Sect. VIII. Agriculture and Vegetation. 37 



hours, 2 oz. of an acid empyreumatic li- 

 quor, which was of a yellow colour, and 

 ihowed its acid nature, by effervefcing with 

 ol. tart. p. d. The flrongeft fire continued 

 for nine hours longer, gave me 2 dr. of a 

 reddifh empyreumatic liquor more acid than 

 the former, and I fcr. of a thick dark-co- 

 loured oil. There was befides about the 

 neck of the retort, a great quantity of red 

 oil, which was too heavy to come over. 

 The refiduum was black. 



Exp. 1 8. Some peat burnt in the open 

 fire, gave me about the two and thirtieth 

 part of alkaline fait. 



HENCE we fee, that peat affords the 

 fame principles as other vegetables do, and 

 therefore muft be claifed amongft them. 



THE only method, then, to make this foil 



fruitful, is to make the vegetable undergo 



a degree of putrefaction, by ploughing the 



foil, and ib killing the plants. All vege- 



D i tables 



