MODERN HIGH FARMING. 21 



phosphates of sesquioxide of iron, or alumina insoluble in carbonic 

 acid, but readily decomposed by the alkaline carbonates. We can 

 therefore admit that, under the influence of a well-limed soil, or 

 when acted upon by the carbonates resulting from the decomposi- 

 tion of the felspar rocks, these insoluble phosphates should yield 

 their phosphoric acid, to be taken up in solution by water ; either 

 pure or charged with carbonic acid, and that in this form they should 

 be absorbed with the water by the vegetable roots. 



In the springtime, phosphates are found in noteworthy quantities 

 in young organs of plants, especially in the leaves, but the quantity 

 gradually diminishes as the plant approaches maturity, until when 

 the blossoms appear, the phosphates are found to have entirely quit- 

 ted the leaves and accumulated in the seeds. This is the cause of 

 that peculiar effect, which has long puzzled farmers, that fodder cut 

 and brought in after the period of maturity, proves to be much less 

 nourishing to the cattle than that cut before this period has arrived. 



It is worthy of note that in every instance, this displacement of the 

 phosphates is accompanied by an equal displacement of the nitrogen, 

 and all those who have made successive analyses of grains in different 

 stages of maturity, must have been struck by the regular parallel man- 

 ner in which the quantities of both have progressively augmented. 



Mr. Corenwinder, in his work upon the migrations of phosphorus 

 in vegetables, alluding to this phenomenon remarks : 



"It has long been known that young buds are rich ia nitrogenous 

 matters, which are always accompanied by a relatively considerable 

 portion of phosphorus, and there is no doubt that these two elements 

 are united in the vegetable kingdom according to some mode of 

 combination which is yet a mystery. " 



And Mr. Boussingault, writing upon the same subject, says : 



"We perceive a certain constant relation between the proportions 

 of nitrogen and phosphoric acid contained in foods, those being rich- 

 est in the latter element which contain most nitrogen. This would 

 appear to indicate that in the vegetable organization phosphates 

 particularly belong to the nitrogenous principles, and that they fol 

 low the latter into the organization of animals." 



