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Show All thefé Inftances argue a particular ter- VE VE VE times a greater Share ofterreftrial Matter than that which falls at other times sa more teftrial Matter, and not Water, for the Subjeét to which Plants owe their Increafe: Were powerful and intenfe Heat, of Neceffity, hur- nures, or Tranfplanting; the Rainfalls in all along with the humid Vapours that form it Water only, there would be no need ofMa- trying up a larger Quantity of that Matter, Places, in this Field and in that, indifferently, on one Side of an Orchard or Garden as well as the other; nor could there be any Reafon why a Tract of Land fhould yield Wheat one Year, and not the next, fince the Rain fhowers down all alike upon the Earth. V. Vegetables are not form’'d of Water, but of a certain peculiar terreftrial Matter. Rain, than one more feeble and remifs poffi- blycan. The Water of one Spring may flow forth much greateft Part of the fluid Mafs, that afcends up into Plants, does not fettle or abide there, but paffes through the Pores of them, and exhales into the Atmofphere, and that a great Part of the terreftrial Matter, mixed letting the reft pafs on through the common Duds. nay, the fame River, when muchagitated and in Commotion, muft bear up more ofit than when it moves with lefs Rapidity and Violence. That there is a great Quantity ofordinary Fer- tility of the Earth, the Nile affords a pregnant Inftance, and fo does the Ganges and other Rivers, which annually overflowing the neigh- feveral Parts to their Nourifhment ; that Matter is fluggifh and unactive, and would lie eternally confin’d to its Beds of Earth, without advancing up into Plants, did not Water, ot fomelike Inftrument, fetch it forth, and carty A fourth Plant, tho’ at firft a great deallefs it into them. than the fifth, yet being fet in foul, crafs This Fluid is capacitated feveral Ways for Water, that was left in the Still, after that in the Office here affign’d it, by the Figureof its The Proportion of the Augment of that Plant, which throve moft, was in che faid Parts, which appears from many Experiments to be exaétly and mathematically {pherical, their Surfaces being perfectly polite, and without any the leaft Irregularities. , It is evident, that Corpufcles of fuch a Figure areeafily fufceptible of Motion, and far Mafs {pent upon it, but as 1 to 46, in others as one to 60, 100, 200, and in the Cataputia, but asi to 714. above any others whatever, and confequently was much more than the whole Plant origi- {pec to their Bulk, of all others the largelt, in Weight. And another took up 253 Grains a Day, which was near twice as much asits original Weight, and after all, the daily Increafe of the Plant was no more than 2 4% Grains. foreign Matter in them: Befides, as far as the ‘Trials hitherto made informus, the conftituent Corpufcles of Waterare eachfingly confider d more capable of moving and conveying other One of the Sprigs took up 39 Grains of Matter that is not fo aétive; then the InterWater a Day, one Day with another, which vals of the Bodies of that Figure are, in Te nally, and yetit gain’d not4 ofa Grain a Day and fo the moft fitted to receive and entertain VI. Spring and Rain-water contain near an equal Charge of vegetable Matter ; River-water more thaneither of them. Thefe Proportions hold in the main; but a ftri&t and juft Compofition is hardly to be expected ; inafmuch as, in all Probability, the Water thatfalls in Rain contains fome- Plants, and to introducethe terreftrial Matter, in the Strata, thro’ which the Fluid paffes, Quicknefs of the Ebullition of the Water, and partly on the Quantity of that Matterlatent from it. not the Matter that compofes vegetable BoA fecond, tho’it had at firft the Difadvan- dies, it is only the Agent that conveys the tage to be much lefs than a zbird, yet being Matter into them, that diftributes it to their which the laft was fet was drawn off, had gain’d in Weight, atthe End, above double what that in the finer and thinner Water had. will pafs Pores and Interftices, that neither Air nor any other Fluid will. This enables them to enter the Tubes, and fineft Veffels of of another :_ This depending partly upon the with the Water, paffes up into the Plant along bouring Plains, their Banks fhew the faireft with it, and that the Plant is moreorlefs aug- and largeft Crops of any in the World. mented, in Proportion as the Watercontains a greater orleffer Quantity of Matter : From VII. Water ferves only for a Vebicle to the all which we may reafonably infer, that Earth, terreftrial Matter which forms Vegetables, and and not Water, is the Matter which confti- does not itfelf make any Augmentationto them. tutes Vegetables. One of the Sprigs of Mint before-mention’d Wherethe proper terreftrial Matter is want+ drew up into it 2501 Grains of the fluid Mafs, ing, the Plant is not augmented, tho’ never and yet had received but 34 Grains of Increafe fo much Waterafcend into it: Water thenis fet in Water, wherein Earth had been plentifully mix’d, and the other in Water without any fuch Earth, it had vaftly out-grownit, weighing at leaft 145 Grains more than that did. fubtil and {mall as thofe of Water are; they and conveyit to all Parts of them, whilft each, by means of Organsit is endu’d with for that Purpofe, intercepts and affumes intoitfelf fuch Particles as are fuitable to its own Nature, with an higher Charge of this Matter than that and the greateror lefs Laxity of thofe Strata: Tt has been fhewn, that there is a confide- For the fame Reafon the Water of one River rable Quantity of this Matter contain’d both may abound with it more than that of another; in Spring, Rain, and River-water, and the Experiments before-mentioned fhew, that the hardly know any Fluid in all Nature, except Fire, whofe conftituent Parts are fo exceeding abfolutely folid, and do notyield to the greateft external Force: This fecures their Figure againft any Alteration, and the Intervals © their Corpufcles muft be always alike. By the latter, it will ever be difpos'd to receive Matter into it; and by the oo when once receiv’d, to bear it along a Ik Water is farther capacitated to be a 5 Fae to this Matter, by the Tenuity and Finene of the Corpufcles of which it cont 2 VILL. Water is not capable of performing this Office to Plants, unle[s affifed by a due Quantity of Heat. Heat muft concur, or Vegetation will not fucceed. The Plants fet in the Glaffes in Oéfober, and the following Months, had not near the Quantity of Water fent up into them, or fo great an additional Increafe by much, as thofe that were fet in Zune, Fuly, or the hotter Months, It is plain the Water has no Power of moving itfelf, or rifing to the vaft Height it doth in the more tall and lofty Plants ; fo far from it, that it doth not appear, by any Dif- covery yet made, that evenits own Fluidity confifts in the inteftine Motion of its Parts, whatever the Cartefiaus think. Indeed we want nothing moreto folve all the Phenomenaof Fluidity, than fuch a Figure and Difpofition of Parts as Water has ; {pheri- cal Corpufcles muft ftand fo ticklifh upon each other, as to be fufceptible of every Impreflion, and though not perpetually in Motion, muft be always ready and liable to beput into it by any the flighteft Force imaginable: ’Tis true, the Parts of Fire or Heat are not capable of moving themfélves any more than thofe of Water; but they are more fubtil, light, and active than thofe are, and fo the more eafily put in Motion. VE which are loweft and neareft the Earth, and that require a leffer Degree of Heat to raife the Waterwith its earthy Charge into them: Then the Shrubs and higher Vegetables in their Turn ; and laftly, the Trees, As the Heat increafes, it grows too powerful, _and hurries the Matter with too great Rapidity through the finer and more tender Plants: Thefe therefore go off and decay ; and others that are more hardyand vigorous, and require a greater Degree of Heat, fucceed in their Order, By which Mechanifm, provi+ dent Nature furnifhes us with a very various and different Entertainment, and what is beft fuited to each Seafonall the Year round. As the Heat of the feveral Seafons affords us a different Face of Things, fo the feveral diftant Climates thew the different Scenes of Nature and Produétions of the Earth. The hotter Countries ordinarily yield the largeft and talleft Trees, and thofe too in a much greater Variety than the colder: Even thofe Plants commontoboth, attain to a much greater Bulk in the Southern than in the Northern Climates. Nay, there are fome Regions fo cold, that they raife no Vegetables at all to a confiderable Size: This we learn from Greenland, Iceland, and other Parts oflike cold Situation and Condition : In thefe there are no Trees, and the Shrubsare poor, little and low. Again, in the warmer Climates, and fuch as do furnifh Trees, and the large Vegetables, if there happen a Remiffion or a Diminution of the ufual Heat, their Produétions are impeded in Proportion. Our cold Summers give us Proof enoughof this; for tho’ at fuch times there is Heat fufficient to raife the vegetative Matter into the lower Plants, as Wheat, Barley, Peas, and the like ; and we have Plenty of Strawberries, Rasberries, Goofeberries, Currants, and the Fruits of fuch Vegetables as are low and near the Earth ; and a moderate Store of Mulberries, Cherries, Plums, &c. and fome others, that grow at fomething ofa greater That the Concourfe of Heat is really necef- Height: Yet our Apples, Pears, Walnuts, and fary in this Work, appears not only from the the Produétion of the taller Trees, have been Experiments before us, but from all Nature ; fewer, and thofe not fo thoroughlyripened from the Fields and Forefts, Gardens and and brought to Perfeétion as they are in more Orchards: We fee in Autumn, as the Sun’s benign and warm Seafons. Power is gradually lefS and lefs, fo its Effects And, indeed, in ‘Trees of the fame Kind, on Plants is remitted, and Vegetation flackens thofe that keep clofeft to the Earth, always bylittle and little. produce moft and beft Fruit: For which Its Failure is firft difcernable in Trees ; which being raifed higheft above the Earth, Reafon it is, that Gardeners check and reftrain the Growth of their better Fruit-trees, and Tequire a more intenfe Heat to elevate the prevent their running up to too great an Water charged with Nourifhment to their Height. Tops ; fo that for want of frefh Support and As to our Grapes, Apricocks, Peaches, NecNutriment, they fhed their Leaves, unlefs tarines, and Figs, they being tranfplanted fupported bya veryfirm and hard Conftitu- hither out of warmer Countries, it is lefs to tion indeed, as our Ever-greens are. Next, be wonder’d at, that we fail of them in cold the Shrubs part with theirs; then the Herbs Summers. and lower Tribes: The Heat, at length, not being fufficient to fupply even to thefe, tho’ fo near the Earth, the Fund of their Nourithment, Noris it that Heat only which promotes Vegetation, but any other indifferently according to its Power and Degree ; as we find from our Stoves, Hot-beds, €c. As the Heat returns the fucceeding Spring, theyall recruit again, and are furnifh’d with VERATRUM, [focalled as though vere frefh Supplies and Verdure: But firft, thofe atrum, i.e. truly black, becaufe this Plant has a black |
