This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1835 edition. Excerpt: ... but is a positive injury to the fertility of the plant. The truth of this remark depends on the fact, that every branch of a vine that produces no foliage, appropriates for its own support, a portion of the juices of the plant that is generated by those branches that do produce foliage. To prove this fact and to make it as clear as possible, it will be necessary to describe briefly, and in part, the process by which the life of a vine is sustained and its parts annually nourished. The first movement of the sap in the spring takes place in the branches, and lastly in the roots. The buds in consequence of the increasing temperature of the air, first swell and attract the sap in their vicinity. This fluid having lain dormant, or nearly so, throughout the preceding winter, becomes gradually expanded by the influence of the solar rays, and supplies the buds with nourishment from the parts immediately below them. The vessels which yield this supply, becoming in consequence exhausted, are quickly filled by fluid from the parts below them, and in this manner the motion continues until it reaches the roots, the grand reservoir of the sap; by which time the solar heat having penetrated the soil, the roots begin to feel its enlivening influence. The whole body of sap then begins to move upwards, and as soon as the quantity propelled is more than sufficient to distend all the vessels in the stem and the branches, the buds begin to elongate and unfold. This takes place in general about the vernal equinox. From this time the fluid becoming more expanded every hour, its ascent is simultaneously increased in force and velocity. The vessels in the branches being filled to repletion, the buds quickly open, and shoots and leaves rapidly protrude. The...