SEASICK PLANTS

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13934, 12 July 1919, Page 4

SEASICK PLANTS

> Ihe war taught me many things, and ciiiit, ipiajuto suii'er iroia.' sea-sicii- ■. utsoss was owe of my minor discover- ■ ies. Before the war, I had. been for some tame in :the ooastguard, where tike pos&ettsikui of three' acres and a cow jiad developed m m© am m>sauiabie thinsb Jfoa* growing! thiiags. Since August, 1914, I hay© been almost continuously a.t sea, vo> botib. hemifiipiiei-es, amd for Aoing periods well noi-ch of "tie Arctic ' Circle. 'It was in the latter p'kee that we fii-«t started to> grow things. On the bleaii. Muirmaai; coast of liuasia we observed that the ship's ;store of potatoes had tiaJien &■ suddsa .fancy loa- <spri>utdnig! whiskers. This-annoyed! ujg considerably, as the Iciiig hairy growth- made them quite j unfit foir cooking. But Liter, realising that misfortunes can al- , ways be made a.musing if taken rightly, "we organised" a prize exhibitioin. Each officer, .selecting what .to hun looked) the likeliest potato, christened aaid labelled, it by a pet name, adorned it with o-ed tape, and hung it up. Om moinning all wei*e produced, aaid the-'pa'ize was awiaa-ded to the potato having- the most fantastic appearaaice. I'he isead for • ihoirticurtture, once started, proceeded by ieaps aaid bounds. Mustard and.or©ss next aippeared on:-the scene; it was growin

f upon/allotments'of cotton-wool filohed from the sick-bay, and of flan- ! <niel purchased from the paymaster's > etoire. '/-.;,' -.- ■ ' ■ ■ liaetly, we dug up wild plaints' '. om shore and planted them in ■-'■■•'bully-beef tins' .and empty . boxes.- ---■ While the ship renaained ia harbour, and for as long as we could sa,ve theanj from thei aH-eanibracing. attention^/ of the salt-water hose, they did very well. , . ißutt a® als we weiat \<y sea there was a difference.; afc once they dT<oo.pe.d and^ wilted. ' Sea life /was obviously utterly • uinnatural to them; they hadl learned 'to grow;in one position^ and one only—the perpendicular. But at feea, besides the ,■ uip-amdi-down moivement, they found themselves tilted/ sideways at rill angles, and they were violently jerked about and spun around. At om:e moment the sun was on* one side of them; looking down, at another it was oa the other side and underneath the leaf. The wind got •at them from all directioin«s; it was too much for plant structure. Neither (branches, roots, mior leaives kneAv what to dor with themselves, nor which way to grow. They gave; it up, and 'the leaves shrivelled and fieU.offi* Bint ma.rk the sequel. Like human. '. beiing-s, ma:ny of the plfwits ®uibeeiqtiently accustomed themselves "to this mottion, threw oiat ■ shorter, stouter branches and hardier leaves, and in the end flourished.: —(Rupert "Stanley in London Daily Mail).