Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 12, No. 348, December 27, 1828 by Various
page 27 of 57 (47%)
when the sap of the tree is most luxuriant, it produces small white
drops, of a sweet glutinous matter, like Calabrian manna, which are
collected by the peasants early in the morning before the sun
dissipates them.--_Med. Bot_.


_Electricity on Plants_.

It is very easy to kill plants by means of electricity. A very small
shock, according to Cavallo, sent through the stem of a balsam, is
sufficient to destroy it. A few minutes after the passage of the shock,
the plant droops, the leaves and branches become flaccid, and its life
ceases. A small Leyden phial, containing six or eight square inches of
coated surface, is generally sufficient for this purpose, which may even
be effected by means of strong sparks from the prime conductor of a
large electrical machine. The charge by which these destructive effects
are produced, is probably too inconsiderable to burst the vessels of the
plant, or to occasion any material derangement of its organization; and,
accordingly, it is not found, on minute examination of a plant thus
killed by electricity, that either the internal vessels or any other
parts have sustained perceptible injury.

* * * * *




STANGING.

[Illustration: Stanging.]
DigitalOcean Referral Badge