800 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Messrs. Moore, Lynde, and Hersey were appointed a com- 

 mittee to report a list of subjects for investigation, and to 

 assign committees upon them. 



Messrs. Hadwen, Herrick, Moore, Grinnell, and Buell were 

 appointed a committee upon the holding of the country 

 meeting. 



Dr. Nichols read a paper upon " The Chemistry of Nitro- 

 gen in its Relation to Agriculture." 



THE CHEMISTKY OF NITROGEN IN ITS RELATIONS TO AGRI- 

 CULTURE. 



The element nitrogen, in its nature and chemical relation- 

 ships, is not clearly understood among farmers ; and this is 

 annoying to many, as it is constantly spoken of in agricul- 

 tural literature. The cause of this indistinct understanding, 

 or misapprehension, arises from the way in which it is neces- 

 sary to speak of it in relation to its cost or value as plant- 

 food, and of the office it subserves in vegetable physiology. 

 Nitrogen, in its naked or gaseous condition, is quite unlike 

 its various compounds ; and it is only in some one of its com- 

 binations that it possesses any interest for the farmer. It 

 has not been unusual for me to receive letters of inquiry 

 asking where nitrogen can be purchased by the pound or 

 ton, and what kind of vessels are needed to hold it. It is 

 certainly desirable that its nature should be better under- 

 stood. 



Nitrogen belongs to a class of bodies which are incapable- 

 of influencing any of the senses so far as to be recognized by 

 them. It cannot be seen, tasted, or touched, so as to produce 

 tangible impressions ; and it has no order. During all the 

 ages, until within a little more than a century, mankind were 

 wholly ignorant of its existence. It is a form of matter 

 found in a permanentl}^ aeriform state, or as a gaseous body, 

 which, under no ordinary or usual conditions, can be made to 

 assume a solid or liquid form. The atmosphere is its home 

 and hiding-place ; and therefore it is constantly in close prox- 

 imity with our bodies, and with every thing existing upon 

 the earth. It passes into the cavity of the lungs of all 

 breathing animals at every inspiration, traverses the circuit. 



