1S36.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



91 



as the short vines of Europe; for the pruning 

 takes place on the growth of the preccihng y "ar: 

 • iliis ni ly be cut as short as convenient or suitable. 

 One of our largo vines that covers a very great 

 extent ofgrounii, is, in reality, like a great number 

 of plants of the size ol' the European ones, issu- 

 ing from the old wood, inslcad of out oC the 

 ground. If the European writers on the subject 

 are correct in supposing ihat old vines produce 

 richer grapes than young ones, and that the sap 

 becomes better elaborated by passing through the 

 vessels of old wood, and the leaves of the young, 

 our large vines must have a great advantage over 

 the small ones. 1 have great doubt ol the correct- 

 ness of this principle; for thej' also say that the 

 nearer (he fruit is to the ground, the richer it is, 

 and the better it ripens. This, although it ap- 

 pears irreconcilable with the other proposition, 

 appears to be a well asc"-rtained fiict, that, in the 

 colder parts of Europe, where the vine is culti- 

 vated, the grapes produced on arbors, and high- 

 trained vines, are poorer in saccharine matter than 

 those from the low vines of their vineyards. It is 

 probable that the reason of this is, that, on the low 

 vines, the heat reflected from the ground has a 

 greater effect than on the high ones. In our cli- 

 mate, we have heat enough to reach to any height 

 to which we may choose to train our vines. 



The verv irreat and praiseworthy industry and 

 ingenuity ol'our E;iropean brothers, in converting 

 a country most evidently very unfavorable for the 

 gror^rih of" the vine, into one producing some of the 

 highest priced wmes in the word, shows that all 

 Ave need, to insure success, is perscverence, and a 

 number of experiments to ascertain, not merely 

 the most suitable mode of cultivation, but also the 

 most suitable kinds of vines for our purposes, as to 

 hardiness and richness of fruit. I am now too old 

 to make many more experiments on this most in- 

 terest insc subject; but others will f)llow who will 

 probably be more successful. What v^^ould most 

 undoubtedly be the very best way, would be to 

 have those'numeroQS experiments which require 

 years lo give the results, undertaken at the public 

 expense. I have long labored in the vineyard 

 nnaided— but, on the' contrary, discouraged by 

 Rueers, &c. But yet, if I have not had the most 

 complete success, I have done something, and my 

 labors v/i!l not be altogether lost. I shall persevere 

 as long as I am able. 



I continue to feed the few silk worms I hoA'c Vv'ith 

 the maclura at the same lime as I ijive them also 

 mulberry leaves, and I find that they feed indis- 

 criminately on either of these plants. If there be 

 any difference, it may be tiiat they prefer the ma- 

 clura. This subject may become very interest- 

 ing, particularly if it be found that the latter plant 

 is hardier, and resists late spring h-osts belter than 

 the mulberrv. n. HERBEaioNT. 



From Cliaptal's Cliemistry applied to Agriculture. 

 GENERAL VIEWS OF THE ATMOSPHERE, COJir- 

 SIDERED IX ITS EFFECTS UPON VEGETATIOS^. 



[Continued from p. 58 ] 

 Of the Imponderahle Fluids of the Atmo'ipherc. 

 Besides the ponderable substances Avhichcon- 

 stitute the atmosphere, and those which are found 

 in it accidentally, it receives some imponderable 

 fluids, of which the effects are less known, but 

 whicii appear to i)lay an important part in the at- 



mospheric plienomena: of this number is the elec- 

 tric fluid. 



• 1. Electricity is developed hy friction, and trans- 

 mitted by simple contact. It is accumulated in 

 bodies wlien they are insulated; and it is commu- 

 nicated in the same manner as he it, when bodies 

 which arc non-electric approach those which are 

 electric. 



The singular properties of electric fluid contain- 

 fained in the atmosphere, and the frequent va- 

 riations which it undergoes, give rise to a nume- 

 rous phenomena, for which observation and expe- 

 riment enable us to account. When this fluid is 

 abundantly diffused throughout the atmosphere, 

 it exercises a powerful influence over vegetation, 

 excites the action of oxygen, and determines the 

 condensation of the aqueous fluid. Davy has ob- 

 served that grain germinates more quickly in wa- 

 ter charged with positive electricity, than in that 

 which contains the opposite principle; and that it 

 is a well known fact, that fermentation takes place 

 most rapidly during a thunder-storm, and that a 

 liquid, composed of a variety of principles not very 

 closely united, milk for instance, is decomposed, 

 and becomes acid under a highly electric state of 

 the air. 



2. Yfhafever may be the opinion we maj- adopt, 

 as to the nature of the principle of heat, there can 

 be no doubt that there exists in the atmosphere, 

 and in all terrestrial bodies, an imponderable fluid, 

 unequally imparted to ihetn, and which renders 

 liieir state solid, liquid, or gaseous, according as 

 th.e affinity, existing between their particles and 

 the fluid of heat, is more or less strong. It is this 

 state which we regard as the natural state of 

 bodies. 



Exposed to an equal degree of atmospheric tem- 

 perature, all bodies, in their natural slate, are pen- 

 etrated by unecRial quantities of the fluid of heat; 

 but as the fluid is in combination with the particles 

 of the bodies, and thus forms one of their consti- 

 tuent principles, it does not develope its most im- 

 portant property, which is that of heat; and in 

 this state it has been agreed to call it caloric; and 

 it only takes the name of heat when it is free, 

 and disengased from all combination. 



Caloric, inler])0sed between the molecules of 

 bodies, tends to separate them fi-om each other; 

 and when accumulated beyond its natural quanti- 

 ty, the excess acts as heat; chandng the form of 

 bodies, and causing them to pass from the solid to 

 I he liquid slate, or from the last to that of va- 

 por. 



Those bodies which exist naturally in a gas- 

 eous state, and which are rendered solid by being 

 brouixht into combination with other substances, 

 return to tlieir natural state as soon as a sufficient 

 degree of heat is applied to destroy the force of 

 the affinity which unites them to their base. But 

 those which are not originally gaseous in their 

 form, under the influence of heat pass through all 

 the degrees intermediate between their natural 

 state and that of imperceptible vapor; and return 

 to tlie concrete state, when deprived of the excess 

 of heat which had been applied to them. 



Caloric can be extracted from bodies by percus- 

 sion or compression, in the same manner as water 

 is expressed from a substance which has imbibed 

 it. When a body is deprived of its caloric by 

 either of these means, the molecules composing it 

 are brouo-ht closelv to each other, and its porosity. 



