1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



51 



Duman, of Paris, has recently constructed, by or- 

 der of government, a map exhibiting the nature 

 and character of the sub-soil for the whole of 

 France. It is designed to be used with, and to 

 accompany another map descriptive of the geo- 

 graphical and geological features of the surface. 

 The one exhibits with the greatest accuracy, all 

 information pertaining to the surface, while the 

 other reveals what lies immediately below the 

 sui-face, thus affording indications of great value 

 to the agriculturist, and to those searching for 

 minerals or building materials. Similar maps for 

 this country would be of the greatest importance 

 to all who are in any way connected with .the 

 soD^ — Ammcan Farmer. 



For the New England Fanner, 

 WHITEWASHING TREES. 



A communication with the aforesaid heading, 

 from Peekskill, N. Y,,was published in the N.E. 

 Farmer of September, w'ith the signature, "C. A. 

 L.," taking exceptions to the editor's views on 

 that subject. "Remarks" were added to the com- 

 munication, stating that "our views are not ma- 

 terially changed by the statements of our corres- 

 pondent." The same number contains an article 

 with the heading, "Never Whitewash Trees." 

 To this "C. A. L.," of "Berkshire," replies in the 

 JV. E. Farmer, (weekly,) of the 24th of October, 

 with no slight exhibition of arrogance and con- 

 ceit, the usual style of defence of such as feel 

 conscious of having a bad cause to defend, seem- 

 ing to forget, that stale witticisms, and personal- 

 ities are poor substitutes for science, or anatomi- 

 cal and physiological facts. 



Before proceeding to notice his misrepresenta- 

 tions of yourself, Mr. Editor, — for we both alike 

 come under his censure and condemnation, — I 

 desire to call attention to some of his' statements 

 made in the communications referred to : 



"C. A. L.," September. 

 "You [alluding to the edi- 

 tor] compare the bark of a tree 

 to the skin of an animal, and say 

 that 'their functions are analo- 

 gous.' I acknowledge the an- 

 alogy in one respect, they are 

 both on the outside of t1ie indi- 

 vidual (?) and that is the only 

 resemblance between them. 

 There is no oflSce performed by 

 the bark of a plant or tree which 

 eorresponds with that perform- 

 ed by the skin of animals ; at 

 least no such function has ever 

 been dt'iiionntrated to exist, and 

 it would be very easy to ascer- 

 tain if it absorbed carbonic acid, 

 or gave oflf oxygen. * * * 

 You speak of 'filling the pores 

 of the bark and thus effectually 

 preventing the action of the at- 

 mosphere, and arresting the in- 

 ternal action also.' Now, as 

 the only function of the bark 

 is protection, and to some as a 

 ieposit of fibrin, no such injury 

 3B11 possibly result from cover- 

 ing Uie outside even with im- 

 penetrable varnish." 



"C. A. L.," October 24. 

 "Both vegetable and animal 

 bodies are subject to disease, as 

 well as to the attacks of para- 

 sitic animals, and remedies and 

 preventives o r propliylactic 

 measures are just as proper in 

 the former, as in the latter case. 

 Conceding the bark of trees to 

 be endotced tcith as important 

 vital functions as the skin of 

 man, analogy would lead us to 

 the conclusion, that as local ap- 

 plications are efficient remedies 

 in the one, so also they would 

 probably prove to be j'n tlie 

 other. Sulphur, and lime and 

 mercury, which are ^p destruc- 

 tive to human parasites, are no 

 less so than to vegetables ; [i. e. 

 mercury is as sure to destroy 

 ^Ituman parasites' as it is to 

 kill vegetables] and the process 

 of whitewashing is no more un- 

 natural or irrational than ap- 

 plying sulphur or meixurial 

 ointments to the epidermic coat 

 of animals." [Not one whit 

 more so ; and that is enough to 

 condemn whitewashing to eter- 

 nal refutation.^ 



He says, "Your correspondent seems ignorant 

 of the fact, that the 'stomata' or 'pores' of which 

 he speaks, 0)'e/bM?w:Z chiefly in the epidermic coat 

 of the under surface of the leaves, and rarely 

 found elsewhere." Does he ? The communica- 

 tion referred to has the following language : Drs, 



CandoUe and Hedwig, celebrated naturalists, de- 

 monstrated, that "the moisture: required by the 

 plant for its nourishment is received through the 

 pores of the bark, of the stem, the branches, the 

 fruit and the roots — no less than tlirongli the sto- 

 mata of the leaves, and the open mouths of the 

 spongioles." So much for the charge of "igno- 

 rance," concerning "stomata" or "pores." 



He next charges your corresjx'iident with 

 "garbling the language of Schleiden," with refer- 

 ence to the function of the epidermis. This 

 learned German botanist, describing the opuder 

 mis, says, "The cells of this layer are so tirmly 

 imited that it may generally be stripped off the 

 plant as a continuous membrane. It becomes 

 clothed sooner or later with a layer of varying 

 thickness, of a homogeneous substance, which 

 receives beside, a thin coating of Avax or resin ; 

 thus the enveloping membrane becomes impene- 

 trable by fluids, and even repels them, since water 

 runs ofi' it as from a greasy substance. In cer^ 

 tain places, however, [let the reader take partic- 

 ular notice,] little orifices are left between the cells 

 leading into the interior of the plant. 



"In these orifices usually lie two crescerit-shaped 

 cells, having their concave sides applied together, 

 so as to leave a slit open between them, hut other- 

 wise closing %ip the orifice. Tliese slits, through 

 which the plant communicates with the atmosphere^ 

 and expires gases and watery vapor, are opened 

 wider, or contracted, as inaybe required. The or- 

 ifices with crescentic cells are called siomates, aiid 

 the ichole layer in ichich they occur is the epider- 

 mis of the plant." (PL 1, Fig. 12.) See Poetry 

 of the Vegetable World, Edited by Alphonso 

 Wood, author of the "Class-Book of Botany ;" 

 — from the London edition, translated by A. 

 Henfrey, F. L. S.— pp. 60-1. 



As will be seen by comparison, "C. A. L." 

 quotes from a paragraph marked by four periods. 

 He copies the first, omits the second, copies the 

 third, and omits the fourth. The paragraph is 

 given entire above, in order that the reader may 

 have the words of Schleiden on this suljject, en- 

 tire, as given by the translator, and settle the 

 question as to the "guilt of garbling." "This 

 writer," says"C. A. L.," meaning Schleiden, "rep- 

 resents the function of the stomata to be, to 

 evaporate the su])erfluous water absorbed by the 

 spongioles." Indeed ! How does it thus appear ? 

 The word spongiole is not mentioned by S. iu 

 connection with the function of the epidermis. 

 And moreover, he admits here, what, in another 

 part of his communication as quoted, he says, 

 "Your correspondent seems ignorant that the 

 'stomata' )r 'pores,' of which he speaks, are 

 found chiefly in the epidermic coat of the under 

 surface of the leaves, and are rarely found else- 

 where." Notwithstanding the charge of this 

 "seeming ignorance," before finishing the para- 

 graph, he quotes S. to prove that the functions 

 of the epidermis is performed through stomata. 



"Stomata," says a French botanist, "exist in a 

 more or less distinct manner in all the foliaceous 

 surfaces of vascular plants — viz. : in the leaves, 

 properly so called, in the stipules, in the green 

 bark, in the calyx and pericarps which are not 

 fleshy." In summing up on this subject, the 

 aforesaid writer says, — "Ist, that the customary 

 use of the stomata is for perspiring water, which 

 must be distinguished from simple evaporation ; 



