14 Of Food o/Plants, Chap.IL 



Veflels, through which Blood and Sap do pafs refpeo 

 tively. 



Befides which Ufe, theNitro-aerous Particles may 

 there enter, to keep up the vital Ferment or Flame. 



Mr. Papin mews, that Air will pafs in at the 

 Leaves, and out thro' the Plant at the Roots, but 

 Water will not pafs in at the Leaves ; and that if the 

 Leaves have no Air, a Plant will die ; but if the 

 Leaves have Air, tho' the Root remain in Water in 

 vacuo, the Plant will live and grow. 



Dr. Grew, in his Anatomy of Plants, mentions 

 VefTels, which he calls, Net-work, Cobweb, Skeins 

 of Silk, &c, but above all, the Multitude of Air- 

 Bladders in them, which I take to be of the fame 

 Ufe in Leaves, as the Veficulae are in Lungs. Leaves 

 being as Lungs inverted, and of a broad and thin 

 Form •, their Veficulse are in Contact with the free 

 open Air, and therefore have no need of Trachea, or 

 Bronchia, nor of Refpiration. 



CHAP. II. 



Of Food of Plants. 



TH E chief Art of an Hufbandman is to feed 

 Plants to the bell Advantage ; but how mall 

 he do that, unlefs he knows what is their Food ? By 

 Food is meant that Matter, which, being added and 

 united to the frrft Stamina of Plants, or Plantul* y 

 which were made in little at the Creation, gives them, 

 or rather is their Increafe. 



'Tis agreed, that all the following Materials con- 

 tribute, in fome manner, to the Increafe of Plants ; 

 but 'tis difputed which of them is that very Increafe 

 or Food. i. Nitre. 2. Water. 3. Air. 4. Fire. 

 5. Earth. 



c I will 



