THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



11 



Nitric acid is invariably present in common, well 

 known plants, in combination with potash, soda, lime, 

 and magnesia (nitrates). It is always contained in 

 the juices of the tobacco plant and the sunflower. The 

 common nettle contains it and it is present in barley 

 in the form of nitrate of soda. 



Like ammonia, nitric acid exerts a powerful influ- 

 ence on growing crops, whether of corn or grass. Ap- 

 pied to young grass or sprouting shoots of grain, it 

 hastens and increases their growth and occasions a 

 larger production of grain, and this grain is richer in 

 gluten, and therefore more nutritious in quality. 



As showing the power of a plant to select its own 

 food : if a bean and a grain of wheat be grown side by 

 side, the stalk of the wheat plant will contain silica 

 nnd that of the bean none. The plant intelligence, or 

 instinct, so to speak, knows what it wants or needs, 

 and it takes what it requires, rejecting everything else. 

 Plants have also the power to reject through their 

 roots such substances as are unfit to contribute to their 

 support, or which would be hurtful to them if re- 

 tained in their system. Knobs, excrescences and exu- 

 dations may often be seen on the roots, stems, and 

 even the leaves of plants, which many think are due 



BARNES' WELL SHOWING STRENGTH OF FLOW. 



to the ravages of some insect, but which are nothing 

 more than the natural effort of the plant to get rid 

 of some obnoxious or harmful substance in its system. 

 When the plant's blood is out of order its nature 

 attempts to cure it by forcing the dangerous substance 

 or matter to the surface, as does the animal system 

 under like circumstances. 



Even the germinating seed is a chemical labora- 

 tory, inasmuch as it gives off acetic acid, or vinegar, 

 which dissolves the inorganic material in its vicinity and 

 returns with it in a condition to build up and nourish 

 the plant. 



The chemical compounds produced by the juices 

 of all plants may be said to be innumerable. Most of 

 them are in such small quantities that it would scarcely 

 be worth while to consider them, but some are of a 

 highly remedial quality, as quinine from Peruvian bark, 

 morphine from the opium of the poppy, salicine from 

 the willow, etc. All the cultivated grains and roots 

 contain starch in large quantities, and the juices of 

 trees, grasses and roots contain sugar in surprising 

 quantities. The flo-ur of grain contains sugar and two 

 other substances in small quantities, namely: gluten 



and vegetable albumen, which are important nutri- 

 tive substances. Sugar is also present in the juices 

 of fruits, but is associated with various acids (sour) 

 substances, which disappear altogether, or are changed 

 into sugar as the fruit ripens. 



WOODY FIBER, OR LIGNIN. 



To manufacture the foregoing chemical compounds 

 nature requires a huge structure, an enormous space 



ANOTHER VIEW BARNES 1 WELL, SAN ANTONIO, TEX. 



when compared with the product turned out. More 

 than one has wondered why a monstrous oak should 

 produce so ridiculously small a fruit as an acorn, and 

 ,1 weak pumpkin vine one so enormous. The philoso- 

 pher in the fable complained of this irregularity of 

 nature as he lay under an oak. But when a small 

 acorn fell upon his head he changed his mind. Now, 

 all this huge structure, the body of the plant, is as 

 carefully manufactured as the delicate savory fruit, 

 and out of the same ingredients, practically. The bulky 



WATER FLOWING FROM TOP OF 39 FOOT PIPE BARNES 

 WELL, SAN ANTONIu, TEXAS. 



part of the plant, the bone and sinew, so to speak, is 

 the woody fiber, or lignin. 



When a piece of wood is cut in small portions and 

 cooked in water and alcohol until nothing more can 

 be dissolved out of it there remains a white, fibrous 

 mass to which is given the name woody fiber, or lignin. 

 It has neither taste nor smell, and it is insoluble. 

 Strange to say, two of its chemical constituents are the 



