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Show ELECTRICITY. NoTE XIII. FAIRY-RINGS. fi {i d tO be el ecnt TI.C which is yet unaccounted for, I There is a phenomenon uppo e {i ften fcen on the grafs. The numerous mean the Fairy-rings, as they arc called, o o re I believe, generally difcharged on flaGles of lightning which oc~ur every fumr:~: acl~ud to another. Moift trees are th_e the earth, and but fcldom (If ever) fro~ li htning, and I am informed by_purchafelS On. frequent conduClors of thefc flafhes o gk d d inJ'ured. At other times larger m JL thus crac c an d'f, h d of wood that innumerable trees are {) kin as they move along, are I c ar~e parts or prominences of clouds gr.aduall~~: thfs knob or corner of a cloud in bemg on the moifl:er parts of gralfy plaws. r drical as loofe wool would do when tt aCled by the earth will become nearly cy lllh 'th' a !l:ream of eleClricity perhaps a r d '11 !l:rike the e:~rt Wl • • ffi s drawn out into a thread, an WI fl. of eleClricity difplaces the arr It pa e d. Now as a nream I . g of t vo or ten yards in tameter. ' b b t by it but jufl: the externa nn v f the grafs can e urn ' h' be through, it is plain no part o ~ to the air fince without air not wg can this cylinder where the grafs can have ac{ice s 1 . d be;omes a richer foil, and either fun-f h 'ng been oca cme h · · lei ned This earth a ter avt 1 That lightning difplaces t e atr m ca . c rs mark the p ace. fid f h gufes or a bluer grafs lOT many yea li d . t which is owing to the I es o t e its palfage is evinced by the loud crack thhatl'ucl ce~ : ti: withdrawn. That nothing will . ther when t e tg ltntno h b . of aerial vacuum clappmg togc n d f the acids produced in t e urnmg · · well undernoo rom · n (7 calcine without air IS now {i b fufpending a paper on an Iron pro o Phlogiflic fubfl:ances, and may be agreeably eenf y . furnace . it may be held there . . of the blaze o an uon- ' . . ffi d and putting It mto the centre . . 1 d n without its being burnt, If It be pa e fame feconds and may be agam Wlt 1 ralw h ternal part of it which is in contaCl: q fl d t again througl t e ex F k uickly into the ame an ou d d. ter of this kind near oremar {i . I of many yar s lame d with the air. I k~ow ome ctrc es lar e white fungufes and fl:ronger grafs, an in DerbyGlire winch annually produ.ce g Tl . . ncreafed fertility of the ground h:~ve done fo, I am informed a~ove tlu.rty _rears. :~: 'fo many years is well worth the h · nd Jts contmumg to oper · · by calcination or c amng, a f . d burnina new turf m agn- :-~ttention 1 (hews the ufe o panng an o b of the farmer, .anc . h b the afhes of the vegetable fibres as y . cul ture, which produces tts effect not fo muc y · . h r ·r h · ch adheres to them. t harn 11 :,.:,.. t e 101 w 1 I h f m emm• ence or f rom mot·lL11 Ur e ' which were proper once The[~: Gtuations, w 1tt er ro 1' bl again to experience the fame. d. r h tl und 'r-cloud are more Ja e . h t ) attraCl and f l·l C ar· ge a el oft"e n feen n' ear eac h o th er either without interfeClmg eahc I I ence many atry-nngs ar . . N . hamfh ire or interfeCl:ing each ot er other, as I faw this fu~mer Ill a gaEr~~nbm h ~:~;~ Edinb. Tranf. Vol. II. P· 3· as dd'cJ ib(;d on Arthurs feat near ' m urg I ( 27 ) NOTE XIV.--BUDS AND BULBS. Where dzvell my vegetative realms benumb'd In buds imprifon' d, or in bulbs intomb' d. C A NTO I. 1. 459· A TREE is properly fpeaking a family or fwarm of buds, each bud being an individual plant, for if one of thefe buds be torn or cut out and planted in the earth with a glafs cup inverted over it to prevent its exhalation from being at firlt greater than its power of abforption, it will produce a tree fimilar to its parent; each bud has a leaf, which is its lungs, appropriated to it, and the bark of the tree is a congeries of the roots of thefe individual buds, whence old hollow trees are often feen to have fome branches flourifh with vigour after the internal wood is almolt entirely decayed and vanifbed. According to this idea Linneus has obferved that trees and fhrubs are roots above ground, for if a tree be inverted leaves will grow from the root-part and roots from the trunk-part. Phil. Bot. p. 39· Hence it appears that vegetables have two methods of propagating themfelves, the oviparous as by feeds, and the viviparous as by their buds and bulbs, and that the individual plants, whether from feeds or buds or bulbs, are all annual productions like many kinds of infeCls as the £ilk-worm, the parent perifhingin the autumn after having produced an embryon, which lies in a torpid ltate during the winter, and is matured in the fucceeding fummer. · Hence Linneus names buds and bulbs the winter-cradles of the plant or hybernacula, and might have given the fame term to feeds. In warm climates few plants produce buds, as the vegetable life can be compleated in one fummer, and hence the hybernacle is not w:mted ; in cold climates alfo fome plants do not produce buds, as philadelphus, frangula, Yiburnum, ivy, heath, wood-nightfhade, rue, geranium. The bulbs of plants are another kind of winter-cradle, or hybernacle, adhering to the defcending trunk, and are found in the perennial herbaceous plants which are too tender to bear the cold of the winter. The produtlion of thefe fubterrancous winter lodges, is not yet perhaps clearly underltood, they have been diltributed by Linneus according to their for.ms into fcaly~ folid, coated, and jointed bulbs, which however does not elucidate their manner of produClion. As the buds of trees may be truly elteemed individual annual plants, their roots conf1ituting the b:uk of the trees, it follows that thefe roots (viz. of each individual bud) fpread thcmfelves over the !aft years bark, making a new bark over the old one, and thence defcending cover with a new bark the old roots alfo in the fame manner. A fimilar circumfiance I fuppofc to happen in fome herbaceous plants, that is, a new bark is annually produced over the o!J root, at :d thus for fome years at lcafl: the old root or CJll(kx incrcafes in fize and puts up new flems. As thefe roots increafe in fize the centra[ p:trt I fuppofe changes like the illternal wood of a tree and docs not poffefs any l'egctnble life, and th erefore gives out nn fibres or rootlets; and hence appears bitten off, as in valerian, plantain, and devil'.s-bit. And this decay of the central part of the root I f11ppofc has given occ<~fion to the belief of the root-fibres drawing down the bulb fo much infifl:ed on by Mr. Milne in his Botanicd Ditlionary, Art. B11lb. D2 |
