246 GERMINATION OF SEEDS. 



imbibe, and the plants growing thereon are nourished by 

 them. If fermentation takes place upon the surface, 

 either in the yard or in the field, these gases rise, from 

 their specific gravity being less than that of atmospheric 

 air, and are dissipated by the winds. The liquid matters 

 escape next. If buried in the soil, the soil absorbs and 

 gives them off to plants. If left upon the surface, they are 

 w^ashed away by rains, or sink, with little or no benefit to 

 the owner, into the earth beneath them. The whole of 

 the matter of dead animals and plants is convertible, if 

 buried in the soil, into living plants, by the ordinary pro- 

 cesses of Nature ; and it is capable, however solid it may 

 seem, of being reduced to liquid or gaseous forms, fitted 

 to the wants of our crops. Indeed, it proceeds to take 

 these forms immediately, on its losing its vitality, as soon 

 as it comes in contact with air, heat, and water, the great 

 agents of decomposition. The moment fermentation be- 

 gins, the waste of vegetable food begins; if the fermenta- 

 tion takes place upon the surface, carbonic acid gas is 

 disengaged, and is scattered by the winds ; the oxygen 

 of the atmosphere, uniting with the hydrogen of the mass, 

 forms water, which settles into the ground, or is carried 

 off by the rains ; the mass is reduced in volume, and 

 w^ien fermentation has exhausted its force, it has lost one 

 half of its fertilizing properties. If the fermentation takes 

 place in the dung-yard, or upon the field, we repeat, 

 this half is lost to all useful purposes of the farm. If it 

 takes place in the soil, the earth imbibes it, and the plants 

 growing thereon are fed and nourished by it — the gases 

 and liquids are converted into the solid matter of the grow- 

 ing crop, be it grain, grass, pulse, or roots. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



ON THE GERMINATION OF SEEDS. 



Seeds often fail to grow ; and the seedsman is as 

 often blamed, for vending bad seeds, when they are really 



