Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/943

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[ 286 ] VEG

i them mere Mineral Matter alfo, in great abun-

contain com-

em, as a

Plants, nicely weigh'd, and inclos'd in equal glafs Phials, take up into i

Well cover'd up with Parchment ; leaving only room for the dance ; iuch as our Sea-Purilam, the feveral forts of.

Stems to afcend thro' it ; and fill'd with Water : frime with of Samphires,

Soring Water, others with Rain Water, others with Thames monSea Salts, which are the lame as the Foffil in fuch plenty,

i |e ° ' as not only plainly to be diftinguifhd on the 1'alate, but

At the End of 7 7 Days he took 'em all out again ; weigh'd may be drawn out of them in confiderable quantity : nay, fo the Water left ; and computed the Weight of Tome affirm, There are Plants lound that will yield Kitre,

' and other Mineral Salts.

The Vegetable Matter being very fine and light, is fur- prizingly apt, and difpofed to attend Water in all its Mo- tions and follow it into each of its Receffes ; as appears not only from the [nftances above alledg'd, but many others : percolate it with all the Care imaginable, filtrc it with never fo many titrations, yet fome terrellrial Mat- ter will rerhain. Dr. Woodward has filtred Water thro' feveral Sheets of thick Paper, and after that thro' very clofe fine Cloth, twelve times doubled ; and this over and over, and yet a conlidcrable Quantity of this Mat- ter difcover'd it felf in the Water after all. Now, if it thus paffes Intcrfticcs that are fo very fmail and fine, along with the Water; it is the lefs firange, it fhould attend it in its Paffage thro' the Duels and Veflels of Plants : It is true, filtring and diftilling of Water, intercepts, and makes it

Water expended on 'em, and the Proportion of the Increafe of the Plant, to the Expence of the Water.

The next Year, tiiz. 1692, he made frefh Experiments with the fame Phials, and the fame fort of Plants, weigh'd as before, only fome were fill'd with Hyde-Turk Conduit Water alone, others with the fame Water, and a certain Pro- portion of Garden-Earth diffolv'd in it ; and others in the Fame Water diftill'd.

At the End of 5<f Days, he weigh'd the Plants, Water, i$c. and computed what each Plant had gain'd, what Quan- tity of Water was expended on the Plant, and the Propor- tion of the Increafe of the Plant, to the decreafe of the Water.

The Rcfult of all which Experiments, he gives us in the following Obfervations and Reflections :

i°. In 'Plants of the fame Kind, the lefs they are in hulk, „ _.

the [mailer Quantity of the fluid Mafi, in which they are quit fome of the earthy Matter it was before impregnated lit is drawn, off '; the Confumption, where the Mafs is of withal; but then, that which continues with the Water equal thicknefs, being pretty nearly proportion^ to the Bulk after this, is fine and light, and fuch consequently, as is in of the Plant a peculiar manner fit for the Growth and Noaruhment ot

In effea.'the Water feems to afcend up the Vcffcls of Vegetables. And this is the Cafe of Rain Water: the quan- Plants, in much the fame manner as up a Fibre : and it is tity of terreftrial Matter it bears up into the Atmolphere, no great wonder that the larger Filtrc mould draw off more is not great ; but what it doth bear up is chiefly or that Wafer than the fmaller ; or that a Plant that hath more light Kind, or Vegetable Matter, and that, too, perfeftly and larger Veffels, mould take up a greater Share of the diffolv'd, and reduc d to fingle Corpufdes all fit to enter the Fluid in which it is fet, than one that has fewer can : Nor Tubules and Veflels of Plants : On which accounts it is, that is this noted as a thing very confiderable in it felf, but this Water is fo very fertile and prolifick. chiefly with regard to what follows. The Reafon why all the terrc.trial Mattermixed with the

z°. Much the greater Tart of the fluid Mafs thus drawn Water, does not afcend into the Plant, is, that the mineral of, and convey- d into the Tlant, does not fettle or abide Matter makes a great deal of it, which is not only grcls and there- but paffes thro' their Tores, and exhales tip in- ponderous, butfeabrous and inflexible ; and lo notdiiposd to to the Atmofphere. That the Water in thefe Experi- enter the Pores of the Roots : Befides a great many of the ments afcended only thro' the Veffels of the Plants, is ccr- fimple Vegetable Particles, by degrees, unite, and form Imall tain ; fince fome Glaffes, which had no Plants in them, tho Clods, or Molecule, which flick to the Extremities of the difpofed in like manner as the reft, remain'd at the end of Roots of th r a Plants ; and others of them entangled in a the Experiment as at firft, and without any Diminution of loofer manner, form the Nubecula, or°reen Bodies, lo corn- Water f and that the greateft Part of it flies off from the monly obferved in ftagnant Water : Theie, when thus con- Plant into the Atmofphere, is as certain. join'd, are too big to enter the Fores, or alcend up the Vei-

The leaft Proportion of the Water expended, was to the fels of Plants ; which fingly they might have done. Augment of the Plant, as 4 5 or 50 to I ; and in fome 100, Hence it is, that in Agriculture, be the Earth never fo i0 o° nay, in one, as 700 to 1. »ch, good, and fit for the Produa.on of Corn or other Ve-

This fo continual an Emiffion of Water, in fo great Plenty, getables ; little will come of it, unlefs the Parts of it be from the Parts of the Plant, affords a manifeft Reafon, why feparated and loofe : And 'tis on this account, luch lams Countries that abound with Trees, and the larger Vege- are beftow'd in the digging, tilling, ploughing, fallowing, tables efpecially, fhould be very obnoxious to Damps, harrowing, and breaking the clodded Lumps of Eatth : great Humidity in the Air, and more frequent Rains, And 'tis the fame way that Sea Salt, Nitre, and other Salts, tnan others that are more open and free. The great promote Vegetation. Moifture in the Air, was a great Inconvenience and Annoy- ance to thofe who firft fettled in America ; which, at that time, was overgrown with Woods and Groves : But as thefe were burnt and deftroy'd, to make way for Habi- tations, and Culture of the Earth ; the Air mended, chang- ing into a Temper much more ferene and dry than before.

Some Authors imagine Nitre effential to Plants ; and that nothing in the Vegetable Kingdom is tranfadfed without it : But the Doctor affures us, that by all the Tri- als he has been able to make, the Thing feems to him quite otherwife ; and when contiguous to the Plant, Nitre rather deftroys than nourifhes it.

But Nitre, and other

Nor does this Humidity go off pure, and alone, but ufually Salts, certainly loofen the Earth, and feparate the concreted

carries with it many Parts of the fame Nature with thofe Parts thereof; by that means, fitting and difpofing them

whereof the Plant, thro' which it paffes, confifts : The Craf- to be affirmed by the Water, and carried up into the Seed or

fer indeed, are not fo eafily borne up into the Atmofphere, Plant for its Formation and Increafe. 'Tis every body's Ob-

but are ufually depofited on the Surface of Leaves, Flowers, fervation, how apt all forts of Salts are to be wrought upon

and other Parts of the Plants ; whence our Mannas, our Ho- by Moifture, how eafily they run with it ; and when thefe

nies, and other gummous Exudations of Vegetables : But the are drawn off, and have deferred the Lumps wherewith

finer and lighter Parts are with greater eaie fent up into the they were incorporated, thofe muft moulder immediately,

Atmofphere ; thence they are convey'd to our Organs of and fall afunder of couffe : The hardeft Stone -

Smell, by the Air we draw in Refpiration ; and are plea- wirh, if it happen, as it frequently doth, to havi

we meet fort

fant or offenfive, beneficent or injurious to us, according to the Nature of the Plants from whence they arife. And fince thefe owe their Rife to the Water that afcends out of the Earth, thro' the Bodies of Plants ; we cannot be far to feck for the Caufe why they are more numerous in the Air, and a greater Quantity of Odours is found exhaling from Vegetables, in warm humid Seafons, than in any others.

3°. A great Tart of the tcrrefirial Matter that is mix'd with Water, afcends up into the 'Plant, as well as the Water.

There was much more terrellrial Matter, at the End of the the Vegetable Mould, or afford any Matter fit for the For- Experiment, in the Water of the Glaffes that had no Plants mation of Plants, but merely foftens, and relaxes the Earth; in them, than in thofe which had Plants. The Garden-Mold ' diffolved in fome of the Glaffes, was considerably dimi

any of Salt intermix'd with the Sand of which it confifts, upon its being expos'd to a humid Air, in a fhort time diffolves and crumbles all to ! pieces ; and much more will clodded Earth, or Clay, which is not of fo compact and folid a Con- ftitution.

The fame way is Lime likewife ferviceablc in this Af- fair : The Husbandmen fay, It does not fatten, but only mellows the Ground : by which they mean, it doth not con- tain any thing in it felf that is of the fame Nature with

nifli'd, and carry'd off; nay, the tetreftrial and vegetable Matter, was borne up in the Tubes filled with Sand, Cot- Ejfc. in that quantity, as to be evident, even to Senfe :

by that means, rendring it mere capable of entring the Seeds and Vegetables fet in it, in order ro their Nourilfiment, than otherwife it would have been. The Properties of Lime are well known, and how apt it is to be put in a Fer- ment and Commotion by Water ; nor can fuch Commotion

and' the Bodies in the Cavities of the other Tubes, that had ever happen when Lime is mixed with Earth, however

their lower Ends immers'd in Water, wherein Saffron, Cochi- hard and clodded that may be, without opening and loofen-

neal, $$c. had been infus'd, were ting'd with yellow, pur- ing it.

pie, iyc. To look abroad a little towards our Shores, and 4. The Tlant is more or lefs nourijbed, in proportion,

Parts within the Verge of the Sea, thefe will prefent us as the Water in which it ftands, contains a greater or

with a large Scene of Plants, that along with the Vegetable, fmaller Quantity of proper tcrrefhrw.i Matter in it. The

Truth