Beatles Cacophony Spurs Plant Growth (1966)

 Beatles Cacophony Spurs Plant Growth

By Dean Jensen

Herald-Times-Reporter

March 26, 1966

    The Beatles' most devoted fans may one day be horticulturists, the science project of a 13-year-old Manitowoc girl indicates. Chris Cummings, an eighth grader at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, has demonstrated that the company of the Liverpool long hairs is stimulating-- at least so far as plant growth is concerned. 

    Chris planted three groupings of corn, each in different boxes. Each lot was sowed in the same amount and variety of soil, and each received the same amount of sunlight and water. The groupings differed only in the kinds of sounds to which they were exposed. One plant box was isolated from the others for an hour each day and serenaded with music from Beatles' recordings. A second group was set apart from the others for the same amount of time and exposed to the monotonous buzzing of an electrical vibrator. The third group was subjected to no unusual sound stimuli.

     After a week's time, here was the result: the corn exposed to the Beatles' music had sprouted to about six inches, nearly twice the height of the plant subjected to the buzzing and four times the height of those that received no unusual sound stimuli. Chris conducted similar experiments with groups of beans, marigolds, and zinnias. The growth rate of these plants were in proportion to those that resulted in the corn experiment. Also, the plants exposed to the Beatles' music appeared healthier than those that were not.

     Chris, who cares for the plants at school after classes and weekends, said she isn't sure of the reasons for the stepped-up growth rates. "It's apparent that the plants grow better when stimulated with sound, but I'm going to have to keep working at it to find out the reason why," she said.

     Ruben Hansen, a science teacher at the school, said, "Apparently, the sound vibrations cause gas molecules in the air to pass through the stomata (leaf pores) at a higher rate without shutting the leaf opening the way a wind would." Hanson's theory, he said, is just an educated guess at this stage, has not been proven yet.

     Chris exhibited her science project on Saturday at the Two Rivers science fair and then at Washington High School. She plans to enter similar science fairs on April 1-3 at Brooks Memorial Hall and Marquette University in Milwaukee and on April 30 at Lincoln High School in Manitowoc.

     Chris's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard G Cummings of 530 North Fourth Street, are proud of their daughter's scientific merit. But Mrs. Cummings, for one, said she was happy Chris's science project has been transferred to the school. "Last year, she started the same experiment at home, and what a mess that was." Mrs. Cummings declared. "We had to keep shifting the boxes from one area of the house to the other, because we didn't have the room. "  Chris's home laboratory was further upset by two house cats, which Mrs. Cummings said seemed to think the plant boxes made ideal sandboxes.