HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 331 



sorption ? — therefore we limit ourselves, and we repeat only this, that plants 

 also take moisture from the air ; that not only do the roots absorb fluids 

 from the ground, but that the leaves inhale other substances which circulate 

 in the air in the form of gas ; that evaporation and absorption by green 

 parts depend on the moisture of the atmosphere, on that of the plant, and 

 on that of the ground ; that the nature of plants is by these circumstances, 

 remarkably modified, and that on them depend the forms and properties 

 which plants present to us in different latitudes, and in their various po- 

 sitions. • 



The knowledge of what we have now treated is not without practical 

 utility. A good watering or draining of the ground is not of less import- 

 ance for the cultivator than a good manuring. The water that a plant 

 evaporates, must also be brought into its roots. Where would be the limit 

 of our treatise if we wished to try to make known all the great phenomena 

 which vegetation, by means of evaporation, brings about in all Nature ? Al- 

 ways, where there are woods, the state of the atmosphere is damp, and the 

 ground for the most part fertile. The great streams of the earth have their ori- 

 gin generally in wooded mountains, and empty themselves at a great distance 

 from them into the seas. Population settles on their fertile borders — culture, 

 being, and civilization keep pace. Where no vegetation is, there is the soil well- 

 barren, the state of the atmosphere always dry ; it seldom rains there. 

 Men and animals flee from those withered and unfruitful regions. Wide 

 districts of South America, where it never rains, and where there is no 

 vegetation, may be cited as examples. — Gard. Chron. 



DURATION OF WOOD IMPREGNATED WITH SULPHATE OF 



COPPER. 



Many experiments have been made of late years with a view to the 

 increase, by chemical means, of the duration of wood used in buildings of 

 various kinds, and in the arts ; the process has generally been to saturate 

 the wood with some salt, several of which have been found to answer the 

 purpose in different degrees : that used with most success has been the sul- 

 phate of copper. We translate for the benefit of our readers the following 

 from the Bulletin of the Horticultural Society of the Seine : 



M. Decaisne, the president, presents to the Society several specimens of 

 wood impregnated with sulphate of copper by Dr. Boucherie's process, 

 which consists in causing a solution of sulphate of copper to penetrate to 



