434 [Assembly 



We are told also by the botanists, that the food, nourishment 

 and elements of the plant are taken in by the roots, and ascend 

 up to the branches in a fluid state. That the sap rises in the 

 spring, and ascends to the branches and buds of the tree. 



That the sap does not rise first from the roots is proved by the 

 fact that the sap is first found in the branches. I have frequent- 

 ly seen a flow of sap in the branches, when the buds had begun to 

 grow, and at the same time no sap would be found near the roots. 

 The apricot has been seen in full bloom^ while at the same time 

 the soil in which it stood was frozen solid. And I have seen, 

 many times, logs and sticks of wood that were cut in the winter, 

 and removed miles from their roots, yet in the spring they were 

 full of sap, and some produced new sprouts. 



Vegetables do not draw their elements and substance chiefly 

 from the soil, as is generally supposed, because the sap does not 

 first rise from the roots, as we have just shown, and is also proved 

 by several other facts. We will refer to a few of thes^. Some 

 fertilizers increase the product more than ten times. I have seen 

 plaster of Paris do far more than this, and yet not impoverish the 

 soil, but improve itj and the same may be said of ashes, guano, 

 lime, &c. I have mowed and taken off the first crop of a meadow 

 twenty-three years in succession, without applying any kind of 

 fertilizers, and without any signs of impoverishment j and so the 

 soil of the prairie and the forest have produced their annual crops 

 ever since their first creation, without any signs of impoverish- 

 ment. We will add but one more of those facts that prove that 

 the plant does not draw much of its substance from the soil. 



" Van Helmont planted a willow which weighed five pounds in 

 a pot containing 200 pounds of earth ; this he watered for five 

 years, and at the end of that time the tree was found to weigh 

 169^ pounds, while the earth in which it stood was found to have 

 lost only two ounces." 



The question now arises if the plant does not draw its nourish- 

 ment and primary elements chiefly from the soil, from whence do 

 they come '2* 



• Liebig says: "The ultimate constituents of plants ar# those which form organic matter 

 is general — namely carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. Carbonic acid," he says, "is 



