WATER AS AN AGRICULTURAL AGENT. 3fj3 



cover 122 square miles one foot deep. The Ganges dischargeH a 

 volume 82 times greater than that of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. 

 The turbid eolor, and the name of that immense estuary, the Yellow 

 Sea, is taken from the mud, 2,000,000 cubic feet of which are poured 

 into it every hour by the Iloang-IIo river. No wonder that riyer 

 water has become a synonym of filth. 



The animal economy demands pure water. It is ours to find it. 

 Nature, in two ways has provided never failing supplies. The 

 mariner on short allowance at sea practically illustrates the first 

 way, the condensation of vapor^ as he boils and freshens the salt 

 sea water by inserting the nose of the coffee-pot into that of the 

 steaming teakettle. In the juices of all natural food, animal or 

 vegetable, is Nature's "other way" of providing healthful water. 



It is said that " laboring men must have solid food." What is 

 "solid food?" A comparison of the analysis of the body of a 

 vegetable with that of an animal shows no excess of solids in either. 

 The following selections from a reliable table giving the quantities 

 of water in 100 pounds of each, will better impress this fact : 



In beef 74 pounds. 



potatoes 75 " 



pork 76 " 



apples 84 " 



eggs 80 



milk 87 



codfish 79 " 



carrots 82 



From this it will be seen that five-sixths of the food usually eaten 

 is water. In living plants it is usually perceptible as sap. But 

 not only do fresh plants contain water ; hay, seasoned wood, flour 

 and meal, when seemingly dry, contain a quantity of invisible water 

 which can be expelled by subjecting them to a heat of 212' for 

 some hours. Dried clover contains about 17 per cent., beans 14 

 per cent., rye 13 per cent., corn 12 percent., thoroughly seasoned 

 wood about 10 per cent. 



The large per cent, of this fluid found in all giistible and nutri- 

 tious food is not fortuitf^ius or accidental, but to supply some need 

 or want in the system for which nothing else in Nature is a sub- 

 stitute, for there are very few animals, whatever their food may 

 be, which do not drink water. 



As combined in natural food it is perceptibly different from the 



