414 



FARMERS- REGISTER. 



[No. 7 



suffices for the apple and the pear, lliey equally 

 prove that diH'ereiU foods are required for the ap- 

 ple and the |)each. It is said even, that the fruit 

 I'rom the peach-oTafton the ainnond, is not precisely 

 the same with that from a peai^li-^iraft on a plum. 



It may be offered as another ar<j;uinent 1o the 

 same eilcci, that all animal and vegetable decom- 

 positions answer indiscriminately as manure?. 

 The fact is not precisely so. Certain manures 

 succeed best with certain j)lants. It is true, never- 

 theless, that animal and veijetable sabslances in 

 a decomposed state, are ofenerally manures for 

 plants. Fish even, an animal ti-om the water, is 

 Buccessfully used as a manure for Indian corn and 

 other crops. But this and similar exam|)les prove 

 only that some ingredients are the same in nil ani- 

 mals and plants, not that all the ingredients in 

 each are the same. 



The chemist, though as yet a fellow student as 

 much as a preceptor of the agriculturist, justly 

 claims attention lo the result of his processes. 

 From that source we learn that the number of 

 known elements, not 3-et decomposable, is between 

 forty and fifty; that about seven or eio'ht belong to 

 the organs of plants, that different elements enter 

 into the composition of the same plant; and that 

 they are combined in different numbers and in 

 ditlerent proportions, in ditierent plants. Suppos- 

 ing then, as must be supposed, that these differ- 

 ent elements, in their actual quantities and pro- 

 portions, are adapted to the quantities and the 

 proportions of the existing varieties of plants; it 

 would happen in so great a change as that in 

 question, with respect to the number and variety 

 of plants, that the quantities and the proportions 

 of the elements, would not be adapted to the par- 

 ticular kinds and numbers of" plants retained by 

 man for his own use. Like the types of the alpha- 

 bet, apportioned to the words composing a par- 

 ticlar book, when applied to another book ma- 

 terially ditierent in its contents, there would be, of 

 some a deficiency, ol" others a useless surplus. 



Were it less difficult to admit that all the sour- 

 ces of productiveness could be exclusively appro- 

 priated to the food of man, is it certain that an 

 obstacle to his indefinite multiplication would not 

 be encountered in one of the relations between the 

 atmosphere and organized beings? 



Animals, including man, and plants may be re- 

 garded as tlie most important part of the terrestri- 

 al creation. They are pre-eminent in their attri- 

 butes; and all nature teems with their varieties 

 and their multitudes, visible and invisible. To all 

 of them, the atmosphere is the breath of Wfe. 

 Deprived of il, they all equally perish. But it 

 answers this purpose by virtue of its appropriate 

 constitution and character. What are these? 



The atmosphere is not a simple, but a compound 

 body. In its least compound state, it is under- 

 stood to contain, besides what is called vital air. 

 others noxious in themselves, yet without a por- 

 tion of which, ihe vital air becomes noxious. 

 But the atmosphere in its natural state, and in its 

 ordinary communication with the organized world, 

 comprises various mgredienis or modifications of 

 ingredients, derived from the use made of it by 

 the existing variety of animals and plants. The 

 exhalations and perspirations, the effluvia and 

 transpirations of these are continually charging 

 the atmosphere with a heterogeneous variety and 

 immense quantity of matter, which together must 



contribute to the character which fits it for its 

 destined purpose, of supporting the life and health 

 of organized beings. Is it unreasonable to sup- 

 pose, thiit if, instead of the actual composition 

 and character of the animal and vegetable crea- 

 tion, to which the atmosphere is now accommo- 

 dated, such a composition and character, of that 

 creation, were substituted, as would result from 

 a reduction of the whole to man and a lt;w kinds 

 of animals and plams; is the supposition unrea- 

 sonable that the change might essentially afi'ect 

 the aptitude of the atmosphere for the functions 

 required of it; and that so great an innovation 

 might be found, in this respect, not to accord with 

 the order and economy of nature? 



The relation of the animal part, and the vege- 

 table part of the creation to each other, through the 

 medium of the atmosphere, ccmies in aid of the 

 reflection suggested by the general relation be- 

 tween the atmosphere and both. It seems to be 

 now well understood, that the atmosphere, when 

 respired by animals, becomes unfitted for their fur- 

 ther use, and fitted for the absorption of vegeta- 

 bles; and that when evolved by the latter, it is 

 refitted for the respiration of the former: an inter- 

 change being thus kept up, by which this breath 

 of life is received by each, in a wholesome stale, 

 in return for it in an unwholesome one. 



May it not be concluded from this admirable ar- 

 rangement and beautiful feature in the economy 

 of nature, that if the whole class of animals were- 

 extinguished, the use of" the atmosphere by the 

 vegetable class alone, would exhaust it of its lifis- 

 supporting power; that in like manner, if the whole 

 class of vegetables were extinguished, the use of 

 of it by the animal class alone, would deprive il 

 ol"its fitness for their support? And if such would 

 be the efiect of an entire destruction of either 

 class, in relation to the other, the inlijrence seems 

 to press itself upon us, that so vast a change in 

 the proportions of each class to the other, and in 

 the species composing the respective classes, as 

 that in question, might not be compatible with the 

 continued existence and health of' the remaining 

 species of the two classes. 



The immensity of the atmosphere, compared 

 with the mass of animals and vegetables, forms 

 an apparent olijection only to this view of the sub- 

 ject. The comparison could at most suggest 

 questions as lo the period of time necessary to ex- 

 haust the atmosphere of its unrenewed capacity 

 to keep alive animal or vegetable nature, when 

 deprived either, of the support of the other. And 

 this period contracts itself at once to the imagina- 

 tion, when it is recollected lliat the immensity of 

 the atmosphere is the efiect of its elasticity and 

 rarefaction. We know, from the barometer, that 

 condensed to the specific gravity of mercury, its 

 rise above the surface of" the earth would be but 

 about thirty inches; and from the well pump, that 

 condensed to the specific gravity only of water, 

 which is nearly the same with that of ihe human 

 body, its rise would be little more than as many 

 feet; that is, a little more than five limes the hu- 

 man stature. It is liiund that a single human per- 

 son employs in respiration not less than sixteen or 

 eighteen limes his own weight of common air, in 

 every twenty-four hours. In difierent degree.", 

 some greater, some less, the case is the same with 

 most other animals. Plants make a correspon- 

 dent use of air for their purposes. 



