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170 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



infinite Power and Wisdom. Chemists are agreed in one general opinion, which has Leen satisfac- 

 torily proved, that, 8uppo3i)ig the air in general, or atmospheric air, to consist of 100 parts, only 

 about 28 of those parts ai'e adapted to the support of animal life ; the other parts are for the nour- 

 ishment of vegetables. We see vegetables grow more rapidly in cities than in the country, which 

 confirms the theory ; as in cities the air has a greater propoition of putrefaction, consequently more 

 of that kind of air suitable for the growth of plants than in the conntry. We further observe, where 

 a compost is made of putrefying substances, as fish for instance, vegetables at a d/staiice frmn the heap 

 of compost grow luxuriciitly, which must be from the putrified air proceeding from the compost, and 

 absorbed by the leaves or blades of the vegetables. We frequently sec in flower pots hyacinths and 

 other vegetables growing rapidly and coming to perfection, supported by the mouth of the flower 

 pot, tlie pots being filled with water oidy, in Avhich we see the roots growing and extending in pro- 

 portion to the stalks, leaves, and flowera Here the plant receives all its nourishment from the air 

 and water imbibed by its roots and branches. The sedu.m anacampseros, or evergreen, too, we fie- 

 quently see hung up by a thread, growing very well without any water, and nourished only by the 

 air. It can not be thought more strange that the air should change into a plant, shrub, or tree, or 

 any other body_ than that they should be decomposed and return to air again. This we sec jierformed 

 every day : for instance, the caudle by which I now write is continually diminishing and returning 

 to the great reservoir of nature, and there being worked up, will becume the food of vegelablea, 

 which being eaten by the ox becomes a part of his tallow, and it being made into candles, may at a 

 future period aft'ord me light to write a second time. If our theory be true, it follows that all vege- 

 tables are produced in their great variety by different kinds of air, which the chemists of the present 

 day would call inflammable air, vital or pure air, and mephitic or impure air- These different airs 

 being combined in the different organic strainers in a manner yet inexplicable,, composes their differ- 

 ent substances, and supports them in their vegetation, growth, and propagation. By some late exper- 

 iments it appears that fixed air, called by chemists carbonic gas, and is the same air Avhich makes 

 beer or cider foam when poured out of a bottle into a glass, or which makes the emptyings or yeast 

 raise the flour, or the springs of Saratoga and Ballston do the same, is very favorable to vegetation. 



"Ashes have a very powerful effect in the sotithern part of the State, as a manure, although they 

 are not a puti-ified substance. The salts of ashes, called by chemists alkali, have the power of attract- 

 ing the nitrous air from the atmosphere in great abundance. This is seen by boiling water leached 

 from earth taken from covered places, where as soon as you add a little lye from ashes, the nitre, 

 which before adhered to the earthy parts in the water, immediately disengages itself from the earthy 

 parts suspended in the water, and adheres to the lye, which makes the saltpetre we use, and which 

 is one of the most powerful manures. Again, if a heap of dirt is put under cover and frequently 

 sprinkled with lye, the attraction of nitre from the atmosphere wdl be so great, that in a short time 

 the heap will be covered with nitre, in appearance to hoar frost. Tliis nitre is part of Jhe air, [true,] 

 and being found by experience to be good manure, must be a part of the vegetable production, whicL 

 when decompounded, or becoming dissolved by putrefaction or otherwise, returns again into tlie air. 

 The fixed air (carbonic acid) escaping from all fermented, vegetable substances, as well as from those 

 which are in a putrifying state, shows that fixed air composed a considerable part of their substances, 

 and consequently must be one of the best manures. 



" If we extend our ideas a little further, and consider that all flesh is grass, as the inspired writer 

 expresses it, and may be literally true, we may safely conclude that all animals as well as vegetables 

 are composed of air and water. Tlie grass is nourished and comes to perfection by these elements, 

 the ox eats the grass, and the man not only eats the ox but vegetables also ; and by the various 

 organizations of the plant, ox, and man, their different substances are produced, being originally from 

 the air and water. Dr. Priestly, by his impoi-tant discoveries, ha? greatly added to the knowledge 

 of analyzing the air, which is found capable of being divided and separated into all its different parts, 

 and has become a great scrurce of useful knowledge to the world. Physic has been greatly improved 

 by these late discoveries, and by it persons have been restored to health as by miracle. The philosophic 

 mind has been delighted in the experiments, in contemplating those marvelous works of nature, 

 which are upheld and directed by infinite Power and Wisdom. The agricultural interest^ too, expe- 

 riences the beneficial eft'ects of these discoveries iu procuring manures, by which subsistence for man 

 is afforded from old apd worn out fields." 



It is worthy of note that, fifty-five years ago, farmers in the Hudson and Mohawk 

 valleys had occasion to complain of " old and worn out fields ;" and Avhy ? Because 

 they,'like their descendants in our day, thought that the systematic study of nature's 

 laws in their connection with agriculture, was time and money thrown away. Had 

 L'HoMMEDiEU, Mitchell, Livingston, De Wit, Watkins, Beck, Clinton, Van Rens- 

 selaer, and others, been sustained in their patriotic efforts to elevate tillage and 

 husbandry to the dignity of an educated and honorable profession, this whole Republic 

 would now be something like a Paradise to live in. But instead of encouraging the 

 application of science to agriculture, there is not one acre of arable land in the United 

 States dedicated to experimental purposes for the advancement either of the science or 



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