Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/451

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There is great rcafon to believe, that in all feeds, which contain a large quantity of farinaceous matter, the cafe is the fame as in thefe, and that they all confift internally of fmall globules, collected into larger ones, and enclofed in membranes; which, on a ftrict examination, appear to be little other than congeries of veffels deftined to fend nourifh- ment to the feveral inclofed globules.

The oil in almonds, and other fuch feds, is in the fame manner contained in a fort of fmall veflels, which are very numerous, and diftinctly vifible. When a fmall piece of the pulp is examined with a good microfcope, all thefe fmall vcffels, and the membranes they make a part of, proceed from the fkin or inner covering of the feed, in which they are found ■ and as the meally fubftance receives its encreafe from the veffels which are in the cells; and as the plant is formed between the cells, during the time that the feed lies in the earth; and as the little orifices in the fkins of ani- mals and of fruits, are lb formed, as to difchargc the fuper- fluity of their moifture, and are fhut in fuch a manner, that no moifture from the common air can be received into them: fo, on the contrary, the orifices of feeds are fo form- ed, that they will admit moifture to pafs inwards, and ac- cordingly moifture is driven into them as they lie in the earth. The _/^ upon this muft neceffarily (well, after this a fermentation arifes, it requires then a greater (pace, and according to the particular ftate of the fibres, and the par- ticles which lie in the cells, and which have derived their nourifhment from the cells, the meally fubftance is by de- grees driven out of them into the fubftance of the young plant ; which by this means encreafes fo much in bulk, that the root is become able to furnifh it with nourifhment from the earth. The office of the internal part of the feed is then over, and we fee accordingly, that it is by that time almoft wholly wafted. Phil. Tranf. N° 368. p. 203. See Tab. of Microfcopical Objects, Clafs 1.

Many experiments have been made, in order to prove that the feeds of all plants derive their conftitucnt matter from the woody central parts of the plant. Thus apple trees, when they grow hollow, will bear good fruit, but with empty and imperfect feeds. Barberry trees, when the roots are bored through, are faid to bear fruit abfolutely without feeds; and the gardiners fay, that if the woody part of the roots of parfley be cut out, the plant will continue to thrive in all appearance, but that it will never afterwards produce feeds that will propagate the fpecies. It is to be acknowledg- ed that hollow oaks and elms produce feed that is as good as that growing on the foundeft trees of the fame fpecies ; but the elm is all timber to the bark, and an oak, when it is putrid to the heart, may ftill have firm wood enough to convey a proper nourifhment from the root to the acorn. The roots may be found, when the body of the tree is very much decayed by water let in at the top of the pollard tree, or at the loppings of the branches ; and we fee that beans, wheat, and other grain, grow well, if the eyes and parts next adjoining be whole, though the beans be full of great holes in other parts, or the main body of the wheat be cut off with fciffars.

The people who recommend boring of the barberry roots, to have fruit without ftones, order therefore that the borings be very compleat in the roots for that purpofe. It is ob- ferved, in countenance of this doctrine, that fome trees are lefs fruitful, or even altogether barren, by the exceffive .growth and hardnefs of the timber, and thefe are cured by crofs hackings or cuts, done with fharp inftruments through the bark, and into the wood : they alfo do the like injuries to the roots on the fame occafion, and often fplit them length- wife, putting a ftone into the flit, that they may not grow together again. When this remedy is applied both to the Item and roots, it feldom fails of fuccefs, but when only to one, it fometimes mifles.

As the heart of the wood, or its more folid fubftance, are fuppofed thus to furnifh the matter of the feeds, the bark is fuppofed to furnifh the matter of the pulp of the fruit. The experiment has been made, by debafing and vitiating its juice, and the fruits have accordingly been debafed. Thus if refts be made for water on the body of a Kentifh codling tree, and water poured frequently into thefe cavities, fo as always to keep up a fupply for the bark, the apples will grow to an immoderate fize, and be infipid ; part of their pulp will be fo relaxed, as to look like the pulp of a lemon, and on hanging but a moderate time on the tree, they will be as rotten, as if laid on heaps when fully ripe, rhilof. Tranf. N° 46. Change of Seed, a term ufed by the farmers to exprefs the common, and, as they fuppofe, necefTary cuftom, of chang- ing among one another the feed of their lands, as wheat, and the like, it being a received opinion, that the feed pro- duced on one land will grow better on another, than 011 that which produced it, though the fame fpecies of plant be fown.

Seeds, in their natural climate, do not degenerate, unlef; culture has improved them ; they then indeed are liable, upon omiflion of that culture, to return to their natural ftate again. Whatever benefit arifes to the farmer from the Suppl. Vol. II,

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changing the feed of the fame fpecies, is from caufes which are themfelves the effects of different climates, fuch as heat and moifture, which may vary very much in the fame neigh- bourhood. There is a mountain in the Mogul's country, which on the fouth fide produces Indian plants, and on the north fide European one 1 :, from different cxpofures. Some land retaining water longer is colder, and fome letting it pafs eff quicker is warmer ; as it may alfo be from the nature and figure of its parts, which retain more of the fun's heat than others. Sandy and gravelly grounds are always warmer than others, if they have fome hollow and fpungy ftratum underneath, that will let the water pafs off.

The benefit arifing from the change of feed is owing to thefe changes, not to the change of food, and thefe caufes fhew their effects chiefly in the generation of the feed. Flax feed, brought from Holland, and fown here, will produce as fine flax as it does there, but in the next generation it will degenerate, and become coarfer; by this means it will con- tinue to degenerate every year, till after two or three years it is no better than our own feed produces, and yet the land- fhall be as good for this coarfe fort, as when it produced the fine ; fo alfo it is, when the feeds of our own wheat are changed between farmer and farmer. And thus filk worms hatched and bred in France, of eggs brought from Italy, will make as fine filk as the Italian ; but the eggs of thofe laid in France, will produce worms that make no bet- ter filk than thofe produced in France, though their food is all the while the fame.

Common barley, once fown in the burning fands in Wilt- fliirc, will for many years after, if fown on indifferent warm ground, be ripe fooner than any other barley by two or three weeks ; but if fown on cold grounds farther north, it will be as late as any other barley, after two or three years. The weeds, which perplex the farmers in every field, grow as ftrong and troublefome one year as another, and that without any change of feed zt all. Thefe feem therefore to have been the natural produce of our foil, and corn and other ufeful plants to have been brought from other places, and improved by culture; thefe will therefore no longer retain their perfection and value, than fuch culture is con- tinued to them.

Laurembergius has carried this notion of degeneracy and change from the foil, fo far as to affirm that wheat will, in. fome places, degenerate into rye ; and in other places, rye will be exalted into wheat by the foil : but thofe who areac- ' quainted with botany knew, that a horfe might as foon be changed into a bull by feeding in an improper pafture, as one plant degenerate into another by fault of the foil. TulPs Hufbandry, p. 116. SEEDY, in the brandy trade, a term ufed by the dealers to exprefs a fault that is found in feveral parcels of French brandy, and which renders them unfaleable. The French fuppofe that thefe brandies obtain the flavour, which they exprefs by this name from the weeds which grew among the vines, from whence the wine, of which this brandy was made, was prefled.

However it be, the thing is evident, and the tafte not of any one kind ; but fome pieces of brandy fhall tafte ftrongly of annifeed, fome of caraway feed, and fome of other of the ftrong flavoured feeds of plants, principally of the um- belliferous kind ; fo that it fhall be rather taken for annifeed, caraway, or fome other water, than for brandy. The proprietor of fuch brandies is always at great trouble to get them off, and ufually is reduced to the neceflity of mixino- them in fmall quantities with pieces of other bran- dies, fo as to drowJi and conceal the tafte ; and where he has not opportunities of doing this, is obliged to fell them on very disadvantageous terms.

Thebufmefs of rectification of fpirits is very little underftood abroad, though very much pradtifed with us ; and a man in France or Holland, who could take off this tafte from thefe brandies, might get great advantages by it. There is no doubt but that the fame means, which we ufe to rectify malt fpirits, that is to clear it of its naufeous and ftinking oil, which always rifes with it in the firft diftillation, would alfo fcrve to purify thefe brandies, and by leaving thefe ex- traneous oils behind, render them as well tafted as any others ; fince there is no queftion, but that the oil of malt, which is a principle of the fame ingredient with the fpirit, is more firmly united to it than thefe flavouring oils in the brandy, which are not the produce of the grape, _ but of fome foreign matter only accidentally mixed with it. See the article Rectification.

It is a miftake to imagine, that all the brandies made in France are fo fine as thofe which We meet with on the keys of London; on the contrary, there are many hundred pieces made every year, which are as badly flavoured as our coarfeft malt fpirit. But the cafe is this, they fend the beft brandies, and the beft wines to England, where they can get the beft prices for them. In Holland, on the contrary, the mart of goods of all forts, it is fometimes difficult to pick one piece of good brandy out of fifty, the general run of them being either feedy, or mufty, oily, or otherwife in- fected with fome unnatural and difagreeable flavour; and 2 E e e thefe