14 



The Dew. 



Vol. VII. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



The Dew. 



Mr. Editor, — In Col Smith's Essay on 

 the application of lime to soils, see page 

 337 of the Cabinet, volume 5, there is this 

 observation: "Dews are occasioned by a 

 cool atmosphere coming in contact with the 

 exhalations from the heated earth, or vice 

 versa; and hence, a condensation of the 

 aqueous particles: the dew-drop of evening 

 is first seen upon a blade of grass at its 

 highest point." And to this theory many 

 will be quite ready to subscribe. But in a 

 very valuable old work on husbandry, under 

 the head of "Experiments on the growth of 

 seeds," I find the following remarks, which 

 seem to give another view of the case, and 

 to me I must confess, a novel and very inte- 

 resting one. Will you permit me to copy 

 them for insertion in the Cabinet, and oblige, 

 An Old Subscriber. 



" I had often observed in the spring time, 

 when the blades of barley first began to 

 shoot out of the ground, dewy drops stand- 

 ing on the points of the blades every morn- 

 ing, even when the grass of the field had no 

 dew thereon. This made me believe they 

 proceeded, not from the descending or cir- 

 cumambient vapours of the air, but from 

 juices drawn up by the roots, which passed 

 upwards through the tubes, and issued out 

 at the top; which, according to my conjec- 

 ture, was true, as appears by the following 

 experiment. I took a pot of fine garden- 

 mould, the earth but moderately moist, and 

 I put into it a quantity of barley, on which, 

 when it had shot up about an inch in height, 

 there appeared at the end of the points, the 

 said pearly drops. These I wiped carefully 

 off, and took up half a dozen of the blades 

 by the roots; then with a pair of scissors I 

 cut off the roots close to the grains of barley, 

 and planted them in the same earth again ; 

 but on the tops of these blades, whose fibrous 

 roots I had cut off, not the least moisture ap- 

 peared the next morning; although on all 

 the others, the same pearly drops had settled 

 as before, and although the amputated blades 

 retained their vigour, through the moisture 

 contained in the earth. This shows, that 

 those watery globules are not collected from 

 the moisture of the outward air, but from the 

 juices drawn up from the roots. I again 

 wiped off the said drops, and within three 

 hours after, found the tops of the perfect 

 blades supplied with fresh drops, which, 

 when they swelled to bursting, trickled 

 down the stalks, and soon again renewed 

 themselves. From hence it appears, thai 

 moisture must hold proportion to the roots ; 

 and it gave ine further occasion of admiring 



the wisdom of God in this appointment; for, 

 observing that these exudations are, as soon 

 as the sharp-pointed blade appears, contin- 

 ually sent forth, we may ground our judg- 

 ment on reason and probability, that this 

 moisture immediately begins to discharge 

 itself as soon as the spear is shot through 

 the end of the barley-corn, and which softens 

 the earth upwards, as the blade pushes for- 

 ward, and facilitates the easy passage of the 

 spear ; and from hence, I conjecture it is the 

 same in all the grassy, sharp-pointed plants, 

 for the same reason. The roots of grain 

 and grass terminate in sharp points as they 

 tend downwards ; and seeing it is thus in 

 the spires which ascend, I suspect that there 

 is a continual exudation of a moist liquor 

 from the points of the roots to moisten and 

 soften the earth before them, the more to 

 facilitate the roots penetrating downwards, 

 as it assists the blade to push upwards." 



Common Rain Gage. — "In explanation of 

 the principles on which the rain gage is con- 

 structed, and in answer to various inquiries 

 which have been made on the subject, it is 

 proper to observe, that the area of the fun- 

 nel at the top of the cylinder, in its widest 

 part, being eight times the area of the cyl- 

 inder below, one inch in depth of rain fall- 

 ing in the open air, and received through 

 the widest part of the funnel, will fill eight 

 inches in depth of the cylinder ; and conse- 

 quently, the moveable rod in the cylinder, 

 being attached to a hollow, floating bulb, 

 will be raised eight inches above the cross- 

 bar at the top of the funnel. This space of 

 eight inches, is divided into one hundred 

 equal parts, or small divisions, so that each 

 part or division above the crossbar, will indi- 

 cate the one-hundreth part of an inch of rain 

 fallen; and one hundred of these parts or 

 divisions, covering eight inches on the rod, 

 will indicate one inch of rain fallen, and 

 must be registered accordingly." 



Relief of Choked Cattle. 



Messrs. Gat lord & Tucker, — As I was 



perusing the January Number of the Culti- 

 vator, I noticed that your correspondent, J. V., 

 recommended a hickory ramrod, or piston, 

 to relieve choked cattle. I have known cat- 

 tle killed by the u^e of such an instrument, 

 it bursting or breaking the pipe. The best 

 method and easiest, is to take a lump of lard 

 (cold,) about the size of a hen's egg, and a 

 spoonful of powder mixed with it, and haul 

 out the tongue and throw it into the throat; 

 let the tongue go back, and they are relieved 

 in one minute. J. Judson. 



Albany Cultivator. 



