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Matvei^ &c., all sickly and apparently dying; I however succeeded in restoring 
every one of them to health and vigour. It is also a very curious circumstance 
that the Chamomile is materially affected, and suffers in its turn; indeed generally 
dies. Some systematic action supervenes, and the question is altogether one, not 
merely curious in itself, but promises a new field of observation. How far other 
odoriferous or medicinal herbs, as Feverfew, Sage, Tansy, &c., may affect particu¬ 
lar plants, it would certainly be interesting to inquire. 
Plants sometimes Plant their own Seeds. 
This is emphatically the case with the Arachis hypogcea, or “ ground nut.” 
When the seed is fully formed, and partly mature, the branches which clutch the 
seed-vessels begin to curve toward the earth ; and in process of time the pod disap¬ 
pears, having been forced into the earth by the plant, where it lies buried, there to 
vegetate at a depth of about one to two inches. This plant, therefore, provides for 
its perpetuity in a singular manner; the offspring is kept at home, and not suffered 
to wander vagabond, or the seeds become like other seeds, “ as a rolling thing 
before the whirlwind.” The chances of the breeze are, in this case, deprived of 
their prey. I have watched this curious provision in the Arachis hypogcea with 
much interest. In the Nasturtium something similar may be observed : the spi¬ 
ral coils contiguous to the seeds seem concerned in the office of immuring them, 
which may occasionally be noticed to penetrate a sandy soil. This phenomenon, 
however, is more apparent in the Cyclamen , where the seeds will often disappear 
about the period of their maturity, the plant having hidden them in the earth, and 
the coils may be sometimes observed to form a complete plexus or sheath round 
the seed-pod. 
Plants sometimes Water their own Roots. 
The most remarkable example of this extraordinary phenomenon, occurs in the 
Raining or Fountain Tree, or the Spartium nubigenum ? in Ferro, one of the 
Canary Islands, forming the only source of water in the whole Island, and at 
which living stream all are supplied, “ themselves, their little ones, and their cat¬ 
tle.” The water is dispensed to the inhabitants by the insular authorities. In 
this case, the atmospheric aqueous vapour is condensed by the branches and foliage, 
and trickles from them into the excavation at the base of the tree, said to be 
allied to the Laurus indica. Of the same description is the Cobea pluviosa of 
the American Continent, and another in the same hemisphere, of which we have 
only an imperfect account, but said on the slightest touch to emit a copious 
shower. 
There are other plants, however, which are supplied with a distillatory appara- 
VOL. I. 
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