50 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. 1. 



thus laid down by Yvart, and Pictet, of 

 Paris : 



[Plants are supported by the earth, the jui- 

 ces with which this is impregnated forming 

 their principal aliment, VVater serves as tlie 

 vehicle for conveying these juices into the 

 organs, or presenting them to the suckers of 

 the roots by which they are absorbed; thus 

 the progress of vegetation tends constantly 

 to impoverish the soil, and if the nutritive 

 juices in it be not renewed, it will at length 

 become perfectly barren. A soil well fur- 

 nished with manure may support several suc- 

 cessive crops, but each one will be inferior to 

 the preceding, till the earth is completely 

 exhausted.] 



Principle 2. — That all plants do not ex- 

 haust the soil eqxialli/. 



Plants are nourished by air, water, and 

 the juices contained in the soil; but the dif- 

 ferent kinds of plants do not require the same 

 kinds of nourishment in equal degrees. — 

 There are some that require to have their 

 roots constantly in water; others are best 

 suited with dry soils; and there are those 

 again, that prosper only in the best, and most 

 richly manured land. 



The grains and the greater part of the 

 grasses, push up long stalks, in which the 

 fibrous principle predominates ; these are 

 garnished at the base by leaves, the dry tex- 

 ture and small surface of which do not per- 

 mit them to absorb much either of air or wa- 

 ter; the principal nourishment is absorbed 

 from the ground by their roots; their stalks 

 furnish little or no food for animals ; so that 

 these plants exhaust the soil, without sensi- 

 bly repairing the loss, either by their stalks, 

 which are cut to be applied to a particular 

 use, or by their roots, which are all that re- 

 main in the ground, and which are dried and 

 exhausted ia completing the process of l''ruc- 

 tification. 



Those plants, on the contrary, that are 



firovided with large, fleshy, porous, green 

 eaves, imbibe from the atmosphere carbonic 

 acid and water, and receive from the earth 

 the other substances by which they are nour- 

 ished. If these are cut green, the loss of jui- 

 ces, which the soil has sustained, by their 

 growth, is h>ss sensibly felt, as a part of it 

 is compensated for by their roots. Nearly 

 all the plants that are cultivated for fodder 

 are of this kind. 



There are some plants which, though gene- 

 rally raised for the sake of their seed, ex- 

 haust the soil less than the grains ; these are 

 of the numerous family of leguminous plants ; 

 and which sustain a middle rank between 

 the two of which I have just spoken. Their 



fierpendicular roots divide the soil, and their 

 arge leaves, and thick, loose, porous stalks 

 readily absorb air and water. These parts 

 preserve for a long time the juices with which 

 they are impregnated, and yield them to the 

 soil, if the plant be buried in it before ar' 



riving at maturity ; when tbis is done, the 

 field is still capable of receiving and nourish- 

 ing a good crop of corn. Beans produce this 

 efl'ect in a remarkable dejjree; peas to a less 

 extent. 



Generally speaking, those plants that are 

 cut green, or whilst in flower, exhaust the 

 soil but little ; till this period, they have de- 

 rived their support almost exclusively from 

 the air, earth and water; their stalks and 

 roots are charged with juices, and those parts 

 that are left in the earth after mowing, will 

 restore to it all that had been received from 

 it by the plant. 



From the time when the seed begins to be 

 formed, the whole system of nourishment is 

 changed ; the plant continues to receive nour- 

 ishment for the perfecting of its seed, from 

 the atmosphere and the earth, and also yields 

 to the grain all the juices it had secreted in 

 its own stalks and roots : by this means the 

 stalks and roots are dried and exhausted. — 

 When the fruits have arrived at maturity, the 

 skeleton remains of the plant, if abandoned 

 to the earth, restore to it only a small portion 

 of what had been taken from it. 



The oleaginous seeds exhaust the soil more 

 than the farinaceous seeds ; and the agricul- 

 turist cannot be at too much pains to free his 

 grounds from weeds of that nature, which so 

 readily impoverish them ; especially from 

 the wild mustard, sinapis arvensis, with 

 which the cultivated fields are so often cov- 

 ered. 



Principle 3. — That plants of different 

 hinds do not exhaust the soil in the same man- 

 ner. 



The roots of plants of the same genus or 

 family, grow in the soil in the same manner ; 

 they penetrate to a similar depth, and extend 

 to corresponding distances ; and exhaust all 

 that portion of the soil with which they come 

 in contact. 



Those roots which lie nearest the surface, 

 are more divided than those that penetrate 

 deeply. The spindle or top roots, and all 

 those that penetrate deeply into the earth, 

 throw out but few radicles near the surface, 

 and consequently the plant is supplied with 

 nourishment from the layers of soil in con- 

 tact with the lower part of the root. Of the 

 truth of this I have often had proof, and I 

 will mention an example. If when a beet or 

 turnep is transplanted, the lower portion of 

 the spindle be cut olf, it will not grow in 

 length, but in order .to obtain its supplies of 

 nourishment from the soil, it will send out 

 radicles from its sides, which will enable it 

 to obtain the necessary supplies from the up- 

 per layers of the soil ; and tiie root will be- 

 come round instead of long. 



Plants exhaust only that portion of the 

 soil which comes in contact with their roots ; 

 and a spindle root may be able to draw an 

 abundance of nourishment from land, the sur- 



