48 [Senate, 



A poor man, or a rich one, feeds to his cow a ton of timothy hay 

 during the winter, and is careful to save all the dung and liquid excre- 

 tions of the animal made from her food. During the coming summer 

 he wishes to transform the matter that existed in his ton of hay the 

 year before, into a large crop of potatoes, at the least possible ex- 

 pense. How shall he use his manure? What aid can science render 

 him in changing the elements contained in digested timothy hay, into 

 potatoes 1 It can render him such assistance as will give him three 

 bushels, on the same land and with an equal amount of labor that 

 would yield him two, without a knowledge of the things which the 

 potato plant rnust have for its full and healthy development ; and 

 of the things which manure formed by the consumption of timothy 

 hay will furnish. Knowledge of this kind is the corner stone of all 

 agricultural science, and of successful farming. The laws of matter 

 and of vegetable and animal life, as established by the Creator, are 

 fixed, uniform and unerring in their operations. It is the duty, and 

 therefore for the interest of thinking, reasoning man to find out these 

 laws, and obey them. That is, to make his hands work in unison 

 therewith, and never in opposition thereto. Practically, it can be 

 demonstrated that, by adding a small amount of minerals to those 

 contained in a ton of hay in the form of manure, several additional 

 tons of good potatoes can be grown on an acre of land. The reason of 

 this large gain, and the prolific source from whence the matter — the 

 ingredients that form potatoes — is derived, should be well understood 

 by every one that cultivates a rood of ground. 



The matter which makes up the whole weight and substance of 

 all plants, whether growling in the field, forming vegetable mould in 

 the soil, or lying in the barn-yard in the shape of manure, is divided 

 into two classes. One class is incombustible, like wood ashes, and 

 the ashes, or minerals found in all plants. This portion of the con- 

 stituents of vegetables forms what are called their inorganic elements. 

 The quantity of these inorganic minerals in different plants is very 

 variable. Some contain from 12 to 16 per cent of their weight of 

 these incombustible, earthy substances. Others have less than the 

 half of one per cent of inorganic constituents. As different portions 

 of the bodies of animals have unequal quantities of bones, or earthy 

 matter, so different parts of the same plant have unequal quantities 

 of the minerals that form ashes when the plant is tried by fire. 



