24 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. that the careful cracking and opening of stones, which include the 



kernels, as soon as ripe, precipitate growth, and gain a year's advance ; 

 but this is erroneous. Now^ if you gather them in moist weather, lay 

 them a drying, and so keep them till you sow, which may be as soon as 

 you please after Cln-istmas. If they spire out before you sow them, be 

 sure to commit them to the earth before the sprout grows dry, or else 

 expect little from them : And whenever you sow, if you prevent not the 

 little field-mouse, he will be sure to have the better share ^. 



" all their powers, both inhaling and exhaling, it can hardly be thought, but that it may 

 " be a sufficient counterbalance to it, and that the remedy is adequate to the evil. — 

 " Dr. Franklin, who, as I have already observed, saw some of my plants in a very flourishing 

 " state, in highly noxious air, was pleased to express very great satisfaction with the 

 " result of the experiments. In his answer to the letter in which I informed him of it, 

 he says, ' That the vegetable creation should restore the air which is spoiled hy the animal 

 part of it, looks like a rational sijstem, and seems to be of a piece with the rest. Thus Jire 

 purifies water all the world over. It purifies it by distillation, when it raises it in vapours, and 

 lets it fall in rain ; and farther still by filtration, ivhen, keeping fluid, it suffers that rain to 

 percolate the earth. We knew before that putrid animal substances were converted into sweet 

 vegetables, ivhen mixed with the earth, and applied as ynanure ; and now, it seems, that the same 

 putrid substances, mixed with the air, have a similar effect. The strong thriving state of your 

 mint in putrid air, seemi to shorn that the air is mended by taking something from it, and not 

 by adding to it.' " — Experiments and Observations on different Kinds of Air, p. 86" — 94. Vol. I. 



Every one who has a pleasure in contemplating and reflecting upon the wisdom of God 

 in the creation, must be delighted with the harmony of the above system ; but some foreign 

 philosophers have lately introduced a new theory in hopes of destroying it entirely. They 

 tell us that vegetables, during the day time, are continually perspiring through their leaves 

 oxigene, or good air, and that in the night time, the same system of vessels pour forth 

 azote, or impure air. If this kind of reasoning be founded upon correct experiment, we 

 should form our plantations at some distance from our habitations, in order that these two 

 opposite kinds of air may be well mixed with the surrounding atmospheric air befoi-e they 

 find their way into the family apai-tments. We should also forbid the introduction of 

 plants into our parloui'S and drawing-rooms, in order to guard against those diseases that 

 are supposed to originate in an excess, or deficiency, either of azote or oxigene. To enter 

 further into the medical history of those airs would in this place be thought improper. 



^ It must be confessed that sowing of Acorns, Beech-Mast, Ash-Keys, &c. in the 

 Autumn, when those seeds fall spontaneously from the trees, appears by much the most 

 natural method ; but the destruction made by the field-mouse upon those seeds, both at 

 the time of sowing and during the winter, has induced many gentlemen to prefer Spring- 

 sowing to the Autumnal one. When the first is determined on, the acorns and other 

 seeds must be carefully preserved during the winter; and, in forming the magazines, care 

 must be taken to keep the different sorts apart from each other. It is not customary to 

 preserve the acorns, &c. in the manner recommended by Mr. Evelyn ; but, as he always 

 speaks from experience, his method should not be rashly condemned. 



