20 NOURISHMENT OF PLANTS. 



edge of the extraordinary and mighty efforts made in 

 England^ and the extremely slight attention paid in 

 Germayiy to chemico-agricultural objects^ but also at 

 the conviction, that there a harvest has been already 

 reaped, whilst cautious Germany is still debating the 

 question, whether the seeds sown by chemistry pos- 

 sess a germinating power or not ! And this knowl- 

 edge will be fraught with blessings, if it leads us to 

 the conclusion that chemistry will soon become in 

 Germany, what from its essential character and 

 destiny it ought to be and must be, — a true and in- 

 dispensable aid to the farmer. 



II. NOURISHMENT OF PLANTS. 



An inscrutable Wisdom has imparted to every 

 grain of seed the power of germinating in the moist 

 earth, and of growing up into a plant, which puts 

 forth leaves, flowers, and seed, and then perishes and 

 disappears. Germination, growth, flowering, seed- 

 bearing, and decay are the chief stages of develop- 

 ment through w^hich plants have to pass. When 

 they have advanced so far as to produce seed, that 

 is, new bodies capable of life, they have fulfilled their 

 appointed task, and their course then tends down- 

 ward to decay. Whether they may attain this goal 

 in one brief summer, or not until after centuries of 



