326 ffRANSACTION-S OF THF AMERTCAX IKSTirUTB. 



near Berlin j tliey there grow in a poory sanely soil, and very 

 rarely weigli more than one ounce. 



I sowed these seeds in a rich garden loam^ affording them 

 ample nourishment, and to my surprise they increased in weight 

 to five pounds each ', showing plainly that the size of all plants 

 is proportioned by nature to the surface of the organs through 

 which food is conveyed to them j every new fiber, spongiole, and 

 leaf adds a mouth and a stomach to every plant. 



When we supply more food than the organs of a plant require 

 to develop it, the superfluity is not returned to the land, but is 

 employed in the formation of new organs for the plant. At the 

 side of a root already formed, another root is added, and a cor- 

 responding twig is developed. Without an excess of nourish- 

 ment, these new parts could not have been formed. 



Each organ of a plant extracts from the food we present to it 

 that which it requires for its sustenance, while that portion 

 which is not assimilated separates as an excrement. 



If we sprinkle the juice of the Phytolacca decandra upon a 

 bed of white hyacinths, in two hours the blossoms will become 

 red ; this juice will enter into every portion of the plant, and 

 will be cast out as excrement, unchanged in its chemical nature, 

 without having been in the least degree injurious to the plant. 



AERATING LAND. 



Mr. Gale inquired whether under-draining would benefit land 

 where there is no water to carry off. 



Mr. Pell answered that it certainly would, as he had fully 

 proved, that drains aerate the soil, and that is of great advantage. 



Mr. Gale thought the great object is to get the soil in that 

 condition which will admit the water to sink away from the 

 surface, without being carried away from the land. It is then 

 capable of being aerated. 



NEVER PLANT NEW TREES IN OLD ORCHARDS. 



Mr. Pell stated that young trees will never succeed if planted 

 where an old orchard has decayed. 



Andrew S. Fuller, of Brooklyn, thought this theory of excre- 

 mentous matter in the soil injurious to new trees not tenable. 



Doctor Trimble. — In the Dismal Swamp region there are im- 

 mense cypress trees growing over the buried trunks of other 

 cypress trees. 



Mr. Gale. — I have seen pine forests cleared off and no pines 



