Chap. 5. of Nature in Vegetation. 1 7 j 

 Vegetahle Kingdom is tranfafted without it. 

 By all the Triah I have been able to make, 

 the Thing is quite othervpife 5 and when con- 

 tiguous to the Planty it rather deftroys than 

 nourifhes it : But this, Nitre and other Salts 

 certainly do 3 they loofen the Eartb, andy^- 

 parate the concreted Parts of it, by that means 

 fitting and difpofing them to be ajjimed by 

 the Water^ and carried up into the; Seed or 

 Plant for its Formation and Augment. There's 

 no Man butmuft obf^ve how apt 2M forts of 

 Salts ZTQ to be wrought upon by Moijlure 5 

 how eafily they liquate and run with it$ 

 and when thefe are drawn off, and have 

 deferted the Lumps wherewith they were 

 incorporated, thjofe muft moulder imme- 

 diately, and fall afunder of courfe. The 

 hardeft Stone we meet with, if it happen, 

 as frequently it does, to have any fort of 

 Salt intermix'd with the Sand of which it 

 confifts, upon being expos'd to an bumid Air^ 

 in a fliort time diffolves and crumbles all to 

 pieces 5 and much more will Clodded Earth or 

 Clay^ which is not of near fo compaEt and 

 folid a Confiitution as Stone is. Thtftme way 

 likewife is Lime ferviceable in this Affair. 

 The Husbandmen fay of it, tliat it does not 

 fatten^ but only mellows the Ground. By 

 which they mean, that it does not contain 

 any thing in itfelf that is of ihQ fame Nature 

 with the Vegetable Mouldy or afford any Mat- 

 ter fit for the Formation of Plants^ but meerly 

 f of tens and relaxes the Earth -^ by that means 



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