541 hnprovement of Plants.— 'Soldering of Glafs. 



X cannot difmifs this fubje£t without expreflirig my regret that thofe who have made the 

 fcietice of botany their ftudy, fliould have confidered the improvement of thofe vegetables 

 which, in their cuUivated (late, afford the largeft portion of-fubfiftence to mankind and other 

 animals, as little connected with the objeft of their purfuit. Hence it has happened that 

 whilft much attention has been paid to the improvement of every fpecies of ufeful animal, 

 the mod valuable efculent plants have been almoft wholly neglefted. But when the extent 

 of the benefit which would arife to the agriculture of the country from the poffcffion of 

 varieties of plants which, with the fame extent of foil and labour, would afFord even a fmall 

 increafe of produce, is confidered, this fubjeft appears of no inconfiderable importance. 

 I'he improvement of animals is attended with much expence, and the improved kinds 

 neceflarily extend themfelves flowly ; but a fingle bufliel of improved wheat or peas may, 

 in ten years, be made to afford feed enough to fupply the whole ifland ; and a fingle apple, 

 OT other fruit tree, may within the fame time be extended to every garden in it. Thefe 

 confiderations have been the caufe of my addreffing the foregoing obfervations to you at 

 this time ; for it was much my wifh to have afcertained before I wrote to you, whether in 

 any inftance a fingle plant can be the offspring of two male parents. The decifion of that 

 queftion mufl; of neceffity have occupied two years, and muft therefore be left to the teft 

 of future experiment. 



PHILOSOPHICAL NEJFS, &'c. 



Ofl the Soldering af Glafs. ^ 



V-^'IT. Pajot des Charmes, Correfpondent with the Philomathic Society, has laid before 

 this Society, and the Inftitute, fome fmall pieces of glafs compofed of feveral fragments, 

 which he has contrived to join and folder together with fuch firmnefs, that the glafs will 

 rather break on the fide of the joint, than exaftly upon it. This operation Is equally 

 effe£lual on fuch pieces as have their fractures either ftrait or winding, fquare or bevel, 

 ftarred, &c. The part where the joint is, is fcarcely vifible, and Cit. Pajot has in fome 

 inftances made it almoft entirely difappear. When it is vifible it merely prefents a fimple 

 thread, which does not break the luminous rays as a crack does. 



By means of this procefs, if brought to perfe£lion, a glafs of confiderable value may be 

 obtained, by uniting the fmaller pieces with little expence. As in order to compleat the 

 union it is neceffary to heat the glafs, and to laminate it, thefe operations have the ad-l 

 vantage of altering the colour of a glafs of a difagreeable lint, and of caufing a great part 

 of the bubbles which disfigure it to difappear, by making them take an oblong form, which 



renders 



