OCR Text |
Show VE. VE that Quantity, .as to be evident evento Senfe ; and the Bodies in the Cavities of the other Tubes, that had their lower Ends immers’d in Water, wherein Saffron, Cochineal, Gc. <= Pores, orafcend upthe Veffels of Plants, which, fingly, they might have done. Henceit is, that in Agriculture, be the Earth mever fo rich, good, and fit for the had been infus’d, were ting’d with Yellow, Production of Corn, or other Vegetables, little Purple, &c, will come ofit, unlefs the Particles be fepa- To lookabroad little towards our Shores and Parts within the Verge of the Sea, thele — ieee will prefent us with a large Scene of Plants, that, along with the vegetable, take up into them more mineral Matter alfo, in great abundance ; fuch as our Sea-Purflain, feveral Sorts of Alas, of Samphires, and other Marine Plants: Thofe contain common Sea Salts, which are the fame as the Foffil, in fuch Plenty, as not only plainly to be diftinguifhed in the Palate, but may be drawn out of them in confiderable Quantity: Nay, fome affirm, there are Plants found, that will yield Nitre, and other Mineral Salts. The wv ble Matter being very fine and light, is furprizingly apt and difposdto attend Waterin all its Motions, and follow it into each of its Receffes; as appears not only from the Inftances above alledg’d, but many others : Percolate it with all the Care imaginable, filtre it with ever fo manyFiltrations, yet fome terreftrial Matter will remain. Dr. Woodward has filtred Water through feveral Sheets of thick Paper, and after that, through very clofe, fine Cloth, twelve times double, and this over and over, and yet a confiderable Quantity of this Matter difcoveredit felf in the Water after all. Now, ifit thus paffes Interftices that are fo very fmall and fine, along with the Water, it is lefs flrange it fhould attend it in its Paf- rated andloofe; and ’tis on this account fuch Pains are beftowed in the digging, tilling, ploughing, fallowing, harrowing, and breaking the clodded Lumps of Earth: And °tis the fame Way that Sea Salt, Nitre, and other Salts promote Vegetation. Some Authors imagine Nitre effential to Plants, and that nothing in the vegetable Kingdomis tranfacted without it; but Dr, Woodward fays, by all the Trials he has been able to make, the thing feems to him quite otherwife ; and when contiguous to the Plant, Nitre rather deftroys than nourifhesit. But Nitre and other Salts do certainly loofen the Earth, and feparate the concreted Parts of it; by that Means fitting and difpofing them to be afflum’d by the Water, andcarried up into the Seed or Plant for its Formation and Increafe. It is evident to Obfervation, how apt all Sorts of Salts are to be wrought upon by Moifture, how eafily they run with it; and whenthefe are drawn off, and have deferted the Lumps with whichthey are incorporated, thefe muft moulder immediately, and fall afunder in courfe. ) The hardeft Stone that is to be met with, if it happens, as it frequently does, to have any Sait intermix’d with the Sand ofwhichit confifts, upon its being expos’d to a humid Air, in a fhort time diffolves and crumbles all to fage through the Duéts and Paffages of Plants. Itis true, filtring and diftilling of Water interrupts, and makes it quit fome of the earthy Clay, whichis not of fo compaét and folid a Matter it was beforeimpregnated withal; but then that which continues with the Water after Limelikewife is in the fame Way ferviceable this, is fine andlight, and fuch, confequently, as is in a peculiar manner fit for the Growth and Nourifhment of Vegetables. Andthis is the Cafe of Rain-water : The Quantity ofterreftrial Matter it bears up into the Atmofphere is not great ; but what it doth bearup is chiefly ofthat light Kind, or vegetable Matter, andthat too perfectly diffolved, and reduc’dtofingle Corpufcles, all fit to enter the Tubes and Veffels of Plants; on which account it is, that this Wateris fo very fertil and prolifick. The Reafon why all the terreftrial Matter mixed with the Water does not afcend into that, is, that the mineral Matter makes a great deal of it, whichis not only grofs and ponderous, but fcabrous and inflexible, and fo not difpos’d to enter the Pores of the Roots; be- fides, a great many ofthe fimple vegetable Particles, do, by Degrees, unite and form {mall Clods, or Molecule, which ftick to the Extremities of the Roots of thofe Plants, and others of them, entangled in a loofer Manner, from the Nubicule, or green Bodies, fo com- monly obferv’d in ftagnant Water: Thefe, when thus conjoin’d, are too big to enter the pieces ; and much more will clodded Far hor Conftitution. in this Affair. The Husbandmen fay, it does not fatten, but only mellowsthe Ground; by which they mean, it doth not contain any ching in it felf, that is of the fame Nature with the vegetable Mould, or afford any Matter fittor the Formation of Plants, but merely foftens and relaxes the Earth; by that Meansrendering it more capable of entering the Seeds and Vegetables fet in it, in order to theif Nourifhment, than otherwife it would have been. The Properties of Lime are well keowng and how apt it is to be put in a Fermentane Commotion by Water; nor can fuch Commotion ever happen, when Limeis mix’dwith Earth, however hard and clodded it may be without opening andloofening it. VE of two or three others; but the Water in fome Plants, may, probably, hurry the terwhich the firft was, being River Water, which reftrial Matter through the Veffels too fatt for was apparently more copioufly ftor’d with themto lay hold of it. cerreftrial Matter, than the Spring or Rain But a farther Proof of this Matter is, that Water, in which the other ftood, occafioned the Soil once proper for the Produ@io n of it to arrive at almoft double the Bulk that fome Sort of Vegetables does not ever contin ue either of them had, and with a lefs Expence fo, but in Tract of Time lofes its Property ; of Watertoo, andfooner in fome Lands, and later in others. So likewife the Mint in another Glaf$, in As for Example ; If beat be fown upon the Water of whichwasdiffoly’d a fimall Quan- Landproper for that Grain, the firft Cropwill tity of good Garden Mould; tho’ it had the fucceedvery well, and perhaps the fecond and Difadvantage to be lefs, whenfirft fet, than third, as long as the Groundis in F rt,as the either of the Mints in the two other Glaffes, Farmers call it; but in a few Years it will prothe Water in which was the veryfame as the duce no more, if fow’d with that Corn; fome firft, only had none of the Earth mix’d with other Grain it may, as Barley: And after it, yet, in a fhort time, the Plant not only has been fownfo oft, that the Land can bring overtook, but muchout-ftripp’d the other. no more of it, it may afterwards yield fome The Reafon whythe Proportion of the In- good Oats, and perhaps Peas after them. creafe of the Plant was limited to the Quantity At lengthit becomesbarren, the vegetative of proper terreftrial Matter in the Water, is, Matter that at firft it abounded with, being that all, even vegetable Matter, is not proper reduc’d bythe fucceflive Crops, and moft of for the Nourifhment of every Plant: Nor do it borne off, each Sort of Grain takes out that there want good Indications, that every Kind peculiar Matter that is proper for its own requires a peculiar and fpecifick Matterfor its Nourifhment. Formation and Nourifhment ; yea, each Part It may be brought to bear anotherSeries of of the fame Vegetable: And that there are the fame Vegetables ; but not till it is fupplied very many, and different Ingredients, to go to the Compofition of the fame individual Plant. and moreeffential Parts of the Plant, it will Not proiper at all; if there are thefe, and not in fufficient Plenty, it will never arrive toits natural Stati ‘Orif anyof the lefs neceffary and effential Corpufcles are wanting, there will be fome Failure in the Plant; it will be defective in Smell, Tafte, Colour, or fome other Way. Indeed it is inconceivable, how one uniform, homogeneous Matter, having its Prin- ciples or original Parts of the fame Subftance, Conftitution, Magnitude, Figure, and Gravity, thould conftitute Bodies fo unlike, in all thofe refpects, as Vegetables ofdifferent Kinds are; nay, even as the different Parts of the fame Vegetable: That one fhould carrya refinous, another a milky, a third a yellow, a fourth a ; that one affords a fraSmell; one f{ e Tafte, another acid, bitter, ac €c. that one fhould be nourifhing, poifonous; one purgir another is Argument makes equally ftrong r out of which all Matters are formed. id in one ofthe Glaffes a little Increafe afforded only 3+ Grains all the tho’ 2s5or Grains of Water were {pent The Truth ofthis Propofition is di tor’s Exthroughthe whole Procefs of the Doctors a periments. The Mint in one of the Glafies was of much the fame Bulk and Weight with (a of Fund of Matterofthe like Sort either by the Ground’s lying fallow for fome time, till the Rain hath pouredafrefh Stock upon it, or by or Seed is planted, contains all, or moit of the manuring ir, thefe Ingredients, and thofe in due Quantity, That this Supply is ofthe like Sort, is eviit will grow and thrive, otherwife it will not: dent, by the feveral Manuresfound beft toproIf there be not as manySorts of Corpufcles, mote the Vegetation; which are chiefly either as are requifite for the Conftitution of the main ofParts of Vegetables, or of Animals ; of AniIf, therefore, the Soil wherein anyVegetable hofe who fuppofe mere Water the IV. The Plant is more or lefs roportion as the Water in a with another with what it firft contain’d, But this niight poffibly be owing Water’s wanting Matter fit for its being an improper Me grow in. for that Too much of that Liquor, in mals, which either derive their own Nourifh- ment immediatcly from vegetable Bodies, or from other Animals that do fo ;_ in particular, the Blood, Excrements and Urine of Animals, that do fo; Shaving of Horns and Hoofs, Hair, Feathers, calcin’d Shells, Lees of Wine and Beer, Afhes of all Sorts of vegetable Bodies, Leaves, Straw, Roots, and Stubble, turn’d into Earth by ploughing or otherwi to rot anddiffolve there. 2 Thefe are our beft Manures, and being vegetable Subftances,; when refunded back again into the Earth, ferve for the Formation of other Bodies. But to apply this to Gardens, where the their having Trees, Shrubs and Herbs, after continued in one Station, till they have de- rived thence the gre Part of the Matter fir for their Increafe, will decay and degene nlefs either frefh Earth, or fome fit ; e be apply’dto them. true, they may maintain themfelves there for fome time, by fending forth Roots around, farther and farther, to an Extent laft they to fetch in more Provifion; but mutt have a frefh Supply brought to them, on they themfelves r ranfplanted to fome Place better furnifhed with Matter for And accordingly Gardeners their Sub that Plants that have ftood a long longer Roots than ile in a Place, have which theycut off, when they yal; part of nfplant to a frefh Soil, > as not now of any farther ufe tott sN All |