No. 85.] 53 



cle of this mineral can enter the root of any plant except it be dissol- 

 ved in water. Now, of all earthy substances, flint sand is the most 

 insoluble. Indeed, you may boil it for hours in aquafortis, sulphuric 

 or muriatic acid, without dissolving it. How, then, is the practical 

 farmer to dissolve this mineral, which, more than all others, forms the 

 hone necessary to give strength to the stems of his grain, that they 

 may hold up, without falling, the load of ripe seed in the ears ? 



Chemically speaking, silica is an acid, and will unite with a large 

 dose of the two alkalis, potash and soda, and form a soluble silicate 

 of those bases. 



This explanation reveals the reason why the alkalis in wood ashes 

 are so valuable as fertilizers on sandy soils. On comparing the ana- 

 lyses of maple, beach and oak ashes, with those obtained from cereal 

 plants, there will be found a striking similarity in their respective 

 constituents. 



Next to clay, sand and potash, lime, soda, phosphorus, sulphur, 

 chlorine and iron, are the most important minerals found in cultivated 

 plants. To prepare these ingredients for use, the following is a 

 cheap and easy process. 



Take ten bushels of newly slaked lime, i. e. ten before it is sla- 

 ked, and mix it thoroughly with twenty bushels of loam or vegeta- 

 ble mould. Add to the heap five bushels of common salt and an 

 equal amount of plaster of Paris ; moisten till the mass is like damp 

 earth. 



The plaster will furnish sulphur, and the common salt will yield 

 both soda and chlorine. The latter will leave the sodium and unite with 

 the caustic lime, forming a soluble salt, called the chloride of calci- 

 um. The sodium being first converted into soda, will then combine 

 with the carbonic acid from the air and organized matter in the ve- 

 getable mold, and form a precious alkaline salt, which will dissolve 

 common sand. This compound still lacks phosphorus and iron. 

 Ground bones furnish the former and copperas the latter mineral. If 

 one can get the liquid excretions of domestic animals, or of the hu- 

 man species, and saturate the compost heap with this compound o 

 ammonia, phosphoric acid, and of other valuable matters derived from 

 plants, the fertilizing properties of this artificial manure will be 

 greatly increased. 



There is no branch of business in which the sciences of geology, 

 chemistry, and of vegetable and animal physiology, are so useful to 



