242 



LEA 



LEE 



off, the enclosed buds will not grow, 

 and the plants will be weakened. 

 The winter feeding of wheat, there- 

 fore, is hurtful ; and it has been 

 found so by experience. 



"Another principal use of the 

 leaves, is to throw otf by transpira- 

 tion what is unnecessary to the 

 growth of plants, answering to the 

 discharge made by sweat ir> animal 

 bodies. As plants receive and 

 transpire much more, in equal 

 times, than large animals, so it ap- 

 pears how necessary the leaves are 

 to preserve the plants in perfect 

 health : For it has been found by 

 the most exact calculation, made 

 from repeated experiments, that a 

 plant of the sun-flower receives and 

 perspires, in twenty-four hours, 

 seventeen times more than a man." 

 Complete Farmer. 



Mr. Bonnet made many experi- 

 ments, which proved that leaves 

 imbibe the moisture of the atmo- 

 sphere on their under surface ; ex- 

 cepting such as have the upper sur- 

 face covered with hairs, or down. 

 The leaves undoubtedly serve for 

 inspiration, as well as for transpir 

 ation ; and plants draw through 

 their leaves, some considerable part 

 of their nourishment. 



Leaves also serve for ornament, 

 and to screen vegetables, and their 

 fruits, from the too intense heat of 

 the sun in summer. 



Leaves of trees are useful as a 

 manure, excepting those of the re- 

 sinous kinds. They should be col- 

 lected into farm yards, trampled by 

 the cattle, and mixed with their 

 excrements. Some recommend 

 leaves of oak for hot beds, instead 

 of tanner's bark, as, by fermenting 



more slowly, they afford a more re- 

 gular and permanent heal. Dr. 

 Hunter proved the advantage of 

 them by his continued practice. 

 See Geor^jca/ Essays, by A. Hunter. 



" A correspondent of the Bath 

 Society in England warmly recom- 

 mends a species of manure for po- 

 tatoes, which 1 think peculiarly ap- 

 plicable to our country, because 

 easily attainable. It is the employ- 

 ment of mould and fallen leaves 

 taken from the woods. This the 

 writer observes, he has found an 

 excellent substitute for other ma- 

 nure. He found the potatoes, rai- 

 sed in this way, much more mealy 

 and of a flavour much finer than 

 when produced by the application 

 of ashes and dung; and he consid- 

 ers it of gro*t importance to poor 

 people who have not the means of 

 procuring much dung. This he ob- 

 serves can always be procured in 

 woody countries, and in those which 

 are not so, it may be obtained un- 

 der hedges and ditches, and in old 

 ponds. 



" If this be a fact, and we have 

 little doubt of it, since it is known 

 that few substances are more fa- 

 vourable to vegetation than rotten 

 leaves, and the soil formed by their 

 decomposition, there is scarcely a 

 farmer in Massachusetts, who may 

 not by two or three days labour 

 collect enough to plant all his po- 

 tatoes, and save his corn and grass 

 land. 



Extracts from the Bath Society 

 Papers, with remarks by John Low- 

 ell, Esq. Agricultural Repository, 

 vol. IV. p. 60. 



LEES, the gross sediment in fer- 

 mented liquors. Most kmds of 



I 



