526 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



eun by an awning or matting over the beds, from nine to fonr ; civc the same shelter in bad 

 weather day and night ; lliose done flowering, take up; separate otisets and store. Injects de- 

 stroy with tobacco smoke or dusting of Scotch snutf. Magnone.Ue, sow in any warm border. 

 Mulch, put round trees newly planted. P/nk^. sow. Polt/anilutscK, sow, plant out and propa- 

 gate by offsets; last year's seedlings now in bloom, mark best for propagating. Potled Plants, 

 give fre.sh earth to, if not done last month; shift into larger; water freely. Perennials, those 

 sown last spring may still be planted, and propagated by offsets ; finish sowing. Slicks, are re- 

 quired to blooming plants. Tulips, take off poJ.s to strengthen bulbs. Watering' plants in pots 

 is now required more frequently, yet moderately ; give it early m the morning. 



Vegktabi.e Life — [By F. P. Nichols.] — Vegetable, like animallife, is derived from parental 

 germination ; it grows up to a state of maturity through the medium of nutrition ; it sinks and 

 declines from the exhaustion of it.i organization, occasioned by old age. and death ensues; the 

 materials of its composition then decay and dissolve into their ultimate elements — thus leaving 

 a vacancy upon the earth, to be filled up by the progeny of which it, in its turn, baa become the 

 author. 



Vegetation commences its existence in a state of embryo, surrounded by a pulpy or fluid sub- 

 stance, upon which it is nourished, and contained in a tough skin ; in this condition it is called 

 .seed. As soon as it becomes sufficiently strong to adajit the crude nourishment of the soil to its 

 system, it grows ripe ; and then, bur.sting from the case that has enveloped it, and by which it 

 has been united to its parent tree, it is scattered about— in some cases carried by the wind to a 

 considerable distance, in others projected by the elasticity of the seed-case ; and in various other 

 natural ways it is distributed upon the f^ice of the earth, which it covers with the means of vege- 

 tation wherever sustenance has been supplied for its support. 



As soon as the seed is deposited on a nutritive soil, it commences nourishing its enclosed germ, 

 by absorbing the carbon of the surrounding air, and sacking up the fluids of the earth ; thus 

 ••strengthening and enlarging the tender plant, until, breaking through its covering, it sends forth 

 two stem.s — one down into the soil, which throws out innumerable fibres, and is termed the root ; 

 the other, which is called the trunk, up toward the light, shooting forth branches, which in due 

 season bear liieir appropriate loaves, flowers. &.c. 



The fibres of the root take up the food in the soil, and convey it in the form of crvde Rap. or un- 

 digested food, into the body of the root ; from which it rises through the vessels of the trunk, un- 

 dergoing all those various changes by which it is assimilated to a fit and proper nourishment 

 whereon to support the e.xistence of the plant. 



The crude sap, thus deposited in the body of the root, is a compound of water and various 

 earthy, saline, and gaseous matters: from the root it is impelled into the sap-veflsels of the ascend- 

 ing trunk, v.liere such agencies as light, heat, electricity, &c. acting upon it, it becomes decom- 

 posed, and deposits its various matters in a solidified form, in the various parts of the vv-oody struc- 

 ture ; it is now digested, and, dissolving the various matters it comes in contact with, rises up to 

 the leaves, in order to receive the carbonic acid ga.s, which forms the vital ingredient of vegeta- 

 ble life, as oxygen does of animal : this is accomplished by the process of respiration. The 

 sap being passed down a central vein of the leaf, is distributed through those innumerable minute 

 vessels which form the network of that organ ; there, by the action of the solar rays, a portion of 

 the oxygen of the sap is given out, and the carbon of the air is absorbed in its stead ; this only 

 takes place during daylight ; in darkness the reverse is the case — carbon is given out, and oxy- 

 gen taken in. 



The sap now. like the arterial or oxygenized blood of animals, becomes vital fluid, and return- 

 ing along the branches, and down the trunk, is carried through the descending vessels to every 

 part of the tree, repairing what is worn out, sustaining exhaustion, depositing the material of such 

 new formations as the growth may require, and cleansing away all useless and obnoxious matter, 

 which it carries down to the root, to he finally deposited in the soil. 



Thus the vitality of vegetable life is dependent upon its organization, and hence subjected to 

 the casualties of disea.se and accidental death. It may be starved by want of food ; it may be 

 poisoned by taking into its system noxious matter ; it may be suffocated from want of air ; its 

 health may be impaired by breathing impurities ; it may be invigorated by stimulants, and, in 

 fact, is liable to all the vicissitudes of conscious nature. It performs its mission in replenishing the 

 earth with verdure, fertilizing its soil, changing its inorganic substances into organic matter, puri- 

 fying the atmosphere b}' ab.sorbing the carbon by which it has been vitiated, and so, while yielding 

 a fit nutriment to animal nature, rendering the earth a healthy habitation alike for man and beast. 

 8uch is the economy of vegetable existence. [Sharpe's London Magazine. 



ISFLTJENCE OF MOTHERS ON THE LlVES AND HaPPINES.*; OF MeN — [By R. F. W. ALLSTON.] — 



If the great end of life be to prepare for a more exalted state of existence hereafter, the ends of 

 knowledge should be to make men wiser, better, happier, and so to fit them for the society of the 

 pure and perfect. To the gentler sex — to my fair countrywomen — belongs the pleasing and re- 

 sponsible task of laying tlie corner-stone, the groundwork of such preparation. It is at the 

 mother's knee, in the liomcly nursery of childhood, that the earliest lessons are taught — they 

 are among the last forgot. Dititated by natural aflfection, they are addressed to the heart and are 

 indelibly impressed there. They are lessons of principle. No degree of talent can atone for the 

 want of principle — no brilliancy of genius can compensate the want of virtue. True genius, in- 

 deed, in its nature, approaches the divine, is allied to virtue, and should always be associated with 

 it. But for the errors and neglect which sometimes have obtained in early education, the world 

 woi^Vl r>i* have to lament the sad fate of individuals possessing the highest qnalitics of mind, not 

 directed, however, and not chastened by the liolj- principles of virtue. 



The youthful man who treads the earth with firm, elastic step, approved by the aged, courted 

 by the young, when tempted by his snccessful career to infringe the moral law, to yield to the 

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