336 



FAKJWERS' REGISTER 



be understood so long as the youn<? creature is 

 nourished solely by liquors furnished by the uterus 

 of the parent; bur as soon as it is supplied any 

 oiher way with ail or any part of its nourishment, 

 it can no longer be looked on as a fetus. 



" ir this is agreeel on to be the disiinguishing 

 character of a fetus, it will be evident, ihat we 

 are to regard plants as (cEluses while the seed i?; 

 ripening, and before the earth, water, moisture ol' 

 the air, &c., have t)een coriimunicated immediate- 

 ly any matter for its increase: and, in this case, 

 ii will appear most probable, that the umbilicus 

 pours in fiquors from the uterus and chorion into 

 the amnios, from which it is lalten up by the ves- 

 sels of the seminal leaves, to be conveyed partly 

 into the fetus, and partly into the leaves them- 

 selves; by which the plant is increased, and its 

 parts are explicated, and a substance is provided 

 (or nourishing it afiervvards, when its tender roots 

 either can receive from the earth very little, or 

 any thing legs than is necessary lor the sufficient 

 growth ol' the plant. 



" In running this analogy between animals and 

 plants, you will observe the mixture of the me- 

 chanism of the viviparous and oviparous animals 

 in the nourishment of the foBtuses of plants. For 

 the little plant havincr, as in ttie viviparous ani- 

 mals, a communication with the uterus of the pa- 

 rent till it is fully Ibrmcd, the whole quantity o( 

 the liquor it is to be nourished with is not at first 

 to be seen, as the albumen is in the egii; but the 

 uterus furnishes the liquor to be gradually absorb- 

 ed by the cotyledons or 'placenta : and then, on 

 the other hand, plants resemble the oviparous ani- 

 mals, in so liir as the parent being incapable ol 

 supplying any juices prepared in its own body, 

 alicr the fcEtus is separated from the womb, for 

 the nourishment of the plant; and the young 

 plant not being in condition, for some time, to sub- 

 sist entirely on the new nourishment it must re- 

 ceive, the farinaceous cotyledtns, or pulpy semi- 

 nal leaves, do the same cood office to the plant, 

 as the vitellus does to the chick after it is hatched. 



"Since the resemblance is so great between 

 animals and plants, it would be superfluous, alier 

 what has been said of the tbrmer, to enter into a 

 particular detail of the reasons of the foregoing 

 ))hcnomena of plants ; and it is almost needless 

 to s;iy, that I would conclude both the oviparous 

 animals and plants to favor my opinion of the 

 wliole nourishment of all fetuses being conveyed 

 by piiriicular absorbent vessels, and not by the or- 

 dinary cannis through which the aliment must 

 pass alier the creature is out of its foetus state ; 

 (or these are obvious to any who reads with the 

 least atten.ion." 



EXTRACTS FROM WII.LIABI B. SxMITHS " RK- 

 BtARKS ON THE VEGKTABLE KlJfGDOOI, 

 SOILS, &C. 



Delivered before the Cumberland Agricultural Socie- 

 ty, April 10th, 1S40'. Contirmed from Vol. vii., 

 page 385, Farmers' Register. 



(^ommunicatcil for the Register by order of the Society. 



Diseases of plants — curative indications, S/c. — 

 Plants and animals, being governed by similar 



laws, are in all probability subject to similar dis- 

 eases ; this, I suspect, will be admitted by every 

 individual who has paid attention to vegetable und 

 animal pathology. When the plague of 166t> 

 visited London, not only man and all infeiior ani- 

 mals were subject to disease, but the vegetable 

 kingdom suffered in like manner, and gardens, 

 fields and forests were destroyed by the devouring 

 distemper. We have abundant 'proof, both from 

 history and tradition, that the plagues of every 

 age destroy both kingdoms ; and we all know, 

 that our summer and au'umnai epidtjmics are de- 

 structive to plants as vvp|l as animals. 



Doctor Benjamin Smith Barton, who was a 

 distinguished botanist oC Philadelphia, inoculated 

 an onion with the matter of small pox, and in 

 sixteen days, (says the docloi,} the onion became 

 eruptive, no doubt the effect of the virus. Plants 

 of all kinds are subject to blights, a most Ibrmida- 

 ble and alarming disease; sometimes a whole 

 plant or tree will perish, now and then a lew 

 leaves and flowers only, or perhaps a branch or 

 two will be shrivelled by it, and the rest remain 

 green and flourishing. English writers on gar- 

 dening suppose blights are produced li-om cold 

 easterly winds, which are most frequent in Eng- 

 land about the latter end of March, or beginning 

 of April. Late writers, who have given attentioti 

 to this subject, are of opinion that the disease 

 called blight originates (rom insects wounding 

 the tender bark, leaves, &c., in order to drink their 

 fill of sap and other juices. 



I suspect every species of plants, their trunks, 

 branches, leaves and fruit, are loaded, throughout 

 the summer and autumnal months, with insects 

 producing disease by the numberless wounds they 

 inflict. It is, then, not at all surprising that plants 

 coated with insects and eggs, during the whole 

 period of their growth, should so often dwindle 

 and die ; the astonishment is that they should ar- 

 rive at any degree of pertf-ction. 



in order to remove blights, the curative indica- 

 tions are such as physicians resort to in removing 

 cutaneous or herpetic diseases from the surface of 

 animals, or worms from the alimentary canal. In 

 orchards and forests the trunks of trees should be 

 bored or perforated carefully, and calomel intro- 

 duced, care being taken not to wound the [lith. 

 This will destroy insects on the tender twigs, 

 leaves, flowers and fruit ; insects that pierce the 

 bark maybe destroyed with lime water; or sul- 

 phur and hog's lard, externally applied. The best 

 application, however, is a solution of corrosive 

 sublimate, say 20 or 25 grains to the pint of water : 

 wash the trunks of trees with this solution once a 

 week, or oftener if necessary. Such applications 

 cannot be resorted to in small tender plants, but 

 we may destroy the eggs deposited by insects in 

 the seed before they are sown. To "do this, im- 

 merse the seed in a solution of corrosive sublimate 

 for twelve hours ; 20 grains to the quart of water 

 will be sufficiently strong. 



The following compound will destroy the eggs 

 of insects deposited in grain, and prevent smut. 

 Saturate a sufficient quantity of water with table 

 salt ; sleep grain in this solution 24 hours, and lime 

 it before it is eovvn. 



Some plants are distended with sap, and require 

 bleeding, like man and other animals laboring un- 

 der inflammatory action. A cure may generally be 

 effected by establishing a drain in the trunk, or by 



