CHEMISTRY. 



CHERRY TREE. 



would all be unknown but from the analyses 

 which chemists have made." We know that 

 every plant has a particular temperature in 

 which it thrives best, a particular modification 

 of food, a particular degree of moisture, a par- 

 ticular intensity of light ; and those particulari- 

 ties vary at different periods of their growth. 

 It is certain that plants are subject, like all 

 other organized bodies, to various influences. 

 Acids are injurious to some, alkalies to others; 

 the excess of some of their constituents, and 

 the deficiency of others, insure disease to the 

 plants to which such irregularities occur. Dis- 

 ease is accompanied by decay more or less 

 extensive and rapid; and if these cannot be 

 checked by salutary applications and treat- 

 ment, death ultimately ensues. Now, if it was 

 possible for any science or sciences to teach 

 the cultivator of plants how to provide for 

 them all the favourable contingencies, all the 

 appropriate necessaries above alluded to, and 

 to protect them from all those which are 

 noxious to them, the art of cultivation would 

 be far advanced to perfection. Such sciences 

 are botany and chemistry. It is not asserted 

 that they can, at pivM-nt, do all that is desired 

 of them, all of which they are capable; but 

 they can do much. As evidence of what can 

 be effected by a combination of chemical ami 

 practical knowledge in the cultivation of the 

 soil, we may quote the example of Lavoisier. 

 He cultivated 240 acres in La Vend.'-e, actuated 

 by the beneficent desire of demonstrate 

 countrymen the importance of sustain 

 art of cultivation on scientific principles. In 

 nine years his produce was doubled, and his 

 crops afforded one-third more than tho- 

 dinary cultivators. It is unnecessary to dwell 

 upon the importance of such improvements. 

 Science can never supersede the use of the 

 dunghill, the plmisrh, the spade, and the hoe; 

 but it can be one of th ndes, it can 



be a pilot even to the most experienced. (Bax- 

 ter's Lib. of . . . . vols. iii. and iv. ; 

 Davy's Cbetn. Phil. : IA < ' ,nistry.') 



So many important facts bnaring upon agri- 

 cultural subjects have been discovered of late 

 years through chemical experiments nnd re- 

 searches, as to render it imperative upon every 

 well-instructed farmer to make himself ac- 

 quainted with them. It has long been known 

 to common observers, that certain crops will 

 grow in some situations and not in others, and 

 that after having nourished in a place for a 

 considerable period, crops will decline in 

 quality and quantity, and finally cease to com- 

 pensate for the expenses of seed and tillage. 

 That certain kinds of manure are most benefi- 

 cial to some soils and plants, whilst another 

 produces the best effects upon others. But the 

 causes operating in the production of such 

 effects have not been understood, and hence, 

 great waste of means and labour have resulted 

 in experiments often useless, for want of that 

 chemical knowledge through which the precise 

 defects of the soil could be detected and the 

 deficiencies directly supplied. 



Agricultural chemistry points out the re- 

 spective elements entering into the formation 

 of plants, and even those required at each stage 

 of lh(*"r growth from germination to the perfec- 



tion of the seed or fruit. It shows which of 

 those elements are absorbed from the gases of 

 the atmosphere, and what saline and other 

 materials are furnished by the soil. The seed 

 itself, like the egg, contains the first supply of 

 nourishment for the roots of the infant germ 

 of the plant. To assist its first growth before 

 it rises above ground, the humus of the soil 

 supplies carbonic acid, and the looser the soil 

 the more of this essential food for the young 

 plant can be retained. When it rises above 

 the surface, and its stems and leaves are fully 

 I developed, its main, and, according to Liebig 

 and others, its entire dependence for nourish- 

 j ment, is upon the atmosphere. Chemistry 

 i points out the different gases which plants ab- 

 sorb from the atmosphere or the soil in the 

 progress of their growth. It also shows that 

 plants have other constituents, such as potash, 

 soda, lime, magnesia, &c., without which, in 

 due quantities, they cannot come to perfection. 

 The proportions of these, though often very 

 minute, are all important. The chemical pro- 

 cesses described tor analy/ing soils, will show 

 what elements for the growth of plants arc 

 present and what are wanting. Knowing this, 

 the object of the skilful fanner will be to sup- 

 ply the deficiencies, m a way the most accept- 

 able to plants. Some crops may be repeated 

 on the >ame >oil more frequently than others, be- 

 cause some consume more of the alkalies than 

 . < hie hundred parts of the stalks of wheat 

 yield 15-5 parts of ;;--hes. The same quantity of 

 ; and of oats, only 4-4~ parts 

 ThiiN, a> the demands of each of these plant? 

 for the alkaline elements of their growth is 

 different, one may be raised on ground which 

 has ceased to produce the others; and this is 

 what is daily witnessed, land, refusing to 

 yi"ld wheat, and yet affording irood crops of 

 barley and oats ; and when ceasing to yield 

 compensating crops of wheat and barley, slili 

 affording excellent crops of oats, the proportion 

 of alkali required by which is so comparatively 

 small compared with the dc-mands of the 

 wheat-crop. How readily, >hen, may a good 

 soil for oats be rendered productive in wheat 

 by the simple addition of soaie alkaline dress- 

 in?, all the other requisites of fertility having 

 been before present. Chemistry teaches that 

 the salts and other organic constituents re- 

 moved from soils ir the crops, is returned in 

 the dung of animals fed upon such crops. It 

 teaches the prec.br, proportions of these, and 

 explains the well-known facts, that the ex- 

 crements of some animals, such as man, are 

 more fertilizing than those of others; that those 

 of men living upon animal food are stronger 

 than those of men confined to vegetable food. 

 All these matters may be found explained 

 under the different heads of Animal Manures, 

 shtt/ito.un, Nitrogen, <fec. Men of science en- 

 gaged in these useful subjects of investigation, 

 i are every day unfolding new and important 

 facts, and what at one time was regarded as 

 j inscrutable mystery becomes so well under 

 stood as to be comprehended by a child. 



CHERRY TREE (Prwnus Cerasus). It de- 

 ' rives its name from Cerasus, a city of Poritus, 

 ! whence the tree was brought by Lucullus, 

 \ about half a century before the Christian en*. 

 319 



