n NATURAL AND CIVIL , 



The sap continued to run four or five weeks, i 

 and from the remarks \Ahich were made, it was 

 tiie opinion of the observer, tliat it must have i 

 yielded as mueh as sixty barrels. j 



The con'-.equcnce of this Avaste of the juices , 

 was the death of the tree, the ensuing summer* ; 

 I have this account from the Hon. Paul Biig- ! 

 honiy Esq. These accounts serve to show, v/hat \ 

 a quantity of fluid, is naturally contained in some : 

 of our trees ; and from a source so plentiful, a 

 copious evaporation might naturally be ei^pected. 



Emission of Air. Another curious ope- ' 

 ration, which nature carries on in vegetables, of " 

 the highest use, but wholly invisible to us, is \ 

 the emission of a large quantity of air. The ' 

 tress, vegetables and flowers, while they are dis- \ 

 charging a large quantity of water into the at^ ; 

 mosphere, are, at the same time emitting or i 

 tlii'owing off a much larger quantit}^ of air. On '• 

 the 15th of June, 1789, I put the same part of i 

 the maple tree into a bottle, as I had done in ! 

 the experiment of June 12th. The bottle, with i 

 the limb of the maple thus enclosed, was then '. 

 filled up \\A\.\\ water ; and immersed in a large \ 

 drinking glass, which had been filled before : 

 In this situation the bottle was inverted, and 

 fixed so as to have its mouth about three inches 

 under thfe surface of the water, in the drinking 

 glass. In fifteen minutes, air bubbles began to 

 appear around the leaves of the maple ; and 

 soon after to ascend to the upper part of the 

 bottle, and collect into large bubbles ; which, 

 as they increased, resolved themselves into one. 

 At the end of six hours, I found the quantity of 

 water which had been forced out of the bottle^ 



