THK FARMEil'S MAGAZINE. 



71 



The greatest efforts are now made to produce the largest 

 quantity of wheat, the largest quantity of oats, the largest 

 quantity of beans, and so on ; and we are introducing 

 into this country from abroad seeds of various kinds, 

 which are all supposed to have one characteri-tic in 

 common, namely, that they possess a hrge amount of 

 nutritive power. We get locust beans and Indian wheat 

 because they are substances which are so valuable that 

 they will bear the expense of importation to this country. 

 The straw — I am speaking now of plants that have given 

 their seed — the straw has been searched, as it were, by 

 the production of the seed, and has had nearly the whole 

 of the nutritive power taken from it ; the roots, in like 

 manner, have had their more valuable materials taken 

 from them, and condensed into the seed ; and hence, 

 gentlemen, the seed is that to which I would have you 

 pay special attention. I have now to speak on another 

 point, namely, the effect of manures on the production 

 of plants. Before doing that, let me observe that what 

 we call the roots of turnips and mangel wurzel are not, 

 botanically speaking, roots, but bulbous formations, in- 

 tended to accumulate the necessary materials for the 

 production of seed in a subsequent year. Now as regards 

 the growth of plants, there is one thing which ought to 

 be borne in mind by those who are practically engaged 

 in the work, namely, that you may over-produce a 

 thing, or stimulate one portion of a plant to the detri- 

 ment of another portion. You know that if you sow 

 wheat upon a dunghill you will get straw, and no grain. 

 The reason of this is obvious ; and it applies not merely 

 to wheat, but to a great many other plants to which it 

 is not generally supposed to apply : it is, that the action 

 of too large an amount of stimulating manure at an early 

 peiiod is, to cause the formation of large cellular tissues, 

 by which the power of the manure is thrown too much 

 into the formation or production of the first portion of 

 the plants ; and when you want afterwards to fill the 

 cells with the materials of nutrition, it turns out that 

 you have stimulated the plant too much, and that you 

 have nothing to follow on with. In the case of turnips 

 the result is simply this, that you have a large develop- 

 ment of leaf, and too great an extension of the cellular 

 tissues of the turnip, which cells do not subsequently 

 get filled up with the proper amount of starch and other 

 nutritious substances, In the case of wheat the result 

 is similar. You may stimulate wheat, or barley, or 

 oats to such an extent that the product will be all stalk, 

 there being no power to produce the ear of corn ; or 

 if the ear be produced, it will contain no seed, 

 or seed of inferior quality. It is for this rea- 

 son — the question being one to which my atten- 

 tion has been directed for some years — that I have re^ 

 commended the use of salt and lime, and other sub- 

 stances of the same kind, which have the power of 

 arresting the too-early growth of wheat or other straws 

 when your object is to obtain the ear. I think this 

 cannot be repeated too often, for I am sorry to say that, 

 notwithstanding all that has been said on the subject, 

 the facts do not seem to be yet sufficiently appreciated 

 by those who are practically engaged in agriculture. 

 There are only a certain number of weeks after the 

 first germination of wheat occurs, before the ear is 

 formed. Now if you can stop the too great growth of 

 the straw in the early period before the formation of 

 the ear, the power of the manures which you have 

 put on the land will be thrown directly on the second 

 period of the life of the plant, the seed will be greater 

 in quantity, and the sai;nple of corn undoubtedly better. 

 I cannot cite a better illustration of this than that which 

 is afforded by the experience of the last year, when we 

 had, as a general rule, too much straw, and too little 

 corn. If you do what I have referred to, in any single 

 case, when you ultimately want the last product of the 

 plant you will find that you have done wrong. On the 



other hand, if you require the earlier product of the plant, 

 if you require the mere grass or hay, you cannot manure 

 too highly with ammoniacal and phosphatical matteis in 

 order to obtain the largest quantity of produce. In 

 all cases in which you want the early product, the grass 

 or hay, you cannot do better than apply ammonical and 

 soluble phosphatical manures to the greatest extent in 

 your power. As regards the substances produced by 

 vegetables for the use of animals, I must call your 

 special attention to three which are required for the 

 maintenance of animal life. Let me lake first the great 

 basework of the animal, the bones or the osseous system. 

 Unless the vegetables on which the animal lives contains 

 the mineral matter which is derived from the earth, in 

 sufficient amount to furnish the animal with the re- 

 quisite phosphate of lime and other substances, the 

 animal system cannot be maintained. Then, again, there 

 is the muscular system by which the motion of the 

 animal is obtained. We have from various matters the 

 formation of the nervous system, which gives nervous 

 energy to the animal, and conveys the power of volun- 

 tary and involuntary motion. Beyond this, there is the 

 necessity connected with all vegetable matters that they 

 should contain a sufficient amount of materials for keep- 

 ing up what is called animal heat, a certain temperature 

 being essential to their very existence. We have, thus, 

 three points presented to our view in connection v/ith 

 this part of my subject. Now, reverting to the condi- 

 tion of different varieties of vegetable substances whicli 

 I have mentioned — namely, the roots, the stems, and 

 the seeds — I have to state most distinctly that the seeds 

 contain the greatest amount of the most essential mate- 

 rials ; they contain the largest quantity of phosphates 

 and of those substances which form the muscles of 

 man, and of the oleaginous and starchy matters required 

 for respiration and the production of fat. Now, I must 

 remark that the elements of nutrition consist of 

 four organic substances— carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, 

 and nitrogen. These arc the component parts 

 of all those portions of our bodies which give 

 us the power of motion ; and there is no por- 

 tion, that I am aware of, where nitrogen is not 

 found, which gives us any power of motion or action. 

 On the other hand, the elements of respiration and pro- 

 ducers of fat consist of substances containing carbon, 

 hydrogen, and oxygen, but no nitrogen, which is the 

 essential element of Hesh. The substances found in 

 vegetables are oil, fat, cane sugar, grape sugar, 

 sugar of milk, starch, gum, mucilage, &c. Now I must 

 explain the use of these substances, I cannot illustrate 

 this better than by referring to the composition of milk. 

 Milk contains sugar of a peculiar composition, called 

 sugar of milk; it contains caseine, albumen, and several 

 other nitrogenous substances, and is found to be adapted 

 for the growth of animals ; it is in fact that which na- 

 ture has herself perfectly 'adapted for their growth, and 

 we cannot do better than approach near the point which 

 is presented in the production of the natural food of ani- 

 mals whose stomachs are delicate and young. But let 

 us separate these. One of the first necessities of life is, 

 that the animal heat should be kept up, and that a 

 sufficient quantity of certain substances should be taken, 

 which serve to maintain the temperature of the body. 

 These substances are found to rank chemically in 

 a category corresponding with that in which charcoal, 

 coke, and coal are placed by chemists, or by those who 

 manufacture steam-engines, or any other species of 

 machinery in which fuel has to be consumed. When 

 we have the proper power we have to eliminate that 

 power, to produce it in various forms according to the 

 direction of our own mind or will. But we cannot do 

 this without the fuel. The consequence of our attempts 

 to do so would be a cessation of existence; but 

 through the use of the proper amount of power, the 



