20 TALKS OX MANUUES. 



(sand,) and chlorine (sill). I sbull soon have rich land and big 

 crops." 



Charley, who has r^'ccntly come home from college, where he 

 has been studying chemistry, looi-:ed at the Deacon, and was evi- 

 dently puzzlftl to understand him. Turning to the Doctor, Char- 

 ley asked nn^deslly if what tlK- Doctor had said in regard to the 

 composition of plant food could not be sai 1 of the composition of 

 all our animals and plants. 



"Certainly," replied the Doctor, "all our agricultural plants 

 and all our animals, man included, are compo.sed of these twelve 

 elements, o.xygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen; pliosphorus, 

 sulphur, silica, chlorine, potash, soda, niatrnesia, and lime." 



Charley said something about lime, potash, and soda, not being 

 "elements;" and something al>out silica and chlorine not being 

 found in animals. 



" Yes," said I, '' and he has left out iron, which is an important 

 constituent of all our farm cro|)s and animals." Neither the Doc- 

 tor nor t'.ic Deacon heard our remarks. The Deacon, who loves 

 an argument, exclaimed: "I thought I knew all about it. You 

 told us that manure was the food of plants, and that the food of 

 ])lants was composed of the above twelve elements; and now you 

 tell us that man and bejust, fruit and flower, grain and grass, root, 

 stem, and branch, all are composed or made up of these same 

 dozen elements. If I ask you what bread is made of, you say it 

 is composed of the dozen elements aforesaid. If I ask w hat wheat- 

 straw is made of, you answer, the dozen. If I ask what a thistle is 

 made of, you say the dozen. There are a good many milk weeds 

 in my strawberry patch, and I am glad to know tlial the milk-weed 

 and the strawberrv are both eomposeil of thi- same dozen elements. 

 Manure is the food of plants, and the food of plants is composed 

 of the above dozen elements, and every plant and animal that we 

 eat is also composed of these same dozen elements, and so I sup- 

 pose there is no difference between an onion and an omelet, or 

 between bread and milk, or between mangel-wurzel and manure." 



"The difference," replied the Doctor, "is one of proportif)n. 

 Mangels and manure are both compo.sed of the same elements. In 

 fact, mangels make good manure, and good manure makes good 

 mangels." 



The Deacon and tlie Doctor sat down to a game of backgam- 

 mon, and Charley and I continued the conversation more seriously. 



