MOSS WATER. 



349 



IV. Moss Water from the neighbourhood of Schleissheim. DR. 

 WITTSTEIN. 



The composition of the water was found to be as follows : 



APPENDIX E (page 113). 



VEGETATION OF LAND PLANTS IN THE WATERY SOLUTIONS 

 OF THEIR FOOD. 



In experiments on the vegetation of land plants in the watery 

 solutions of their food, great attention must be paid to the tenden- 

 cy of the fluid to become alkaline by the process of vegetation, as 

 land plants always die in alkaline solutions. Great care must 

 therefore be taken to keep the fluid neutral (very faintly alkaline) 

 or feebly acid. Knop attained this object by frequently transfer- 

 ring his plants to fresh solutions ; Stohmann, by placing the plants 

 from the commencement in feebly acid solutions, and at a later 

 period transferring them sometimes to fresh solutions, and at 

 other times removing the alkaline reaction by frequent addition 

 of a small quantity of acid. 



The tendency of solutions to become alkaline by means of the 

 plants vegetating in them, and the injurious effect of an alkaline 

 solution on the growth of plants, were observed by Knop and 

 Stohmann. 



In the following are communicated the experiments of Knop 

 and Stohmann on the vegetation of maize, in watery solutions. 



