WHERE DOES-WOOD COME FROM?

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7540, 10 August 1886, Page 4

WHERE DOES-WOOD COME FROM?

■•'; ; ." -^••hlkweiwere to.ttiko up"a Imndful'of soil, "t^'uiwV oxiftnihe it under a" . jnicipscope, ;we •:■:,.^slibiiM probably find it cdiitained a num-;.:'.-bev of fragments 6f wood, small broken :''.'. .pieces of- , branches, or leaves, or other t ; V parts of the tree. If we could examine it -: : '"-.'chemically, we should find yej more 'PSv'Btiikingly that it was nearly the; same as s'\'.-.;wpodinits composition, Perhaps, then, y ' it mayb e. said, the young plant obtains I. ! " ife "' ;\VO9d. from ,thd ■ earth r m which, it '.''.• ■ gron's. ' ' .-' • ! ; ■-••• '■fElio't following experiment will show /'r.'Svliether this conjecture is likely t o '. te ; Jl V" correct , or,, not., .Two hundred pounds ■ : '. of- eavta -\yeve driedin' an oven, aiid- ■■•?'-.-'■ afterwards put into a large earthen ves- ':'": ■■■ pel ; ; tlie earth was then inoistened i with ■'^■'."raiiv water, .and. a willow tree weighing '"•/ iive/iiounds was planted therein. During •V'V. the space of five years the earth was care- *••"" fully 'watered with rain water or, pure -':'■' I water.' The.willow grew and ilourished, ■'•' : - 'aii'd'to prevent theearth from beingmixed ){(■■ <;iwith- fresh earth, or dirt being blown upon L ; ', , ; it by the winds, it was covered..w ith a IV^iiietal plate full of minute holes, which ':•-. '.-^vould exclude everything bu6 air from_ -: •'■' (■ getting access to tho eai th below it. 4 After ''•;.'■■ rgrowing in" the earth for five years the r'-V V,tree was removed, and on being weighed '-'.- 'i^yfiw found to have gained 164 pounds, asit ,; '--'now' weighed 109. . Anil this estimate did ,i,.;/ not include the .weiMit of the .leaves' or ■>*■},>: dead, ■•branches which in five years fell ;' : ?fr6rittlie tree.-- Now came the application ' . -of the test. \Yasall this obtained from -V!:'the earth?-. It had not sensibly diini-.ii-hyipdj-but in order to make the ex■■.■.'./.'Jp^rii.ipnt conclhsive, itSvas again dried in .X.'k an bs'eriVand put in the balance. Astonish- ' ..ins was. 'the result; the earth weighed ''.-,'•< oiiiy twd ounces lessthan it did when the ' : . ; willow was first planted in it, yet the tree >;,V.lhad gained 164 pounds. .' ' •., •-•.V.:-,. Manifestly, then, the wood obtained in %•' -„this of time was not obtained fi'bni . ]:'■' ',the earth ; we are therefore compelled to ■-'■ 'repeat the question, " Where does the \ ■■'-. ;Wood' come, from ?"• We are left with -: -.--only two alternatives— the water. with . .',' which it was refreshed, or the air in which ; - ,"■ Vit'liveil. ' It can bo clearly shown that it ■ j-.'was hoCfdue to tho water; wo arecorise- {■ ."quently unable to resist the perplexing '\'..- and wonderful conclusion. —it was .. ■'derived from the air. Can it be? . ■ 'yVci'6 those great ocean spaces of wood, ' -which 'tire as old as mans introduction - 'iiito Eden, and wave in their vast but "' -'.solitary luxuriance over tho > fertile hills •..'■„. vanil [plains . of South America — were all '/■'...these obtained from the air 1 Were the / 'particles which unite- to form our battle •"", ship 3 overborne the world about, not only -i. . v onwingsof air, but actually as air them- --' selves? Was the firm table on which I .->-' write, tlie chair on which I rest, the solid • floor on which I tread, and much . of the '■■■•', house in which I dwell, once, in a form' • .'•-', Which I could hot as much as lay my ■ ; finger/on,. 0r grasp in my hand? Wonder-,-j ful truth— all this was air !