98 



ON THE FOOD OF PLANTS. 



The food of plants has for a long time been 

 considered an object of importance, by natural 

 philosophers, and a great variety of experiments 

 have been made, to ascertain what it consists of, 

 and in what state of preparation it is most 

 readily and effectually applied ; and many con- 

 clusions have been drawn, and conjectures 

 formed. As before explained, the earth, ani- 

 mals, and vegetables, have been analyzed, and 

 their component parts minutely described, by 

 men of the greatest talents and learning ; but as 

 yet no one has arranged and described such a 

 system of cultivation as will enable a person to 

 trace effects to their causes on just scientific 

 principles. Much has been founded on conjec- 

 ture, and much still remains to be determined 

 by practical observation and demonstration. 



Vegetables, like animals, vary in their nituie 

 and habits, and like them have their peculiar 

 food; and although the food of plants may ge- 

 nerally be composed of the same elements, it 

 varies in the proportion of its composition, and 

 thereby becomes adapted to different purposes : 

 thus we find that a soil, which will furnish food 



