132 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Sept. 1845 



WATER. 



T' ere is no other substance on the globe that plays 

 60 important a part, alike in the mineral, vegetable 

 and animal kingdoms as water. By measuring the 

 BUI lace and average depth of the oceani and the sur- 

 face andaveiage height of the dry lind, it will be seen 

 that the latter can be placed into the deep valleys 

 of the former so as to cover the whole planet with 

 ivatjr more than 7000 feet deep, according to the 

 calculations of De La Bache. The slratijied rocks 

 — those formed in water — on the Island of Great Brit- 

 ain are about 6J miles in thickness. The once per- 

 pendicular thickness of similar rocks in this country 

 according to Prof. Rogers, was not far from forty 

 thousand feet. These were formed partly by the so- 

 lution in water, like common salt, or the salts of 

 lime, but mainly by the mechanical wearing down 

 and removal of rocks that had a prior existence. 



Boyssingault states that liver water usually con- 

 tains l-30th in volume of air— ^and l-50th of carbon- 

 ic acid. As the atmosphere has only 1 part of car- 

 bonic acid to 2,600, it will be seen that for river wa- 

 ter to hold in solution 1 part of this acid gas to 60, 

 while it contains only 1 to 30 of common air, implies 

 that water has some 1500 times stronger affinity for 

 carbonic acid than it has for atmospheric air. This 

 affinity of water for carbonic acid, is a matter of 

 great practical importance in agriculture. Water 

 and this gas are capable of supplying more than nine 

 tenths of the whole weight and substance of cul- 

 tivated plants. Indeed the balance of the ingredients 

 found in vegetables, must be soluble in water, in order 

 to enter the minute pores in their roots, and circu- 

 late freely through their capillary vessels. 



Plants when subject to the action of solar light 

 and heat have the power to decompose both water 

 and carbonic acid. To form 9 lbs. of water, 8 lbs. of 

 an invisible, elastic gas called oxygen, combine chem- 

 ically, with 1 lb. of another invisible gas, wh'ch is 

 16 times lighter than oxygen, called hydrogen. To 

 make 22 lbs of corbonic acid, 6 lbs of a substance 

 like lamp black, called carbon, unites with 16 lbs of 

 oxygen. 



400 lbs of ripe potatoes taken from a hill and wash- 

 ed clean contain SOOlbs of undecomposed water. Of 

 the 100 lbs. of solid matter 94 J lbs. are carbon oxy- 

 gen and hydrogen ; or the elements of water and 

 carbonic acid. Of the balance (6J lbs) 4 are incom- 

 bustible minerals that make ashes, of which 62 per 

 cent are pure potash. One and a half per cent of 

 dry potatoes is another invisible gas called nitro- 

 gen, which forms about 79 parts in 100 of the air we 

 breathe. We have stated on the authority of Bous- 

 singault that river water holds in solution l-30th of 

 its volume of common air. 



Query: When water enters the circulation of 

 plants, by their roots, containing common air, a.s well 

 as carbonic acid, what is to prevent a plant from ap- 

 propriating the nitrogen in the air to its use, as 

 well as the undecomposed compounds called ivater 

 and carbonic acid ? If solar light will enable a plant 

 tc decompose water, carbonic acid and ammonia — 

 the latter is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen- 

 why may it not at least appropriate the nitrogen 

 brouL^ht into its laboratory in air like carbonic acid and 

 ammonia, dissolved in water ? Why should plants 

 have more power to decompose a weak solution of 

 nitrous, or nitric acid, formed as is supposed by thun- 

 der, or electric sparks in the heavens, than to sepa- 

 rate a weaker compound of nitrogen and oxygen in 

 common atmosphere ? The theories of Liebig, Du- 



mas, Bouesingault, Petzholdt and others, are far 

 from being satisfactory. But we do not wish to pur- 

 sue the subject of the agency of water in supplying 

 plants with nitrogen from the air. 



Water expands, on congealing into ice, about five 

 per cent. This expiinsion has a powerful effect in 

 hastening the decomposition of all substances in the 

 soil, penetrated by moisture and then frozen. The 

 separation of particles seems to destroy their previ- 

 ous cohesion, and the mass falls into a comparatively 

 loose friable heap. Fall plowing greatly favors this 

 operation. 



As both river and rain water hold carbonic acid in 

 solution, it is important to study the action of wa- 

 ter thus charged, on lime, granite and all other 

 rocks and their fragments. All cultivated plants 

 leave more or less mineral matter — ashes — when 

 they are burnt. Why are not leached ashes as solu- 

 ble in water after they have formed a part of an or- 

 ganized plant, as they were at the time they entered 

 its roots dissolved in water ? Why does not the 

 same ocean that holds lime, magnesia, soda and phos- 

 phoric acid in solution, dissolve the thin coral, and 

 the shell that covers the oyster ? But we cannot go 

 into organic chemistry; although it is hard to talk 

 of the action of water in conneciion with the growth 

 and decay of plants and animals, and not seem to 

 dive a little too deep into the mysteries of Nature. 



The irrigation, or watering of fields, by turning 

 small brooks out of their natural course to be spread 

 over the surface of meadows, pastures and plow lands, 

 is quite too much neglected in this state. All such 

 streams hold more or less of the mineral elements 

 of all Crops in solution ; to say nothing of the value 

 of the water itself. Never lose the wash of the 

 road where you can command it ; and especially, nev- 

 er allow running water any whereto rob you of any 

 fertilizing ingredients. One might as well burn up 

 his hay stacks, and milk his cows and throw the 

 milk into the river. 



When converted into steam, water expands to 170d 

 times its former bulk, and becomes lighter than 

 common air. When compared to the latter, its 

 weight is as 62 to 100. The abstraction of heat 

 from the soil, by the evaporation of an excess of 

 moisture, deserves the study of the farmer. The 

 skilful control of this substance, never having too 

 much, nor too little so far as man can govern it, will 

 greatly improve the agriculture of New- York. 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCICTY OF ENG- 

 LAND. 



We have received'by our foreign exchanges a full 

 account of the annual Fair of this society, which was 

 held in Shrewsbury on the 18th of July. It num- 

 bers 7000 members, embiacing'a large portion of the 

 nobility and gentry of England. The Duke of Rich- 

 mond, President of the Society, stated in his remarks 

 at the dinner table, that " the use of sulpJmric acid 

 (oil of vitriol) in dissolving bones presented one of 

 the greatest advantages yet derived from the appli- 

 cation of chemical influences on the soil."' 



We are not sure that we have described in the 

 Farmer the mode of preparing and using this fertili- 

 zer ; although we always state it in our lectures. It 

 is this : In a Riiiall way one can sink an old barrel 

 which will hold water, in the ground. Pour into 

 this two gallons of strong sulphuric acid and ten 

 gallons of water. Break the bones into pieces with 

 an old axe or stone hammer, and fill the barrel with 

 all the bones the liquid will cover. Stir them occa- 



