1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



189 



water, which falls from heaven and cost nothing. 

 What we want is to study the laws of nature so 

 closely that wo shall understand them perfectly, 

 so that we can make one day's labor give us three 

 times as much as it now yields. A seed, in grow- 

 ing, first takes in moisture. There must be a free- 

 dom of motion in the germ, and water gives that 

 freedom; there is an absorption of oxygen, on the 

 same principle as we inhale it into our lungs, and 

 that combined with the carbon in the seed, really 

 burns it and evolves heat. If a quantity of wheat 

 is placed in a bin and water added, it grows hot. 

 That heat is the commencement of vitality. If 

 you plant corn on wet ground, prematurely, the 

 ground being moist but too cold, if the seed starts 

 to sprout ii rots. If it do not, the roots descend in 

 to the chilly ice water beneath, andjare checked and 

 the plant may die. This shows the connection 

 between germination, the growth of plants and 

 temperature. It had been supposed until recently 

 that the growth of plants increased in proportion 

 as the temperature was raised, but this opinion 

 has been proved to be erroneous. Corn planted 

 at a temperature 20 deg. above the freezing point 

 in 48 hours gained three grains in weight ; raising 

 the temperature to 40 deg. above freezing, instead 

 of gaining in the same length of time i'rom three 

 grains to six grains, it is found that the plant has 

 grown as the square of the increased temperature; 

 and increased to 12 grains. Therefore, the plant 

 increases four fold more than the increase of tem- 

 perature. The growth of plants is governed by 

 fixed laws, and we should study and obey them. 



Taking.up the subject of Agricultural Meteorol- 

 ogy, the lecturer remarked that he only wishad to 

 show that a scientific knowledge of the laws of 

 nature has a direct bearing on everything done on 

 the farm. Study the matter ^of temperature. 

 Take the western shore of England. They can- 

 not grow corn there, because the climate is too 

 cold, but they grow wheat ; yet if there happens 

 a cold season, their wheat does not ripen. Last 

 year the season Avas remarkably cold throughout 

 western Eui'ope, and the lecturer said he had 

 prophesied that the crops would bo short. He 

 raised last year al)out 700 bushels of corn, but in- 

 stead of selling it when ripe,he supposed this corn 

 must be worth moi'e, hereafter, because the season 

 had Ijeen unpropitious in western Europe, and 

 the crop there must bo a short one ; grain Avill 

 therefore go up, whether there be war or not 

 that corn is now worth 90 cents to $1,00 per 

 bushel. These laws, if understood, can be turned 

 to a practical account, and if the farmers of this 

 country should urge the Smithsooian Institute to 

 turn its attention to agricultural meteorology, it 

 would prove of great lienefit to them. 



Referring to the matter of making inquiries by 

 letter for information on a aulnjcct was very unsat- 

 isfactory. Old facts are returned in plenty, but 



new ideas are not to be obtained. Take the dairy, 

 for instance. He never could get an answer to 

 the question "How much Initter ought a thousand 

 pounds of good timothy hay to produce?" or, 

 "How much pork ought 100 lbs. of corn to pro- 

 duce?" Both of these questions are important, 

 and might be easily settled, and so of others. 



A^ncu/^ura/cn^</ieerj?i^'-, too, demands attention. 

 A good work on this subject is needed, and yet 

 there is no one who has treated of engineering in 

 connection with agriculture. "We need to know 

 how much water a piece of ground will contain, 

 how much of it is evaporated, and how much ab- 

 sorbed by the plant. Land will evaporate. 40 

 inches of water, where not 30 would fall during 

 the year. Now if a man needs all the water that 

 falls on his farm, why let it run off in the fresh- 

 ets? It may be retained to produce crops. The 

 evaporation of water is a curious thing. It is 

 done simply by the action of heat expanding the 

 water and makes it lighter than the atmosphere. 

 Solar heat is the true source of all the water pow- 

 er in the world. If there were no evaporation, 

 bhere could be no streams floj^ing from the moun- 

 tains. Sunshine is the great agent in causing 

 plants and trees to grow, and is the source of 

 all muscular power. 



Sunshine sustains all the vital and mechanical 

 power in the world. Farmers have not studied 

 this power, and yet they can make it earn them 

 money. The lecturer said he did not propose that 

 every farmer should devote his life to such re- 

 searches, but that a few of the best men of the 

 nation should be employed for the purpose, while 

 the farmer would reap the benefit. Will it be 

 said that the State of Massachusetts cannot em- 

 ploy five men all their lives ^ Supposing each 

 wants a salary of $3000 a year ? that would be 

 but $5,000 yearly expense. We are indebted to 

 Europe for nearly all our scientific information ; 

 we have no agricultural science which we can call 

 our own. He had more confidence in the action 

 of Massachusetts in this important matter than 

 in any other State because she has already done 

 more for education. 



Turning to agricultural chemistry and geology, 

 the lecturer remarked that chemists have not gen- 

 erally been practical men, and have not looked at 

 the subject from an agricultural point of view. 

 They operate on 100, or perhaps 1000 grains, in 

 making an analysis of soils, but he thought that 

 amount too small. If he desired to ascertain the 

 difference between the soils of western New York 

 and Massachusetts, he would take a cubic foot of 

 each. 



It is a universal law of nature that all animals 

 and plants give back to the earth and atmosphere 

 an exact equivalent for the food which they con- 

 sume. Supposing they did not, tliey would, by 

 impoverishing the earth, finally become extinct. 



