THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



are faat giviug way to really gooJ specimens of cheap paiut- 

 iug and engraving. Who, too, has not marked the improve- 

 ment in the dress of the labourer— his Sunday dress?— no bad 

 criterion of his well doing. All thi.s proves to me matters are 

 rapidly improving. Drnnkenneaa is still </ic curse to the men, 

 love of dress to the young women : with regard to the latter 

 they are scarcely more foolish and extravagant than their 

 betters; as to the former, I have hope yet that Bible and 

 books will beat the becrshop. 



Let the upper orders rule more htj example, and they will 

 find they rule better. True social science lays down, among its 



principiti, that those who have received moat have the most 

 to give ; the rich man's library, his education, his position, 

 are to this degree the property of the poor man, who has few 

 books, has had little teaching, and lives from hand to mouth ; 

 he baa— when told the value of learning and religion, of so- 

 briety and chastity, of honesty and industry — a right to see 

 the evidence of all this in the life of those who are possessed 

 of the sources from which it is derived. 



I feel, Sir, I have trespassed too far on your patience : it is 

 an old and favourite subject of your now old correspondent 

 —Times. S. G. O. 



ON THE INFLUENCE WHICH THE INDIVIDUAL CONSTI- 

 TUTION OF PLANTS EXERTS UPON THE SEED. 



BY WILLIAM K. SULLIVAN. PH.D., M.R.I. A., PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE ROMAN 

 CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY, AND LECTURER ON CHEMISTRY IN THE MUSEUM OF IRISH 

 INDUSTRY. 



In the matured plant we have the final result of 

 the action of all the causes which influenced its 

 growth. These causes may be classed under three 

 categories : cosmical, agrological, and morpho- 

 logical. To the first ])elong the several influences 

 exerted by the mean distribution of heat, the 

 temperature, the amount and distribution of rain, 

 the variation in the amount of vapour in the 

 atmosphere, the amount and quality of the sun's 

 rays, the relation between the period of flowering 

 and the length of the day. By agrological causes, 

 I mean the influence exerted by the special me- 

 chanical and chemical qualities of the soil in which 

 the plant grows. The third class of causes in- 

 cludes: 1. The action which the specific morpho- 

 logy of the plant, — that is, the structure which it 

 has in common with all the individuals of the 

 species, — exerts upon the chemical and other 

 changes occurring during growth; 2. And that 

 exerted by the individual mor])hology, or the pecu- 

 liarities of structure which each individual exhibits. 

 These causes are not of equal generality ; the 

 order is, indeed, the reverse of that in which we 

 have enumerated them. 



It so happens that the relations between the 

 chemical constitution and the individual and speci- 

 fic forms of ])lants, have, hitherto, received very 

 little attention, the former, indeed, none at all; and 

 yet phyto-chemistry, especially from an agricul- 

 tural point of view, should Ije based precisely upon 

 a knowledge of the action of those causes. Ira- 

 pressed with the great importance of tracing this 

 connection, I have attempted some experiments, 

 which, although of a very fragmentary and not 

 very conclusive character, may help to call atten- 

 tion to one of the most important subjects of 



inquiry, whether judged from a purely physio- 

 logical or agricultural point of view. I shall begin 

 with the individual morphological structure. 



In the years 1S52 and 1853, I made, in the 

 Museum of Irish Industry, in conjunction with 

 my friend Mr. A. Gages, several hundred analyses 

 of the bulbous roots usually cultivated. The 

 results of these analyses led to the important con- 

 clusion, that the diflS'erence in the amount of water 

 between the large and small roots, grown under 

 similar conditions, in the same field, was generally 

 greater than that produced by the action of differ- 

 ent manures ; a result which necessarily invali- 

 dated all experiments upon the comparative action 

 of different manures upon turnips, beets, potatoes, 

 &c., hitherto made, in which the influence of size 

 was not taken into account, and this had been 

 almost never done. 



The proportions of water, ash, and nitrogen, 

 were determined upon a slice cut, in one series, 

 from the centre of the root and at right angles to 

 the axis; and in another series, in the direction of 

 the other axis. Mr. A. Rehring, of Edderitz, having, 

 however, shown that the amount of sugar con- 

 tained in different parts of a beetroot varied, being 

 at a maximum in the thickest part of the body, 

 and diminibhing upwards and downwards, it ap- 

 peared to follow that the percentage of solid 

 matter, determined from the cross sections, would 

 be sensibly higher than the mean of the whole 

 root, and that from the section along the axis, 

 sensibly lower than the mean. This distribution 

 of the sugar is more or less in accordance with 

 the structure of the bulb, which consists' of alter- 

 nate layers of vascular and cellulai- tissue, the 

 sugar being contained in the latter, especially in 



