Chapter X: Preface (10)

[201] For if all Plants rob one another, it must be because they all
feed on the same Sort of Food; and, admitting they do, there can
be no Necessity of changing the Species of them, from one Soil to
another; but the same Quantity of the same Food, with the same Heat
and Moisture which maintains any Species one Year, must do it any
other Year.

The common Opinion is contrary to all these (as it must be, if contrary to any one of them): And since an Error in this fundamental Principle of _Vegetation_ is of very ill Consequence; and since Dr. _Woodward_, who has been serviceable in other respects[202] to this Art, has unhappily fallen in with the Vulgar in this Point; his Arguments for this Error require to be answer’d in the first Place.

[202] By proving, in his Experiments, that Earth is the _Pabulum_ of
Plants.

The Doctor says[203] ‘It is not possible to imagine how one uniform, homogeneous Matter, having its Principles, or original Parts, all of the same Substance, Constitution, Magnitude, Figure, and Gravity, should ever constitute Bodies so egregiously _unlike_, in all those Respects, as Vegetables of different Kinds are; nay, even as the different Parts of the _same_ Vegetable.’

[203] In _Philos. Trans._ No. 253.

‘That there should be that vast Difference in them, in their several Constitutions, Makes, Properties, and Effects, and yet all arise from the very same Sort of Matter, would be very strange.’

_Answer._ ’Tis very probable, that the terrestrial Particles which constitute _Vegetables_, tho’ inconceivably minute, may be of great Variety of Figure, and other Differences; else they could not be capable of the several Ferments, _&c._ they must undergo in the Vessels of Plants. Their Smalness can be no Objection to their Variety, since even the Particles of Light are of various Kinds.

But as the Doctor asserts, ‘That each Part of the same _Vegetable_ requires a peculiar specific Matter for its Formation and Nourishment; and that there are very many and different Ingredients to go to the Composition of the same individual Plants;’

From hence must be inferred, that the same Plant takes in very many and different Ingredients (and it is proved, that no Plant refuses any Ingredient[204] that is capable of entering its Roots. Tho’ the terrestrial Particles which nourish _Vegetables_, be not perfectly homogeneous; yet most of the various Tastes and Flavours of Plants are made in and by the Vessels[205].

[204] Dr. _Grew_, in his Anatomy of Plants, by microscopical
Inspection, found, that the outer Superficies of Roots was of a
spongy Substance; and ’tis well known, that no such Body can refuse
to imbibe whatever Liquor comes in Contact with it, but will by its
springy Porosity absorb any sort of Moisture.

[205] We are convinced, that ’tis the Vessels of Plants that make the
different Flavours; because there is none of these Flavours in the
Earth of which they are made, until that has enter’d and been alter’d
by the vegetable Vessels.

Doctor _Woodward_ says, ‘That Water will pass Pores and Interstices, that neither Air, nor any other Fluid, will: This enables it to enter the finest Tubes and Vessels of Plants, and to introduce the terrestrial Matter, conveying it to all Parts of them; whilst each, by means of Organs ’tis endow’d with for the Purpose, intercepts, and assumes into itself, such Particles as are suitable to its own Nature[206]; letting the rest pass on _through the common Ducts_.’

[206] If the Doctor’s Plants were so nice in leaving vegetable Matter
_behind, quiet and undisturb’d_, ’tis a Wonder they would take up the
mineral Matter, as, he says, they did, that kill’d themselves with
Nitre.

These Plants might, with much less Difficulty, have distinguish’d the
mineral Matter from the vegetable Matter, than they could distinguish
the different Particles of vegetable Matter from one another, and
must have been very unwise to chuse out the Nitre (their Poison) from
the Water and Earth, and to leave the vegetable Particles behind;
none of which could be so improper to them as the Nitre.

It may perhaps be objected, that such like pernicious Matter kills a
Plant by only destroying its Roots, and by closing the Pores; which
prevents the Nourishment from entering to maintain its Life; and that
such Matter doth not itself enter to act as Poison upon the Sap, or
upon the Vessels of the Body, or Leaves: But it plainly appears that
it doth enter, and act as Poison; for when some of the Roots of a
Mint, growing in Water, are put into salt Water, it kills the whole
Plant, although the rest of the Roots remaining in the fresh Water
were sufficient to maintain it, if the other Roots had been cut off
at the Time they were removed into the Salt Water; and also all the
Leaves, when dead, will be full of Salt.

Or if the Juice of wild Garlick-seed be made use of instead of the
salt Water, it will have the same Effect; and every one of the
Mint-leaves will have a strong Taste of Garlick in it.

Here then he says plainly, That each Plant receives the terrestrial Matter in gross, both suitable and unsuitable to its Nature, retains the suitable Particles for its Augment, and the unsuitable lets pass through it. And in another Place he says they are exhal’d into the Atmosphere.

And this will appear to be the true Case of Plants; and directly contradicts what he advances, in saying, ‘That each Sort of Grain takes forth that peculiar Matter that is proper for its own Nourishment. First, the Wheat draws off those Particles that suit the Body of that Plant, _the rest lying all quiet and undisturb’d the while_. And when the Earth has yielded up all them, those that are proper for Barley, a different Grain, remain still behind, till the successive Crops of that Corn fetch them forth too; and so the Oats and Pease in their turn, till, in fine, all is carried off.’

In the former Paragraph he says, each Plant _lets pass through it_ the rest of the Particles that are not suitable to its own Nature. In the latter Paragraph he says, That each _leaves_ the unsuitable _all behind_ for another Sort; and so on.

Both cannot be true.

If the latter were true, Change of Sorts would be as necessary as it is commonly thought. But if the former be true, as I hope to prove it is, then there can be no Use of changing of Sorts in Respect of different Nourishment.

If in this Series of Crops each Sort were so just as to take only such Particles, as are peculiarly proper to it, letting all the rest alone to the other Sorts to which they belonged, as the Doctor imagines; then it would be equal to them all, which of the Sorts were sown first or last: But let the Wheat be sown after the Barley, Pease, and Oats, instead of being sown before them, and then it would evidently appear, by that starv’d Crop of Wheat, either that some or all of those other Grains had violated this natural Probity, or else that Nature has given to _Vegetables_ no such Law of _Meum_ and _Tuum_[207].

[207] A Charlock could not rob a Turnep, and starve it, more than
several Turneps can do, unless the Charlock did take from it the same
Particles which would nourish a Turnep; and unless the Charlock did
devour a greater Quantity of that Nourishment than several Turneps
could take.

Flax, Oats, and Poppy, could not burn or waste the Soil, and make it
less able to produce succeeding Crops of different Species, unless
they did exhaust the same Particles which would have nourish’d Plants
of different Species: For let the Quantity of Particles these Burners
take be never so great, the following Crops would not miss them, or
suffer any Damage by the Want or Loss of them, were they not the same
Particles which would have nourished those Crops, if the Burners had
left them _behind, quiet and undisturbed_. Neither could Weeds be of
any Prejudice to Corn, if they did draw off those Particles only that
suit the Bodies of Weeds, _the rest lying all quiet and undisturbed
the while_. But constant Experience shews, that all Sorts of Weeds,
more or less, diminish the Crop of Corn.

If these Things were, as the Doctor affirms, why do Farmers lose a Year’s Rent, and be at the Charge of fallowing and manuring their Land, after so few Crops; since there are many more Sorts of Grain as different from these and one another, as those are which they usually sow?

They still find, that the first Crops are best; and the longer they continue sowing, the worst the last Crops will prove, be they of never so different a Species; unless the Land were not in so good Tilth for the first Crop as for the subsequent; or unless the last sown be of a more robust Species.

This Matter might be easily clear’d, could we perfectly know the Nature of those supposed _unsuitable_[208] _Particles_; but, in Truth, there is no more to be known of such of them, than that they are carried away by the Atmosphere to a Distance, according to the Velocity of the Air; perhaps several Miles off, at least, never like to return to the Spot of Ground from whence the Plants have raised them.

[208] But we must not conclude, that these Particles, which pass
through a Plant (being a vastly greater Quantity than those that
abide in it for its Augment), are all unsuitable, because no one of
them happens to hit upon a fit _Nidus_: For since the Life of Animals
depends upon that of Plants, ’tis not unreasonable to imagine, that
Nature may have provided a considerable Overplus for maintaining the
Life of individual Plants, when she has provided such an innumerable
Overplus for continuing every Species of Animals.

But suppose these cast-off Particles were, when taken in, unfit for the Nourishment of any manner of Vegetables: Then the Doctor must fansy the Wheat to be of a very scrupulous Conscience, to feed on these Particles, which were neither fit for its own Nourishment, nor of any other Plant; and at the same time to forbear to take the Food of Barley, Pease, and Oats, letting that _lie still and undisturb’d the while_, as he says it does, tho’ he gives no manner of Reason for it.

’Tis needless to bring stronger Arguments, than the Doctor’s Experiments afford, against his own vulgar Opinion, of Plants distinguishing the particular Sort of terrestrial Matter, that, he says, is proper to each Sort of _Vegetable_, in these Words; _viz._ ‘Each Sort takes forth that peculiar Matter that is proper for its own Nourishment, the _rest lying all quiet and undisturb’d the while_.’

He says, that great Part of the terrestrial Matter, mixed with the Water, passes up into the Plant along with it; which it could not do, if only the peculiar Matter, proper to each Plant, did pass up into it: And after he has shewed how apt the vegetable Matter is to attend Water in all its Motions, and to follow it into each of its Recesses; being by no Filtrations or Percolations wholly separable from it; ’tis strange he should think that each Plant leaves the greatest Part of it behind, separated from the Water which the Plant imbibes.

There are, doubtless, more than a Million of Sorts of Plants, all of which would have taken up the Water, and had each as much Right to its Share, or proper Matter in it, as the Doctor’s Plants had; and then there would be but a very small (or a Millionth) Part of it proper to each of his Plants: And these leaving all the rest behind, both of the Water wherewith the Glasses at first were filled, when the Plants were put into them; and also of all the additional Water daily supply’d into them afterwards; I say, so much more terrestrial Matter brought into these Glasses, in Proportion to the added Water, and so very small a Part as could be proper to each of his plants being carried off; there must have remain’d in these Glasses a much greater Quantity of terrestrial Matter at the End of the Experiment, than remained in the Glasses _F_ or _G_, which had no Plants in them, nor any Water added to, or diminished from them; but the quite contrary appear’d. ‘And the Water in the Glasses _F_ and _G_, at the End of the Experiment, exhibited a larger Quantity of terrestrial Matter, than any of those that had Plants in them did. The Sediment at the Bottom of the Glasses was greater, and the _Nubeculæ_ diffused thro’ the Body of the Water thicker.’ Had the _Cataputia_ insum’d, with the Two thousand Five hundred and One Grains of Water, no more than its proper Share of the vegetable Matter, it could not have attained thence an Increase of Three Grains and a Quarter, nor even the Thousandth Part of One Grain. But he found ‘this terrestrial Matter, contained in all Water, to be of Two Kinds: The one properly, a vegetable Matter, but consisting of very different Particles; some of which are proper for the Nourishment of some kind of Plants, others for different Sorts,’ _&c._

This, indeed, would have been a most wonderful Discovery, and might have given us a great Light, if he had told us in what Language and Character these proper Differences were stamp’d or written upon the vegetable Particles; which Particles themselves, he says, were scarce visible. Certainly it must be a great Art (much beyond that of Dr. _Wallis_) to decypher the Language of Plants, from invisible Characters.

But that this Dream may deceive none, except such who are very fond of old Errors, there is an _Experimentum Crucis_ which may convince them; _viz._ At the proper Season, tap a Birch-tree in the Body or Boughs, and you may have thence a large Quantity of clear Liquor, very little altered from Water; and you may see, that every other Species of Plants, that will grow in Water, will receive this; live and grow in it, as well as in common Water. You may make a like Experiment by tapping other Trees, or by Water distilled from Vegetables; and you will find no Species of Plants, into which this Water will not enter, and pass through it, and nourish it too; unless it be such a Species as requires more Heat than Water admits; or unless the peculiar Vessels of that it has first passed through, have so altered the vegetable Particles contained in that Water, as that it acts as Poison upon some other particular Species.

The Doctor concludes, ‘That Water is only the Agent that conveys the Vegetable Matter to the Bodies of Plants, that introduces and distributes it to their several Parts for their Nourishment: That Matter is sluggish and inactive, and would lie eternally confin’d to its Beds of Earth, without ever advancing up into Plants, did not Water, or some like Instrument, fetch it forth, and carry it unto them.’

That Water is very capable of the Office of a Carrier to Plants, I think the Doctor has made most evident; but as to the Office of such an Agent as his Hypothesis bestows upon it, it seems impossible to be executed by Water. For it cannot be imagined, that Water, being itself but mere homogenial Matter, void of all Degrees of Life, should distinguish each Particle of vegetable Matter, proper and peculiar to every different Species of Plants, which are innumerable; and when ’tis to act for the Wheat, to find out all the Particles proper to that sort of Grain, to rouse only those particular Sluggards from their Beds of Earth, letting all the rest lie quiet and undisturbed the while. This Agent frees the Wheat-Particles from their Confinement, and conveys, introduces, and distributes them, and only them, into the several Parts of the Wheat.

Since ’tis unreasonable to believe, that Water can have such extraordinary Skill in Botany, or in Micrography, as to be qualified for a sufficient Agent in such an abstruse Matter, I conceive Water to be only an Instrument or Vehicle, which takes up indifferently any Particles it meets with (and is able to carry), and advances them (or the _Pabulum_ they yield) up into the First Plant, whose Root it comes in Contact with; and that every Plant it meets with does accept thereof, without distinguishing any different Sorts or Properties in them, until they be so far introduc’d and advanc’d up into the vegetable Vessels, that it would be in vain to distinguish them; for whether the terrestrial Matter, Plants imbibe with the Water, will kill or nourish them, appears by its Effects; but which cannot be foreknown or prevented without the Help of Faculties, which Plants are not endow’d with.

Mr. _Bradley_ seems to have carried this Error farther than any Author ever did before; but he supports it by Affirmations only, or by such Arguments (I cannot say Reasons; for no Reason can be against any Truth) as go near to confute the very Opinion he pretends to advance by them.

He ascribes to Vegetables the Sense of Taste, by which he thinks they take such Nourishment as is most agreeable to their respective Natures, refuting the rest; and will rather starve, than eat what is disagreeable to their Palate.

In the Preface to his _Vol._ I. _Page_ 10. of his _Husbandry_ and _Gardening_, he says, ‘They feed as differently as Horses do from Dogs, or Dogs from Fish.’

But what does he mean by this Instance, _Vol._ I. _p._ 39. _viz._ ‘That Thyme, and other Aromatics, being planted near an Apricot-tree, would destroy that Tree?’ Does it not help to confirm, that every Plant does not draw exactly the same Share of Nourishment?

I believe there is no need for him to give more Instances to disprove his Assertion than this one. His Conclusion, taken by itself, is so far right; _viz._ ‘That if the Nourishment the Earth afforded to the Thyme and Apricot-tree, had been divided into Two Shares, both could not have had them.’

But this his Instance proves, That those Aromatics robb’d the Apricot-tree of so much of its Share as to starve it; and that they, tho’ of so very different a Nature, did draw from the Earth the same Nourishment which the Apricot-tree should have taken for its Support, had not the Aromatics been too hard for it, in drawing it off for their own Maintenance:

Unless he believes, that all the Juices of the Aromatics were as Poison to the Apricot; and that, according to my Experiment of the Mint, some of their Roots might discharge some kind of Moisture in dry Weather, given them by others, that had it for their Use; and that the Apricot-roots, mingling with them, might imbibe enough of that Liquor, altered sufficiently by their Vessels, to poison and kill the Tree.

But then, where was the Tree’s distinguishing Palate? Why did it not refuse this Juice, which was so disagreeable as to kill it? And as to his Notion of Vegetables having Palates, let us see how it agrees with what he affirms.

‘That ’tis the Vessels of Plants that make, by their Filtrations, Percolations, _&c._ all the different Tastes and Flavours of the Matter, which is the Aliment of Plants; and that, before it be by them so filtred, _&c._ it is only a Fund of insipid Substance, capable of being altered by such Vessels, into any Form, Colour, or Flavour.’

And _Vol._ I. _p._ 38. ‘The different Strainers, or Vessels of the several Plants, growing upon that Spot of Earth, thus impregnated with Salts, alter those Salts or Juices, according to the several Figures or Dimensions of their Strainers; so that one Plant varies, in Taste and Smell, from others, tho’ all draw their Nourishment from the same Stock lodged in the Earth.’ See Mr. _Bradley_’s _Palates of Plants_, and the insipid Substance he allots them to distinguish the Taste of, how they agree.

They must, it seems, within their own Bodies, give the Flavour to this insipid Substance, before their Palates can be of any Use; and, even then, ’tis impossible to be of any Use, but in the manner of the Dog returning to his Vomit.

They would have as much Occasion for the Sense of Smelling, as of Taste; but, after all, of what Use could either of the Two be to Plants, without local Motion of their Roots? which they are so destitute of, that no Mouth of a Root can ever remove itself from the very Point where it was first formed, because a Root has all its longitudinal Increase at the very End; for, should the Spaces betwixt the Branchings increase in Length, those Branches would be broken off, and left behind, or else drawn out of their Cavities; which must destroy the Plant. All the Branches, except the foremost, would be found with their Extremities pointing towards the Stem; the contrary of which Posture they are seen to have: And if they moved backwards, that would have much the same Effect on all the collateral Branchings to destroy them. Smell and Taste then could be of no manner of Use to Vegetables, if they had them; they would have no Remedy or Possibility to mend themselves from the same Mouths, removing to search out other Food, in case they had Power to dislike or refuse what was offered them.

Therefore the crude Earth, being their Food, simple and free from any Alterations by Vessels, remaining insipid, cannot give, neither can Plants receive, require, or make use of, any Variety from it, as Animals do from their Diet. It would be lost upon them, and Nature would have acted in vain, to give Smell and Taste to Vegetables, and nothing but insipid Earth for an Object of them; or to give them a charming Variety of Relish and Savour in their Food, without giving them Senses necessary to perceive or enjoy them; which would be like Light and Colours to the Blind, Sound and Music to the Deaf, or like giving Eyes and Ears to Animals, without Light or Sound to affect them.

The Mouths of Plants, situate in the convex Superficies of Roots, are analogous to the Lacteals, or Mouths, in the concave Superficies of the Intestines of Animals.

These spongy Superficies of animal Guts, and vegetable Roots, have no more Taste or Power of refusing whatever comes in Contact with them, the one than the other.

The free open Air would be equally injurious to both; and if exposed to it, it would dry and close up the fine Orifices in Guts and Roots: Therefore Nature has guarded both from it.

Nature has also provided for the Preservation of both Vegetables and Animals (I do not say equally) in respect of their Food; which might poison them, or might not be fit to nourish them.

The Security of Plants (the best that can be) is their Food itself, Earth; which, having been altered by no Vessels, is always safe and nourishing to them; For a Plant is never known to be poisoned by its own natural Soil, nor starved, if it were enough of it, with the requisite Quantities of Heat and Moisture.

Roots, being therefore the Guts of Plants, have no need to be guarded by Senses; and all the Parts and Passages, which serve to distinguish and prepare the Food of Animals, before it reach the Guts, are omitted in Plants, and not at all necessary to them.

But as the Food of most Animals is Earth, very variously changed and modified by vegetable or animal Vessels, or by both, and some of it is made wholsome, some poisonous; so that if this doubtful Food should be committed to the Intestines, without Examination, as the pure unaltered Earth is to Roots, there would, in all Probability, be very few Animals living in the World, except there be any that feed on Earth at first Hand only, as Plants do.

Therefore, lest this Food, so much more refined than that of Plants, should, by that very means, become a fatal Curse, instead of a Blessing to Animals, Nature has endowed them with Smell and Taste, as Sentinels, without whose Scrutiny these various uncertain Ingredients are not admitted to come where they can enter the Lacteals, and to distinguish, at a sufficient Distance, what is wholsome and friendly, from what is hurtful; for when ’tis once passed out of the Stomach into the Guts, ’tis too late to have Benefit from Emetics; its Venom must then be imbibed by the Lacteal Mouths, and mix with the Blood, as that must mix with the Sap, which comes in Contact with the Lacteals in the Superficies of Roots, Nature having left this unguarded.

Yet Plants seem to be better secured by the Salubrity and Simplicity of their Food, than Animals are by their Senses: To compensate that Inequality of Danger; Animals have Pleasure from their Senses, except some miserable Animals (and such there are) that have more Pain than Pleasure from them. But I suppose, more Animals than Plants are poison’d; and that a poisonous Animal is less fatal to a Plant, than a poisonous Plant is to an Animal.

It being sufficiently proved, that every sort of Vegetables, growing in the same Soil, takes, and is nourished, by the same Sort of Food; it follows from hence, that the beneficial Change of Sorts of Seeds or Plants, we see in the common Husbandry, is not from the Quality of the Sorts of Food, but from other Causes; such as,

I. _Quantity of the Food._

II. _Constitution of the Plants._

III. _Quantity of the Tillage._

In Dr. _Woodward_’s Case, upon his Hypothesis, the Three Proportions of Seeds, _viz._ Barley, Oats, and Pease, might be sown all together in the same Acre of Ground, the same Year, and make Three as good Crops as if sown singly in Three successive Years, and his Two Crops of Wheat in one Year likewise. But every Farmer can tell, that these Three Proportions of Seed would not yield half the Crop together, as one would do single; and would scarce produce more than to shew what Grains were sown, and which, of the Sorts were the strongest and the most able Robber.

Though this Failure would, in Truth, be from no other Cause than want of the sufficient Quantity of Food, which those Three Crops required; yet, perhaps, the Doctor might think, that all Three Crops might succeed together very well, taking each its proper Nourishment, were it not for want of Room, Air, and Sun.

I have been credibly inform’d, that on One Perch of Ground there has grown a Bushel of Corn, which is Twenty Quarters to an Acre. Mr. _Houghton_ relates Twenty-six, and even Thirty Quarters, of Wheat on One Acre. There have certainly grown Twelve Quarters of Barley to an Acre, throughout a whole Field: Therefore, unless a Crop exceed the least of these, or indeed the greatest of them (if the Relation be true), a Crop cannot fail for want of Room; for one Acre (be it of what Nature it will, as to the Soil of it) must have as much room for a Crop to grow on, as any other Acre.

Then there was room for all Dr. _Woodward_’s Three Crops together, to produce as much as Three common Crops do. Yet all these together will scarce yield one Quarter of Corn, tho’ there is room, at least, for Twelve.

The same _Air_ and _Sun_ that had Room to do their Office to Mr. _Houghton_’s Acre, why should they not have Room to do the same to Doctor _Woodward_’s Acre, when the Three Crops growing on it at once, through pretty good ones, might require less Room than Mr. _Houghton_’s Crop did?

I perceive that those Authors, who explain _Vegetation_, by saying the Earth imbibes certain Qualities from the Air, and by specific Qualities, and the like, do also lay a great Stress upon the _perpendicular_ Growth of _Vegetables_; seeming to fansy there is little else necessary to a good Crop, but Room.

Mr. _Bradley_, in his Arguments concerning the Value of an Hill, does implicitly say as much.

But if they would but consider the Diameters of the Stems, with the Measure of the Surface of an Acre, they would be convinced, that many, even of Mr. _Houghton_’s Crops, might stand in a perpendicular Posture upon an Acre, and Room be left.

One true Cause of a Crop’s failing, is want of a Quantity of Food to maintain the Quantity of Vegetables, which the Food should nourish.

When the Quantity of Food which is sufficient for another Species (that requires less), but not for that which last grew, to grow again the next Year, then that other is beneficial to be planted after it.

The Second true Cause is from the Constitution of Plants; some require more Food than others, and some are of a stronger Make, and better able to penetrate the Earth, and forage for themselves.

Therefore Oats may succeed a Crop of Wheat on strong Land, with once plowing, when Barley will not; because Barley is not so well able to penetrate as Oats, or Beans, or Pease, are.

So a Pear-tree may succeed a Plum-tree, when another Plum-tree cannot; because a Pear is a much stronger Tree, and grows to a much greater Bulk; so inclined to be a Giant, that ’tis hard to make it a Dwarf; and will penetrate and force its Way thro’ the untill’d Earth, where the other cannot; being of a weaker and less robust Constitution, not so well able to shift for itself.

The Pear could penetrate Pores, that the other could not. Mr. _Evelyn_ says, in his Discourse of Forest-trees, ‘That a Pear will strike Root thro’ the roughest and most impenetrable Rocks and Clifts of Stone itself.’ He says likewise, in his _Pomona_, ‘That Pears will thrive where neither Apple or other Fruit could in Appearance be expected.’

I can scarce think, that a large Plant takes in larger Particles than a small one, for its Nourishment: If it did, I can’t believe, that the Thyme could have starv’d the Apricot-tree; it must have left the larger Particles of Food for that Tree, which probably would have sufficed to keep it alive: I rather think, that great and small Plants are sustain’d by the same minute Particles; for, as the fine Particles of Oats will nourish an Ox, so they will nourish a Tom-tit, or a Mite.

Some Plants are of an hotter Constitution, and have a quicker Digestion, like Cormorants or Pigeons, devouring more greedily, and a greater Quantity of Food, than those of a colder Temperature, of equal Bulk, whose Sap, having a more languid Motion, in proportion to the less Degree of Heat in it, sends off fewer Recrements; and therefore a less Supply of Food is required in their room. This may make some Difference in the one’s succeeding the other; because the hot-constitution’d leaves not enough for its own Species to succeed again, but leaves enough for a Species of a colder Constitution to succeed it.

But the Third and chiefest Cause of the Benefit of changing Sorts is Quantity of Tillage, in proportion to which the Food will be produced.

The true Cause why Wheat is not (especially on any strong Soil) to be sown immediately after Wheat, is, That the first Wheat standing almost a Year on the Ground, by which it must grow harder; and Wheat Seed-time being soon after Harvest in _England_, there is not Space of Time to till the Land so much as a second Crop of Wheat requires.

Tho’ sometimes in poorer Land, that is lighter, Wheat has succeeded Wheat with tolerable Success; when I have seen, on very rich strong Land, the first Crop lost by being much too big, and one following it immediately, quite lost by the Poorness of it, and not worth cutting.

This was enough to satisfy, that the Tillage which was so much easier perform’d in less Time, sufficed for the light Land, but not for the strong: and, if the strong Land could have been brought into as good Tilth as the light (like as in the new Husbandry it may), it would have produced a much better second Crop than the light Land did.

From all that has been said, these may be laid down as Maxims; _viz._ That the same Quantity of Tillage will produce the same Quantity of Food in the same Land[209]; and that the same Quantity of Food will maintain the same Quantity of Vegetables.

[209] And _cæteris paribus_; for when the Land has been more
exhausted, more Tillage (or Dung) or Rest will be required to
produce the same Quantity of Food, than when the Land hath been
less exhausted. By Tillage is here meant, not only the Number of
Plowings, but the Degree of Division or Pulveration of the Soil;
or, if perchance the Soil is extraordinary much exhausted by many
Crops, without proper Tillage between them, the greater Degree of
Pulveration, by Plowing or Dung (which is only a _Succedaneum_ of
Tillage), and also a longer Time of Exposure, may be necessary to
counterpoise that extraordinary Exhaustion.

’Tis seen, that the same Sort of Weeds, which once come naturally in a Soil, if suffer’d to grow, will always prosper in proportion to the Tillage and Manure bestow’d upon it, without any Change. And so are all manner of Plants, that have been yet try’d by the new Husbandry, seen to do.

A Vineyard, if not tilled, will soon decay, even in rich Ground, as may be seen in those in _France_, lying intermingled as our Lands do in common Fields. Those Lands of Vines, which by reason of some Law-suit depending about the Property of them, or otherwise, lie a Year or two untilled, produce no Grapes, send out no Shoots hardly: the Leaves look yellow, and seem dead, in Comparison of those on each Side of them; which, being tilled, are full of Fruit, send out an hundred times more Wood, and their Leaves are large and flourishing; and continue to do the same annually for Ages, if the Plough or Hoe do not neglect them.

No Change of Sorts is needful in them, if the same annual Quantity of Tillage (which appears to provide the same annual Quantity of Food) be continued to the Vines.

But what in the Vineyards proves this Thesis most fully is, That where they constantly till the low Vines with the Plough, which is almost the same with the Hoe-plough, the Stems are planted about Four Feet asunder, chequerwise; so that they plow them Four ways. When any of these Plants happen to die, new ones are immediately planted in their room, and exactly in the Points or Angles where the other have rotted; else, if planted out of those Angles, they would stand in the Way of the Plough: These young Vines, I say, so planted in the very Graves, as it were, of their Predecessors, grow, thrive, and prosper well, the Soil being thus constantly tilled: And if a Plum-tree, or any other Plant, had such Tillage, it might as well succeed one of its own Species, as those Vines do.

’Tis observed, that White-thorns will not prosper, set in the Gaps of a White thorn Hedge: But I have seen the Banks of such Gaps dug and thrown down one Summer, and made up again, and White-thorns there replanted the following Winter, with good Success.

But note, That the annual plowing the Vines is more beneficial than the one Summer Tillage of the Banks, the Vines having it repeated to them yearly.

I have, by Experience and Observation, found it to be a Rule, That long Tap-rooted Plants, as Clover and St. Foin, will not succeed immediately after those of their own or any other Species of long Tap-roots, so well as after horizontal-rooted Plants; but, on the contrary, horizontal will succeed those Tap-roots as well or better than they will succeed horizontal.

I confess, this Observation did, for a great while, cheat me into the common Belief, That different Species of Plants feed on different Food; till I was delivered from that Error, by taking Notice, that those Tap-roots would thrive exceedingly well after Turneps, which have also pretty long Tap-roots, though Turneps never thrive well immediately after Clover[210], or St. Foin: I found the true Cause of this Exception to that Rule to be chiefly the different Tillage[211].

[210] But when Clover has been fed by Cattle, the Ground being
good, and well tilled, Turneps may thrive immediately after Clover:
Therefore this is an Exception to the general Rule.

[211] Very mellow rich Land is so full of vegetable Food, that ’tis
an Exception to most Rules; and therefore I speak not of that.

Land must be well tilled for Turneps, which also are commonly hoed; they stand scarce ever above Three-quarters of a Year, and are then fed on the Ground; and then the succeeding Crop of Corn has, by that means, the Benefit of twice as much Tillage from the Hoe, as otherwise would be given to it; and the Broad Clover, or St. Foin, sown with the Corn (if the Corn be not so big as to kill it), will enjoy, in its Turn, a Proportion of the extraordinary Tillage, and of the Dung of Cattle, which feed the Turneps, and thrive accordingly: But Broad Clover and St. Foin, being perennial Plants, stand on the Ground so long, that it lies several Years untilled; so that Turneps, sown immediately after these, do fail, for want of their due Tillage, for which there is not sufficient time, by plowing often enough; because, by the common Ploughs, it requires Two or Three Years to make it fine enough for Turneps, or for a Repetition of Clover, or St. Foin, in strong or swerdy Land.

Another Reason why any Crop succeeds well after Turneps (and besides their being spent on the Ground where they grow) is their cold Constitution, by which they are maintained with less Food than another Plant of the same Bulk.

The _Parenchyma_, or fleshy Part of a Turnep, consisting of a watry Substance, which cools the Vessels, whereby the Sap’s Motion is very slow, in proportion to the very low Degree of Heat it has, and sends off its Recrements in the same Proportion likewise; and therefore requires the less of the terrene Nourishment to supply those Recrements.

This is seen, when a Bushel of Turneps, mixed with a Quantity of Wheaten Flour, is made into Bread, and well baked: This Bushel of Turneps gives but few Ounces Increase in Weight, more than the same Quantity of Wheaten Flour made into Bread, and baked without any Turneps. This shews there is in a Turnep very little Earth (which is the most permanent Substance of a Plant); the Oven discharges in Vapour near all but the largest Vessels: Its earthly Substance being so small, is a Proof ’tis maintained by a small Quantity of Earth: and, upon that Account also, of less Damage to the next Crop than another Plant would be, which required more of the solid Nourishment to constitute its firmer Body, as a Charlock does; for when a Charlock comes up, contiguous to, and at the same time with a Turnep, it does so rob the Turnep, that it attains not to be of the Weight of Five Ounces; when a single Turnep, having no more Scope of Ground, and, in all respects (but the Vicinity of the Charlock), equal, weighs Five Pounds, yet that Charlock does not weigh One Pound.

And where Three Turneps coming up, and growing thus contiguous, will weigh Four Pounds; a Charlock joined with Two or Three Turneps, all together, will be less than one Pound, upon no less Space of Ground.

This Observation cannot be made, except where Turneps are drilled in Rows; and there ’tis easy to demonstrate, that a Charlock, during the time of its short Life, draws much more Earth than a Turnep of equal Bulk, from an equal Quantity of Ground[212].

[212] ’Tis certain that Turneps, when they stand for Seed, suck and
impoverish the Ground exceedingly: For though they are of a cold
Constitution, and consequently consume less Food than Plants of an
hotter Constitution, and of the same Bulk; yet these Seed-turneps
being of so vast a Bulk, as sometimes Eighty Quarters of their Roots
grow on an Acre, and their Stalks have been measured Seven Feet high,
and their Roots having continued at near their full Bigness for
about Ten Months together, and then carried off, they drain the Land
more than a Crop of other Vegetables of a less Bulk, and an hotter
Constitution, and which live a less time; or than Wheat, which,
though it lives as long, is very small, except in the Four last
Months.

The true Cause why Clover and St. Foin do not succeed so well after their own respective Species, or that of each other, as Corn, _&c._ can, is, that they take great Part of their Nourishment from below the Plough’s Reach, so as that under Earth cannot be tilled deep enough, but the upper Part may be tilled deep enough for the horizontal Roots of Corn, _&c._ towards which, the Rotting of the Clover and St. Foin Roots, when cut off by the Plough, do not a little contribute[213]; And there’s no doubt but that, if the under Earth could be as well tilled for the Tap-roots, as the upper Earth is for the horizontal, the Tap-roots would succeed one another as well as the horizontal would succeed them, or those of their own Species, or as the Tap-roots do the horizontal.

[213] That the Rotting of vegetable Roots in the Ground doth ferment
therein, and improve it for horizontal-rooted Plants, I am convinced
by an Accident; _viz._ My Man had plowed off the Earth close to the
Rows in a Field of extraordinary large Turneps designed for Seed.
This Earth was neglected to be thrown back to the Rows, until a
severe Frost in the Winter came, and killed the Turneps; upon which,
in the Spring, the Field was sown with Barley upon the Level, with
only _once_ plowing, and that cross-ways of the Rows. The Turneps
had stood so wide asunder, that the Spot whereon each had rotted,
appeared like the Spot whereon an Horse had urined in till’d Ground,
and was of a deeper Colour, and much higher, than the Barley that
grew round those Spots; and yet none of it was poor. As the Roots
of Clover, and St. Foin, are very much less; yet the greater Number
rotting in plowed Ground must be of great Use to a following Crop of
Corn.

I will here relate Two Examples of this in St. Foin: The one is,
That a Field of Twenty-five Acres drilled with St. Foin, except
Three Acres in the Middle of it, which was, at the same time, sown
with Hop-Clover; after Eight Years the whole Field was plowed up by
a Tenant, and sown with Corn: The St. Foin had been mowed yearly,
as the Hop-Clover was not mowed at all, but fed by Horses teddered
(or staked) thereon the First and Second Years; and after that had
nothing on it but poor natural Grass.

The whole Field was managed alike, when plowed up; but the Three
Acres produced visibly worse Crops of Corn than the rest all round
it, which had produced St. Foin.

The other Example or Instance was, Where an Acre, Part of a Field,
was, by a Fancy, drilled with St. Foin in single Rows, about
Thirty-three Inches asunder, but was never hoed: After Seven Years
it was plowed up with the rest of the Field cross the Rows, and sown
with Oats upon the Back Three Months after plowing. These Rows were
as visible in the Oats, as if the St. Foin had been still remaining
there: The Oats in the Rows where the St. Foin had been, looked of
a deep green flourishing Colour, at first coming up, and until they
were about half a Foot high, and the Spaces between them looked
yellowish; but afterwards the Difference of their Colour disappeared,
all the Crop being very good. Upon this I imputed it to the Rotting
of the Roots, which by their Singleness were very large; and when the
different Colours disappeared, I suppose the Roots of all the Oats
had reached to the Benefit of the rotted Roots, which might also be
then spread farther into the Spaces; and I doubt not but that the
Rotting of Broad Clover-roots has the same Effect as of St. Foin, for
manuring of Land, especially when the Roots are large.

Some have objected against this Opinion, and say the Effect was
rather to be imputed to the Rows of St. Foin shadowing the Earth
under them, or else from their keeping the Earth under them free from
Couch-grass, of which the Intervals were full: But I think it more
probable, that the Couch-grass, having very long horizontal Roots,
might draw Nourishment from the Earth under the Rows, and from the
Intervals equally.

And as to the Shadow of the Rows, tho’, for the First and Second
Years, the St. Foin Plants were very large; yet, being afterwards,
for Five or Six Years, until plowed up, constantly fed by Cattle, and
being more sweet, was eaten very low, whilst the Couch-grass remained
intire in the Intervals, and shadowed them more than the Earth of the
Rows was shadowed by the St. Foin: Besides, the rotten Turneps, which
were freed from both these Objections, had the same Effect on the
Barley, as the St. Foin had on the Oats.

The under Earth, in some time, is replenished by what the Rains leave, when they sink through it; and then Tap-rooted Plants may be there nourished again, tho’ the upper Earth be drained by the Corn; so that no Change is so beneficial, as that betwixt Tap-rooted Plants, and those which have only horizontal ones. The former are provided for by Rains, though not so speedily as the latter are by Tillage and Hoeing.

Pastures require no Change of Herbs; because they have annually the same Supply of Food from the Dunging of Cattle that feed on them, and from the Benefit of the Atmosphere.

Meadows hold out without Change of Species of Grass, tho’ a Crop be carried off every Year; the Richness of that Soil, with the Help of the Atmosphere, Dung of Cattle in feeding the After-Crop, or else Flooding, from the overflowing of some River, some, or all of which, supply the Place of the Plough to a Meadow.

Woods also hold out beyond Memory or Tradition, without changing Sorts of Trees; and this by the Leaves, and perhaps old Wood, rotting on the Soil annually, which operate as a Manure; because, as has been said, Earth which has once passed any Vessels, is so changed, that, for a long time after, it does not retain its Homogeneity[214] so much as to mix with pure Earth, without fermenting; and by the Descent of the Atmosphere, the Trees shadowing the Soil, to prevent the Re-ascent of what that brings down; all this, resembling Tillage, continually divides the Soil, and renews the Food equal to the Consumption of it made by the Wood.

[214] Not that the Particles of Earth are strictly homogeneous, but
that they are much less heterogeneous, before they are altered by
Vessels, than afterwards.

And the last Argument I shall attempt to bring for Confirmation of all I have advanced, is that which proves both the Truth and Use of the rest; _viz._ That when any Sort of Vegetable, by the due Degrees of Heat and Moisture it requires, is agreeable to a Soil, it may, by the new Horse-hoeing Husbandry, be continued without ever changing the Species.

CHAP. XV.

_Of Change of_ INDIVIDUALS.

Seeds, in their natural Climate, do not degenerate, unless Culture has improved them; and then, upon Omission of that Culture, they return to their first natural State.

As the Benefit of changing of Species of Seeds is from Difference of Tillage, so the Benefit of changing Individuals of the same Species appears to be from those Causes which are, generally, themselves, the Effects of different Climates, such as Heat and Moisture, which may also vary very much in the same Latitude and Neighbourhood; as the same Mountain in the Country of the _Mogul_ (related by Mr. _Evelyn_, from Monsieur _Bernier_), on the South Side produces _Indian_ Plants, and on the North Side _European_ Plants, from different Exposures; and some Land, retaining Water longer, is colder; some, suffering it to pass down quicker, and by the Nature and Figure of its Parts, causes such a Refraction and Reflexion of the Sun’s Rays, which give a great Warmth, as in Sand, and gravelly Grounds, that are well situate, and have an under Stratum of some Sort of hollow Matter, next under the Staple[215], or upper Stratum, wherein the Plough is exercised.

[215] This hollow Matter lets the Water pass down the sooner from
the Surface, whereby the Staple or the Ground becomes the drier, and
consequently warmer.

This beneficial Change of Individuals seems rather to be from the forementioned Causes, than from Change of Food; and these Causes shew their Efficacy, chiefly in the Generation or Fœtation of those Seeds; as Flax-seed brought from _Holland_, and sown here, will bring as fine Flax as there; but the very next Generation of it coarser, and so degenerating gradually, after Two or Three Descents, becomes no better than the common ordinary Sort; yet its Food is the same, when the Flax is fine, as when ’tis coarse.

And so it is, when Individuals of Wheat are changed: So Silk-worms, hatched and bred in _France_, of Eggs or Seed brought from _Italy_, will make as fine Silk as the _Italian_; but the Eggs of these laid in _France_ and their Issue, will make no better Silk than the _French_; though their Food be from Leaves of the same Mulberry-trees, when they make fine Silk and coarse: Therefore ’tis from the Climate, where the Eggs are impregnated, not where they have their Incubation or Food, when hatched, and fed to their Lives End, that this Difference happens.

Common Barley, sown once in the burning Sand at _Patney_ in _Wiltshire_, will, for many Years after, if sown on indifferent warm Ground, be ripe Two or Three Weeks sooner than any other[216], which has never been impregnate at _Patney_: But if sown a Degree farther North, on cold clayey Land, will, in Two or Three Years, lose this Quality, and become as late ripe as any other.

[216] Barley is far from being improved by becoming rath-ripe; for
it loses more good Qualities than it gets by being sown at _Patney_:
’Tis so tender, that if it be sown early, the Frost is apt to kill
it; or if it be sown late in _May_, on the same Day, and in the same
Soil, with the same Sort of Barley that is not rath-ripe, it will be
much thinner bodied than the late-ripe; and besides, if it happens
to have any Check by Cold or Drought, it never recovers it as the
other doth, at what time soever it is sown. It is now, I am informed,
gone out of Fashion, and very few Farmers have sown it of late Years.
I know a little Parish, that, I believe, formerly lost about Two
hundred Pounds _per Ann._ by sowing rath-ripe Barley: But long and
dear Experience hath now convinced them of their Error, and obliged
them totally to disuse it.

Indeed _Patney_ is far from improving the Species of Barley, except we think it improved by becoming more weak and tender, and shorter-lived; which last-mentioned Quality fits it for such Countries, where the Summers are too short for other Barley to ripen.

The Grains or Seeds of Vegetables are their Eggs; and the individual Plants, immediately proceeding from them, have not only the Virtues they received in Embryo (or rather _in plantulis_), but the Diseases also; for when smutty Wheat is sown, unless the Year prove very favourable, the Crop will be smutty; which is an evident Token of _mala stamina_.

The smutty Grains will not grow; for they turn to a black Powder: But when some of these are in a Crop, then, to be sure, many of the rest are infected; and the Disease will shew itself in the next Generation, or Descent of it, if the Year wherein ’tis planted prove a wet one.

Weeds, and their Seed, in the Fields where they grow naturally, for Time immemorial, come to as great Perfection as ever, without Change of Soil.

These Weeds, with Acorns, and other Masts, Crabs, Sloes, Hips, and Haws, are thought to have been, originally, the only natural Product of our Climate: Therefore other Plants being Exotics, many of them, as to their Individuals, require Culture and Change of Soil, without which they are liable more or less to degenerate.