State Convention—Relation of Soil to Water. 327 
made so far prove that plants do not and cannot absorb either am¬ 
monia or water through the leaves; that all other materials enter 
the plant through the soil and through the roots. That material 
entering into the atmosphere, is either brought down through the 
atmosphere in solution, by rain-water, or else it is brought into the 
soil, and through the soil by the atmosphere, in the way I have 
stated. If it is obtained by the atmospheric air, circulating between 
those particles, then the deeper down we can get the atmosphere, 
the better for our crops, for this reason among others; it is further 
away from the absorbing influence of the sun and sun’s rays. I 
suggest we should get the soil as deep as we can get atmospheric 
air to circulate freely, and it is better for the crops; the crops will 
have a deeper soil to draw food from. 
Mr. Clark: Professor, did I understand you to say that you 
doubted tRe absorption of water through the leaves of a plant? 
Professor Murrish: That has been experimented upon, and it has 
decided the question. It will not absorb water through the leaves. 
Mr. Clark: I want to know why water revives a plant when 
sprinkled on the leaves. 
Professor Murrish: That may work mechanically through the 
external pores. When I speak of absorption, I mean for the ex¬ 
istence and maintenance of its life. The life-current of the plant 
depends upon the water entering the roots, passing up through the 
plant, from cell to cell, finally evaporating, through the influence 
of the sun’s rays, into the atmosphere; the evaporation of the at¬ 
mosphere draws up the current, and keeps this circulation going on 
in the plant. You might as well try to keep a plant alive without 
that circulating current as for a man to live without the blood cir¬ 
culating through his veins. 
