--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Homer, W. H., Jr. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 10 number: 3 published: 1907-01 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Homer, W. H., Jr., "Shading of Growing Crops: Growing Plants Under Colored Glass," *Improvement Era* 10, no. 3 (January 1907): 213.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1003unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1003unse start_page: 213 end_page: 213 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1907-01) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1003unse publication_year: 1907 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1907, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Shading of Growing Crops: Growing Plants Under Colored Glass ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 213 waters of the earth is about one-hundredth of the volume of the water of the ocean. Furthermore, Prof. Fuller insists that this estimate is rot too low. Nearly all of this water is found within a thousand feet of the surface. It seems, then, that we must readjust our ideas of the amount of water held in the rocks beneath our feet. Still, a sheet of water one hundred feet thick, represents a tolerably large vol- ume of water. If modern investigation shall show the practica- bility of bringing annually one foot of this water to the surface, every acre of tillable desert soil on earth may be made to yield profitable -crops. —/. A. Widtsoe, Ph.D. Shading of Growing Crops. Shade, as a factor in plant growth, is receiving considerable attention at present, both among practical gardeners and those who are engaged in scientific horticultural investigations. Large areas in the Connecticut River Valley are devoted to the culture of to- bacco grown in the shade of a cheese cloth covering. Only such varieties as are desirable for cigar wrappers are grown under such conditions, and the fiber of the leaf is such that the product is said to equal that grown in the tropics. It is well known the quality of salad crops is materially im- proved by shading. In pine-apple and coffee culture, shading is now extensively practiced. An eminent botanist has recently made the following statement: "It is believed that the matter of shading is of greater hor- ticultural importance in arid regions than the old question of plant nutrition or fertilization is in the east." Shading reduces transpiration, conserves the soil moisture, and where the cheese cloth covering is used, a slight increase in the temperature of the soil and atmosphere is noticeable. The covering also serves as a protection against frost, drought, dam- age by wind, hail and insects. —IF. H. Homer, Jr., M. S. Growing Plants Under Colored Glass. During recent years, many interesting experiments have been carried on, especially in France, the object of which has been to test the effect of the different colored rays of the solar spectrum