2*4 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Dec. 



The Study of Agriculture. 



CHAPTER I. 



What is Agriculture ? 



1. Agriculture is both an Art and a Science. 

 What is the art of agriculture 1 



2. The art of agriculture consists in the skill- 

 ful application of manual labor to t!ie cultivation 

 of the earth. 



What is the science of Agriculture ? 



3. The science of agriculture has for its ob- 

 ject the investigation of those Natural Laws, and 

 changes in Matter, by which it is organized into 

 the bodies and products of cultivated plants, and 

 domestic animals ; and again dissolved into its 

 original elements, after vitality has ceased to in- 

 fluence the condition of the various substances 

 vith which it has been associated. 



What distinguishing feature characterizes all 

 Natural Laws? 



4. They are distinguished by the uniformity 

 and certainty of their operations. Hence, if we 

 study them thoroughly, and once learai their pe- 

 culiarities, the knowledge so attained will be true, 

 and available, during the balance of our lives. 



What is one of the most important Laws, which 

 Control the production of all cultivated plants ? 



5. It is that Law, which renders it impractica- 

 ble to organize any vegetable, xoithoxit a siipply 

 of the precise things that Nature uses for making 

 the whole substance of such vegetable. 



Wliat are the things used in forming the bod- 

 ies and products of all cultivated plants ? 



6. If we consider them as binary compounds, 

 i. e. compounds of two simple substances, they 

 are thirteen in number, and they have the fol- 

 lowing common names : Water; Carbonic acid; 

 Ammonia ; Silica ; Alumina ; L'me ; Potash; 

 Soda ; Magnesia ; Oxide of Iron ; Sulphuric 

 ncid ; Muriatic acid ; and Phosphoric acid. 



Do cultivated plants contain no other elements 

 than such as exist in the compound bodies above 

 named 1 



1. None of any practical importance. There 

 is occasionally found in their ashes, a little of 

 the metal called manganese ; and animals that 

 live on vegetables extract from the same the^w- 

 orine which is formed in tlie enarmel, or glassy 

 -covering, over the exposed surface of their teeth. 



Jf xoater be a compound substance, what are 

 its constituent elements ? 



8. The constituent elements of water are oxy- 

 gen and hydrogen^ combined in the proportion of 

 eight parts by weight of oxygen, to one of hy- 

 drogen. 



What is Oxygen ? 



9. The term is derived from two Greek words 

 that signify " to make sour ;''' " to form acidity ;^^ 

 because this simple element naturally unites with 

 many others and forms most biting acids, like 

 aquafortis. When pure, oxygen is an invisible 

 gas, without taste or smell, having all the me- 



chanical properties of atmospheric air, of which 

 it forms 21 parts in 100. 



Does oxygen exist in nature, in other forms 

 than those of a liquid in water, and of a gas in 

 the atmosphere ? 



10. It does. In 100 pounds of silica — pure 

 flint sand — there are 52 lbs. of oxygen combined 

 with 48 of a simple element called silicon, or 

 silicium. Nearly one half of the weight of 

 granite mountains is nothing more than oxygen 

 in a solid form ; while it constitutes eight parts 

 in nine in all water, vapor, ice, and snow. 



Is this substance known by any other name 

 than that of oxygen ? 



11. It is ; being often called " vital air,"' from 

 the circumstance of its supporting the respira- 

 tion of all animals. It also supports combustion, 

 by uniting chemically with the body consumed. 



What do you mean by the che?nical union of 

 two or more bodies 1 



12. Chemical union is distinguished from ine- 

 chanical union by the circumstance that, a neiv 

 and fixed, compound is formed by chemical union, 

 which ditlers in its properties from each of its 

 constituents. Thus water is as unlike either ox- 

 ygen or hydrogen gas in all its properties, as it 

 well can be. It occupies less than a thousandth 

 part of the space filled by these gases before their 

 chemical union to form water. 



Is there any known law that governs the coo)- 

 bination of simple and compound bodies ? 



13. There is. All elements that combine 

 chemically at all, do so in definite proportions. 



Will you illustrate this law ? 



14. Take 8 grains of oxygen gas and mix with 

 it 1 grain of hydrogen, in a clean strong glass 

 vessel. These gases can be set on fire by an 

 electric spark, and will explode with some vio- 

 lence, but not enough to break stout glass, and 

 form 9 grains of water. If 11 grains of oxygen 

 are used instead of 8, only 8 will combine with 

 the hydrogen ; 3 grains will remain unaffected. 

 If 2 grains of liydrogen are used to 8 of oxygen, 

 1 grain only will combine. 



What important practical effect has this law of 

 definite proportions ? 



15. It gives a fixed and uniform character to 

 all chemical compounds. Hence, water, although 

 a binary substance, possesses all the advantages 

 of a simple element, in connection with those of 

 a chemical compound. 



Can water be decomposed, and its elements 

 separated 1 



16. It can be very easily, by the use of a little 

 iron filings, sulphuric acid, and a quart glass bot- 

 tle. 2 ounces of iron filings, li ounces of 

 the acid diluted in 8 ounces of water, and put 

 into the bottle, will decompose water, disengage, 

 and expel from the bottle, hydrogen gas. By 

 perforating a cork with a pipe stem, and placing 

 it in the bottle, the gas will pass through the 

 small aperture in the stem, and may be set on 



