THE CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



CHAPTER II. 



KINDS" AND CONDITIONS OF MATTER. THE ELE- 

 MENTARY CONSTITUENTS OF PLANTS. 



All matter in existence, presents itself to our view in two 

 forms only. The solid rock, the water of the ocean, the 

 atmosphere, the plants which clothe the earth's surface and 

 the animals which move over it; are all formed of two kinds 

 of matter which are called organic and inorganic. Of all 

 these everything w r hich is and has been devoid of life, is 

 classed under the head of inorganic substances; w r hile liv- 

 ing bodies whether plants or animals or the remains of 

 these, are classed as organic matter. There are cases in 

 which the two classes seem to approach very closely if not 

 to mingle; but this is only apparently and not in fact, for 

 the distinction between them is broad and marked and 

 must appear on a close examination. This distinction is life. 

 Anything which has lived, w r hich has performed any of the 

 various functions of life how r ever simple and low in char- 

 acter these may have been, is organic matter; and all else 

 is inorganic. Thus while the rocks and the soil are classed 

 among inorganic substances, yet the coal which we find 

 imbedded deep in the bowels of the earth, or the soft porous 

 sand or fine clay which is known as infusorial earth, or 

 the limestone which is made up of an infinite number of the 

 skeletons and shells of microscopic animals, are organic 

 substances; because the coal has been formed from various 

 mosses and ferns, wdth the larger plants and great trees, 

 which have lived and died and fallen and have in time 

 been buried under the soil brought by vast floods, and have 

 formed the beds of coal now lying under thousands of feet 

 in thickness of rocks. And the minute insects which have 

 lived and died in the primeval oceans have all been en- 

 dowed with life ; although they appear to the casual obser- 



