194 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



See dying vegetables life sustain, 



See life dissolving, vegetate again. 



All forms that perish other forms supply. 



(By turns we catch the vital breath and die.) 



All served, all serving ; nothing stands alone ; 



The chain holds on, and where it ends unknown." 



All plants are built up of organic and inorganic materials. 

 Their organic portion consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and 

 nitrogen. When any vegetable is burned, these organic sub- 

 stances disappear, and become converted into invisible gas, 

 while the inorganic portions, which are derived from the soil, 

 remain in the form of ashes. For supplying the organic mate- 

 rials of plants, nature has made provision in the gases of the at- 

 mosphere, which the improvidence of man can never destroy. 

 But their inorganic portions, which are contained in the soil, and 

 which consist, in part, of lime, soda, potash, magnesia, silicia, 

 oxides, and sulphurets, he may so far exhaust as to reduce the 

 soil to a state of sterility. 



It should be the object of every farmer to guard against this 

 great error, by returning, annually, to his cultivated grounds 

 more vegetable food than was taken off by the preceding crop. 

 Where the raising of hay is the principal object, the turning of 

 the green sward during the latter part of summer, once in four or 

 five years, and immediately seeding down to grass, with a dressing 

 of compost, is not only one of the best means of obtaining good 

 crops, but of constantly improving the soil. This mode of cul- 

 ture is specially recommended for all heavy soils that are im- 

 profitable under a hoed crop. 



The tendency in agricultiu'e, when not conducted on scientific 

 principles, is to crop the soil till the diminished harvest pays lit- 

 tle more than the expense incurred. This has been the case in 

 many places cultivated during a long period. 



Whatever may be the state of things in relation to some por- 

 tions of our country, we believe it to be a fact, that, in this 

 densely peopled region, capital invested in the cultivation of the 

 earth, if judiciously managed, will bring a sure and profitable 

 return. The unwise and parsimonious course which has been 

 pursued, in cropping the soil, till it yielded but a slight return, 



