Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/353

6 i -. the plant will still exist ; t'uo'.i want of i and h , is a proof that i not constitute the proper; or only food of plants. .' a proportion ot'ni- . i orrodes, and deprives them of vegetable life ; too much water drowns them ; too ■ of air dries their roots ; and too much heat shrivels and burns them ; but there can- not be too large a proportion of earth, unless the plant be too deep- ly buried under it, so as to exclude the salutary influence of the odier elements ; in which case it must necessarily perish. Many experiments have lately been made with factitious gases, in order to ascertain whether the growth of plants might be forward- ed by such artificial agents; but, though some of these elastic airs, such as oxygen, have been found remarkably to promote vegetation, y< t die- ex pence, and trouble, which these applications would occasion in the great way, will ever be in- superable objections to their gene- ral introduction. — From recent at- tempts to fertilize and stimulate the soil itself, as the growing medium, with chemical solutions, it appears that water very slightly impreg- nated with camphor, or, according to others, with the ; (v. Inch see), has produced uncom- < ilects on the earth of ve- getables, and accelerated thei pid growth in a very evident man- ner. Farther experiments, how- ever, will decide how tar such means are practicable, and whe- ther the nature of plants thus forced, is materially changed or affected. SO. VII. VOL. IJ, FOO [>< !• K3LS-PARSLEY, or L*bs(b* I Ii.mi.ock., Aethusa cyhdpium, L. an indigenous plant, growing in corn-fields an I kitchen-gardens, and . in the month ler. This noxious reatly re- sembles the common parsley, for which it is sometimes mistaken j but may be easily distinguished by its glossy surface, and total want of odour: when eaten among other plants, it occasions vomiting, vio- lent colic, and other painful symp- toms. — Such accidents, however^ might be easily avoided, by culti- vating only the curled -leaved pars- ley, Apiwm graveolens, L. in our gardens. — The fools-parsley is eat- en by horses, cows, sheep, and goats ; but is pernicious to sheep. FOOT, that part of the body on which animals stand and walk. The principal came of the lame- ness and distortion observable among many children, especially of the poorer class, is owing to an improper management of them, during their infancy. Instead of being carried on the nurses' arms, in a posture which contracts and palsies the lower extremities, they ought to be supported in such a di- rection tli at the legs and feet may be at liberty. Nor should they bs confined too early in narrow shoes^ with a view to render their feet small and taper : those necessary parts of our dress ought to be wide enough to allow sufficient room for motion, and might be fastened with strings, which are preferable to buckles. It will also be proper to adapt the shoes to the form of each foot, by means of separate lasts ; in the same manner as those of the fashionable classes are made at pre- sent. A kind of half-boots, how- ever, such ab may be laced above Y the