NATURAL HISTORY. 



CENTURY V. 



Experiments in consort touching the acceleration of 



germination. 



WE will now inquire of plants or vegetables, and 

 we shall do it with diligence. They are the princi 

 pal part of the third day s work. They are the first 

 &quot; producat,&quot; which is the word of animation : for the 

 other words are but the words of essence. And they 

 are of excellent and general use for food, medicine, 

 and a number of mechanical arts. 



401. There were sown in a bed, turnip-seed, 

 radish-seed, wheat, cucumber-seed, and peas. The 

 bed we call a hot-bed, and the manner of it is this : 

 there was taken horse-dung, old and well rotted; 

 this was laid upon a bank half a foot high, and sup 

 ported round about with planks ; and upon the top 

 was cast sifted earth, some two fingers deep, and 

 then the seed sprinkled upon it, having been steeped 

 all night in water mixed with cow-dung. The 

 turnip-seed and the wheat came up half an inch 

 above ground within two clays after, without any 

 watering. The rest the third day. The experiment 

 was made in October ; and, it may be, in the spring, 



