THE COFFEE PLAN i . 145 



232,000,000 Ibs., and some 70,000,000 Ibs. of tea besides. 

 A little plant, of so vital importance, requires considera- 

 tion. Has it found any? What experiments have been 

 tried ? Have these experiments been published ? Hus 

 any premium been offered, and how often, for the suc- 

 cessful growth of the plant ? I fear agricultural socie- 

 ties in America are nothing more than periodical gather- 

 ings of crowds. I have met with no agricultural society 

 in America more than a few people who collected to 

 discuss things that have been cultivated for scores of 

 years, and old wines. 



A man in America gets a little plant stuck in a pot, 

 the pot is watered when it is convenient to do so, or when 

 it is not forgotten. However, moisten the earth ever so 

 often, is it certain that a few handfuls of clay cut away 

 from its mother earth, (and from all those fluids and gases 

 &c., and the changes the heat of the sun, or the dews or 

 evaporations of the night may cause,) retain the same 

 qualities to support vegetation ? The plant derives its 

 nutriment from the earth. There can be no doubt that 

 there is a continued circulation of fluids and gases 

 through the earth and that a portion of clay or mould 

 being removed and placed in pots, &c., is cut away from 

 that circulation, and consequently the plant grown in 

 pots has not the same means of nutriment that it would 



in the earth and therefore must be defective 

 in its nature, and differ from the plant in the ground 

 of the same species. Every man who takes upon him- 

 self to make these experiments should duly consider the 

 value of the plant in hand, and should he most careful 

 how li v it and should in such case, if 



r half a dozen experiments \scro not satisfactory, 

 7 



