132 



GENESEE FARMER. 



June. 



pigs do squeak," as the following statutes show : 



By act, chapt. 2 i7, passed April 17, 183J, $6,000 

 aniuially was appiopriuetl to Geneva College, 

 and ibe same sum to llie University of New York, 

 and $3,001) to Hamilton (Jollege, to he p;iid for 

 five years ' until otherwise provided by law,' 

 wliitli has been, it appears, paid to this time, 

 amounting in 9 years to.. - $135,00.) 



By aet chapt. 297, passed May 14, 1840, the Comp- 

 troller was directed to discharge a certain judg- 

 ment obtained against the University of i\ew 

 York for a large quantity of cut stone furnished 

 at the S>ing !Sing 8fates Prison, for that Institu- 

 tion, amounting to - - 9,8G0 



By act chapt. 221, passed May 25, 1841, $5,000 per 

 annum was appropriated to Geneva College for 

 three years, — .-. — - 15,000 



By act chapt. 2T9, passed May 6, 1844, $1,000 an- 

 nually was appropriated to Geneva College, and 

 $3,010 annually to University of New York, for 

 five years, 'and until otherwise provided by law,' 

 which has been paid to this time, amounting to 12,000 



Making actual sum received, $171,860 



Besides this Geneva College and the University of 

 New York are yeteniitkul by law, to $4,000 per 

 annum for two years. - 8,000 



Making the amount appropriated, $179,860 



The new medical school in Buffalo has receiv- 

 ed a bonus from tlie Treasury, of -$1,000. We 

 do not complain of any ot these appropriations. 

 They are alluded to merely to demonstrate the 

 fact that, the idea of gaining anything frorn the 

 study of agricultural chemistry, geology, and 

 physiology is treated as utterly preposterous. 



But to return to our text, the draining of lands. 

 We confess our anxiety to see this subject com- 

 mand far more attention in this country than it 

 has ever yet received. No soil can be warm 

 and fertile that contains too much water. Nor 

 can it be easily worked with the plow, or other 

 implement. The English have been constantly- 

 sinking their ditches deeper and deeper for 20 

 years, because drains 3 J and 4 feet deep give 

 crops enough to pay, and more than pay the extra 

 cost. A deep soil, pervious alike to air, water, and 

 the roots of plants, is uniformly found to be the 

 best land to produce, and the easiest to cultivate. 



"The Distribution of the Inorganic Mattter in 

 Vegetables." 



Under the above heading the American Jour- 

 nal of Agriculture and Science for April con- 

 tains a paper of 29 pages, which gives the results 

 of a vast amount of analytical research. Prof 

 Emmons has been some years in the employ 

 of the State in connection with its voluminous 

 and original work, embracing the whole range 

 of the natural history of New York. That part 

 of this very expensive undertaking which relates 

 to agriculture and rural economy, will be of in- 

 calculable value for the iTiany new facts devel- 

 oped, showing the mineral food of our fruit and 

 forest trees, as well as annual and biennial plants. 

 Let us first consider the ash of the Apple tree : 



« Sap wood. Heart wood. 



Potash, 16.19 6.620 



Soda, 3,11 7.935 



Chloride of sodium, 0.42 0.210 



Sulphate of lime, 0.05 0.526 



Phosphate of peroxide iron, 0.80 0.500 



Phosphate of lime, 17.50 5.210 



Phosphate of magnesia, 0.20 0.190 



Carbonic acid, _ 29.10 36.275 



Lime _, 13.63 37.019 



Magnesia, 8.40 6.900 



Silica, 0.85 0.400 



Sol able silica,. : 0.80 0.30a 



Organic matter, 4.60 2.450 



100.65 98.535 



Bark of trunk. 



Potash, 4.930 



Soda, __ '.. 3.285 



Chloride of sodium, . _ 0.540 



Sulphate of lime, .. 0.637 



Phosphate of peroxide iron, 0.375 



Phosphate of lime, 2.425 



Phosphate of magnesia, 



Carbonic acid, 44.830 



Lime, 51.578 



Magnesia, 0.150 



Silica, .- 0.200 



Soluble silica, 0.400 



Organic matter, 2. 100 



109.450 

 On studying the composition of the ash of the 

 bark of the apple tree, we are forcibly struck 

 with the fact that 109J parts contain over 96 

 parts of lime and carbonic acid. In other words 

 a very large share of the earthy elements taken 

 from the soil, and stored in the bark of an apple 

 tree, is nothing but common lime stone. The 

 importance of lime in the organization of smooth 

 healthy bark, and the vigorous growth of an 

 orchard, can be inferred with the utmost certain- 

 ty. There are other minerals in the ash of the 

 bark of the apple tree that should not be over- 

 looked. But as we are pressed for room, we 

 must pass to the ingredients found in the ash of 

 the sap and heart wood. 



We ask particular attention to the facts that, 

 the sap wood contains 17 i parts of bone earth, 

 (phosphate of lime,) while the heart wood has 

 only 5^ per cent, of that mineral. It has long 

 been known that the seeds and fruit of plants and 

 trees contain a much largerquantity of phosphates 

 in their ash, than is found in the ash of their 

 trunks or stems. But if we mistake not, to 

 Prof. Emmons belongs the honor of being the 

 first to discover the curious law in vegetable 

 physiology that the sap wood, through which all 

 the fluids pass frorn the roots to the seeds and 

 fruit in the top of the tree, contains more of the 

 phosphates than either the heart wood or bark of 

 a tree. If Nature is prolific in the production of 

 seed to perpetuate tlie race, and exceedingly 

 careful in protecting the germs of the next gen- 

 eration, she is at no less pains to store up phos- 

 phates along the surfaces of the ascending tubes 

 or vessels, to be borne upward with the sap, when 

 needed, to organize the embryo of each living 

 being. 



By carrying the fruit of an orchard out of it 

 every year, is it not plain that whatever amount 

 of bone earth, alkalies, sulphur, iron, &c., is 

 taken away from the soil in the crop, should be 

 restored to it again in some available form ? — 



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