Vegetable Staticks. 95 



Apple-tree ', which was 12 feet long, 1 -j- -| 

 inch diameter at i: I filled the glafs tube 

 with water, and immerfed the fmall end in 

 the mercury x, which rofe but 4 inches, yet 

 it imbibed water plentifully ; but the air iffued 

 too faft out of the branch at /, for the mer- 

 cury to rife high. 



This, and many other experiments of this 

 kind, convince me, that branches of 2, 3, 

 or 4 years old, are the beft adapted to draw 

 the mercury higheft: The veffels of thofe 

 that are older being too large and pervious to 

 the air, which pafies mod freely thro* the 

 dark, efpecially at old eyes 5 as will be more 

 fully proved in the fifth chapter. 



Experiment XXVI. 



July 30th at noon, a mixture of fun and 

 clouds, the day and night before, 24 hours 

 continual rain : I cut off" a branch of a 

 Golden Pippin-tree bb, (Fig. 13.) about three 

 feet long, with feveral large lateral branches ; 

 its" diameter at the great end p near an inch, 

 which end I cemented well, and tied over it 

 a piece of wet bladder. 



Then I cut off at i the main top twig, 

 where it was | inch diameter : I cemented 



the 



