QN THE FOOI> OF PLANTS J 



No. 9, the clay and lime, had one stem very slender, 15 clay and lime, 

 niches, and the ear 1^- inch. 



No. 10, the dung and sand, had sixteen stems, 37 inches dungandsar.d, 

 long, and the ears 2£ inches, very strong. 



No. 11, the peat earth, had six sterns, 35 inches long, peatearth t 

 and the ears 2 \ inches. 



Thus, it appears, that in both sets of experiments the re- 

 sults were similar. 



From these facts, compared with other facts with which j s water t ^ c 

 w« are conversant; such as the flowering of bulhous roots in food of plants? 

 water, and more especially the vast increase of the withy- 

 tree, recorded by Mr. Boyle, our attention is naturally turn- 

 ed in the first place to water, as the supposed nutriment of 

 plants. 



In the experiments before us, both the cabbage and the Water used 

 wheat of No. 1 were well supplied with water; but in the with the sand, 

 space of six months the former had not increased in either 

 weight or bulk ; and the latter in eight months produced 

 only two miserable stems. 



In Catalonia, more especially in the vicinity of Barcelo- A sandy soil 

 na, the soil is principally quartz, from decomposed granite; P roducUye « 

 yet being well watered, and plentifully supplied with light 

 and heat, the crops of every kind are most abundant. 



Mr. de Saussure remarks, that " we deceive ourselves ex- Quality of the 

 ceedingly when we imagine, that the fertility of any ^strict an^Tmoistwc 

 depends wholly on the nature of its soil, because abundance important. 

 and scarcity in crops arise principally from the degree of 

 heat and humidity in the air, with the quantity and qua- 

 lity of the exhalations with which it is charged." He adds, 

 " I have seen, in Sicily and Calabria, rocks and gravel arid 

 and uncultivated, such as in Switzerland would have been 

 altogether barren, which there produced more vigorous 

 plants than are to be seen on the richest and best cultivated 

 lands amongst the Helvetic mountains.*" 



It is astonishing to see, in a warm climate, the rapid growth Effects of well 



of vegetables when they are well supplied with water. The watering in a 

 ,, . ,. . .... . n t%m . warm cliau'.e 



smallest cutting ot a vine will in the space of fifteen or six- 

 teen months cover the front of an extensive edifice, or form 



^ •Voyage dans les Alpcs, 1J319. 



a spacious 



