1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



457 



the arachis can never be ripened in the open 

 air. 



I put anotlier pod of this plant into a small emp- 

 ty piiial, and set il in a place where it conid not 

 receive the direct rays of the sun. It is easy to 

 comprehend that, while it was in this situation, 

 the atmosphere within the phial was always moisi; 

 as, daring the warm days and cool nit^his of au- 

 tumn, the moisture comhined wiih the air in the 

 day becomes condenseil in the night; antl, in fict, 

 the interior of the phial was found every niorninij!; 

 covered with drops of water. The ieirunie was, 

 therelbre, all ni<2:ht, and a <2;reat part of the mnrn- 

 inii, not only in an exceedinijly moist atmosphere, 

 but also completely battered by ihese watery drops. 

 This kept it ^rowinir: it elungaied iisellj without 

 appearinix injured in dnino; so; anil when, in the 

 course of abouta tbriniifht, I took it out of the vial, 

 I found that it was still in a fit state lor penetra- 

 ting into the ground. A third po 1, vvhen innners- 

 ed in water, became covered with a whiiisli film ; 

 but it lived and elongated iisellj becoming soui'^- 

 what thicker towanls ihe point. I took it out ol 

 the water at the end of three weeks, and found 

 that it had still power to search tor the earth. The 

 last two experiments prove that, although water is 

 not sufficient f)rthefull developementol'ihe fi-uit, it 

 is liivorable to the preservation of its vitality ; and 

 that, though moisture is a condition necessary to 

 the production of the tubercles, or roots, it is not 

 sufficient in itself to produce them so as to enable 

 them to exercise their functions, when all other 

 circumstances are unfavorable. 



I put another legume into a phial, in which there 

 were a kw drops of water, and buried it in the 

 ground, so that the liifht could not reach it. In 

 this situation, it soon became very long, and co- 

 vered with fine hairs towards itsextremiiy, where a 

 swelling gradually took the lorm of a small legume. 

 In a tew days, the hairy coverinii disappeared, and 

 the miniature ovary slowly increased in size. 1 

 took the legume out ol" the bottle aboiit the time 

 when il would have become ripe if it had been in 

 the ground, and found it very sm;dl, with the point 

 much elongated, and iin'msfiod with spongioles, 

 but with only one seed, which was very sn)all an<i 

 watery. In this experiment, tlie legume was 

 placed in circumstances nnich more liivora- 

 ble for the developement of the functions of its 

 roots, than it was in the preceding ones; because, 

 in this case, the legume was kept in an atmos- 

 phere constantly impregnated with moisture, and, 

 what was particularly suiiable to il, in perti'ct 

 darkness. But why did it become covered with 

 hair ? It is well known that hair, in some cases, 

 acts as an oriran of absorption ; and ii is probable 

 that, in this instance, it exercised the same func- 

 tions as, and partly supplied ilie place of, the 

 ppongiole, whicli, thougli formed, was, fi'oni the 

 unfavorable situation in which it was placed, inca- 

 pable of performing its proper office effectively: 

 and, indeed, the hairs disappeared as soon as the 

 extreme point of the leirunie became sufficiently 

 elongated to touch the bottom of the bottle, where, 

 as I before slated, there were some drops of wa- 

 ter, in which the spongiole could, though only 

 in an imperfect degree, exercise its proper func- 

 tions. 



Finally, I cut ofTihe extreme points of three le- 

 gumes, and alierwards their spongioies, which 

 were scarcely formed : and, after having done this 



Vol. IV-58 



without injuring any other part of the pods, I put 

 ihem in the ground again, and let them remain a- 

 bout a fljrtnight. I then examined them, and 

 found that two of them were dried up, and liad 

 become soft, and almost decayed. Tliis would 

 have proved that the sponjjiole was essential for 

 the developement of the fruit, had not the third 

 leoame, which was treated exactly like the others, 

 vegetaled, and increased in size ! What was the 

 cause of this I On observing il closely, I discover- 

 e.l that it had still a spongiole, although the two 

 others had not the least appearance of" any ; and 

 this ex|)laiiie(l the [ihenomenon : as it appeared 

 clearly, that either i had not entirely ren.oved the 

 s|iongiole, as 1 intended, or that the plant possess- 

 ed the power of' reproducing it. 



From all these experiments, I think we may con- 

 clude that the fruii of tiie A'rai^his hypoiroe^a is pla- 

 ced by nature untlerirround, and in order to absorb 

 fi'om the earih something ihat is necessary lor its 

 developement (which may tie only water,) and 

 that darkness is a necessary condin'on. AIsd, (hat 

 probably all plants helonginiJ: to the Il\ [jocarpo- 

 irea? are furnished with similar organs tor similar 

 purposes; which I consider a reasonable inference, 

 till it has been either confirmed or disproved by 

 future observaiions and experiments. 



From t'ne ('Loncloii) Gardeners' JVIagazine. 



OX THE TREATMENT OF OLD FRUIT TREES 

 WHICH IT IS AVISHED TO PRESERVE; AND 

 ON THE ADVANTAGES OF LAYING COW- 

 DUNG AT THE BASES OF THEIR TRUNKS, 

 AND ALSO AT THE ROOTSTALKS OF VINES. 



By TV. A. L. 



In most old gardens there are to be found the 

 aged remains ofsome favorite fruit tree, which the 

 proprietor is unwilling to have removed, either 

 fi'om its having produced excellent fi-uit, or fl'otn 

 early assoi;iatioiis connected with it. Hence it 

 still retains its place, thouiili age, the chisel, and 

 the pruning-knife have been hard upon it, and it 

 remains a- heartless slump, and almost leafless 

 skeleton of a tree. 



Such was the case, some twelve years ago, with 

 a green gage plum tree, which for many years 

 had been trained againsi a wooden fence 19 ft. 

 high, and had loner deliirhted both old and young 

 by the yearly produce of an abundant crop of deli- 

 cious, juicy, high-ffavored fruit ; bur it was now 

 old, and exhausted ; and its yearly crops were 

 " lew and fi\r between." 



In the course of some judicious improvements, it 

 was found ne<"essary to remove the ok! wonden 

 fence, and to build in ils place a siibstaniial brick 

 wail. By this event, a fiivorahie opportunity oc- 

 curred to have the old plum tree removed, and a 

 young healthy tree [)lanted in its place. Having 

 represented to my employer the propriet}^ of so 

 doing, h>s answer was, "I wish, if possible, to pre- 

 serve it: it has produced excellent fi^uit, and was 

 a great favorite wiih my father. See what you can 

 do." 



As many young gardeners, on entering their 

 first situaiion, may be similarly circumstanced, I 

 will relate the means I adopted, toirether with the 

 result. In the first place, I cut down the tree to 

 the lowest live wood on the bole (which, in this 



