Carnivorous Plants by Editor

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Nov 13, 1879

Carnivorous Plants.

By Editor

WE are indebted to Mr. Peter Henderson, of New Jersey, the well-known seedsman and horticulturist, for an account of a number of experiments he made with Dionaea muscipula (fly trap), to test the truth of Darwin's dictum on the superior growth of “carnivorous plants” when fed upon a meat ration, over those growing simply upon soil nutriment. Mr. Henderson grew 100 plants each way; one hundred being fed daily for three months with flies, the others growing under a gauze to protect them from all approach by insects. At the end of three months the plants were carefully examined, and no difference whatever could be seen in the growth of the two sets of plants. So far as this experiment goes, it indicates that Mr. Darwin's decision is under suspicion at least.