HORTICUXTXTRAIi REPOSITORY. 



27 



bohea, and viridis, of which one proprietor already hat 

 a plantation of 4000 plants. — Asiat. Journ. for Nov. 

 1825. 



— ..,>9@©<*<— - 



ART, 23, — Richard Wilcox's apparatus to de- 

 monstrate, the necessart/ requisites for Germination ; o 

 the onhj principles required for Vegetation. 



The copper plate engraving, fig. 1. plate 1. is given 

 to demonstrate the ease and facility with which tht 

 compound principles of germination can be elucidated 

 when detached from every other subject in connexion 

 with it, as the different manures, &c. and confining oui 

 attention to the operative principles of nature. This 

 design presents the side view of an apparatus to de- 

 monstrate the necessary requisites for germination. 



A. The fire-place and necessary mason's work foi 

 supporting the boiler, &c. 



B. The boiler, furnished with guage-cock, safety- 

 valve, feeder, &c. 



C . The steam-pipe with a stop-cock to regulate the 

 ingress of steam. 



D. The box or tub for containing the seeds, &c. 

 This tub is composed of two parts ; the external par! 

 is formed of wood, and the internal of metal, so as to 

 leave a small interstice between the interna! and exter- 

 nal parts for the ingress of steam or heated air, while 

 the bottom is also double for the same purpose. 



E. An apple or other tree. 



F. A Thermometer. — In order that the ideas of ag- 

 riculturists may not be attached to any description o 

 earths, and attribute properties to them fallaciously, no 

 earths are admitted, but the medium employed is eithei 

 small lead shots, pulverized glass, pure river sand 

 litharge, or flowers of sulphur, &c. In fact vegetable;' 

 will grow in woollen cloths, moss, and in other insoiu 

 blc media, as these are capable of containing the two 

 principles necessary for germination. 



G. The rim of the metal inside cylinder turned over 

 the wood. 



II. A reservoir of water. 



I. A butt or reservoir of water. 



J. A cask inverted, with its lower head open and 

 supported by a counter-balance, an working freely in 

 the water in the larger cask, which forms a simple ga- 

 someter. 



K. A metal pot or vessel attached to the head of the 

 gasometer, but not close, its object being to receive 

 filings of pieces of metal to form the gases required. 



L. A funnel-pipe and stop-cock, by which the me- 

 tal, water, and acids, are introduced to generate the 

 gases. (See fig. 2.) which is the vertical section of 

 the gasometer. 



M. The frame for supporting the counterbalance of 

 the gasometer. 



N. A pipe of communication from the gas-holder to 



'he germinating cask, furnished with a stop-cock so as 

 to regulate the ingress of gas at pleasure. 



O. A similar pipe and regulating-cock from the re- 

 servoir of water for the introduction of water. 



P. An exit pipe, for drawing off superfluous water. 



First — The vivifying and reanimating principle of 

 vegetation is caloric, as without this first cause, vege- 

 ration must lie forever inactive as in the winter season, 

 his principle is introduced and regulated at pleasure 

 rom the boiler where it passes under and round the in- 

 ternal metal case. 



Secondly — Humidity, with those two principles 

 duly moderated and the action of the air, all vegetation 

 will progress even without the assistance of earths, &c. 

 ■vhile the effects of manures may be substituted by gas. 

 L Ience, the great and governing principles of germina- 

 tion are reduced to heat and humidity, while the great 

 •are of the farmer is to follow the order of nature, which 

 ivoids all extremities ; this he may demonstrate with 

 facility, for if he sows the best seed in a pot, and forci- 

 bly presses or rams down the clay around the earth, 

 ihese being non-conducters of heat and nearly imper- 

 vious to heat and humidity, vegetation cannot exist — 

 while, on the contrary, sandy soils are unproductive, 

 as they admit the ingress of water with too great fa- 

 cility, and allow the humidity to be evaporated with too 

 nuch rapidity. Therefore the great and essentia! 

 point, is to have the earths neither too heavy or too 

 light, and neither too wet or too dry, nor too hard or 

 oo loose. 



For this purpose, all farmers should, if possible, have 

 >vater at their command, either naturally or by art, and 

 naiiures that would prevent too great an ingress of wa- 

 ter, and also prevent the evaporation of water by the 

 iction of the sun, and by this means preserving a rcni- 

 :ar and equal temperature of heat and humidity, as 

 upon these points hinge or turn the principles of 

 .Termination, while the effects of the rays of the sun on 

 ill vegetables and trees, Jtc. impart to them the power 

 of decomposing water, during that operation. The Iry- 

 drogen is absorbed, forming the oil and resinous part 

 of the vegetable, while the oxygen combines with a 

 >art of the caloric received from the sun, and is given 

 jut in the form of oxygen gas. Thus one grand and 

 sublime operation of nature gives nourishment and 

 provides materials for the growth of the vegetable 

 world, and at the same time produces such immense 

 quantities of pure oxygen gas, as to amply supply the 

 .jreat magazine of our atmosphere with the vital fluid, 

 which is so essentially necessary ■ the support of the 

 whole animal creation, combustion, respiration, &c. 

 In fact, upon the purity of the air depends our exist- 

 ence and all our terrestrial comforts ; and although we 

 ■an live without food or drink for some time, we cart- 

 not exist even a few minutes without the vivifying ef- 

 fects of the air we inhale, aa4 this properly proportion- 



.J 



