1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



429 



clemency of winter. "De Candolle has proved 

 by a simple experiment, that in such a case as 

 this, the fluid consumed hy the younfj leaves is 

 really attracted from out of the cold earth, and not 

 ahsorbed from the atmosphere of the hot-house. 

 Having selected a young tree with two principal 

 branches, and two principal roots corresponding to 

 them, and adapted to each root a bottle of water, 

 he (bund that the bottle attached to the root cor- 

 responding to the branch which had been intro- 

 duced into the hot- house was quickly emptied, 

 while that attached to the root cnrresponding to the 

 branch in the open air remained nearly fidl. It 

 may be supposed that in a natural state of things, 

 some effect is produced upon the roots by the 

 warmth of the soil ; but it is doubtful whether this 

 amounts to much if indeed it is of any importance; 

 for provided only the earth is not frozen, it appears 

 from experiments, that heat applied to the branches 

 alone, is quite suiricienl to determine and iDaintain 

 all the phenomena of growth. 



Besides the inHuence which light and heat may 

 exert in effecting the elaboration of the sap, there 

 is much which in the present state of our know- 

 ledge, we are obliged to ascribe to the immediate 

 agency of the vital principle. What peculiarity 

 there may be in the structure of one cellule which 

 determines it to secrete resin, whilst another by its 

 side secretes an acid — or whether it is any thing 

 in the structure of the cellule which determines 

 the result, are questions which we cannot solve. 

 The most carciul microscopic observations have 

 di:?covered to us no difference in structure, and dis- 

 closed no peculiarities in operation. In such cir- 

 cumstances, all that we can say is, that they ap- 

 pear to be produced under the immediate agency 

 of the vital principle ; or perhaps we would come 

 nearer to a simple statement of facts, and our state- 

 ment would be less liable to objection, should we 

 say, that they take place while the plant is alive, 

 and cease the moment that it dies. It must be 

 confessed that this is but a poor apology for an ex- 

 planation; and yet it is, in fact, all that is known 

 respectmg the matter. There are many things in 

 the structure and vital action of plants, which, 

 with all our knowledge of nature, we cannot fully 

 explain, 



(To he continued.) 



ADVANTAGES OF EMBANKING THE TIDE 

 MARSHES OP MARYLAND. 



For the Farmers' Register. 



Improvement in the agriculture of this section of 

 country is now gradually advancing; n; :'!V marl 

 banks have been opened, and worked, ti.n,,gli not 

 with steady perseverance ; kilns of oyster shells 

 have been burnt and strewed, and in some few in- 

 stances stone lime has been imported, the profits 

 of which, when the cost is calculated, 1 deem a 

 little doubtful. 



The extensive marshes in our tide-water dis- 

 trict, in their present condition, form the princi- 

 pal impediment to rapid improvement. It is there 

 that malaria, that fi-ightful scourge of our native 

 population, and the terror of strangers, is con- 

 cocted. By reclaiming our low grounds, we should 

 greatly improve the health of our country, increase 

 its wealth, and expel the present troublesome 



holders, musqnitoes, snakes, minks, and musk- 

 rats. Their title is merely possessor)', and not 

 better than that of tlie native Indians. VaKei 

 held, and his dogma has been received by many 

 of our practical jurists, that savage nations who 

 mix no labor with the soil, but depend upon the 

 spontaneous fruits of the earth, and (he beasts of the 

 Ibrests, to sup|)ly their wants, may be justly ex- 

 pelled by a more tiirifty race, who, instead of the 

 bow and the tomahawk, use the axe, the mattock, 

 and the rifle. 



Many of my acquaintances have gone to the 

 west and south, in pursuit oi" fortune. I have a 

 strong and abiding affection for my native slate, 

 where our fathers lived in peace, and in honor, and 

 where in the rare instances in which injury was 

 punished by requital, the manner in which it was 

 conducted lessened the iiorrors of the act. In ad- 

 dition to my local attachments, in my youth I had 

 a strong objection to having my head disfigured 

 by an Indian tomahawk, and in more mature age 

 I should (eel equal reluctance to receive a gentle 

 squeeze from Judge Lynch. 



To reclaim our marshes has long been with me 

 a favorite project. If my memory serves me. Swift 

 was contemporary with Marlborough, Bolingbroke, 

 Harley and Wharton, distinguished patriots of 

 that day; and yet he, who had weighed and mea- 

 sured these illustrious men, and many others of 

 equal merit but of lesser note, gave it as his opi- 

 nion, that he who should cause two blades of grass 

 to grow, where but one grew before, rendered more 

 service to mankind than the whole race of politi- 

 cians. Now if my poor counsels should prevail, 

 and call up a spirit of improvement by which timo- 

 thy and herds grass should be made to grow where 

 flags and rushes grew belbre, I think in justice I 

 may claim to be preferred to subtreasurists, bank- 

 ites, and conservatives; the goodness of whose 

 intentions it would be uncharitable to doubt, as 

 they all declare that their great object is to pro- 

 mote the general wellare, by giving the people a 

 sound unfluctuating currency. It is deeply to be 

 regretted that men who desire to do right should 

 so widely differ as to the means. 



It appears from the Register that your theory is, 

 that the marshes of the Chesapeake, consisting of 

 vegetable matter, upon being ditched and dried, 

 would rot away. The earth I believe is the founda- 

 tion of all vegetable growth, of which fi-om the (ides, 

 and the floods, there is a regular accretion. I have 

 lived long enough to have seen parts of marshes 

 without the aid of art reclaimed (rom the tide, and 

 produce the grasses of the upland. It is certainly 

 true that a large portion of our marshes, like those 

 of eastern Virginia, consist of decayed vegetables, 

 mixed with earth; but I have learned from respecta- 

 ble authority, that some marshes on the Delaware, 

 in character like ours, upon being ditched, dried and 

 sown in herds grass, become firm and cohesive, 

 and produce excellent crops ; this grass by its tena- 

 cious roots forms a strong turf, which affords pro- 

 tection against the sun, and frost, and perhaps if 

 Mr. H. Carter, instead of cultivating his reclaimed 

 grounds for seven successive years in Indian corn, 

 (thereby exposing them naked to the sun and fi-ost,) 

 had laid them down in herds grass, he would have 

 experienced a different and more beneficial result. 



By a communication to the Register a year ago, 

 I learned that the marshes of Lincolnshire, and 

 the fens of Romney, have been reclaimed by the 



