AGKICULTUKE. 



which led to the Crimean war ; the attempt to 

 assassinate him in 1859 ; and the Syrian mas- 

 sacres of 1860, were all so many obstacles to 

 his progress. To these might also be added his 

 natural indolence and love of sensual indul- 

 gence, his infirm health and his yielding disposi- 

 tion, which made him often the helpless prey of 

 the dissolute ministers and the rapacious harem 

 which controlled him. He has been succeeded 

 by his brother, Abdul Aziz Khan. 



AGRICULTURE is the art of cultivating the 

 earth in order to increase the quantity and im- 

 prove the quality of its productions. 



The practical farmer should be able to raise 

 from a given number of acres, the largest quan- 

 tity of the most valuable produce, at the least 

 cost, in the shortest period, and without perma- 

 nent injury to the soil ; and therefore the great 

 problem which the present age has to solve, 

 is the discovery of the means of producing on 

 a given area, a larger amount of bread and 

 meat to supply the wants of a continually in- 

 creasing population. 



The object of these remarks will not be to 

 give any history of agriculture, but rather to 

 show the advantages which have arisen from 

 the application of the sciences to its practice, 

 until it may now be truly said, in its present 

 status, to compose a science in itself, embracing 

 the operation of the natural laws in their most 

 extended sense, and covering, as part of its 

 accessories, much of geology, chemistry, etc. 



"We shall aim rather to demonstrate that 

 which experimental theories have culminated 

 during the last few years into exact knowledge, 

 than to give descriptions of the leading and 

 more prominent improvements in agriculture as 

 an art. It is now well understood that all known 

 primaries are to be found in the soil, itself be- 

 ing chiefly composed of the debris of rocks, 

 whence have arisen all of the primaries, except 

 those which have existed in more dilate form, 

 as in the atmosphere. 



For a long time it was supposed by chemists 

 that the analyses of plants and soils would fur- 

 nish a sure guide to the farmer in his selection 

 of the amendments requisite to the production 

 of crops. Recent investigations, however, prove 

 that these primaries, as found in the ashes of 

 a plant, differ materially in their functions, from 

 the same primaries existing in the rock or in 

 the soil, unless they have been redeposited in 

 the soil by the decay of organisms ; that each 

 primary, when taken up and appropriated by a 

 plant, and then restored again to the soil by 

 the decay of the plant, possesses functions which 

 are entirely distinct from those belonging to a 

 primary before its entrance into organic life : 

 and thus arable soils are composed in part of 

 inorganic matter which belonged originally to 

 the rocks, then to the soil, then formed a part 

 of organic life, and on being restored to the 

 soil, became ready to act as pabulum to a higher 

 organism ; and that each time a primary so en- 

 ters into organic life, it takes new functions and 

 qualities not belonging to its original condition, 



and not recognizable by analyses or microscopic 

 investigations. Thus we find that the feldspar 

 rock, containing seventeen per cent, of potash, 

 when ground to the finest powder, will not 

 supply potash directly to the higher class 

 of plants still a rock containing feldspar will 

 furnish potash to those of a lower class, such 

 as the lichens and mosses, etc. ; and on their 

 decay it returns to the soil in a progressed or ad- 

 vanced condition, capable of being assimilated 

 by a higher class of plant. 



It is for this reason that, while ground feld- 

 spar fails to prove a valuable amendment to 

 soils, requiring additions of potash, unleached 

 wood ashes so readily furnish plants with this 

 necessary alkali. 



The same truth is observable with phosphate 

 of lime, so readily assimilated by plants when 

 furnished in the form of animal bones, even 

 after they have been heated to redness, so that 

 the phosphate of lime which they contain is 

 freed from all surrounding matters. 



This same substance, without any differences 

 which may be recognized by the chemist, is 

 found in large quantities in what is known as 

 the phosphatic rocks, and some of them contain 

 ninety-five per cent, of pure phosphate of lime ; 

 still when this is ground to a powder it will not 

 be assimilated by the roots of plants in contact 

 with it ; and many soils formed in part of the 

 chlor-apatite rock require additions of more 

 progressed phosphate before their cultivation 

 can be rendered profitable. 



The same may be said of lime, for although 

 primitive limestone when burnt so as to render 

 it caustic, is valuable to the farmer as a means 

 of disintegrating other materials in the soil 

 from its chemical effects, yet lime so furnished 

 will not form direct food for plants, while lime 

 arising from organic decomposition is readily 

 assimilated by them. 



Two thousand bushels of lime, made by burn- 

 ing limestone rock of "Westchester Co., N". Y., 

 applied to a single acre, will render the land 

 sterile for many years, itself forming less than 

 two per cent, of the weight of this soil to a 

 depth of fifteen inches. 



There are many chalk farms, however, in 

 England, containing forty per cent, of carbon- 

 ate of lime, (which is the form which the 

 Westchester lime assumes before the farmer 

 uses it;) but this latter (chalk) has its origin in 

 organic decay, and therefore is readily assimi- 

 lated by plants to the extent they require lime 

 to form part of their ash when burned ; and 

 the quantity in excess is not unfriendly to sur- 

 rounding vegetable growth. 



Indeed this principle is true of each and all 

 the primaries in nature ; thus, old soils which 

 have been fairly and properly treated, are more 

 fertile than new ones. As a general principle, 

 therefore, it should be understood that, in the 

 selection of fertilizers, those taken from the 

 refuse of factories, etc., or at least from the 

 highest organic sources, should be preferred. 

 Many of the ingredients in the soil have the 



