460 [Assembly 



development of new branches, and the trees employ the excess 

 of nutriment thus obtained artificially, for the increase of blos- 

 soms and fruit. After the first of August, the leaves of treeg 

 cease to form wood, and employ th-e carbonic acid absorbed by 

 them, for the production of nourishing matter for the following 

 year; after this time starch is formed instead of woody fibre, and 

 finds its way to every part of the plant by means of the autumnal 

 sap., Early frosts in the fall, often prevents this provision from 

 being made, when the wood fails to ripen, and the tree is barren, 

 and looks poorly all the ensuing year. From the starch thus pre- 

 pared, sugar and gum are produced in the following spring. The 

 juice of the maple tree ceases to be sweet from the loss of its 

 sugar, when the blossoms and leaves arrive at maturity. 



During the germination of grain, the starch is converted into 

 sugar, by a principle called diastase, which contains nitrogen and 

 furnishes the elements of vegetable albumen. Seed which have 

 germinated, always contain more diastase than is required to con- 

 vert their starch into sugar, the excess, goes to aid in the forma- 

 tion of the first organs of the young plant, and disappears with 

 the sugar. Liebig says, " the development of the stem, leaves, 

 blossoms, and fruit of plants, is dependent on certain conditions," 

 the knowledge of which enables us to exercise some influence on 

 their internal constituents, as -well as on their size. It is the 

 duty of the natural philosopher to discover what these conditions 

 are, for the fundamental principles of agriculture must be based 

 on a knowledge of them. There is no profession which can be 

 compared in importance with that of agriculture, for to it belongs 

 the production of food for man and animals ; on it depends the 

 welfare and development of the whole human species, the riches 

 of States, and all commerce. There is no profession in which the 

 application of correct principles is productive of more beneficial 

 effects, or is of greater and more decided influence. 



And still there is no profession in which men show their igno- 

 rance more than in that of agriculture. In every township, 

 throughout nearly all countries, the modes of farming, using 

 manure, and cultivating, are different ; and if the agriculturist^ 

 are asked how manure, when applied to plants, operates, not oiJi' 



