so UR so I Ls . 4y 



depend upon the plant in which they are formed for their peculiar 

 character. The oxalic acid of the sorrel, tartaric of the grape, 

 citric of the lemon, and malic of the apple, and a host of others, 

 may be formed by those plants growing in the same soil. Liebig 

 says, " We have no reason to believe that a plant in a condition of 

 free and unimpeded growth produces more of its peculiar acids than 

 it requires for its own existence;" and he also says, that all of them 

 " are in combination with bases." 



During the process of germination a seed gives off acetic acid 

 to the soil. But it does not remain there uncombined. If seeds are 

 caused to germinate in powdered chalk or carbonate of lime, after 

 a time acetate of lime may be washed out from the chalk, (Bra- 

 connet). And it is possible that the acid is sent out for this very 

 purpose, to dissolve the lime and return with it into the circulation 

 of the plant. At all events, it is always found in the soil combined 

 with lime. 



Oxalic acid is not known to exist in the soil or in the water 

 which reaches the roots of plants So says Johnston ; and yet the 

 production of sorrel, which abounds in this acid, is supposed by 

 many to depend upon the sourness of the soil. But observation 

 proves that if this is the case, lime, the ordinarily recommended 

 remedy, will not so neutralize the acid as to prevent its growth, 

 even when applied in large quantities. Thus, Mr. N. Darling of 

 New-Haven, Conn., mentions having seen it growing near an old 

 limekiln, luxuriantly, through a considerable thickness of lime. 

 In the Cultivator for August, 1844, it is stated that Doct. Beek- 

 man, of Kinderhook, " had several loads of good lime spread on 

 some land which was much infested with this plant. It was 

 spread in the central part of the field very thick. After a lapse 

 of two years, no effect whatever has been discoverable, either for 

 or against the sorrel." It is but just to state here that numerous 

 instances are mentioned of this plant being eradicated where lime 

 was used. In the Cultivator for July, 1844, will be found a letter 

 from J. J. Thomas, containing some curious facts in this connec- 

 tion. One is, that this weed disappeared from the land of Mr. 

 Dell, after the use of lime. Is it not, to say the least, probable, 

 that in all such cases a course of active tillage has done more than 

 the lime ? But oxalic acid has never been found in the soil. 

 Some physiologists have attributed to the roots of plants not 



VOL. I. NO, 1. G 



