116 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Solid in the diamond, in charcoal, and in its combi- 

 nations with earths and metals; fluid in a great vari- 

 ety of liquids, and aeriform or gaseous in almost as 

 many more. In every thing which can with strict 

 propriety be named food for vegetables, it is the 

 most important part. And vegetables have the 

 power of decomposing most, if not all the compound 

 substances of which it forms a part, and of appropri- 

 ating the carbon to themselves. The most fertile 

 soils contain the largest portion of carbon in combi- 

 nation with other substances, which combinations are 

 usually either geine or the carbonate of earths and 

 metals. Carbon 72.73 parts combined with 27.27 

 parts of oxygen, forms carbonic acid gas. This acid 

 unites with earths and metals forming salts, called 

 carbonates, carbonate of lime or marble, &.c. Geine 

 is a substance found in all soils, and its per centage 

 may be considered as the best measure of their intrin- 

 sic value. It is decomposed vegetable matter, and 

 of course contains the most important constituents 

 of vegetables, the largest element being carbon. I 

 would here refer to the Essex Agricultural Socie- 

 ty's Transactions for 1838, page 92, and 1839, page 

 35, for some account of this substance. 



Geine, as there stated, exists in our soils in three 

 states or conditions; soluble, insoluble, and combin- 

 ed w^ith earths and metals, forming a class of bodies 

 called geates. Soluble geine acts neither as acid nor 

 alkali, but is converted into a substance having acid 

 properties by the action of alkali, and in this state 

 combines with earths, alkalies, and oxyds of metals, 

 forming neutral salts, which may be called geates. 

 They are all more soluble in water than solid geine, 

 especially w^hen they are first formed. The geates 

 of the alkaline earths, lime, &c., are decomposed by 

 carbonated alkalies. The geates of alumina and of 

 metallic oxyds are soluble in caustic, or carbonated 

 alkalies without decomposition. The geates of the 

 alkaline earths by the action of the carbonic acid of 

 the air become super geates (that is containing an 



