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moisture that plants imbibe is by their vital energies carried to 

 their leaves, and is there brought in contact with the atmos- 

 phere, which, besides other ingredients, contains in general a 

 portion of carbonic acid. So long as light is present, the leaf 

 decomposes the carbonic acid, appropriates the carbon to the 

 formation of its own proper juices, and returns the disengaged 

 oxygen into the atmosphere, thus restoring the atmospheric air 

 to a condition in which it is more fitted, than it was before, for 

 the support of animal life." 



" The plant thus prepares the support of life for other crea- 

 tures at the same time that it absorbs its own. The greenness 

 of those members which effect that colour, and the disengage- 

 ment of oxygen, are the indications that its vital powers are in 

 healthful action. As soon as we remove light from a plant 

 these indications cease : it has no longer power to imbibe carbon, 

 and disengage oxygen, but, on the contrary, it gives back some 

 of the carbon already obtained, and robs the atmosphere of 

 oxygen for the purpose of re-converting this into carbonic 

 acid." Whewell. Bridgewater Treatise. 



[LIQUID MANURE is very useful used with caution when ap- 

 plied in too concentrated a form it is pernicious. A small quan- 

 tity of fresh cowdung, pig dung, poultry dung, guano, &c., mixed 

 with a large body of water, just sufficient to discolor it is what 

 is required, not a thick muddy liquid. This liquid manure may 

 be applied to the roots of Roses, Chrysanthemums and most plants 

 when they are near their season for flowering, and the soil should 

 be hoed and broken up previously to allow the liquid manure to 

 sink in to the roots. Avoid soiling the leaves and flowers. 



POUDRETTE is an excellent top-dressing for Arums, Colocasias, 

 Iresine and Canna, but should not be mixed at all with soil in 

 which seeds are to be sown for it will inevitably kill them. 

 Well rotted leaf mould is an excellent fertiliser and should be 

 used for all composts. ED.] 



Excellent Dressing for Gardens. The use of the following 

 manure is described as being so beneficial as to be followed by 

 a four-fold increase of produce, and is well adapted for the 

 flower and kitchen garden. In a pit about twenty feet long, 

 twelve or fourteen wide, and fifteen or eighteen deep, put a 



