360 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



Young pines are found sometimes standing with 

 their first branches buried in the soil, and after 

 eight days with a naked stem, and the roots so 

 exposed that one could creep through them! 

 (Yet) this soil, as is seen in the Spriewald, so 

 far as it is moistened by the rivers Sprie and 

 Havel, produces vigorous pine vegetation, which 

 most certainly cannot draw all its carbon from 

 sources furnished by the soil, for it has never 

 possessed it, nor has it been furnished to it by 

 artificial processes." 



It is remarked by Colonel Campbell that the 

 cinnamon tree flourishes best in a soil which 

 consists chiefly of sand. He says : " The soil 

 of the cinnamon garden, in the neighbourhood 

 of Colombo, (as well as that near Galle and 

 elsewhere, in which the cinnamon-tree is grown ; 

 and in many places it is produced naturally,) is 

 a remarkable instance of the silicious kind. 

 The surface of the ground in many places, 

 where the cinnamon plant flourishes, is white 

 as snow : this is pure quartz sand. Below the 

 surface a few inches, where the roots penetrate, 

 the sand is of a grey colour. A specimen of 

 this, dried thoroughly, was found to consist of 



98'5 silicious sand. 

 TO vegetable matter. 

 0'5 water. 



100-0 " 



