8 MR. newiiall's address. 



.subject. Light now Bliines over pvimcval darkness, and the won- 

 drous economy of nature is revealed. 



The intelligent farmer now regards the atmosphere as the vast 

 magazine and storehouse of those materials from which the organic 

 parts of all animal and vegetable life is or has been derived. He 

 sees by chemical light, the invisible carbonic acid elaborated and as- 

 similated to the different forms of being ; and he knows that from 

 the soil the inorganic portion of the vegetable frame is obtained. 

 And in the wondrous round of growth and decay he perceives that 

 nothing is lost on the dissolution of organized life; One portion re- 

 turns to the earth and the other to the atmosphere in the form of gas, 

 ready to enter into new combinations of animal and vegetable life. 

 Thus growth, decay and putrifaction are but links in that endless 

 chain of motion which presents itself to view, and in the language of 

 the poet — 



"Look ronnrl the world ! behold the chain of love 



Combining all below and all above. 



See d3ing veget;il)les life sustain, 



See life dissolving, vegetate again. 



All forms that perish other forms supply, 



(By turns we catch the vital breath and die.) 



All served, all serving ; nothing stands alone ; 



The c^iain holds oHj and vi'here it ends unknown." 



All plants are built up of organic and inorganic materials. Their 

 organic portion consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. 

 When any vegetable is burned these organic substances disappear, 

 and become converted into invisible gas, while the inorganic por- 

 tions, which are derived from the soil, remain in the form of ashes. 

 For supplying the organic materials of plants, nature has made pro- 

 vision in the gases of the atmosphere, which the improvidence of 

 man can never destroy. But their inorganic portions, which are 

 contained in the soil, and which consist in part of lime, soda, potash, 

 magnesia, silicia, oxides, and sulfjhurets, he may so far exhaust as 

 to reduce the soil to a state of sterility. 



It should be the object of every farmer to guard against this 

 great error, by returning annually to his cultivated grounds more 

 vegetable food than was taken off by the preceding crop. Where 

 the raising of hay is the principal object, the turning of the green 

 sward during the latter part of summer, once in four or five years, 

 and immediately seeding down to grass, with a dressing of compost, 



