ON THE FOOD OF PLANTS. 9 



come up I give them all the air I can in fine weather, keeping the 

 same shut in frosty weather, and at night. 



In May, they have got large enough to plant out. This sea- 

 son I planted under a row of standard apple and pear trees (hav- 

 ing first dug in some decayed vegetable mould) and though under 

 the shade of the trees, I have had all the autumn, and to the pre- 

 sent time, one mass of bloom, bidding defiance to the season, 

 and hardly what may be called an indifferent flower, and among 

 them, at least a dozen of those of first rate. 



I grow a great profusion ©f border flowers, but the first flower 

 that strikes the attention of any visitor, and particularly females, 

 is the Heartsease ; to me, the watching of the first bloom, with 

 the expectancy of rearing something new, creates a much greater 

 pleasure than viewing a bed of known good flowers. 



If any flower is required to show what can be done by cultiva- 

 tion, let it be the Heartsease ; take the plant growing in its 

 natural wild state on the West of England mountains, and com- 

 pare it with the present garden flower. It is my opinion that the 

 cultivation of this beautiful plant will be greatly improved, and 

 in a few years will far surpass those of the present day. 



A. E. 



ARTICLE IV. 

 ON THE FOOD OF PLANTS 



BY TERRA. 



We are lost in wonder and astonishment when we contemplate the 

 means by which plants are supported and the different soils that 

 arc requisite to bring the different species to perfection, some 

 delighting to grow in rich soils, others on barren wastes, some 

 in warm countries, others in the higher latitudes, all receiving that 

 nourishment which is best suited for the propagation of their spe- 

 cies, and in those places that are best adapted to their nature. 

 When we consider a plant as an object possessing vegetable life 

 that it is organized, possessing an apparatus, by means of which 

 its several functions are exercised ; that light, air, and moisture 

 are essential to its existence, and that no sooner is life extinct, 

 than the laws of chemistry, which hitherto were over-ruled by that 

 principle, exert their influence :— it is decomposed, and having 

 Voi,. VII. No. 71. c 



