AUTUMN LEAVES: After someone asked us recently why the leaves seem to be changing color so early this year, we received a response collected from Donald J. Comes, a well-known horticulturist from Smethport.
So, why do the leaves turn the colors they turn to begin with?
“Yellow, orange and variations of leaves reside in the pigmentation of tree leaves and are over powered by abundance of green from chlorophyll within the leaves. In autumn sun is less and sun weakens, days grow shorter, and the amount of chlorophyll diminishes, allowing pigments in leaves to show through.”
So, the yellow and orange are always there; you just can’t see them when leaves are full of chlorophyll.
However, other leaf colors stem (get it, “stem”?) from another source.
“Red and purple leaves are actually caused by the presence of sugar from sap that is trapped inside of the leaves.”
We never knew that.
GASOLINE: Clyde Johnson of Port Allegany sent us information on making gasoline from natural gas, rather than oil.
According to Clyde, “Gasoline can be made from natural gas for about $1 a gallon. Dr. Paris of Bradford made a machine that refined natural gas to gasoline in 1905. The oil companies went with oil instead because there were more byproducts.”
He also talked about the energy industry today.
“We depend on expensive imported oil to supply our gasoline needs. We could use cleaner burning natural gas to make all our gasoline and improve our economy at the same time. Most of our gas is sent to Texas to be refined into propane or gasoline to be sent to Japan, China or India. Some goes to Shell, Mobile or other oil companies to be made into cleaner burning gasoline. What a huge profit.”
It is his desire that Americans “wise up as to the fantastic use of natural gas.”
Clyde referred to a column from a several weeks ago that talked “majic pills” Dr. Paris made for cars. Clyde said, “These were made from natural gas condensed. I have no idea how he did this. Dr. Paris was one of Bradford’s great geniuses. Can you imagine the change of history if all gasoline was made from natural gas instead of oil from 1905 on?”
We don’t know anything ourselves about the idea of making gasoline from natural gas. Is Clyde onto something here?
