DBVOTSD TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES 



VOL. VIII. 



BOSTON, MARCH, 1856. 



NO. 3. 



JOEL NOURSE, Proprietor, 

 Office.. ..QuiNCT Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, EDITOR. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK, ) Associate 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, 5 Editors. 



ORGANIC AND INORGANIC MATTER. 



ANY allusions are 

 now made to scien- 

 tific terms in agri- 

 cultural articles, 

 and farmers are fre- 

 quently heard to re- 

 mark that they do 

 not comprehend the 

 precise meaning o' 

 the words "organ- 

 ic" and "inorgan- 

 ic," as appHed in agriculture. 

 They are at a loss where to 

 apply the proper distinction 

 •which they suppose ought to 

 be observed in judging of the 

 two forms as they occur in na- 

 , All living animals and plants, 

 and their carcases when the vitalizing 

 principle of life has left them, are 

 composed of organic or organized 

 matter. These are readily distinguished from in- 

 organic matter by a structure visible to the eye, as 

 observable in the fibres of hemp aad flax — the po- 

 rous structure of wood and flesh, and the more 

 complicated texture of hide and hair. Rocks and 

 soils — the waters of lakes and oceans — all thino-s. 

 m short, that do not live, which neither are nor 

 should be the medium of vitality, are to be includ- 

 ed under the general division of organic matter. 

 Plants and animals, of what.soever description, are 

 composed mainly of the four principal elements — 

 carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen. When 

 either animal or vegetable matter is burned, it loses 

 its texture, and disappears, leaving behind only a 

 slight residuum of ash. 



The substances alcove named, being derived from 

 the atmosphere, are released, and are termed or- 

 ganic elements, or constituents. All the various 

 forms and mutations observable in the animal and 

 vegetable kingdoms, arc attributable to the chemi- 



cal combinations, through the operation of the vital 

 principle of these primary elements. Vegetable 

 oil and starch, sugar and animal fat, are, by fire, 

 resolved into their original elements — carbon, ox- 

 ygen and hydrogen. These, with all substances of 

 a kindred nature, or character, are the result of, 

 and derived wholly from, organized matter. Wood 

 burned in the open air has its organic constituents 

 dissipated ; the inorganic particles only remaining. 

 In the ashes may he detected magnesia, lime, silex, 

 potash, oxide of iron, &c. These latter constitute 

 the inorganic substances in which no structure is 

 visible. Gum, sugar and starcli, are all formed in 

 plants, and yet are deficient in pores and fibres; 

 but being produced by the natural operation of 

 living organs, are included, with propriety, under 

 the head of organic matter. 



It would be well for our farmers if they could an- 

 alyze their crops, and also the soils in which they 

 are produced. Few, however, are competent to 

 this, and much, therefore, remains uncertain and 

 unexplained. But as time advances, and science 

 difl"uses its light over the earth, these mysteries will 

 radually pass away ; and the farmer Avill then dis- 

 cover that when he gathers in the rich fruits of his 

 laborious industryin the fall, he collects together 

 a portion of what was his soil, at seed time. In 

 his wheat he will detect lime, flint, and a portion of 

 clay. His Indian corn, a crop in which he justly 

 glories, contains also the same materials, though 

 differently modified in combination, and so do most 

 of the grains he cultivates. All vegetables must 

 have a certain proportion of mineral matter to per- 

 fect them, and it is consequently important that he 

 should understand how he can best supply them 

 by animal manures, or mineral applications where 

 there is a deficiency of power to supply them in 

 the soil itself. Animal manures contain these min- 

 eral ingredients in a soluble state, and consequently 

 in a condition the more perfectly adapted for im- 

 mediate appropriation. No particle of matter ca;i 

 enter into, or be assimilated by the vegetable or- 



