This will modify the ideas of
agriculturists, at least in regard to this plant.
Herr Schwarz has been engaged in the study of the fine hairs of roots.
According to this author, there is a maximum and minimum of humidity,
between which there lies a mean of moisture, most favorable for the
development of these capillary rootlets, and this amount of moisture
varies with different plants. He finds that this growth of hair-like
roots is conditioned upon the development of the main root from which it
springs. In a weak solution of brine these fine roots are suppressed,
while the growth of the main root is continued. The changes of the
_milieu_ lead to changes in the form of the hairs, rendering them even
branched.
Signor Savastano has ventured to criticise as exaggerated the views of
Muller, Lubbock, and Allen on the adaptation of flowers to insects,
having noticed that bees visit numbers of flowers, and extract their
honey without touching the stigmas or pistils. He has also found them
neglecting flowers which were rich in honey and visiting others much
poorer.
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