1 4 On the Nourishment produced to the Plant ly its Leaves. 



soil, nor be continually changing Irom caprice, or the hopes of 

 greater gain ; for, if any thing can make a poor ground yield as 

 much return of profit as a rich soil, it is the putting in those 

 plants that are natur d to it ; and, by manuring, raise them to 

 the greatest degree (jf perfection ihey are capable of in this 

 country; and as we hrive every opportunity of cxclianging with 

 each other, it can lirtle signify what indi^iriual vegetables we 

 grow, provided they are excellent of their kind. Does it not 

 agree with reason, that the plant must grow best in that soil from 

 which it originallv issued, if with that it receives those juices 

 that will enrich it, which it requires, and which nature (as if to sti- 

 mulate us to industrv) has alone refused it ? And when it is con- 

 sidered what money is exhausted in making plants grow in un- 

 natural and improper groinid, instead of searching for ajid put-' 

 ting in the plants suitable to the soil, tlie farmer will surely 

 be convinced that he will save half the expense in manure and 

 seed, by acting as I venture to advise*. 



To prove how completely the plant is made for the soil, how 

 it is made to acconmiodate itself to it, I shall give in my next a few 

 examjjles of the sand and boggy plant, the •iand and herla- 

 ceous plant, compaiing ///.c/r roots, and the manner with which 

 they support the defects and weight of each peculiar earth j 

 how completely the radicle and side roots point out those plants 

 that are so nurtured by the earth, and how different are those 

 which receive tlieir support from the leaves ; how in clay and 

 chalks, the very cuticle of the roots is formed to bear the putrid 

 ■water often found under the surface, and which is in general more 

 disagreeable to plants than any other defect. 



I must now mention a circumstance which I forgot to notice 

 in my last letter, when describing the astonishing manner in 

 which Ittlbs will remain without earth, water, or air, while they 

 Jiower and seed. But on looking back to my book of observa- 

 tions, I find iiwt on trying, thev would never either flower or 

 seed the second year without being placed for a time in the 

 earth, when their seeds immediately formed, and their flowers 

 began to swell ; and I had marked it as another proof that the 

 seeds proceededyrowi the root — if fresh evidence is required to 

 substantiate a fact, to those whose eyes cannot view so small an 

 object. 



I am, sir, your obliged servant, 



Slierwood, near Newton A&NES IbbetsoN, 



St. Cures. 



* Whoever may \vi--li to see the cnntimiation of the ngricultural part of 

 tliis letter, niny probably fiiiri it vvitli the name of the plant fitted to each 

 soil, in the Bail) j\grieuftural Review, 



De- 



