is;^7] 



FA RM JORS' RET. I ST 10 R, 



261 



tluisp pliuils that are. not in flower when the frost 

 sfis ill. uikI piTHrrviiiir thoai, in a jinnvinirptatc, 

 ill am house or shetl vvlipre liirhl is ailniiitod, and 

 winch uill pri'scrve them tit)in a severe. Host, 

 ihese will eoiue into use aiimit llie month ol" .Jaii- 

 iiarv ; ami, l>y cullinu' them, and puttin<^ the''i in 

 till' saiid-hed, they willeontinue til for use «'>"'the 

 sMriiiLT. In this way I liave kept cauiiHu.ve*"' to 

 the end ot" April. It will he necessary, li-om tinie 

 to time, to examine and cut oil' any decayed part 

 that may appear. 



ffest Pkun, January 7, 1837. 



From the same. 



OIV KIDNEY-BKANS. 



By A. Forsyth. 



To force kidney -beans. — Plant any of the dwarf 

 sorts (the dan-colored is generally prelerred) in 

 Ptpial |iarls of rotten dung, reduced to a soil, and 

 loani, in shallow twenty-lour sized pots: say one 

 inch crocks, one inch soil; then six beans, covering 

 them with one inch more ol soil. These pots 

 may he stowed away in any corner of the stove, 

 till the plants appear above ground, when tliey 

 must be brought near the glass and thinned out to 

 three or tour of the best plants. As they advance, 

 they must be earthed up ; and the leader may be 

 pinched oti', to render them short and bushy. — 

 When they come into flower, air must be admit- 

 ted, to set the fruits; and every one must be gath- 

 ered as soon as it is fit for the table, not to rob the 

 others that are forming. The plants may be 

 grown in a house at any temperature above fl'eez- 

 iiig, and below blood-iieat; the medium, 60° to 

 65^, I should prefer. They succeed well when 

 planted out in a pit or frame, with or without bot- 

 tom heat, in rows eighteen inches apart, and three, 

 inches in the row; and, as they advance, they are 

 to be topped as above, and sticked. Planted at 

 Christmas, they require about eight weeks to 

 bring fruit fit for the table, in a temperature as 

 preferred above. In the open border, any of the 

 sorts will answer well. Rich light soil, well drained 

 and sheltered, is best. They may be planted in 

 rows two feet apart, two inches asunder in the 

 row, and two inches deep. It is seldom safe to 

 have this plant, in leaf^ unprotected, before the 

 first of June, as the least fros-'; would ruin all. — 

 They can be forwarded in any ■*i-arm nook, plant- 

 ed in pots, or on strips of turf, ni a cold frame or 

 matted bed; from which they can be easily re- 

 moved, uninjured, to their final place of destina- 

 tion. They must be stopped, sticked, and picked, 

 as directed above for those in-doors. 



Jslewurlh, January 6, 183*. 



in from sixteen to twenly-lbur Iiours, if the grains 

 are plunged partly in wiiter. I'Vom much experi- 

 ence, they have discovered that a temperature 

 nearly constant (for example, that of a cellar of 

 50'^ Fahr.) is better for germiiiaiion than a more 

 elevated, but variable, temperature; since the va- 

 riations of temperature prevent the air from being 

 ccuistantly saturated with moisture. Ii is worthy 

 ol" remark, that the grains absorb more water in 

 the latter case than when exposed to the unitbrm 

 temperature of a cellar. 



There are two conditions necessary for (Termi- 

 nation to take place in air: first, a cerlain propor- 

 tion of water in the grains; and, secondly, that the 

 air surrounding them be in an extremely moist 

 state. 



In air thus charged with moisture the grain com- 

 mences by absorbing water; and, vvlien, it has 

 absorbed a sufficient quantity, if the temperature 

 is constant, the air, si ill saturated with vapor, 

 keeps the external membrane in a state of humid- 

 ity, favorable to vegeta;ii>ii. If the humidity ot 

 the air varies, then the external membrane is not 

 humid enou<.^h to perform its functions. 



JMessrs. Edwards and Colin have studied, ac- 

 cording to these principles, the efl'ectof the difl'er- 

 ent kinds of humid soil on germination; and, final- 

 ly, they have determined tlie efiects of air satura- 

 ted with vapor on vegetation, and liave arrived at 

 the result, that this is the condition of the air the 

 most liivorable for almost all plants. 



In confirmation of this view, they have cited 

 the observations njade at llavanna by JM. De la 

 Sagra, and the jiractice in the stoves in England} 

 where, by saturating the air with vapor, pine-ap- 

 ples are obtained of the weight of 8 lbs. 



From i' E cho du Monde Savant, AprU 12, 1837. 

 THE INFLUENCE OF VAPOR ON VEGETATION. 



Messrs. Edwards and Colin have read, at the 

 Academy of Sciences, a third memoir on the in- 

 fluence of vapor on all the periods of vegetation. 

 They observed, first, that the grains of winter 

 wheat did not germinate in air, because they were 

 not saturated with moisture; but that the germina- 

 tion, which, when the grains are saturated with 

 moisture, takes place in about eight days, happens 



From Uw Philosophical Joarnal, vol. x.\ii. p. 383., 1837. 



connexion between meteorology and 

 vegetat;on. 



"M. Boussingault has addressed a note to the 

 Academic des hViences of Paris, which is entitled 

 'Comparative Examination of the Meteorological 

 circumstances under whicli our common grains 

 (the Cerealia;, turkey wheat (maize) and pota- 

 toes, vegetate at the equator, and in the tempe- 

 rate zone.' In this examination, the author liaa 

 fiiSt made investigations into the time which 

 elapses lietween the first springing of the plant 

 and its full maturity. He then determined the 

 ti;mperature of the space of time which separates 

 these two extreme epochs of vegetable lil'e. By 

 comparing these data concerning any given plant 

 which is cultivated both in Europe and America, 

 he arrives at this curious result: that the number 

 of days that separate the commencement of ve- 

 getation fi'om its maturity is more coi -^derable in 

 proportion as the mean temperature IFi^^er the in- 

 fluence of which ilie plant grows is less; the du- 

 ration of the vegetation will be equal, however 

 different the climate may be, if this temperature 

 is identical in the two places; and it will be shorter 

 or longer, according as the mean heat of the pe- 

 riod of time necessary for the accomplishment of 

 the vegetation is itself gre--'yer or less; in other 

 words, the duration of the wJgetation appears to 

 be in the inverse ratio of the mean temperatures. 

 So that, if you multiply the number of days durino< 

 which any given plant vegetates in these distant 



