150 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



From the New-York Statesman. j 



Amrricnn JIuls. — Tivn fine specinions of do- j 

 tncstic tabric — tlic one a lionnct anil the; other j 

 a gentleman's hat made of the F[>ear-;rr:'ss — have i 

 been pulitcly tbrHarded to ns, anil tnay now be ' 

 oxatnined at this oliice. These articles were 

 manujacttired by Miss Mary Lamb, of Stamford. ] 

 Dnbnvare county, a younsf lady of the a^e of' 

 fit'lecn, who informs us, that she rereived no 

 other instrnctions than were derived from the 

 I'olunin- of tlic Statesman. Her mvn inirenuity 

 •supplied the ri~t. As the hat wa< presented to 

 one of the editors of this paper, ve hardly dare 

 to speak of these beauliliil fabrics in the manner 

 they deserve, lest our opinion in this case should 

 be su])poscd to be warped by undue binse'^. — 

 We may at least, however, record the judgment 

 iif others, who have pronounced them equal to 

 the best im[)orted I.cghorns. It is to be regret- 

 ted they did not arrive in season tor tbi; Fair 

 in this countv, and to have been offered fur pre- 

 miums. Miss Lamb, in a polite note acconr[)a- 

 nying these articles, states •• that there is plen- 

 ty of grass of all sizes on tlic banks of the Dela- 

 ware, and willinj hands to work it up, could 

 they but inoi;t with a little encouragement." We 

 Jiopo and Iru^t such encoiiragemint will never 

 be^'anling in an enlightened commni.ity, whose 

 iiirercst it is to promote iemale industry. The 

 association lately established in this city for 

 ciicoiivaging domestic niinufactnrc-, and who 

 are to hold stated Fairs, will be of gmat service, 

 by becoming the depositories of ingenious fab- 

 rics from reniote parts of the state, and in cases 

 ttIhtc the owners cannot be present to superiii- 

 tcnil the exhibition and sale of their commodi- 

 ties. 



We cannot conclade this brief notice, without 

 publicly acknowledging the high compliment 

 paid us by Miss Lamb. Such an honor was as 

 unex])ected a* it is llatteriiig. .\ more accepta- 

 ble ))resent could not have been received. Com- 

 posed as it is of materials gathered from the 

 iields of our own country, and woven by the 

 hand of one of he,r ingenious and patriotic daugh- 

 ters, we shall value it more highly than the 

 most splendid fabrics imported from foreign 

 lands; and while it shall shade the brow from 

 the sultry suns of summer, it will be a memorial 

 to cheer us with the recollection of our past ex- 

 ertions, and stimulate us to renewed elVorts, in 

 the great cause of national indu>try. 



From the same fafur, 

 Doiiirslir Manufactures. — Our altenlioii has 

 been called to an extensive chemical manufac- 

 tory, in the village of Greenwich, for the pre- 

 paration of the following among other articles : 

 Alum, Blue Vitriol, Oil Vitriol, Aq Fortis, Spt. 

 Nitri Forti-', Nitric .\cid. Muriatic do. Alcohol, 

 Ether, Vitriol, Tartar F.metic, Refined Cam- 

 jihor, do. Salt I'clre. do. liorax, Corrosive Subli- 

 mate, Calomel ppd. Red Precipitate, Spls. Nitri, 

 ])ulc. do. Sal Ammon Fortis, Aqua Ammonia, 

 Fb'ivers Ren/.oin, Calcined Magnesia. Rochelle 

 Salt^, (ilaiiber's do. Sal. Soda, Super Carbonate 

 of Soda, and Tartaric .\cid. This manufactory 

 is alread\ in a llourisbing condition ; but to give 

 il increaseil facilities ami to warrant its exten- 

 sion, notice has been given, that n])plicalion 

 ivill be mailc for an act of incorporation, at the 

 approaching session of the legislature. An es- 

 tablishment so deserving of public patronage 

 and the fostering care of the slate, needs no ar- 



guments to enforce its claims. The chemical' 

 substances prepared in this manufactory are pro- 

 nounced to be fully equal to the best importa- 

 tions ; and as many of the articles above enume- 

 rated are expensive, and extensively used in 

 medicine ."ind the arts, it is obviously tor the 

 interest of the country to encourage the enter- 

 prise and industry of its own citizens, and re- 

 tain at home the funds, which now go to other 

 nations for the purchase of these commodities. 



.Judge Pettihone, of St. Charles, Missouri, in 

 digging for water, has discovered Stone Coal of 

 a superior quality, and it is thought of inex- 

 haustible quantity. 



THE FARMER. 



HOSTO.y .— SATURDAY, DEC. 7, Mii-2. 



ON SAVI.VG A.VD MAKING THE MOST OF MANl'RE. 



(Conlinued from page 135.) 

 In our last number on the siit.ject of th( se e??ays, 

 we gave brief sketches of pome of the iiriiicipal theories 

 which philosophers have from thiie to time adduced, 

 and endeavored to support, relative to the food of 

 plants. We likewise attempted to point out defects in 

 those theories, and gave some reasons for entertaining 

 a preference for the hypothesis of i^ir Humphry Davy, 

 which is, in substance, that no one kind ol matter can 

 he considered as furnishing the food of plants, but that 

 vital air. [oxygen] charcoal, [carbon] inflammabJc air, 

 [hydrog^jii] and that kind of gas or air, which forms a 

 great part of the atmosphere, and which is not respir*- 

 ble, and will nat support combustion, and is called 

 azote, [nitrogen] form the principal sustenance of plants. 

 It is true that other substances are found in plants by 

 chemical analysis, Init some of those substances arc, 

 prol>ablv, accidentally introduced, and others though 

 o-t nerally esteemed simple bodies, are most likely to 

 turn out compounds, whenever chemical analysis shall 

 be carried to the degree of perfection which some mod- 

 ern discoveries appear to promise.* " The four earths 



* Although the elements which constitute the great- 

 est part of organized vegetable matter are oxygen, hy- 

 drogen, and carbon, yi>t a little nitrogen or azote is 

 found in some of the products of vegetation, such a« 

 albumen, gUiten,&c. But " from some late experiments 

 it seems probable that nilro^m is not a sinij/lf kmIi- 

 xlrinrc. — See I'hil. Mag. vol. xxxiii. p. 1* '. Indeed 

 the experiment of Dr. I'riestly. by which he procured 

 several portions of nitrogen from the same distilled 

 water, by repeatedly freezing it, seems to confirm this 

 opinion.— Sev Nicholson's .lonrnal, 4 to. vol. iv, p. 1J7. 

 tint the novel experiments of ?ir Humphry Davy are 

 more to the purpose. From these it would appear that 

 nltroum is a compound of hi/droqcn and ory^ni. — ?ee 

 Phil. Tranf. for 1800. Priestley conceived it to be a 

 compound of oxygen and phlogiston. — Pee his pamphlet 

 rntilhd ' Kxperiaienta and Observations relating to the 

 Analysis of Atmospheric Air.tc. 1796,p. 11." — Parkcs's 

 Chemical Colecliism, p. 47, IO//1 frf. 



It seems (hen, that although some vegetables exhibit, 

 on chemical analysis, nitrogen, as well as carbon, oxy- 

 gen and hvdiogen, yet, as the first mentioned is only a 

 compound of tlie two last, we may omit it in our talf 

 of the eheniiral products of vegetation, except when, 

 in common parlance it may be convenient to retain a 

 term in common use. Moreover, the oxygen and hy- 

 drogen found in vegi.'tables are, we believe, generally, 

 combined in the proportions, wliich con.stitute water. 

 Of course carbon and water compose nearly the whole 

 siilistance of vegetable matter : the carbon being, for 

 aught that yet appears, a simple subst<ance, ami the 

 water ;i compound of oxygen and hydrogen. Here we 

 have a liirther approximalion to M. Kraconnet's theo- 

 ry, (as stated No. 17, p. 131,) that " oxygen and hy- 

 drogen, with the assistance of sol.ar light, appear to be 

 the only elenuntaiy substances employed in the coii- 



(viz. clay, sand, lime and magnesia) the various acid 

 the alkalies, the oxids of iron and magnesia, and sei 

 eral saline compounds, all find their way, through tl 

 medium of the sap either suspended in it mechanicaUi 

 ur combined w ith it by chemical affinity, into the hea 

 of the organized structure. I am not certain whethi 

 it be very correct, in point of language, to descril 

 these as constituent parts of the food, because they ai 

 detected in plants on inceneration, and other modes 

 analysis, any more than it would be warrantable 1 

 call lime, phosphorus, sulphur, and a multiplicity 

 acids constituent parts of animal food, on the simp] 

 ground of their being found in the bones and secretior 

 of the body ; so that the common doctrines of exaltin' 

 whatever may be yielded on analysis into the pabnhni 

 of vegetation, is both questionable and dangerous phi 

 losophy, and the rather, becavise it is a known fac 

 that ashes of many plants abound with substances pre 

 dominating in the soil that produced them. We shal 

 in all probability, come nearer to the truth, by consic 

 ering the putrescfble manures, and the sap only, as thi 

 elements of food ; and tlic other bodies as subservient 

 though in a less degree, to the health, solidity, strengtt 

 or the right performance of the vegetable functions."! 



Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, being the constituec 

 substances which make up the various products, form 

 cd by the wonderful process of vegetation, it may b 

 considered as but little short of a perpetual miracl 

 that so many and such diversified ingredients shoul 

 be the results of ditfereut modificati»ns of those two < 

 three simple elements. Sir Humphry Davy slates thj 

 '■ She compound substances found in vegetables are 1 

 "um, or mucilage, and its different modijicatons ; i 

 starch ; 3, sugar ; 4, albumen ; 5, gluten ; 6, gum ela; 

 tic ; 7, extract ; 8, tannin ; 9, indigo ; 10, narcoti 

 ])rincipie; 11, bitter principle; 12, wax ; 13, resins 

 14, camphor; 15, fixed oils; 16, volatile oils; 1" 

 wiody fibre; 18, tannin ; 19, a>kalies, earths, metalli 

 oxides and saline compounds.." These substance: 

 many fif which appear to possess qualities diametricall 

 opposite, are, notwithstanding, composed of the sam 

 elements, but in difl'erent proportions. 



Thui 100 parts of sugar contain 23 carbon, 



8 hydrogen, 

 <;4 oxvgtn. 



1(10 parts of acetic acid or vinegar, 

 contain about 



100 parts of olive oil about 



100 



50 carbon, 



6 hydrogen, 

 44 oxygen. 



100 



77 carbon, 

 1(» oxygen, 

 13 hydrogen. 



100 



100 parts of the wood of oak about 52 carbon, 



4ti oxygen, 

 6 hydroges. 



100 



stitution of the whole universe." If carbon, like nitro- 

 o-en, can be resolved into oxygen or hydrogen, or'a 

 compound of both, or can be supposed to be compound 

 ed of " solar light" and oxygen and hydrogen, or either 

 of them, we have M. Braconnet's theory advanced an-' 

 other step towards proof positive. M. Braconnet's vcg- 

 etalilcs obtained various earths, alkalies, acids, &c. 

 either from atmos)ihtnic air, which consists of oxygen' 

 and azote, with a minute quantity of fnr6cnjc acid, or 

 from water (oxygen and hydrogen.) The carbon found 

 in (hem by analysis might be taken from the cailionic 

 acid gas of the atmosphere. The other products thus' 

 found, it should seem, musl have been derived from 

 distilled water, or pure oxygen and hydrogen. 

 * Letters of Agricola. 



