KXTENT AND RESOURCES OP THE UNITED STATES. 



23 



in increasing vigor, while arable soils, from which the 

 crops produced by manuring and cultivation are an- 

 nually removed, "run out," and in time fail to remu- 

 nerate the husbandman for the labor and expense of 

 "carrying them on?" Is it not because the alimentary 

 matter returned to the soil in the foilage is adequate 

 to the demand made upon the resources of the soil 

 by the crop? 



The leaf is not merely a vegetable substance. It 

 contains mineral matters, which are essential to the 

 health of all plants; and these being derivable only 

 froMi the earth, are returned to it, in part, by the de- 

 cay of the foilage which rot upon the soil. Let us, 

 for the sake of more fully illustrating the subject, 

 present an analy.=;is of the leaves of a well known 

 tree — the early harvest apple — the foliage of which 

 was collected Sept. 30th — the tree bearing fruit. 



Silica 5.rV5 



Earthy Phosphate*. 



Phosphate of peroxide of iron 4.875 



Phosiihate of lime 1.416 



Phosphate of nugnwaia _. trace. 



Silica 6.125 



Phosphoric acid. _ 5.369 



16.7?5 



Lime 36.398 



M.Hgnesia 0.075 



Polash 13.179 



Soda 11.616 



Chloride of sodium 0.060 



Sulphuric acid 0.127 



Carlionicacid... 16.200 



Organic matter 2.860 



101.006 

 Proportions. 



Water 54.341 



Dry 4.5.069 



Ash 4.194 



Calculated dry.. 9.163 



The leaf when analyzed in a mature state, is found 

 to contain a much larger quantity of mineral matter 

 than it affords when young, or newly formed. This 

 is accounted for by the well-known physiological fact 

 that the food of ail vegetables — trees not excepted — 

 is taken np in a state of solution. This food passes 

 to the leave.", where it is e.tposed by aerifaction to 

 the action of atmospheric phenomena, and its aque- 

 ous parts evaporated, or given off, but not the sub- 

 stances iMch it held in solution. These are, in part, 

 disseminated through the entire system, a certain 

 amount remaining in the vascular structure of the 

 leaf itself. These, it has also been ascertained, con- 

 tain a larger proportion of mineral matter than the 

 wood of the trunk. The dried leaves of the elm — 

 (Ulmus Americana.) — contain more than eleven 

 per cent, of ashes, (earthy or mineral matter,) while 

 the more perfectly lignified substance, or perfect wood, 

 contains orfly two per cent.; those of the willow, 

 more than eight per cent., while the wood has only 

 0.42; those of the beech, 6.69, the wood only 0.35; 

 those of the European oak, 4.06, the wood only 0.21; 

 those of the pitch puie, 3.14; the wood only 0.24 

 per cent. 



A late American writer, in an article illustrating 

 the value of leaves as a manurial agent, says: — 



" It is very plain from these facts, that, in forests, 

 the mineral ingredients of the soil perform a sort of 

 circulation; entering the root, they are deposited in 

 the leaf ; then, with its fall to the earth, and by its 

 decay, they are restored to the soil, again to travel 

 their circuit Forest soils, therefore, instead of being 



impoverished by the growth of trees, receive back 

 annually the greatest proportion of those mineral 

 elements necessary to the tree, and besides, much or- 

 ganized matter received into the plant from the 

 atmosphere; soils, therefore, are gaining instead of 

 losing. If owners of parks or groves, for neatness' 

 sake, or to obtain leaves for other purposes, gather 

 the annual harvest of leaves, they will, in time, take 

 away great quantities of mineral matter, by which 

 the soil ultimately will be impoverished, unless it is 

 restored by manure. 



Whenever leaves can be obtained in sufficient 

 quantities, the farmer has within his reach the most 

 ample resources for sustaining and increasing ad libi- 

 tum, the productive energy of the soil he cultivates. 

 By accumulating them in autum, depositing them in 

 yards and other enclosures where they will be in a 

 situation to become impregnated with the liquid 

 voidings of his animals, and thus predisposed to fer- 

 ment and decompose more rapidly when applied to 

 his lands, he will secure an adjuvant, the beneficial 

 and powerful effects of which will be obvious for 

 years, both upon his soil and the crops it is required 

 successively to sustain and perfect — JV. E. Farmer. 



OOKDENSED VEEW OF T HE EX TENT AlfD RE- 

 SOURCES OF THE UNITES STATES. 



The Boston Post has the following on the extent 

 and productiveness of the United States and Terri- 

 tories: — 



The thirty-one States, nine Territories, and Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, comprising the United States of 

 America, are situated within the parrallels of 10 

 deg. east longitudes and 40 min. west of the Meridian 

 of Washington, and extending on the Atlantic coast 

 from 25 deg., and on the Pacific coast from 32 deg-. 

 to 40 deg. of north latitude, and contains a geographi- 

 cal area of 3,306,865 square miles, being one-tenth 

 less than the entire continent of Europe. 



They contain a population at the present time of 

 25,000",000, of whom 21,000,000 are whites. The 

 extent of its sea coast, exclusive of islands and 

 rivers to the head of the tide water, is 12,669 miles. 

 The length of 10 of its principal rivers is 20,000 

 miles. The surface of its 5 great lakes is 90,000 

 square milea The number of miles of railway in 

 operation within its limits is 20,000, constructed at a 

 cost of $600,000,000. The length of its canals is 

 5,000 miles. It contains the longest railway upon 

 the surface of the globe — the Illinois Central — 

 which is 737 miles. 



The annual value of its agricultural productions 

 is §2,000,000,000. Its most valuable product is In- 

 dian corn, which yields annually $400,000,000; and 

 in surveying the agricultural productions of our 

 country, we are not only struck with their abundance 

 but with their great variety. Our territory extends 

 from the frigid region of the north to the genial cli- 

 mate of the tropics, affording almost every variety of 

 temperature, and every kind of grain and vegetables. 

 Her productions range from the cold ice and hard 

 granite of the North, the golden corn of the West 

 to the cotton and sugar of the South; and nearly all 

 in sufficient quantities to supply our domestic con- 

 sumption and furnish largo supplies for exporta- 



