l8o3» Anfwers to ^lerius on Vegetation, 45 



in this proportion, or nearly : day, ^ ; fand, ^ ; calcareous mat- 

 ter, f : judicloully manured with dung, or dead vegetable matter. 



11. Certainly. 



12. Adding a fufficient quantity of adhclive matter, if too 

 porous. 



13. Moft generally; but there may be fome pernicious metallic 

 fubftance alfo in the foil, and which may co-operate in caufiiig 

 llerility. 



14. When new digged or ploughed, if in a moderately dry 

 ftate. 



15. In a very great meafure, if not buried too deep. 



16. Not altogether, but partly 



17. Expoiing it to the fun's rays in part, by throwing it into a 

 large lengthened heap whereby it is alfo partly fl-aded, and turn- 

 ing It over once in two or three months, will fooner reftore it to 

 fertility than any other procefs, excluiively of adding frelli matter. 

 The oftener tlie furface is encrufted with froft, and the freer it is 

 kept of weeds, will be the more aiding to this delirable purpofe. 



18. Yes ; becaufe otherwifc the feeds of many annual and bi- 

 ennial plants are found to degenerate. 



19. Soil of a free open texture, and moderately rich. Becaufe 

 all feeds vegetate, and all plants ftrike root l^it in a lightiih foil, 

 although by nature they may require a different kind afterwards 

 to bring them to maturity. 



II. Concerning the Air, 



Anf. to Qiief. i. Kn efFe61; fimilar to that it has on animals, in- 

 flation and refpiration. Alfo, of conveying, or rather containing, 

 part of their food, which it depolits in the foil, to be imbibed by 

 the roots ; and part it conveys into th.eir fyftem by meiins of the 

 pores in the bark, leaves, &:c. 



2. I believe many plants would live, and even thrive, in air 

 that might be fatal to molt animals ; but. I am convinced that pure, 

 or at leaft w^hat w^e term wholefome air, is elTential to the pro- 

 duftion of wholefome fruits, pulfe, and grain. 



4. Not the whole, part only ; that is, plants in general. For, 

 in contradidfion to any hypothelis that I know of, I have to flate, 

 that I witnefled an aloe live for upwards of feven years in a ftate 

 of fufpenfion between heaven and earth, without a particle of foil 

 about its roots, and without any vilible figns of decay or mutabi- 

 lity. Its fituation was fuch, however, that it was equally a ftran- 

 ger to rain, froft, and the rays of the fun. 



5. I think it does. The nitrous acid of the air, being imbibed 

 by the fallov/ foil, is of iniiuite advantage in reducing dungs, ei- 



voL. IV. NO. XIII, F ther 



