1846. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



81 



it, on equal terms as to rates of toll, with the 

 persons now growing cotton, lierap, and tobacco, 

 or taking coal and lead from the earth, in those 

 States. If there be any good reason why a fat 

 ox raised in Western or Centi-al New York, 

 that weighs 2000 lbs., should be taxed in toll on 

 the canal, 8 mills per mile, while 2000 lbs. of 

 lead going in the same boat, by chance, is 

 cliarged only 1 mill per mile, we should like to 

 see it on paper. If money is the object, then 

 reduce the tolls on fat cattle, sliecp, and swine, 

 down to 1 mill per 1000 lbs. per mile, or at a rate 

 only twice as large as that on lead. By this 

 means thousands of fat animals will pay a reve- 

 nue to the State, that otherwise would not con- 

 tribute one cent to its income. This reasoning 

 applies as well to the stock growers of Chenango, 

 Madison, Tompkins, Chemung, Steuben, Yates, 

 Oswego, and Lewis counties, as to those residing 

 in counties through which the Erie canal passes. 

 It would not be difficult to demonstrate that the 

 utility of our canals may be increased .50 per 

 cent., with an increase of revenue to the State, by 

 so adjusting the tolls that all weighty agricultu- 

 ral products, including lumber and timber, can 

 reach tide water through these artificial water 

 courses. Take the extreme point west, and 60 

 bushels of oats, weighing a ton, can be sent fi-om 

 Buffalo to New York for ^2,40 ; or at 4 cents a 

 bushel, exclusive of tolls. At the rates fixed for 

 1846, the toll on a bushel of oats, weighing 33 

 lbs., will be four cents and four mills from Buifi- 

 alo to Albany. Reduce this to 2 cents per bush- 

 el, and the revenue will be increased five-fold on 

 this article of coarse feed. 



Oil or Fat in various articles of Food. 



According to the elaborate researches of 

 Messrs. Payen, Dumas, and Boussingault, there 

 is of oil, in one hundred parts of 



Common Maize, .8.8 



Rice, 0.8 



Oats, -. --.5.5 



do., an inferior Idnd, 3.3 



Rye, 1.8 



Rye Flour, 3.-5 



Hard African Wheat, . . .2.1 



Venezuela do., tl.G 



Mour, 2.1 



do., -- --- 1.4 



Fine Bran 4.8 



Coarse Bran, 5.2 



Dry Lucern, 3.5 



Meadow Hay, 3.8 



African Wheat Straw, .. -3.2 

 French " " ...2.2 



Oat Straw .5.1 



Bean Meal,.. 2.1 



Beans, _-.2.0 



Peas, 2.0 



Lentils, 2.5 



Totatoes, 0.03 



Oil Cake,... ...9.0 



Carrols, 0.17 



Dry Clover, 4.0 



It seems incredible that there should be .5.1 

 per cent, of oil in oat straiv, and only 2 per cent, 

 in beans and peas. We should much prefer 100 

 lbs. of peas, to make into pork, to their equiva- 

 lent, 40 lbs. of oat straw ! 



Butter. — Practice has proved that 62 ° is 

 the best temperature for cream at the time of 

 churning. If below this, pour in hot water ; if 

 above it, cold, until it is brought to the required 

 point. This point is ascertained of course by a 

 thermometer. 



For the Gcae.see Farmer. 



From what Sources do Plants derive their 

 Organized Elements? 



" yVre nothiiig more nor less than so rnucli water in a solid 

 form." — (Jen. F.\r. p. 11. 



Is this true, in theory or fact ? Are the oxy- 

 gen and liydrogen in wheat or straw in the sUife 

 of water? If so, then are the hydrogen and ni- 

 trogen of wheat in the state of ammonia, and the 

 carbon and oxygen in the state of carbonic acid or 

 oxide, and the carbon and hydrogen just as much 

 in the state hydro-carburet. Liebig states as the 

 fact that, plants take from the atmosphere their 

 cSrbon and the elements of water, and the ele- 

 ments of water form a part of the food of plants. 



But who can believe that 97 per cent., or even 

 90 per cent., of vegetables is derived from the 

 atmosphere ? So long as manures produce their 

 accustomed effects, is this possible '? This fact 

 of the value of manures has been the grand ob- 

 stacle to the belief of this notion. Though much 

 carbon may be derived from the atmosphere 

 through the leaves, the whole can not be, so long 

 as the j)'>'odiict of each soil is "limited by the 

 measure of its own ferlilizing ingredients." — 

 The solution given by Mr. Ruffin of this difficul- 

 ty is self-destructive, viz., " that the force of 

 growth given by the soil, enables the plant to 

 seize upon and appropriate a certain increased 

 but definite proportion of the inexhaustible treas- 

 ures of the atmosphere." What is this force of 

 <rroivth ])ut the strens^tlt derived from the manures 

 of the soil ; in other words, the plant is nouri.shed 

 and strengthened by the very elements in the 

 soil, which that power thus acquired takes only 

 more abundantly, than it otherwise would do, 

 from the atmosphere. It is not enough to intro- 

 duce into the soil the earthy ingredients which 

 enter into the most healthful operation of vegeta- 

 ble life, but the carbon and other elements must 

 be combined v/ilh them to produce the greatest 

 product. There can be no doubt too, that only 

 a portion of the carbon of the atmosphere enters 

 a plant by its leaves ; for, carbonic acid is ab- 

 sorbed by the water in the atmosphere, and 

 comes down with il, as does the ammonia, in 

 I'ains, snows, &c., and must find its way through 

 the ground by the roots into the vegetable. — 

 Thus Liebig says that, " the roots * * * ab- 

 sorb constantly water and carbonic acid," and it 

 would be very singular if other matter than the 

 earthy ingredients should not enter by the roots 

 with the water and carbonic acid. There is no 

 necessity of pressing the principle beyond its ob- 

 vious extent. Plants opei-ate as the. grand means 

 of preserving the necessary balance of the ele- 

 ments of the atmosphere. They remove a large 

 proportion of the carbonic acid, and return the 

 corresponding proportion of oxygen. They use 

 the elements of water, and by means of water 

 take up the ammonia which is rising into the at- 

 mosphere from the decomposition of animal and 



