DR. NICHOLS ADDRESS. \) 



into existence, and ibree.s or agents which are involved in developing 

 and sustaining the embryo before the phmt has th.e power of seeking 

 its own food. 



In all the changes and evolutions constantly going forward in the 

 vegetable world, the sunbeam plays a mcst important part. Analysis 

 of a sunbeam shows that it possesses three distinct functions or powers. 

 It is capable of supplying light and heat, and also it has actinic force, 

 or the capability of proclucing chemical decomposition and recomposi- 

 tion. Upon the chemical influence of the sun's rays depends the ger- 

 mination of seeds as well as the growth of the plant. We bury the 

 seed in the ground and shut it out from the influence of light, but we 

 do not placelt beyond the reach of the sun's actinic influence, for that 

 penetrates like heat to the little earthy couch where the embryo plant 

 lies hid, and arouses it into life. Light, or the luminiferous rays of 

 the sun, so important to the well being of the plant, is actually inimical 

 to the excitation of vitality in the seed. How singular is this fact ! A 

 scries of carefully conducted experiments have proved that seeds will 

 not germinate in light, although supplied with heat and moisture, when 

 the actinic rays are cut off. Deprived of the luminous rays, with the 

 actinic in full force, they spring into life vnth great rapidity. Seeds 

 sown upon the surface of the earth will scarcely germinate, as soil cul- 

 tivators very well know, and on the other hand., seeds buried so deep 

 that the actinic rays cannot reach them, will certainly perish. The 

 planting of seeds so as to secure the proper distance below the surface, 

 is a most important point in husbandry, as it has much to do with the 

 early starting of the plant and the success of the crops. 



How beautiful and wonderful is the process of germination when the 

 chemical and vital phenomena are set in motion by the actinic rays. 

 The starchy particles of the seed become converted into gum and 

 sugar, upon which the young plant feeds. The tiny root peeps out 

 from the husk and with mysteriously directed powers plunges down- 

 ward into the fertile soil. The slender plumule pushes upward tow- 

 ards the light. The soil cracks and heaves, and the infant vegetable 

 emerges, fresh and moist, into the world of air and sunshine. With 

 the unfolding of the first pair of leaves, and with the first lighting of 

 the sunbeam upon their tender tissues, commences a series of chemico- 

 vital phenomena wholly different from that of the preceding: stage of 

 existence. The plant is now fairly dependent for food upon its own 

 energies, and root and leaf are the theatres of great activities. None 

 of the elements named as constituting the food of plants, exist as such 

 in them, save oxygen and nitrogen. 



Half the weight of a dried plant is carbon, and yet it does not exist in 

 it as free carbon, it is all locked up in combinations of greater or less 

 complexity. There is not one of these elements of food that can be sup- 

 plied to the plant in its naked condition, as they not only have no 

 power to nourish, but they are positively poisonous. There is much 

 misapprehension regarding these points, among farmers, which arises 

 from not clearly understanding the statements of writers upon the 

 chemistry of agriculture. It' is not infrequent that inquiries are 



