig of a fw sulphur tustches woulA prodoce mor injury tban tho buniing of thrat bat-wiap; ji:ts. If our gas were so Impure as to injure plaat or animal Hfe, it is onlv necusarv to lodjre a coir.plaint with the Inspector of Gas, and it would immedialely be rcmeciicd. There are many greonhouses liglited. with "as, whicli is kont bur&liig for hou. Óne in New York has seven huodred and twenty burners, and yet no mjury has bt.'i:n perooivad hilherto. There is no doubt that gas chargod with the noxtotis sulphurous acid gas wou'd be injurioua to vegetable und animal life. What, then is the cause of the withering of iiowors v.Miun earefully tended and wateredP To wcll answer the question, lot us eonsidor the cnndition of the plant itself aud ita relation to externa! atniosphere and the inner air of the house. The plant - whether rose, palargonium, or heliotrojie - is brought from the moist, wam air of a greenhouse, and plsced in a "uny w-indow Iv'otwitlist""-f;"ff tak utmost cflve, it soon withers, its leaTea decay, and the plant is destroyed. If we examine the pot, we tind thi inner surf ace liued with fibers of the plant, which bind the earth firmh' in a raass, as if raolded in the pot. Wbut has effiícted this chango so qiuckly in the Uourishing plaat? The house is b(!aít?d by a furnace, or by steam, or by hot water, or by abase-burner in the passage, lu eithor iuát:mce, the procC3s of diiïusini' }ieat is the sanie. The external air tiiuis eulranee by doors or cracks or by tluos, and rushes toward the lieutiiijf surfape, whether of steam or stcrvö ur furnace. It tfaeo McBnds or (iüriües iUelf in the apartmest, where it inpinges on the ceiliag and r.Us towr.rd the upper part of the cold window. Here it coois a;id passes rapidly down over the poU of flowers, dry ing them up quloker than could the Sahara sandv.-iud. The eool air fklls upon the floor and rolla alongtill it reaehes the asceiuliiiar earrent, unitln; with which it is agaia carried to the wimluw, to pas over the planta again; aud ao the work af tlryin goos on all day and night. TLe effect upon the leaves is to dry tliera up and cause a rapid evaporation, to supply which ell moisture is drawn from the earth; henee the fibers eek the iiiii?r sui'fuco of the not for moisture, and this thüy spoedily corer. The porous pot soon withdraws all moisture from the fibers, and they become " burned" insuring the rapid destruction of the plant, Another offeet is the drying of the earth, so that the plant derives no raoisture. Such is the condition of the plant. If we examine the external atmosphere, supposing the temperature at ten degroes below zero, we iind that all malsture is frozen out of it, and k depositedas " frost" on all conductora of haat. lo show üie extreme dryness of winter air at a low tcmperutura, the most delicalely olished motal exposed outdoc-rs remams uutnruished. Tiie frostdríed air enters our dwellinnfs, and is furth&r readarod more eapaole of abSvirbin moisture by oontact wiih tbp. httnta sunces, auuf rusnes up to the flower-vvindows, sucking cvei-y triice of moisture out o{ loavus, earth and pots. Some plants- like the Gorman and English iry, the Madeira vine, geraniums, cacti - can withstaad the íearful trial to plant-lífe; but generally plauts cannot live uiider sucli ciroumstaucua. Bofore alluding to the remedy, we wül notice its eneet upon animal life. While the dry heat 13 not in itself ao destructive to aaíaiil as to píant liía, yet it renders th condítioa of the air of dwullings mot uawholejome nd injarious to baltk, ecpecially that oí children. lixn is eapable of enduring without suffering a hih deree of dry keat, as is wiíiiessed in the Turkish bath, where tiie eaiidariura often nses to two huncired degrees Fuhrenheit; and tire kings have endured four hundred degrees Fahrenheit with little inconvenience. Tbig dry heat produces an electrical condition of tiie atmosphere whieh Is illustrated ia the coinruon experiment of lighüuu; the gas with one's iiugers aftr shuffling over a carpet. The effects upou the carpet are to set free to float in the air the minute woolen fibers oí the carpet, which, though invisible, may be observed by holding a inoiat uiicroecope slide near the floor, and placing in the instrument. One can easily imagine the effect upou a person with delicate lungs of inbaliiig all day this dust of carpet fiber. Lf we could see it, we should üad children playing on the earpet surrounded with wool dust which they were inhaliug. Passing from the drawing-room, we find the passages iillod with another kind of dust, arislng from earth and sand broug-ht by feet from the street. This, uuder the microscope, appears as iluta crystals and orgamc matter. In the sleeping ap'artment the air is fllled with dunt jresembling fcathers or broken haar. Tliiu we breaihe ia sleeping-, and only some fortúnate current oí air prevents us t'rom auflferfng ácrioualy. "Dust thou art," can be written upon any part of the dweiling, aotwithstwiding the utmost diligence of the house" keeper. Not only is this frost and heat-driod air laden with dust highly irritable to the lungs, causing varietiès of pulmoniry diseases to adults, and coughs and ;atarrh to children; but it also causes irritation to the skin, ehapping of tlie bands and face. Èlen, wh'o for the most part are frequently out-of-doors, do not suffer; but women confinedtothe house suffer in their complexión. Henee the striking contrast in the rosy faces of those who live in the maratime provnces, where the air is always moist, to the palé faces of those who live in the dried atmosphere of Northern houses. It requires a whole snmmer of seaside and country air tö restore tiie héaltb aud bloom lost during the winter in our ai-dried houses. - Spectator. Louisiana's Temporalice Allianct gives the umount ofliquor drank in tin Slate at $42,000,000, yearly, or $2,000.000 more than the vame öf the eom bined cotton, sugar, and rice crops. They havo ismied a cali to the votèrs U stop somu of this waste by eleutin membevs of the Legislature in fuvor oJ prohibiting the tramo on Sunday. Thirtï years ag-o the common sheep of Germany are said to have had onlyö.OOO or 6,500 wool fibers to the square inch of surf ace; through impro vemen ts in breeds, the oommon grades of sheep now have 27,000 to the square inch, and the pure-bred merinoes have from 40,000 to 48.000 wool filaments to the square inch. Kansas has 559 churches, 69 of which are Baptist, 59 CongregationaUst, 33 Lutheran, 22 Episcopal, 125 Methodist, 99 Presbyterian and 15 United Presbyterian. To kew white mold fronroses, watr eejy vith st&ong soav-auds.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Argus