THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 161 



stalled, the great rule is not to overtax their digestive 

 while a sufficiency of food is supplied, arid that wholesome 

 and of more than one sort. If overfed, the cow will have 

 some difficulty in bringing forth her calf; her udder will 

 sympathize with the derangement of the stomach, and the 

 vital functions will be all in disorder. Good sense and 

 a little experience must be brought into operation. The 

 same remarks apply to cattle fattened in the stall for the 

 butcher. 



Grass land may be divided into water-meadows, upland pas 

 tures, and artificial grasses. 



Of all the substances which concur in the vegetation and 

 growth of plants, water is the most essential : without mois 

 ture the seed cannot germinate, nor can the plant receive 

 nourishment. This circumstance has suggested the plan of 

 diverting streams, and conducting them in channels, to fer- 

 tilize as great an extent of land as possible. It seems that 

 where there is great heat in the air, water alone will supply 

 the necessary food for the growth of plants. It is probable 

 that the component parts of the atmosphere are more easily 

 separated, and made to enter into new combinations with 

 those of water, in a high temperature than in a lower ; or 

 that the leaves and green parts of vegetables imbibe water in 

 a state of solution in air, and that in this state it is more 

 easily decomposed. Atmospheric air and water contain all 

 the principal elements of vegetables, viz., oxygen, hydrogen, 

 carbon, and nitrogen ; the remainder are either found in the 

 soil, or diffused through the water. Manures seem to act princi- 

 pally as stimulants or re-agents, and are themselves composed 

 of the same elements : they are of no use unless diffused or 

 dissolved in water ; but when the water is impregm !:ed with 

 animal or vegetable substances, the effect is far greater and 

 more rapid than when the water is pure. 



Water has also an important office to perform, if we admit 

 the principle discovered by Macaire, that plants reject through 

 their roots those portions of the sap which are the residue of 

 its elaboration, and which are of no further use to the plant, 

 but rather injurious if they are again imbibed by the roots 

 Plants seem to require a removal of their excrements, as 

 animals do when tied up in stalls, or confined in a small space. 

 If this is not effected, they suffer and contract diseases. The 

 percolation of water through the soil is the means which 

 nature has provided for this purpose. Hence we can readily 



