The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1842-05-12
From Chambsr's Edinburg Journal
SINGULAR EXPERIMENTS IN VEGETABLE
GROWTH

GROWTH.
II he late investigation of Professor Lebig nave
gone lar TO overturn former notions as TO the pheno
mena of vegetable growth, showing cons deiaole
grounds for concluding that the soil only medium
through which the substance of plants is formed ana
not the of that substance-in short, tha' ali
vegetable matter comes out of the atmosphere, ana
the vapors suspended in it, This theory derives iur-
Their confirmation from the result of some experiments
of a singuarly bold kind lately made by two gentle
men in the neighborhood Of Brest. 1t Is from Com
munication made by them on the subject to La Fhd-
lange, Partisan publication, that we obtain the FOL
lowing particulars
"In a field usually considered too poor for wheat, a
plot of twelve square yards untitled and unmanured
was srewn over with that grain, and afterwards
layer of wheaton straw, about one inch In thickness
laid 1t. The same thing was done with a
similar plot in neglected garden, which was pre-
ylously trodden with the feet A pane OF glass was
also laid down in the place. with twenty grams
of wheat scattered over it, and layer of straw above
The winter was rigorous, and the spring dry, SO that
vegetation in general suffered considerably In that
district; nevertheless strong crop rose through the
straw in all these three situations, the stalks being
above six feet high and the containing from fifty
to eighty healthy grains That growing upon the
glass; though not particle Of earth loas near u, was
as strong and abundant as the rest There were
weeds, the straw having choked all the plants but
those of its kind. 1t is to be remarked, that the
roots few in number and short and hard like the
claws of birds.
"The cause of the success ofthis experiment is sug
gested by the two gentlemen Polllard and Bernand)
to be the following Straw being bad conductor OF
heat, and good conductor of electricity MAINTAINS
the root of the plant in a medium temperature, and
prevents the earth from being deprived entirely OF
moisture. The moisture of the earth, the substra-
tum, being continual facilitates the gradual and con-
slant absorption of carbonic acid gas from the sur
rounding atmosphere, and hydrogen and carbon, the
chief elements of nourshment vegetables, thus
economical in regular supplies where they are con-
stantly required and pass up in combination with
oxygen from the roots up to the stems and branches OF
the plants, in which they assmilated, and the
oxygen thrown off in exhalatons from the leaves.
The straw decays but slowly, and thus furnishes its
substance by degrees to the young plants in due pro-
erosion and proportion, such the silicous ingre-
dents, for instance Of the pod capule) that the
decomposition of the straw corresponds to the four
phases of fermentation in progressing from the sac
charine to the alcoholic the acid and putrid states,
analogous to those of infancy, budding, youth, matu
rity, and seeding of the plant"
If there is fallacy in the experiment, and mis-
statement in the report-we may expect to see gram
growing without tage or manure and with equal
Iuxurance all kinds of soil.
Some experiments at present in the course of be-
ing made at the garden of the Caedonian Horticul.
tural Society in Edinburgh, tend TO confirm the pos
siblity of rearing wheat by these means. Three
specimens of the fcus eIastica have been suspended
by ]. Macnab, Jr., in hot house, with supply of
water for the root by means of worsted cord con-
nected with inverted bel-glass above. The plant
hangs by wire with its roots exposed to the air the
worsted connects it with the water in the be-glass
but it has connection with any thing else Yet
these three plants grow extremely well and perform
all their natural functions the most healthy man.
ner.--Boston Transcript