184 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



{June, 



such time as said land shall be devoted ex- 

 clusively to the growth of said trees ; and pro- 

 vided, further, that the owner of such planta- 

 tions shall appear before the board of the asses- 

 sors in the towns where the same are located 

 and prove to the satisfaction of such board the 

 herein-mentioned conditions." 



This is well so far as it goes. Its chief value 

 is in showing tree planters that they have pub- 

 lic sympathy. But we fancy that tree planting 

 on land not worth over fifteen dollars an acre, 

 would be land very far from market, and it will 

 be hard to make timber culture pay there, even 

 though exempt from taxes. 



Natural History and Science. 



COM Ml 'NIC A TIONS. 



ARE PLANTS FED THROUGH THEIR 

 LEAVES? 



BY ME. PETER HENDERSON. 



The discussion about the " insect eating " 

 plants, has brought this in as aside issue, though 

 one of far more practical importance to horti- 

 culture than the main question. 



I know that the position I am about to take 

 on this question is not only in opposition to that 

 held by yourself, and your correspondents, Prof. 

 C. V. Riley, and Mr. Thos. Forfar, but many 

 others. But let us see how far such opinions 

 are borne out by the following broad facts. 



"Within six miles of where I write, we have 

 three large manufactories of fertilizers ; one an 

 immense ground bone manufactory at Nevvark, 

 N. J.; another, the Lodi Poudrette manufactory 

 situated on the Hackensack Meadows ; the other, 

 the manufactory for the Blood and Bone Fertil- 

 izer, located right in the midst of our market 

 gardens at Communipaw, N. J., all of which are 

 within ten miles of the city of iSfew York. The 

 effluvia from these manufactories is carried in 

 the air for miles, and in the immediate vicinity 

 is almost unbearable, yet if any one think that 

 the meadow grass in the vicinity of the Poud- 

 rette factory, or the Vegetables gi-own contigu- 

 ous to the blood and bone establishments are 

 benefited by the '• absorption," any more than 

 the same class of vegetation a dozen miles 

 away, he will be quickly undeceived if he will 

 take the trouble to examine. I have critically 

 examined them on several occasions, and at 

 all seasons, in company with some of our most 

 experienced market gardeners here, and the re- 

 sult has ever been the same, no difference what- 



ever was apparent either to grass, trees or gar- 

 den vegetables in the closest proximity to the 

 works. !N^ow if our examination was correct, 

 and a verification of it can easily be made any 

 Summer's day, it would seem that the effect of 

 "putrid beef tea placed under a stand of plants," 

 as suggested by your correspondent, Mr. Thos. 

 Forfar, would be very slight indeed. 



Prof. Riley says that "as a practical gardener 

 Mr. Henderson will not deny that many plants 

 with tender foliage may be nourished and in 

 fact frequently are nourished, by the application 

 of liquid manure to their leaves." To this I 

 reply that my practice which has extended over 

 a period of over thirty-five years, and which I 

 believe has been as varied and extensive as that 

 of most men in that time, has never yet shown 

 me a single instance wherein I was certain that 

 plants either absorb liquid manure, or even fer- 

 lilizing gases by their leaves. 



It is the easiest thing in the world to "mistake 

 causes." The school of medicine, less than 

 fifty years ago bled and blistered mankind for 

 nearly all the ills that humanity is heir to ; to- 

 day the newest fiedged saw-bones thinks he 

 knows better, and looks pityingly on the San- 

 grados of half a century ago I So may not 

 some of us, (who are certainly far from being 

 as intelligent a class as the medical profess- 

 ion), have got off on a wrong tangent? Even 

 when you, Mr. Editor, assume that the rank 

 growth of plants grown in hotbeds, over those 

 grown in other artificial heat, is due to the ab- 

 sorption of nitrogenous matter through the 

 leaves, it is possible you may be mistaken in 

 your assumption, for no doubt you have seen 

 in pine pits where tan bark was used for plung- 

 ing, a luxuriance of growth quite equal to that of 



