The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts, July-December, 1827Various
Science
The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts, July-December, 1827
Various
Arts -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
The phenomenon of vegetable life being destroyed by cold, probably
arises from the vessels, through which the circulation and secretion
of the fluids of plants take place, being ruptured by the expansion,
from cold, of the fluid they contain. In proportion, therefore,
to the tenuity of the vessels, and the abundance of their fluid,
will be the danger to which they are exposed from frost; and to the
strength of the vessels, and the paucity of their fluid, the power
of resisting cold. Thus vigorous shoots of the oak, walnut, and many
other trees, which are formed with rapidity, imperfectly matured,
and highly charged with fluid, are extremely impatient of cold, and
are even destroyed by a few degrees of frost; while the twigs and
branches of the same trees, which are formed slowly, fully matured,
and incompletely filled with fluid, bear unharmed the utmost rigour
of our winters. In acclimatizing, therefore, this law should be
carefully remembered, and the situations in which tender plants are
stationed, should be those in which their growth is restrained, and
an excessive absorption of fluid prevented.
This appears to have been the true secret of the success that has
attended the attempts at acclimatizing, which form the subject of
Mr. Street’s communication. By planting in situations well drained
from superfluous moisture, under circumstances where rapid growth
was rendered impracticable, and, as we understand, in a garden
admirably adapted to the object, from its position, he has succeeded
in naturalizing, in latitude 56° N., plants which have not yet been
known to endure the winters even of the parallel of London.
V. _Upon the Culture of Celery_. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq.,
F.R.S., President.
“That which can be very easily done, without the exertion of much
skill or ingenuity, is,” Mr. Knight observes, “very rarely found
to be well done, the excitement to excellence being in such cases
necessarily very feeble.” This remark is in the present case applied
to the cultivation of celery, which, being a native of the sides
of wet ditches, might naturally be expected to demand an abundant
supply of water when cultivated. Accordingly, Mr. Knight found that
by keeping the ground, in which celery was planted, [p167] constantly
wet, it grew by the middle of September to the height of five feet,
and its quality was in proportion to its size. Mr. Knight also
recommends planting at greater distances than is usually the case,
and covering the beds, into which the young seedlings are first
removed, with half-rotten dung, overspread to the depth of about two
inches with mould; under which circumstances, whenever the plants are
removed, the dung will adhere tenaciously to their roots, and it will
not be necessary to deprive the plants of any part of their leaves.
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