PHENOMENA OF PLANT-LIFE. 5 



shall these be applied unless they are discovered ; and how 

 shall they be known, if they are not sought? In no way can 

 the wealth of the world be increased so surely as by the 

 liberal endowment of institutions for the special purpose of 

 securing experiments in all departments of science which have 

 a direct connection with agriculture, especially in chemistry 

 and in animal and vegetable physiology. When we consider 

 that, to observe the transit of Venus during the present 

 month, expeditions have been sent to different parts of the 

 earth, at a cost of more than a million of dollars, we may, at 

 least, hope that scientific observations upon things nearer 

 home, and having more to do with e very-day life, will soon 

 be appreciated and supported. 



We are told that when the illustrious scientist, Faraday, 

 who devoted his life to original research, was asked by some 

 practical individual what was the use of one of his famous 

 discoveries, he answered him by propounding another equally 

 pertinent question, namely, "What is the use of a baby?" 

 The possible results are in both cases of transcendent moment, 

 but in neither can they be foretold. It is enough to know 

 that every new truth is an open door to some further dis- 

 covery and to some useful invention. 



It has been well said that it is comparatively easy to know 

 something about everything, but very difficult to learn every- 

 thing about anything. Remembering that we are enveloped 

 by inexplicable mysteries, and that abundant material for 

 investigation lies everywhere about us, we have attempted to 

 study that most familiar plant, the squash, and the results 

 have far surpassed our most sanguine expectations. 



The particular species selected for observation is named 

 Cucurbita maxima, and the variety is called, by Gregory, 

 the mammoth yellow Chili. It is said to be a native of the 

 Levant, and to have been introduced into England in 1547. 

 It is sometimes called the French pumpkin, and its fruit 

 readily attains a weight of one hundred and fifty pounds. 

 One has been grown in England which weighed two hundred 

 and forty-six pounds. 



Squashes indigenous to tropical America were cultivated 

 by the Indians long before the occupation of this continent 

 by the whites. 



