170 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



tion. Can an animal have bones, or blood, or muscles, unless sup- 

 plied with food that contains the principles of these animal constitu- 

 ents ? To suppose it, is contrary to common sense. The food of 

 plants is furnished by the soil in which they grow, and the atmos- 

 phere. Hence, the soil must contain every portion of vegetable con- 

 stituent not furnished by the air. If it does not contain it, plants 

 will not flourish. They may have a feeble and sickly existence, but 

 cannot flourish. In agricultural productions, if the soil does not con- 

 tain it, the crops will be small, at best ; perhaps not paying the labor 

 of tillage. Let the farmer study this subject. To aid him we recom- 

 mend to him a popular Treatise on Vegetable Physiology, published 

 by Lea & Blanchard, or Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry. 



FORCE, COMPARATIVE, OF MEN AND HORSES. There are several 

 curious as well as useful observations in Desagulier's Experimental 

 Philosophy, concerning the comparative forces of men and horses, and 

 the best way of applying them. A horse draws with the greatest 

 advantage when the line of direction is level with his breast ; in such 

 a situation, he is able to draw two hundred pounds eight hours a day, 

 walking about two miles and a half an hour. Arid if the same horse 

 is made to draw two hundred and forty pounds he can work but six 

 hours a day, and cannot go quite so fast. On a carriage, indeed, 

 where friction alone is to be overcome, a middling horse will draw 

 one thousand pounds. But the best way to try a horse's force is by 

 making him draw up out of a well, over a single pulley or roller ; 

 and in such a case, one horse with another will draw two hundred 

 pounds. Five men are found to be equal in strength to one horse, 

 and can, with as much ease, push round the horizontal beam of a 

 mill, in a walk only nineteen feet wide ; whereas, three men will do 

 it in a walk forty feet wide. 



The worst way of applying the force of a horse, is to make him 

 carry or draw up hill ; for if the hill be steep, three men will do more 

 than a horse, each man climbing up faster with a burden of one hun- 

 dred pounds weight, than a horse that is loaded with three hundred 

 pounds, a difference which is owing to the position of the parts of the 

 human body being better adapted to climb than those of a horse. 

 On the other hand, the best way of applying the force of a horse, is in 

 an horizontal direction, wherein a man can exert least force ; thus a 

 man, weighing one hundred and forty pounds, and drawing a boat 

 along by means of a rope coming over his shoulders, cannot draw 

 above twenty-seven pounds, or exert above one-seventh part of the 

 force of a horse employed to the same purpose. The very best and 

 most effectual posture in a man, is that of rowing ; wherein he not 

 only acts with more muscles at once for overcoming the resistance, 

 than in any other position ; but as he pulls backwards, the weight of 

 his body assists by way of lever. 



FOREST. In Geography. The Caledonian and Hercyirvu 



