271 



VEGETABLE FOOD. 



WHAT is the food of plants ? has always been an 

 interesting- question among cultivators. The che- 

 mical philosopher says ascertain by careful analysis 

 the qualities of their components, and you may safely 

 infer that similar bodies or qualities must necessarily 

 be their food. 



This doctrine, however, notwithstanding- its plau- 

 sibility, has not been fully proved by experience. 

 Vegetables are so organised that they are not only 

 capable of imbibing various fluids from the earth and 

 air, but also can assimilate them to their own essen- 

 tial qualities. From the same situation and soil, 

 different plants extract different principles. The 

 Saccharum qfficinalis and the Janipha manihot 

 grow on the same spot ; the first elaborates the most 

 agreeable and nutritious juice ; the second a most 

 dangerous poison ! 



But, perhaps, the philosopher only alludes to the 

 elements of plants, such as oxygen, hydrogen and 

 carbon, and not to their elaborated qualities. If so, 

 it may be observed, that all these exist universally 

 in the air and water, consequently more or less in 



