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| 28. 
“HO MONA: Or, 
i Ne. * 
a 
Fs be 
CHA PF. 
Of the GrowTn and Maturity of PLANTS. 
Fey) HE firft Operation of Nature, after fowing the Seed of a 
Bi | Vegetable, is to imbibe as much Moifture as is neceflary for 
GIHGkse) its Germination, whereby it fwells with very great Force, 
Force Mr. Hales has proved. in his Experiment on Peafe, which he 
put in an Iron Pot with Water, and, as they dilated themfelves, they 
raifed 184 Pounds. Vide Vegetable Staticks, p. 94. 
Now feeing that Seed cannot ftrongly germinate without a fufficient 
Quantity of Moifture, ‘tis no ,wonder that bad Crops are produced, 
when fown late in dry Seafons: Therefore the old Maxim of fowing 
dry, feems to be a Miftake, except in Lands that are naturally very wet. 
AND fince that Seeds dilate themfelyes with very great Force at 
their Germination, therefore che Soil wherein they are fow'd fhould 
be well meliorated by digging, d’c. not only for their free Dilatations, 
but for the more eafy Penetration of their tender Plumes, or firft leading 
Shoots into the Air, as well as their Radicles, or firft fhooting Roots, 
with their fubfequent Fibres, in the Earth, For when the Radicles 
cannot freely penetrate the Earth, ‘tis impoffible that they can imbibe 
fufficient Moifture neceflary for the Production of good Plants. 
N. B. LF any defire to be inform’d bow Nature operates from the 
Germination of Seed to the Formation of Buds, Shoots, &c. let 
them vead Mr. Hales’s Vegetable Staticks, p. 329, 3.49, 351. 
THE Shoots or Branches of Trees are produced by the gradual Di- 
latation and Extenfion of ‘their Buds ; for all Branches and Fruits are 
form’d in the very fame Proportion as they afterwards appear when fully 
grown. = 
SOME 
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