THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



643 



IMPORTAKT DISCOVERY IN AGRlCULTUUli:. 



I''rom tlie New York Evening Post. 

 Ill the Phalange, a Fourier paper pub- 

 lished at Paris, September 8tii, a novel disco- 

 very is described, whicii iC true will work a great 

 change in an important department of agricultur- 

 al labor. Ii is comiuunicated to the Paris [jriiii 

 by Chas. Poillard and JVI. Bernard, wlio daie 

 tlieir letter at Brest, August, 1S41. It appears 

 that while they and some of their friends, who 

 farm their own estates, were engaged in conversa- 

 tion on tiie subject ol' agriculture, it was observed 

 by one o( them that that branch of industry was 

 euHering more from the want of" capital and enter- 

 prise than any other, and tliat nothing was to be 

 done without manure, which was every day be- 

 coming more scarce and expensive. This remark 

 led to an inquiry into the properties of manure, 

 and panicu arly as to what provision nature liad 

 made in those uncultivated regions where there 

 eeems to be a vigorous and luxuriant growth, 

 without artificial assistance. 



" In observing nature unassisted, or unihwart- 

 ed rather, by The hand of man, in vegetable 

 reproduction, it is found that when the seed is 

 ripe it falls upon the ground, and then the plant 

 which has produced it sheds its leaves or falls it- 

 self upon it in decay, and covers and protects it 

 from the weather until generation has com- 

 menced, and the young plant is able to grow upin 

 health and strength and full developement, to 

 recommence the same routine of seeding and of 

 reproduction. 



" From this it Ibllovvs that, in nature, every 

 plant produces its own soil or humus, and that the 

 earth only serves to bear the plant and not to aid 

 or nourish it in vegetation. The nuurishment ol 

 plants is thus supposed to be derived from air and 

 water, heat and light, or electricity in different 

 proportions, adapted to the different varieties of 

 vegetable nature." 



With this general notion in their minds, and 

 considering wheat to be, in present circumstances, 

 one of the most important vegetable substances, 

 they agreed to try experiments, and in October 

 last undertook the following operations : 



In a field which had been sown with rye, be- 

 cause the land was deemed too poor for wheat, a 

 plot of twelve square yards, unlilled and left with- 

 out manure, was carefully strewed over with the 

 grains of wheat, and wheaten straw was laid upon 

 it closely, and about one inch in thickness. In a 

 garden, also, which had been neglected several 

 years, a few square rods of earth were trodden 

 over, and the surface being made close and hard, 

 some grains of wheat were scattered on this har- 

 dened surface, and a layer of straw one inch in 

 depth was carefully laid over it, and left, as in the 

 former case, to take its chance without ulterior 

 attention. And in order to make doubt impossi- 

 ble concerning the mere secondary functions of 

 mineral earth in vegetable reproduction, twenty 

 grains of wheat were sown upon the surface of a 

 pane of glass, and covered with some straw alone, 

 as in the other case. 



The germination of the seed was soon apparent 

 and most healthy in developement. " The winter 

 has been rigorous," eay these correspondents, " for 

 this part of the country, and the earl h has some- 

 times been frozen ia one solid mass to a depth of 



six inches in the garden where the wheat was 

 sown, and this has happened several times during 

 the winter, to the great injury ol many plants and 

 even the entire destruction of some ; while the spots 

 protected by the straw were never thoroughly 

 congealed, nor were the grains of wheat, though 

 lying on the surface under the straw, at all affect- 

 ed by the cold. During the spring excessive 

 droughts, prolonged and several times repeated, 

 having prevented vegetation on the common plan 

 from Hourishing in healthy progress, while our lit- 

 tle spots of wheat have hardly felt the inconve- 

 nience of excessive dryness, for the earth, protect- 

 ed by the siraw, has never been deprived entirely 

 of moisture, and our blades of corn were flourish- 

 ing when all around was drooping and uncertain. 

 To conclude, then, we have thoioughly succeeded 

 in our practical experiment, and the' wheat pro- 

 duced is of the finest quality. The straw was more 

 than six feet high, and in the ears were 50, 60, 

 and everi 80 grains of wheat of lull developement, 

 the admiration of all who saw them, and particu- 

 *larly those which grew upon the pane of glass, 

 and whxh were quite as healthy and as large aa 

 those which grew upon the common earth. It 

 must be observed also that there was not the 

 smallest particle of earih upon the glass, and that 

 the plants were left entirely to themselves, with- 

 out being watered or attended to in any way 

 whatever fi-om the time of sowing to the lime of 

 reaping." 



The cause of this success they think may be 

 explained in the following manner : 



" Straw being a bad conductor of heat, and a 

 good conductor of electricity, maintains the root 

 of the plant in a medium temperature, and pre- 

 vents the earth from being deprived entirely of 

 moisture. The moisture of the earth, or the sub- 

 stratum, being continual, facilitates the gradual 

 and consuvnt absorption of carbonic acid gas fi-otn 

 the surrounding atmosphere, and hydrogen and 

 carbon, the chief elements of nourishment to ve- 

 getables, are thus economized in regular supplies 

 where they are constantly required, and pass in 

 combination with oxygen from the roots up to the 

 stems and branches of the plants in which they 

 are assimilated, and the oxygen throws off in ex- 

 halation fi-om the leaves. The straw decays but 

 slowly, and thus furnishes its substance by degrees 

 to the young plant in due progression and propor- 

 tion, (such as the siliquous ingredients, for in- 

 stance, of the pod or capsule,) so that the de- 

 composition of the straw corresponds to the lour 

 phases of fermentation in progressing from the 

 saccharine to the alcaholic, the acid and iheptitrid 

 states, analogous to those of infancy, budding, 

 youth, and seeding o[ the plant. 



" We observe that our blades of wheat have 

 but a very few roots, and those are short and hard, 

 something like a bird's claw ; and this agrees willi 

 the remarks of Mons. Raspail, who states that 

 the most healthy plants in ordinary vegetation 

 have the least exuberance of roots and fibres. 



" Another important observation also, is, that 

 weeds, and parasitical vegetation are prevented 

 by this method, for the straw chokes every other 

 plant but that of its own seed. JNlany other inter- 

 esting observations might be made on these ex- 

 periments, but we refrain at present from obtrud- 

 ing on your readers ; but if any of them wish foe 

 further information on this subject we shall will- 



