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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



vehicle to the plant wherein it might strii<e its roots, 

 and also to the ingredients which were added as food for 

 its development and maturity. So it matters not how 

 destitute of every nutritive element a soil may be, 

 if it do not contain any substance noxious to vegeta- 

 tion — provided it can be supplied with the constituents 

 of the plant which is to grow from it. If those con- 

 stituents may be so placed in close proximity to 

 the roots that they may be all absorbed by the plant 

 in the course of its development, there is no necessity 

 of placing in the soil a larger quantity than will be 

 assimilated by the plant. In other words, if the analysis 

 of the ashes of the plant shows that it has absorbed, say 

 ten grains of the various elements added to the soil, and, 

 in respective quantities, if it were possible to introduce 

 those substance in so close a proximity to the roots that 

 the whole might be integrally assimilated, there is no 

 doubt but the mere addition of exactly ten grains of the 

 mixture, in the same proportion as found in the ashes, 

 would be quite sufficient to insure the normal develop- 

 ment of the plant. 



It must be admitted, however abstract the foregoing 

 proposition may be, that if the principle it propounds 

 could be practically applied, it would be the very limit 

 to which progress can attain ; and as I have already re- 

 marked, it is impossible not to perceive that it is to that 

 concentration and simplification of means that we are 

 now directing all the efforts of our skill, knowledge, and 

 ingenuity. 



Boussingault, in his recent experiments in the pro- 

 duction of what he calls a limit plant, has proved that 

 the seeds of many plants contain the necessary quantity 

 of nitrogen, not only for the germination of the plant 

 and the nutrition of the nascent stem and leaves before 

 the radicles ha^e been sufficiently developed to draw a 

 supply from the soil, but also to the production of a 

 perfectly organized plant, though exceedingly reduced in 

 its dimensions. In fact, such a plant — after several 

 months' existence in the open air, or even in a confined 

 atmosphere — has been found to weigh but very little more 

 than the seed from which it sprang. This clearly shows 

 that the extent of the organism of that plant was limited 

 by the quantity of the nitrogenous principles contained 

 in the seed ; but as soon as he applied to the soil (ex- 

 clusively composed of calcined quartz sand, not contain- 

 ing a particle of decomposed matter or mineral manure) 

 a small quantity of phosphate of lime, nitrate of potash, 

 and vegetable ashes rich in silicate of potash, the plant 

 immediately sprang up from its torpor, and grew luxuri- 

 ant and strong, bloomed, and brought forth matured 

 seed as well and as rapidly as another plant of the same 

 kind had done upon a garden-strip richly manured. 



This experiment clearly shows that the soil upon 

 which the plant grew exercised no immediate infiueuce 

 whatever apon the growth of the plant, as far as its nu- 

 trition went, but merely as a vehicle for heat and mois- 

 ture, as well as the holder of the plant and of the pure 

 mineral salts upon which it lived and developed itself. 

 This naturally leads us to ask the question, whether, 

 instead of incurring great expense and trouble in ma- 

 nuring the soil thoroughly with heaps of dung contain- 

 ing but a small percentage of fertilizing matter, which 

 is still reduced and less available to the plant by being 

 disseminated over a larger surface than the roots of the 

 plant can possibly compass, it be not possible to manure 

 the seed itself, that is, surround it by a crust formed of 

 the very mineral substances which are necessary to its 

 growth, in the same proportion as they are found to exist 

 in the seed , and in a sufficient quantity to represent exactly 

 the weight of the aggregate mineral substances which 

 are abstracted from the soil by the well-matured normal 

 plant .' This crust could then be considered as the mere 

 extension of the seed to a larger bulk ; and as the seed 



contains what is necessary to feed germination, and even 

 to form a complete plant, though limited in weight to 

 the extent of food contained in the seed, so the seed 

 being increased to any required number of times its size 

 and weight by the agglomeration of substances, such as 

 phosphates, nitrates, and silicates, would be enabled to 

 supply to the growing plant the necessary elements of 

 normal growth and perfect maturity. 



VI. 



This is indeed no new theory, and many have been 

 the attempts even in times of remote antiquity to realize 

 it in a practical manner. Many are the inventors of 

 wonderful liquids, in which the seeds were to be steeped, 

 and thereby imbibe all the required elements of nutri- 

 tion and fertility. All these have failed, not because the 

 principle was not a sound one, but because it was not 

 properly applied. For it is obvious that a liquid 

 manure, however rich in fertilizing elements, could not 

 fix these round the seed in a sufficient quantity so as to 

 increase its store of nutritive matters — this can only be 

 done in a solid form. Then, until very recently there 

 was also the insuperable difficulty arising from ignorance, 

 science not having yet shed the light of its discoveries on 

 the mysteries of vegetation ; and the wonderful action 

 of phosphates, nitrates, and silicates upon vegetation, al- 

 though practically known, had not been determined with 

 sufficient minuteness and accuracy to lead to anything like 

 an authentic formula of proportion and quantity. But 

 failures, however complete they may be, in carrying out 

 great ideas, are no arguments against a renewal of efforts ; 

 and when those failures, as in the case of steam-engines, 

 railways, reaping-machines, or the application of steam 

 to the cultivation of the soil, are found to act rather as in- 

 centives to the ingenuity of men, instead of damping 

 their energy and the buoyancy of their hopes, we know 

 it from the experience of the last thirty years that it is 

 a sure sign that the idea is good, and will be ultimately 

 carried out. 



VII. 



But there are objections to this system. What sys- 

 tem is free from objections ? Some say that the mineral 

 matter with which the seed is enveloped, on being dis- 

 solved in the soil, will settle immediately around the 

 neck of the roots, which will naturally dive away from 

 it, and it will then become useless to the progress of the 

 plant after it has attained a certain development. I be- 

 lieve thitt this objection is more specious than real ; for 

 every one must have observed that when a seed has fallen 

 upon a manure heap, and there germinated to a plant, if 

 that plant be pulled up, it is found that the roots are 

 very short and shaggy, and do not seem to have pene- 

 trated beyond a very limited area, the number of rootlets 

 making up for the deficiency of their length. This 

 seems to me easily accounted for ; because the roots, 

 finding in their immediate vicinity a sufficient supply of 

 nutritive elements, have no inducement to dive at any- 

 great length in search of them. The instinct displayed 

 by the roots in search of food is truly wonderful, and 

 many examples of their astounding sagacity might be 

 adduced. I have read somewhere the instance of the 

 radicle of a plant diving to the depth of many feet, and 

 fixing itself into a bone that was buried there, and in 

 search of which it had evidently dived at so unusual a 

 distance from the surface. It is not, therefore, un- 

 natural to surmise that the roots of the plants, finding 

 within their immediate vicinity all the nutriment re- 

 quired for the plant whose mouths they are, quietly settle 

 in that spot, and contentedly relinquish their erratic 

 propensities. 



VIII. 



However plausible this and other objections may be, 

 the best test, after all, is the test of experience ; and that 

 system, which I have called, for want of a better word, 



