136 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



stock districts to that first introduced among the 

 irraziers on the south branch ol the Potomac. 

 The farmers in the norliiern and middle districts 

 of Kentucky, and in the Scioto valley of Ohio, 

 have generally adopted this latter mode; which 

 is to cut the stalks, corn, fodder and all, and place 

 them in shocks commonly embracing sixteen hills 

 square. 



I have seen the richest crops of many climates 

 gathered, and there is no operation in husbandry 

 so animating as that of cutting corn in the mode 

 just mentioned. It is a most cheering prospect to 

 see twenty acres of corn pass in one or two days 

 to a condition in which it is prepared to keep in the 

 field throughout the winter. This remark is pre- 

 dicated particularly upon the plan of riddling the 

 squares, instead of cutting the whole square at 

 once, it will readily occur to any observing mind, 

 that as corn does not ripen with precise regular- 

 ity, if the entire square is cut out at once, some 

 of the corn will mould and someiimes even the 

 Ibdder will be affected, if the cuttinir shall be Ibl- 

 lowed by warm or wet weather. To avoid this 

 contingency, some graziers commence with the 

 process of riddling, that is, they select only such 

 part of the sixteen hills square as may be ripe — 

 go through the field in this way, and in ten days 

 complete the cutting of the square. By this pro- 

 cess several important advantages are obtained — 

 the greatest amount ot" fodder is secured, con- 

 sistantly with the paramount object of saving the 

 corn, and a nucleus lor the shock being formed by 

 the first cutting in the square, the shock becomes 

 settled and stands belter during the winter. In 

 the rich counties of Clarke and Bourbon, they 

 sometimes cut half of the square on one side and 

 then in ten days finish it. Whilst many graziers 

 in Fayette, Lincoln and Slielby, prefer the process 

 of riddling. 



In the course of October and November, these 

 shocks are shucked out, the corn placed in cribs 

 and two of the shocks placed together, or one 

 placed upon the ground and two others put around 

 it. 



It is the opinion of practical farmers, that the 

 practice of cutting corn in this mode secures the 

 greatest amount oi" corn and fodder with the least 

 expense, and is decidedly an improvement on the 

 old Virginia plan, more especially when applied 

 to the feeding of cattle or mules. " T. 



From the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 



•ORGANIZATIOIV AND FUNCTIONS OF ANIMALS 

 AND VEGETABLES COMPARED. 



It is a very important preliminary to the study 

 for which I would gain the attention of jiraclical 

 men, that they understand the nature of plants; of 

 those organic creatures whose diseases they would 

 obviate; for an ignorance of, or an inattention to 

 this, is one of the causes that so little progress has 

 been made in this branch of natural phTlosophy. 

 It is absolutely necessary and important for them 

 to understand fully that this jiart of the creation, 

 the very grass they trample upon, is so liirrhly or- 

 ganized, so exhibiting intimations of the functions 

 more highly developed m the superior animals, 

 that it is not post-iblc to point out where animal 



life terminates, and where vegetable life begins ; 

 the zoophyte connects the two kingdoms. It is 

 absolutely necessary, I think, for this to be under- 

 stood and felt by those who enter upon the inves- 

 tigation of vegetable diseases, because I have a 

 strong opinion that these in many, very many in- 

 stances, are caused by the plants which they in- 

 fect being treated as if they were totally insensible, 

 inorganic matters, scarcely more susceptible of in- 

 jury at some periods of their growth than the soil 

 from whence they partly derive their sustenance. 



To determine the question whether plants pos- 

 sess a degree of sensation, is not so easy as many 

 persons may believe. "It is as difficult," says Mr, 

 Tupper, who has written ably upon the subject, 

 "to ascertain the nature of vegetable existence, as 

 to determine what constitutes the living principle 

 in animals." Darwin, by the aid of imaginary 

 beings similar to the Dryads and Ilarmadryads of 

 the classic mythology, has raised plants to a posi- 

 tion in the order of nature superior to that to 

 which animals are entitled. Other philosophers, 

 taking a totally antagonist opinion, estimate vege- 

 tables as bodies, only somewhat more organized 

 than crystals, but like these entirely and exclusive- 

 ly subject to chemical and mechanical changes. 



The above opinions are equally erroneous, as 

 will appear fi'om the facts arranged in the follow- 

 ing pages. It might easily be made to appear 

 that the gradation from reason to instinct, from in- 

 stinct to inanimation, is as gradual as the transitions 

 of light from the noon-tide to the midnight of a 

 summer's day; but this essay must be confined to 

 that section of creation that commences from the 

 close of the animal classes in the zoophyte, and 

 terminates where inorganic matter commences in 

 the crystal; and its details must be specially direct- 

 ed to demonstrate how closely it approaches, how 

 indistinctly it is divided from the former. 



Let us first consider the comparative composi- 

 tion of animals and plants demonstrated by the re- 

 searches of chemists. Their constituents are iden- 

 tical: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sul- 

 phur, phosphorus; acids, alkalies, earths, and me- 

 tals, are the common components of both. Ni- 

 trogen has been considered by some chemists as 

 the constituent, marking by its presence animal 

 from vegetable matters, but the distinction fails in 

 as much as that from some animal matters it is 

 absent; whilst in the gluten of plants, a chief con- 

 stituent of wheat, and in the whole frame of the 

 tobacco, it is present. 



If we follow the above chemical bodies through 

 their combinations, we shall find that these in ani- 

 mals and plant.? are closely similar; and in both 

 are equally numerous and intricate. 



Of the acids there are contained in 



Jlnhnals. J ^es;c tables. 



1. Sulphuric, L Sulphuric, 



2. Phosphoric, 2. Phosphoric, 



3. Muriatic, 3. Muriatic, 



4. Carbonic, 4. Carbonic, 



5. Benzoic, 5. Benzoic, 



6. Oxalic, 6. Oxalic, 



7. Acetic, 7. Acetic, 



8. Malic, 8. Malic, 



and others equally numerous in each, but not 

 common to both. Of the earths and alkalies, lime, 

 magnesia, silica, soda, and potass, are found in 

 each class. Of the metals, iron and manganese 

 are their conjoint conslituenls. 



