GROWTH OF BEAXS IX EXPERIMENTAL SOIL. 



109 



111 eacli of tliese pots, five dwarf-beans were planted, 

 the weiglit of which had been carefully determined, and 

 which had been allowed to germinate in pure water. 



The plants in the three manured pots grew very evenly, 

 and the luxuriance of their growth excited the astonish- 

 ment of all who saw them. 



During the first month, the plants in pots 2 and 3 

 (filled respectively with turf J and -^ saturated) presented 

 a finer appearance than the others ; but those in pot 4 

 (filled with saturated turf) soon overtook them ; and the 

 difierence in the size of the leaves, in proportion to the 

 greater richness of the soil, was very striking. 



Eemarkable, too, was the influence of the soil upon 

 the term of the vegetating period. Each of the five 

 plants in the piu:e turf produced a small pod, and, to- 

 gether, the five pods contained 14 seeds. During the 

 ripening of the seeds, the leaves died from below 

 upwards ; so that, before the pods had turned yellow, all 

 the leaves had fallen ofi*. The plants in the saturated 

 turf remained green longer than any of the others, and 

 their seeds ripened latest. The last pod of these plants 

 was cropped on July 29, whilst the last pod of the plants 

 in the pure turf had already been cropped on July 16. 



The following table shows the crops yielded by all four 

 pots, with the number and weight of the seeds : — 



