CHEMISTRY AND FARMING. 299 



ill a condition to be used by the grain. And here we see the 

 connection of chemistry with the business of the farmer in the 

 tillage of his lands. He plies vigorously the plough, the hoe 

 and the cultivator ; he digs, he .pulverizes, he reverses the con- 

 dition of the soil, bringing up to the surface that which is 

 buried, and burying that which is upon the surface ; and does 

 he suppose that the vigor he thereby imparts to the soil and 

 plants is derivative solely from the mechanical effects of his la- 

 bors ? There are great benefits thus produced which are very 

 far from being mechanical. It is indeed beneficial to loosen 

 the soil so as to prevent binding, and to aid in the percolation 

 of water through the same ; but some of the greatest benefits of 

 active tillage are strictly chemical i}\ their nature. By stirring 

 the soil, atmospheric air is let into it, and the carbonic acid it 

 contains fixes its corrosive teeth into those minute grains of 

 rock, and rends them asunder. They are thus so changed, 

 that instead of being rejected by the hungry plants, they are 

 seized 'with avidity and consumed. And further, by tillage 

 there are chemical effects produced in that part of the soil not 

 mineral or inorganic, by which decay, or putrefactive change is 

 carried forward and plant food produced in large quantities. 

 Thus chemistry conclusively shows that by mechanical labor 

 alone upon soil, that nutriment is afforded which is equivalent 

 to the application of manure, and hence, with these distinctly in 

 mind, no farmer need be surprised at the energy with which his 

 crops shoot forward, after the application of the hoe and culti- 

 vator. 



It was chemi'stry which taught the husbandman the impor- 

 tance of subsoil ploughing. There are many farmers who are 

 unable, as yet, to overcome their prejudices sufficiently to try 

 the experiment of deep ploughing upon their lands. They er- 

 roneously suppose that the whole virtue of their lands, lies in 

 the black mould or humus upon the surface, and if they go be- 

 low that, and bring up sand, and yellow or pale earth, and 

 mingle with it, of course it must dilute and impair its fertility. 

 They certainly know that their soils are superficial and weak 

 enough already, without going down to bring iip that whicli 

 cannot sustain, as they suppose, a blade of grass. They reason 

 thus because chemistry has not taught them its important les- 

 sons. They are not aware that that which lies deep below the 



