276 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



for the preparation of an essay of this important character," etc. 

 But the executive committee thought best to publish it, although 

 having no bearing upon the objects of their association. As well J 

 might they have published a paper on volcanoes and earthquakes. 

 We do, indeed, wish that our farmers were better informed in those 

 branches of geology which are calculated to advance their prospe- 

 rity, and we observe with pleasure that there is yearly an increase 

 among them of this kind of knowledge ; but they will be puzzled 

 to see the connection betv^reen pictures of fossil shells, and their 

 noblest of pursuits. An article on agricultural geology might be 

 written, which would deserve a place in such a work as the "Trans- 

 actions," but we do not find it here. 



3. We said " some had better never been written," because in 

 point of science it was false. And not to weary our readers, who, 

 we fear, are already tired of this discussion, we will examine but 

 one article, commencing on page 425 of the volume for 1843. 



In discussing the question, where the food and clothing for the 

 " countless myriads" of the human family must come from, it is said : 



" The atmosphere, and not the earth, is the great storehouse for 

 vegetable and animal food, designed for immediate use." Page 427. 



From this and what follows, we conclude that Mr. L. has read 

 Liebig, and adopted his theory without question, as regards vegetable 

 nutrition ; but this is taking but a one-sided view of the question. 

 If it had been said that the atmosphere is the great storehouse of 

 carbon, this might be true, and it might not ; for although they un- 

 doubtedly derive much of this substance from that source, they as 

 unquestionably do also draw much from the soil they grow in. Else 

 why does the farmer add, year after year, organic matters to the soil ? 

 It can not for a moment be believed that all the use of manures is to 

 restore the salts of which the earth has been deprived. If this be 

 true, would not the proper course be to apply them to the surface, 

 when the gases would be immediately dissipated through the air, to 

 be taken up by the leaves of plants ? But this is not the proper 

 course. They are buried, and the gases, as they are produced, are 

 absorbed by the porous earth, ready to be carried to the roots, or 

 taken up by them as they find them in their progress. That these 

 gases are absorbed in this way, is evident from one fact, that when 

 the carcase of any animal is covered with a slight quantity of earth, 

 none of the putrifying odor is perceived, which is so powerful when 



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