VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.' 



VERJUICE. 



instruct and elevate the character of the tiller 

 of the earth in more ways than one. They 

 will teach him, as M. Mirbel long since well 

 remarked, that every operation " is connected 

 in the vast system of the globe, and that order 

 emanates from the equipoise of conflicting 

 phenomena. Animals carry off the oxygen of 

 the atmosphere, replacing it by carbonic acid 

 gas ; and are thus at work to adulterate the 

 constitution of the air and render it unfit for 

 respiration. Vegetables take up carbonic acid 

 gas, retain the carbon, and give out oxygen ; 

 and are thus purifying the air tainted by ani- 

 mals, and re-establishing the necessary propor- 

 tions between iis elements. In Europe, while 

 our vegetables, stripped by the severity of the 

 season of their foliage, no longer yield the air 

 contributing to life, the salutary gas is borne 

 to us by trade winds from the southernmost 

 regions of America. Breezes from all quar- 

 ters of the world intermingle thus the various 

 strata of the atmosphere, and keep its consti- 

 tution uniform in all seasons and at all eleva- 

 tions. The substances which are produced by 

 the dissolution of animal and vegetable matter 

 are absorbed by plants, and constitute a por- 

 tion of the nourishment by which they are 

 maintained; plants, in their turn, become the 

 food of animals, and these again the prey of 

 others which subsist on flesh. Yet, in spite of 

 this perpetual state of war and destruction, 

 nothing perishes, for all is regenerated. Na- 

 ture has ordained that the two great divisions 

 of organized beings should depend the one 

 upon the other for support, and that both the 

 life and death of individuals should be equally 

 serviceable in preserving the harmony of the 

 universe." 



If we come to consider vegetation as it re- 

 gards ourselves, we shall find that this great 

 agent of nature, subjected in a certain degree 

 to the control of man in a state of society, is 

 the main source of his prosperity or of his 

 misery. How many countries have the greedy 

 ambition of princes, and the degradation and 

 ignorance of the people, made barren ! Recol- 

 lect what Asia Minor, Judea, Egypt, the pro- 

 vinces at the foot of Mount Atlas, have been, 

 and behold what they are at this day. Recol- 

 lect Greece, once the country of science and 

 of liberty, now that of ignorance and slavery ; 

 she can be only recognised in her ruins, and 

 her monuments of the dead. Man had denied 

 his labour to the earth, and the earth her trea- 

 sures to man : all vanished with agriculture. 

 The traveller who passes that country of so 

 great renown, finds, in the place of the fine 

 forests that crowned its mountains, of the rich 

 harvests reaped by twenty busy nations, of the 

 numerous flocks that enriched its fields, only 

 naked rocks and sterile sands, with here ,and 

 there a miserable village. He seeks in vain 

 for several rivers recorded in history ; they are 

 gone ! Thus the rage of conquest and of" rule 

 not only overturns cities, depopulates whole 

 countries, and brings back barbarism, but it 

 dries up the very springs from which the natu- 

 ral riches of the earth have flowed. To these 

 melancholy results of our passions we might 

 oppose the more cheerful ones of our industry; 

 but they are more properly within the province 



of the arts of cultivation than of vegetable 

 physiology. 



VEGETABLE MARROW (Cucurbita ovt/ero). 

 This fruit of the succada gourd is uniformly 

 of a pale yellow colour, and of an elliptic- 

 oblong shape, the surface having irregular, 

 longitudinal ribs, uniting into a projecting 

 apex. When full grown it is about 9 inches 

 in length and 4 in diameter, and is by far the 

 best adapted for culinary purposes of any spe- 

 cies of the gourd tribe. It is of recent intro- 

 duction into Europe, having been brought from 

 Persia. It is useful for culinary purposes in 

 every stage of its growth ; when very young, 

 it is good if fried with butter; when large, or 

 about half-grown, it is excellent either when 

 plain, boiled, or stewed with rich sauce ; for 

 either of these purposes it should be cut in 

 slices. The flesh has a peculiar tenderness 

 and softness, from which circumstance it has 

 received its name, much resembling the buttery 

 quality of the beurre pear, and this property re- 

 mains with it till it is full-grown, when it is 

 used for pies. It is in its intermediate state of 

 growth that it is likely to be most approved. 

 Compared with all the other vegetables of the 

 same family, its superiority is decided. I con- 

 sider the vegetable marrow without a rival. 



" We have grown the true vegetable marrow 

 two seasons," says the editor of the Cultivator, 

 "and although we have not used it in the inter- 

 mediate state of its growth, as recommended by 

 Mr. Sabine, we esteem it among the best varieties 

 of the cucurbita for boiling and for pies. It is 

 cultivated like the common pumpkin or squash, 

 and will ripen in the U. 8. in a high latitude.'* 



VEGETABLES. The observations of vege- 

 table physiologists and the researches of che- 

 mists have mutually contributed to establish, 

 the fact, that the growth and developement of 

 vegetables depend on the rejection of oxygen, 

 which is separated from the other component 

 parts of their nourishment. 



In contradistinction to vegetable life, the life 

 of animals exhibits itself in the continual ab- 

 sorption of the oxygen of the air, and its com- 

 bination with certain component parts of the 

 animal body. 



While no part of an organized being can 

 serve as food to vegetables, until, by the pro- 

 cesses of putrefaction and decay, it has as- 

 sumed the form of inorganic matter, the ani- 

 mal organism requires, for its support and 

 developement, highly organized atoms. The 

 food of all animals, in all circumstances, con- 

 sists of parts of organisms. 



Assimilation, or the process of formation 

 and growth, in other words, the passage of 

 matter from a state of motion to that of rest, 

 goes on in the same way in animals and in 

 vegetables. In both, the same cause determines 

 the increase of mass. This constitutes the 

 true vegetable life, which is carried on without 

 consciousness. (Liebig's Animal Chemistry.) 



VENISON. The flesh of deer. See DEER 

 and MEAT. 



VERBENA. See VERVAIX. 



VERJUICE. An acid liquor, prepared from 

 the twigs of the vine, or from grapes or apples 

 that are unfit to be converted into wine or cider. 

 It is also made from the wild crab apples. 



1079 



