^Ij 362 THE GENESEE FARMEE. ' (f^ 



the production of plants, for she never plows, nor harrows, nor hoes the earth to obtain 

 her most abundant fruits. His policy was purely a theory, or the ideal of a close 

 thinking mind. He viewed and contemplated soils in this light : A sqivare foot of 

 impervious earth presents only 144 square inches to the chemical action and mellowing 

 influence of the atmosphere. If a cubic foot of this solid earth was exposed, then six 

 8ide,s in place of one would come in contact with the air, and bring 8G4 square inches 

 instead of 144 under the control of serial powers. If this mass of earth were cut up 

 into cubic inches, it would form 1728, each of which would present six sides to atmos- 

 pheric agencies, making an aggregate surface of 10,368 square inches. In each of these 

 cubic inches there are 1*728 cubic lines, each of which would present six equal surfaces, 

 and be, like the cubic foot, equally capable of subdivision ; and so on ad infinitum. 

 TuLL saw that tillage does no more than comminute the soil ; and that this pulverization 

 really makes the desired pasture for the roots of all cultivated plants. 



If it be in our time profitable, and a general practice to stir the earth above and near 

 the roots of maize, which is a cereal, with a plow, cultivator, or hoe, may not growing 

 wheat plants be cultivated, or horse-hoed, with equal benefit ? On this point we have 

 no doubt whatever. The soil between rows of rice (another cereal,) is profitably culti- 

 vated, as it is in the production of both sweet and Irish potatoes, in the culture of 

 tobacco, cotton, sugar-cane, beans, peas, and garden vegetables. What is the fall 

 meaning, what the occult changes in the soil, wrought by the most perfect tillage ? 



First, It enables the arated mold, loam, or clay and sand, to absorb and condense 

 from the atmosphere all the gaseous elements of crops, and particularly ammonia. 

 When plants and animals die and rot on the ground, as they ever do in a state of nature, 

 a large portion of their weight and substance is diffused through the air in well known 

 gases. Hence it is that the atmosphere is charged with the food of plants, and may, 

 when wise farmers shall know how to command this food, feed growing grain and roots 

 for indefinite ages. That vegetable mold, mellow loam, and well pulverised clay, do 

 absorb all the combustible elements of crops from the atmosphere, is not to be disputed. 

 The only debateable points are the condition of the soil most favorable to the conden- 

 sation of gases, and whether it will pay so to till the ground on which wheat plants are 

 growing in straight rows as to depend mainly or wholly on the atmosphere for carbonic 

 acid, nitric acid, and ammonia. To eleminate potash, soda, lime, and magnesia, from 

 their insoluble silicates in the debris of rocks, from which the staple of all soils is derived, 

 they need a good deal of what is technically called organic matter, viz : ammonia and 

 carbonic acid. Hitherto intelligent farmers have depended on vegetable mold and 

 manure for solvents of the silicates, phosphates, chlorides, and sulphates of alkalies 

 and alkaliiie earths, so necessary to supply the incombustible, inorganic part of plants, 

 which is called ashes when they are burnt. But adopting both the theory and practice 

 of TuLL, with slight modifications, induced by the light of modern science and discoveries, 

 experiments are now being made in England, with every prospect of success, to draw all, 

 or nearly all, the organic food of growing plants from the air, without the aid of guano, 

 or manure of any kind. Tull's leading idea was, that the cheapest manure in the world 

 exists unseen and mostly in a latent state, in the soil and atmosphere, and in quantity 

 sufficient for all practical purposes in all coming time. The soundness of this view must 

 depend mainly on our success in drawing ammonia and carbonic acid, and, perhaps, 

 chlorine, sulphur, and phosphorus, (which abound in a volatile and gaseous condition,) 

 from the atmosphere. 



The Rev. S. Smith, of Lois-Weedon Vicarage, in Northampton, England, has succeeded 



in growing six or eight successive crops of wheat on the same acre, without any other 



manure than such as a soil finely tilled, twenty inches in depth, abstracted from the 



atmosphere. Of course many more years must elapse before the enduring advantages 



■ w of this TuUian system can be fully demonstrated. i p 



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