The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1873-11-07
Tho Food OF. Plants.


absorb the food OF the plant from the earth. i.
In what does this kind OF food consist
ln substances of five kinds water, airs or
gases, vegetable extracts, sats and earlhs.
Every one is aware how necessary water
is to the existence OF plants without il
they droop and fade, mud are again revived
BY its application, The bulbous roots, As
the hyacinths and others, grow in water
only, and many small plants may be raised
from the seed in wet cotton, sponge and
other substances OF the sort, and some
flourish upon the bure rock Indeed water
is SO important aud produces such copsid.
cradle effects that many have supposed
that il WAS the only food Of plants, and
that from only water all its parts were Gre
ated
There are some' experiments which al
FIRST sight would appear decisive on this
point, but as they are all Of similar charae-
ter we will mention but one. Van Hell
mont planted willow weighing fifty
pounds in an earthen pot filled with EARTH
which had been dried in an oven. He wa
tered it with rain or distilled water only.
At the end Of FIVE years it was weighed
with al its leaves on and found to have
gained one hundred and nineteen and
quarter pounds, while the earth had lost
ony two ounces Hence Van belmont
concluded that the willow mad derived its
nourishment from water alone.
1t has since been concluded, however,
that there was iallacy in the experiment,
and that water ia not the only food Of
plants. For in the FIRST place, plants cui
tiya;;s;a. ip this way do fnally decline ard
die before their natural period, and secondly
the willow might have absorbed soms vege-
table extract from the surrounding soil
through the pores Of the pot Besides
there is small quantity OF earth contained
IN all rain water lastly, all plants contain
a principle called carbon, which is not con
tained in water, and cannot BIZ derived from
it. Water, then, though the principal, is
not the only food OF plants.
They consume also the gases OF which
atmospheric air s composed Atmospher.
c AIR is not. simple but compound sub
stance composed Of two principal parts, OK
ygen and nitrogen-a small proportion OF
another, cal bonc acid gas or fixed air.
The two last only appear to furnish nour-
ishmen: to vegetables, though the former,
namely, nitrogen gas, seems to- be necrssa
~ both to animals and vegetables in some
way that is not very well understood. The
next kind Of food is vegetable extract all
have observed that the upper layer Of the
earth is q black mold. This mold is com
pused Of detayed animal and vegetable sub
stances. Now il quantity Of this be
stepped in boiling water, and the water
strained of and evaporaled, it leaves q
thick mass which is called in chemical Ian
guage an extract.
Plants absorb also various kinda OF salts,
as common salt, saltpeter., etc. These
salts are known TO exist in the earth, and
are probably dissolved 10 the water which
is taken up by the vegetable.
Lastly, plants consume various kinds Of
earlhs, as chalk, Aint, ttc. The latter in.
deed exists in large proportion in some
plants, as the common reed or cane pole
the rattan, and Dutch bush. whose outer
skin contains a good deal Of flint.
--~~~-~-..sos.s-~------>