f 
ON A FALLACIOUS OBSERVATION. 425 
exposed to the influence of moist heat, while standing in shocks; a 
melancholy proof of which, has this very morning been brought to 
me, from a neighbour’s field. Every ear is bristled with long vchite 
roots; and a hue of green from the germs pervades the whole.— 
These seeds have germinated in the broad glare of day, three or four 
feet from the surface of the earth ! Not to tire with too many proofs* 
all of which are of easy observation; I will mention only one or two 
more: the obvious fact, that all self-sown seeds of garden vegetables, 
produce invariably the healthiest plants;—peas, which have been 
scratched up by birds to the surface of the ground, will, if their po¬ 
sition be reversed by the operation, actually push their roots first in¬ 
to the light and air, in their endeavour to reach their natural situa- 
ation. Indeed there are seeds which will not vegetate in darkness, 
the birch for example, that mast be scattered on the soil, and not 
buried in it, in order to effect their due vegetation. 
The operation of harrowing, is obviously not to cover up the seeds 
from the action of light; but to preserve the fruits of man’s labour, 
for his own use, to the exclusion of birds, insects and vermin, all of 
whom would else dispute with him their share of the food, which was 
equally designed for their benefit as for that of the lords of the earth. 
Frosts too, would injure and destroy these seeds which are not indi¬ 
genous to the soil in which they arc sown. The noble science of 
chemistry, is perfectly innocent of the charge here brought against 
it, of working this mighty mischief to the seeds of vegetation ; yet 
will this imposing paragraph that I have transcribed, wander the 
round of the newspapers;—and people will read it, and think it so 
clever ;—and all that array of carbon, and oxygen, and carbonic acid 
gas, will look so unmeasurable;_and science will be thought to be 
striding over our vegetation with such seven league boots ;—when lo ! 
a little jack the giant killer—i. e_common observation, sets the matter 
in its proper light,—the wonder subsides,—and all is right again. 
H ow necessary it is,—that although we may rejoice in, and be 
grateful for the stores of knowledge, which are opened to us, that we 
should be led by no one ; and resolve, to think for ourselves. 
August \st, 1834. 
•i. . 
