THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



257 



From the Western Farmer and Gardener. 

 PRACTICAL USE OF LEAVES. 



There are two facts in the functions of the 

 leaf, which are worth consideration on account 

 of their practical bearings. The food of plants 

 is, for the most part, taken in solution, through 

 its roots. Various minerals — silex, lime, alu- 

 men, magnesia, potassa — are passed into the 

 tree in a dissolved state. The sap passes to the 

 leaf, the superfluous water is given off, but not 

 the substances which it held in solution. These, in 

 part, are distributed through the plant, and, in 

 parr, remain as a deposit in the cells oj the leaf. 

 Gradually the leaf chokes up, its functions are 

 impeded, and finally entirely stopped. When 

 the leaf drops it contains a large per cent, of 

 mineral matter. An autumnal or old leaf yields, 

 upon analysis, a very much larger proportion of 

 earthy matter than a vernal leaf, which, being 

 yet young, has not received within its cells any 

 considerable deposit. It will be found also, that 

 the leaves contain a very much higer per cent, 

 of mineral matter, than the ivood of the trunk. 

 The dried leaves of the elm contain more than 

 eleven per cent, of ashes, (earthy matter,) while 

 the wood contains less than two per cent.; those 

 of the willow, more than eight per cent., while 

 the wood has only 0.45; those of the beech 

 6.69, the wood only 0.36 ; those of the (Euro- 

 pean) oak 4.05, the wood only 0.21; those of 

 the pitch-pine 3.15, the wood only 0.25 per cent. 



It is very plain from these facts, that, in for- 

 ests, the mineral ingredients of the soil perform 

 a sort of circulation ; entering the root, they are 

 deposited in the leaf ; then, with it, fall to the 

 earth, and by its decay, they are restored to the 

 soil, again to travel their circuit. Forest soils, 

 therefore, instead of being impoverished by the 

 growth of trees, received back annually the 

 greatest proportion of those mineral elements 

 necessary to the tree, and besides, much organ- 

 ized matter received into the plant from the at- 

 mosphere ; soils therefore are gaining instead of 

 losing. If owners of parks or groves, for neat- 

 ness sake, or to obtain leaves for other purposes, 

 gathers the annual harvest of leaves, he will, in 

 time, take away great quantities of mineral 

 matter, by which the soil, ultimately, will be 

 impoverished, unless it is restored by manures. 



Leaf-manure has always been held in high 

 esteem by gardeners. But many regard it as a 

 purely vegetable substance; whereas, it is the 

 best mineral manure that can be applied to the 

 soil. What are called vegetable loams, (not 

 peat soils, made up principally, of decomposed 

 roots,) contain large quantities of earthy matter, 

 being mineral-vegetable, rather than vegetable 

 soils. 



Every gardener should know, that the best 

 manure for any plant is the decomposed leaves 

 and substance of its own species. This fact 

 Vol. VI.-33 



will suggest the proper course with reference to 

 the leaves, tops, vines, haulm, and other vegeta- 

 ble refuse of the garden. 



The other fact connected with the leaf, is its 

 function of exhalation. The greatest proportion 

 of crude sap which ascends the trunk, upon 

 reaching the leaf, is given forth again to the at- 

 mosphere, by means of a particularly beautiful 

 economy. The quantity of moisture produced 

 by a plant is hardly dreamed of by those who 

 have not specially informed themselves. The 

 experiments of Hales have been often quoted. 

 A sun flower, three and a half feet high, pre- 

 senting a surface of 5.616 square inches ex- 

 posed to the sun, was found to perspire at the 

 rate of twenty to thirty ounces avoirdupois, 

 every twelve hours, or seventeen times more 

 than a man. A vine with twelve square feet 

 exhaled at the rate of five or six ounces a day. 

 A seedling apple tree, with twelve square feet 

 of foliage, lost nine ounces a day. 



These are experiments upon very small plants. 

 The vast amount of surface presented by a large 

 tree must give ofT immense quantities of mois- 

 ture. The practical bearings of this fact of ve- 

 getable exhalation are not a few. Wet forest 

 lands, by being cleared of timber, become dry ; 

 and streams, fed from such sources, become al- 

 most extinct as civilzation encroaches on wild 

 woods. The excessive dampness of crowded 

 gardens is not, singular, and still less is it strange 

 that dwellings covered with vines, whose win- 

 dows are choked with shrubs, and whose roof is 

 overhung with branches of trees, should be in- 

 tolerably damp ; and when the good housewife 

 is scrubbing, scouring and brushing, and never- 

 theless, marvelling that her house is so infested 

 with mould, she hardly suspects that her trou- 

 bles would be more easily removed by the axe 

 or saw, than by all her cloths and brushes. A 

 house should never be closely surrounded with 

 shrubs. A free circulation of air should be 

 maintained all about it, and shade trees so dis- 

 posed as to leave large openings for the light 

 and sun to enter. The usual rains of the cur- 

 rent season have produced so great a dampness 

 in our residences that no one can fail to have 

 noticed its effect, both on the health of the oc- 

 cupants, and upon the beauty and good condi- 

 tion of their household substance. 



STEVEN'S PATENT POST AND FENCE. 



This will doubtless be deemed by farmers and 

 others, a valuable invention. The posts are 

 made of burnt clay, moulded and burnt in the 

 same way as hard bricks. A post of five feet 

 long, four inches square at the bottom, and three 

 at the top, can be afforded at the brick yards for 

 twelve and a half cents. With ordinary usage, 

 they are nearly as durable as stone, and, in the 



