AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 17 



Bait; and when we are about to plant those crops, 

 which require a large amount of chlorine, (corn, pota- 

 toes, turnips,) we should apply salt, unless pretty well 

 assured that the soil is well supplied with it, especially 

 at a great distance from the sea ; for the risk of losing 

 on a few bushels of salt, is less than that of losing 

 on the crop for the want of it. 



17. Sulphur is a yellow, solid substance, known as 

 roll brimstone, flower of sulphur, and, in a still finer 

 state, as milk of sulphur. It exists, in some parts of 

 the world, as a considerable rock formation. It con- 

 stitutes a part of all soils. The waters of many springs 

 are impregnated with it. As certain portions of all 

 plants and animals contain it in their composition, it 

 must exist in the soil, from which these derive their 

 nourishment. 



18. Phosphorus. — A yellow, solid substance, of some- 

 thing like the consistency of bee's- wax, forming a part 

 of the bones of all animals and of the seeds of many 

 plants, diffused in small quantities through rocks 

 and soils of the earth and through the waters of the 

 ocean. 



19. Carbon. — Diamond is pure carbon. Charcoal is 

 pure carbon, with the exception of what remains as ash, 

 after being burned. It exists in a gaseous state in the 

 air, constituting about one part in six thousand of the 

 entire atmosphere. Carbon forms a part of all plants 

 and animals, and of nearly all minerals.^ 



