1- 19. 



Till: r.KNUSKK FAItMER. 





; [though phosphorus, sulphur and chlorine might 

 with propriety be includi - the volatile or 



.incuts of bread and meat. I am not en- 

 tirely satisfied with all thatboakssay on this subject; 

 but I do not wish to discuss debatable points in this 

 connection. 



W . gum, sugar, starch and oil, which 



arge a portion of all vegetables, arc 

 ■ if carbon and the elements of water alone. 

 The elem< iter are oxygen and hydrogen, 



chemically .combined in the ratio of eight parte by 

 ht of the former to one of the latter. And 

 permit me to remark that, to secure perfed uni- 

 formity in the properties and character of all chemi- 

 mpounds, like pure water, all acids, alkalies, 

 pure alcohol, and such organized bodies as starch, 

 wood, sugar, oil and gum, the quantity of elementary 

 atoms which enter into the composition of each 

 compound substance must be fixed by a uniform and 

 ever active law. For the proper government of 

 matter, the Creator has established many laws, and 

 among others that known as "chemical affinity." In 

 the growth or organization of all living things, and in 

 the dissolution or disorganization of the same, the natu- 

 ral affinity of elementary atoms, by which they unite 

 and form various compounds, presents to the intelligent 

 farmer a most useful and interesting study. As all 

 natural laws which govern the results of tillage, are in 

 truth the unchanging and ever enduring laws of God, I 

 have long felt it to be a duty to impress upon the 

 minds of my fellow citizens, in more States than 

 one, the importance of teaching the«Sciences which 

 elucidate these laws, to every child that has a life to 

 support or health to preserve. Il is difficult for me 

 to witness the decay of vegetable and animal sub- 

 stances, even now in the winter season at the South, 

 and mark the bilious diseases, cholera and other 

 destroying maladies, engendered by poisoning the 

 atmosphere and rendering the water impure, and not 

 feel deeply on the subject of removing the popular 

 ignorance of the laws of vegetable and animal life. 

 This ignorance is as unnecessary as it is deplorable. 

 As a native son of New York, I beg permission to 

 express at this point, the pride and glory I have in 

 common with others, which are so justly awarded to 

 the Common Schools, Public Libraries, and all other 

 educational institutions of the Empire State. The 

 noble liberality of her citizens can only be appreciated 

 when seen at a distance, and surrounded by shades 

 and influences which I shall not describe. 



Beside carbon and the elements of water, all plants 

 and all animals contain more or less of the sit 

 gas called nitrogen in an organized form, in their 

 respective tissues. Organic chemists and physiolo- 

 gists are still disputing the question, whether this 

 element, which constitutes 71 per cent, of common 

 air, is derived b; r plants and animals in any 



degree, directly from the atmosphere. The weight 

 or balance of evidence is against the supposition: 

 although there are not wanting facts and circum- 

 stances sufficient to raise a reasonable doubt in the 

 matter. However this question may be ultimately 

 decided, there is no dispute in regard to the fertiliz- 

 ing power of nitrogencous compounds, among prac- 

 tical farmers. Nor ; s it improbable that nascent 

 nitrogen, evolved from decomposing mold, vegetables, 

 and manure in soils, whether combined with hydro- 

 gen to form ammonia or not, is better suited to the 

 nourishment of plants than is atmospheric nitrogen. 



The i n 1 presence of one chemical .-■ i 



like the rotting of vegetables in soils, will in 

 others thai ur under different circum- 



tances. Before studying the process by which 



ing mold and other organic substan ■ 

 common limestone and the before Insoluble silicates 

 of potash, Boda and able in water, I 



to call attention to the fact, that sulphur, | 



phorus and chlorine in combination with hydn 



p1 to rise into the atmosphere fr 

 stances, and become losi to the agriculturi . 



•al rule, cultivated plants and all vegetables 

 contain a small per centage of sulphur, ph 

 nitrogen and chlorine. The cabbage tribe. 



uminous plants, like peas and beans, and those 

 of wheat, rye, corn and other cereals, most abound 

 in the simple elements named. In an i 

 elements are more concentrated than in 

 organized form. A bad egg loses weight rapidly, 

 notwithstanding its stoney covering. Its shell i- 

 really perforated with pores: and the expansion of 

 the gases, eliminated by the decomposition of its 

 contents, forces them .through these minute aperti 

 In the course of time very little beside the shell will 



t. That rotten c<j-:?. when broken, will emit 

 very offensive gases, every farmer's son kno 

 These gases are compounds of sulphur, ph 

 nitrogen and chlorine with hydrogen, which is the 

 lighest known gas. It is well to consider all these 

 exceedingly volatile atoms, which can all escape from 

 the shell of a hen's egg without breaking it, in the 

 form of a live chick, just hatched. When the 

 comes out of the shell, no phosphorus, no sulphur, 

 no nitrogen, no chlorine is left. If this chicken be 

 killed and placed to rot under a hill of corn, and there 

 emit its gases in well mellowed earth, these gases 

 would aid much in making corn, out of which a hen 

 would rejoice to make a new egg. Matter is wholly 

 indestructible ; and it will always require lime to 

 form the shell of an egg, and all the precise elements 

 found in the little bones, flesh, brain, nerves and 

 downy covering of the bird, to organise this living 



. to the end of time. I desire every school boy 

 to understand why a hen can make worms, grass hop- 

 pers and mice into good egg?, andcannotdo as much 

 if fed upon white pine saw dust alone. Saw du 

 organized matter, but not the organized elements of 

 a chicken. It contains not the lime to form a shell, 

 and not the sulphur, phosphorus and nitrogen de- 

 manded in an organized condition to form the egg 

 and make the chicken. 



No cultivated plant needs richer land than cabbage; 

 and no one organizes more nitrogen, sulphur, phos- 

 phorus and chlorine in its tissues. When it rets no 

 plant more contaminates the atmosphere. !• 

 turkeys and ducks rejoice to eat it. Without smell- 

 ing the fumes of muriatic and sulphurous acids, I 

 think the reader should be satisfied that componnds 

 of chlorine and sulphur, as well as those of nitrogen 

 and phosphorus, are quite volatile, and liable to waste. 



It, may he interesting to a few readers, to know 

 that, .some swamps in Georgia and the adjoining 

 Stat( are comparatively healthy, and some extrcme'.y 

 sickly. A chemical test for sulphuretted hydn 

 in the air near a swai ■ lines its salubril i r 



unhealthiness. If plants analagous to cabbage ; 

 ish and rol there, ]• atmosphere like ;n 



ocean of liquid, gs, the settli r 



retire from the | ulphuretted hydrogen, 



