22 FRUIT GARDEN COMPANION. 



slates, or tiles ; of the last kinds are the fleshy 

 plants. As the earth furnishes the greatest number 

 of plants, and all those which are of the most im- 

 portance to man, its influence upon vegetation is of 

 the greatest consequence, and at the same time one 

 of the most difficult of which we can treat. 



" Plants are not, like animals, endowed with 

 powers of locomotion ; but are always fixed to a 

 limited portion of the soil. They depend on the 

 small space which they occupy for the supply of 

 their wants ; they can place under contribution only 

 those portions of the surrounding air, earth, and 

 water that come in contact with them ; it is neces- 

 sary, then, that they should find immediately around 

 them the nutritive principles requisite for their 

 growth, and for the exercise of their functions ; it 

 is necessary that they should be able to extend their 

 roots, in order to draw from the soil its nourishing 

 juices ; and to fasten themselves in the earth, so as 

 to be secure from being dried by heat or uprooted 

 by winds." 



ART. 2. On the Food of Plants. 



The food of trees and plants is found to be, in 

 most cases, either animal or vegetable substance in 

 a decaying state ; and is absorbed by their roots 

 principally in aqueous solution or water ; plants also 

 imbibe some nutriment from the atmospheric air 

 by the leaves, which imbibe moisture through their 

 pores ; they also imbibe nutriment from the at- 

 mosphere of decomposed animal and vegetable mat- 

 ter which is carried to. them by high winds, &c., 

 from high-ways and other places adjacent to them. 



