The author, after referring to the opinions of those who contend that plants derive their nitrogen only from ammonia, shewed, in justification of the belief, that they also derive that element from nitric acid:—

Firstly, That nitrates are largely offered to plants, both as they grow wild, and as they are artificially cultivated.

Secondly, That plants do not refuse the nitrates thus offered to them.

Thirdly, That the nitrates which enter plants do not, if properly diluted, do injury to any class of them.