NEW ENGLAN7> FARMElt. 



151 



100 parts ol' albumen from the white 

 of the egg about 



53 carbon, 

 24 o.\ys<-n, 

 7 liyiirogtn, 

 16 nitrogen. 



lOO* 



Nifrogpn is rarely found in vegetables, but " the 

 iacipal part of the almond, and of the kernels of ma- 

 r other nuts, appears from the experiments of I'roust, 

 be a substance analogous to coagulated albumen, or 

 hite of an egg." 



The abave are the principal elementary substances 

 hich enter into the composition of all vegetables, 

 tiosc of arUmals are nearly the same, the only mate- 

 il dilferencc consisting in the uniform presence of ni- 

 ■igen in animal matter. W hen vegetubles are grow- 

 g they imbibe or make food of th( se substances either 

 their leaves or their roots, but prii>cipally by the 

 ttcr. Any thing that has ever breathed or vege'tatcd, 

 at has or ever had lungs or leaves, may constitute 

 anure or the fooil of plants. The moment that ani- 

 al or vegetable lift' is extinct in any indixidual of 

 Iher of those kinds of beings, the process of decompo- 

 ion (in the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere) 

 immences. This decomposition is effected by putre- 

 ::tion, which is more or less l^apid, according to the 

 mperature of the atmosphere, and other circumstan- 

 s, more or less favorable to the dissolution of the 

 caying body. Putrefaction, however, cannot take 

 ace without the aid of water and air ; and caloric, 

 r that mattt r which communicates to us the sensation 

 heat) is likewise an indispensable requisite of this 

 jcess. During the progress of fermentation, howev- 

 , not a particle of the decaying substance is annihi- 

 .ed, but the minute and invisible atoms of carbon, 

 ygeu and hydrogen, which formed the body which 

 decomposing, are unlocked or unclenched, or other- 

 se set at liberty ; and are ready to enter into new 

 sbinations. These particles or atoiust every good 

 merwiU, as far as possible, arrest and convert to the 

 ; of his plants, by means which have been hereto- 

 c in part explained, and will be further elucidated 

 •eafter in the course of these essays. 

 VVc have uow given a few brief and imperfect skctch- 

 of some subjects connected with agricultural chem- 

 •y, partly with a view to render the topics of which 



we are Iriating more intelligible than would otherwise 

 be possible, and jiartly with a hojie of turning the at- 

 tention of the yoiuig agriculturist to a science, which 

 is almost as necessary for a farmer, as a knowledge of 

 arithmetic for a merchant or accountant. \\ e will 

 conclude this number with some retli-ctions quoted 

 from the celebrated " Letters of Agricola," wliicli may 

 perhaps suggest a new and useful train of thought to 

 some of our readers. 



" One is not able to contemplate the putrefactivi' 

 process, and the uses it serves in the vegetable king- 

 dom, without being struck with this admirable contri- 

 vance ol L'i\ine Wisdom to rtinovc from our ^ight the 

 putrid remains of animal and vegetable bodies, and 

 change them into new and nutritious forms. '1 he 

 beauty of the universe would have been much marred, 

 and our senses continually offended, without this ex- 

 pedient of putrefaction which sweeps away all trace of 

 lormrr organized beings, by converting them into pure 

 and uacontaminated gases. U hi se retain no tincture 

 I of their former corruption, and are ready to enter into 

 I new bodies invested with all the attributes of healthful. 

 j enlivening and agr( cable existence. The vegetables 

 cooked for our table, the butcher-meat under which it 

 groans, are no other than new combinations of those 

 I'utrid and nauseous steams, which, in the act of pas- 

 sing ofl', assailed our nostrils with ungrateful odours. 

 'I'he dunghill which the fanner carts to the neigiibour- 

 ing field, returns to him at harvest in the shape of use- 

 ful roots or yellow sheaves, free from all polluted ad- 

 mixture, and refined from the dross in the elaboratory 

 of vegetation. I know no indication of greater skill in 

 the Divine Intelligence, nor a more indubilable mark 

 of his care and goodness, than this contrivance of resol- 

 ving all dead animal and vegetable matter into element- 

 ary principles ; that, in the first place, he might re- 

 lieve the earth of such laalhsome incumbrances, and in 

 the next place, be supplied with fresh materials out of 

 which to form and sustain the new and successive fam- 

 ilies of plants. — In a similar manner the cxcrementi- 

 tious matter passing from man and all other animals is 

 disposed off. In the form of manures, it is buried in the 

 ground, which absorbs all its noxious effluvia ; and in 

 place of exciting in us revolting sensation, it becomes 

 the most powerful restorative of our exhausted fu Ids. 

 There it is decomposed by the solve^jt powers of heat 

 and water, and supplies abundance of nourishment to. 

 the grasses and corn vegetating over it." 



(to be continued.) 



*We have omitted the fractions in the numbers ex- 

 Msiug the proportions of the constituents of the vege- 

 >le substances here enumerated, from a desire, as 

 ich as possible to simplify the subjects of our remarks, 

 f The following lines from Creecb's Lucretius may, 

 ■haps, induce the reflecting reader to frequently turn 

 ; mind's eye to objects of great importance, although 

 1 small for corporeal vision. 

 inow there are bodies, which no eye can see, 

 t them from tlieir effects, we grant to be, 

 r first the winds disturb the seas, and tear 

 e stoutc-st ships, and chase the clouds through air ; 

 .e numerous odours too, whose smells delight, 

 A please the nose are all too thin for sight ; 

 sides fresh clothes extemled near the main, 

 ow wet ; but by the sun are dried again. 

 t what eye saw when first the moisture sate ? 

 when it rose, and fled before the heat ? 

 ereforc we must conclude tlie drops t' have been 

 isolv'd to parts too subtle to be seen, 

 y more, 'tis ccrt.iin every circling year 

 e rings, which grace the hands diminish there, 

 ips wear out stones, and while we plough, the share 

 5ws less. 



-astly, not even the sharpest eye e'er sees, 

 !«/ parts to make things grow hy just degrees 

 'lire does add ,- nor what she takes away 

 I ' n age steals softly on, and things decay, 

 the same seeds compose both earth and seas, i 

 ■ sun, the moon, all animals and trees, \ 



Iheir contexture, or their motion disagrees. ) 1 



•4 singular instance of Hydrophobia. — A boy about 

 1 1 years of age, whose name was Isaiah Kendrick, in 

 going after the cows of Mr. Gregory Stone, of Lincoln, 

 Mass, passed a pair of bars, in or near a piece of wood 

 land, and saw a I! acoon, which instantly flew at the 

 lad, caught him by the thumb and held fast. The 

 boy's cries were heard by Mr. Stone, who ran to his 

 relief ; but he was unable to rescue the boy from the 

 jaws of the animal, till he drew his knife, and cut the 

 throat of the racoon. In six weeks from that date, the 

 boy was taken with madness, died on the 29th ult. and 

 was buried on the Ist instant. — Cotamunical td. 



FARMER SUMMARY 



OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC EVENTS. 



Lieutenant Commandant Alles of the United States' 

 Navy has fallen in a contest with pirates. A letter 

 from Havana, giving an account of his death, states 

 that " This brave man fell in an action against the pi- 

 rates on the 10th inst. in the Hay of Siguapa, about 50 

 miles north of Matanzas. after a most desperate engage- 

 nient, which terminated in the capture of the principal 

 piratical vessel, a beautiful schooner of about 80 tons, 

 mounting one long IK pounder and four other guns, and 

 the recapture of 5 AmerK^an vessels. The Alligator 

 (the vessel commandeil by Capt. Allen] lost in the en- 

 gagement two sailors killed, two mortally wounded, and 

 three slightly wounded." Capt. Allen was buried at 

 Matanzas, and every respect shewn by tbe public au- 

 thorities and inhabitants, which was suitable to the 

 laclancholy occasion. 



'i he I'rize of a Silver Cup, ottered for (be best poem, 

 whicii might be composed on the occasion of oi-cnirg a 

 new building for a tin aire at Ihihidelf Ida, has been 

 awarded to Air. C'ii.\ni.j:s Si ii.\(,iK of J.'eston, who wits 

 the successful comjiiiiior for the prize medal at the 

 opening of the New-Vork theatre about 12 montlw 

 since. 



Korthern Cotton.— Vr. \\ illiam I.adh w, of Oyster 

 Hay, (L. I.) has sent us a fine rnlton plant. «ell sioe I.- 

 ed with full bolls, \iliieh are- now opeuing in tbe riuii- 

 Ing room of tbe Commercial .Advertiser. — .V. i'. Sjjtcla. 



'l"he West! rn Monitor, (a valuable newsf apt r printed 

 at Lexington, Kill.) ol the 12lh ult. gives noliei- that 

 a .Mr. 'J'homas I'uUi n, of liourbon County, has ixliibit- 

 id a newly invented ;iiaehine for dressing be n!|> ami 

 flax, by which " the anticipaticns of the public were 

 fully realized." 



A London paper states that upon Rlr. llhodes' Es- 

 tate, near Islington, the Ibundjitions are laying for tho 

 erection of two thousand seven hundred houses. Mr. 

 niiodes is one of the most extensive cow-krepers in Ilr/e 

 vicinity of London, and a very considerable poition of 

 the metropolis is Mip[ lied with milk frnm his c'airie.'. 

 Tliis is a great story, eien if the houses are cow-houses, 

 of sniall dimensionf. 



Chtlicothe Tu-in Cains. — .\. Chilicollie paper tells rf 

 two twin Calves, a 'tier and an heifer, stvin yiars old, 

 owned by George lleniick, Esq. of that niighlorhood. 

 The stter weighe d alive*, tuo thousand jnne hundred «: 

 ninety-six pounds, 'i'he heifer is nearly as large as the 

 steer, and is supposed by good judges lo weigh within 

 '200 pounds as much, but as she appeared somewhat 

 wild, it was deemeei unsafe to weigh her. 



A machine for the- dressing of cloth has lately been 

 erected in Leeds, (Eng.) which, according to an Eng- 

 lish paper, does as much in forty-five minutes as twe) 

 men could do in two days. 



An English paper state s, that, by the late population 

 report, there are in England 57, in \\'ales 3, and in 

 Scotland -lO men 100 years old and upwards — Of wo- 

 men there are iu England 111, in Wales I!!, in Scot- 

 land 02, 100 years olil and upwards. By a statement 

 in the New-llampsjiire Patriot, it appears that 75 pei- 

 sons have died wiihin that Stale, since 1732, who hael 

 attained the age of lUO years and upwards ; of these', 

 one reached 120, another ilG, and a third 115 years ; 

 and there arc still livuig in that State the following 

 persons who are more than 100 years of age, viz. Try- 

 phena Stiles, of Soinerswoith, 101; Sarah Kelley of 

 New-Hampton, 103 ; Mrs. Pailey, of Che sterile Id. 101 ; 

 Mary Barnard, of Amherst, 101 ; and Samuel ^\■elch, 

 of Bow, in his 1 13lh year. 



Ft.fheries of hal:e Superior. — It is stated in tbe De- 

 troit Gazette (liat fishing upon an extensive scale has 

 conime'uced on I^ake Superior, and that one man baa 

 already taken tv/o hundred barrels. 



A gf.'ntleman iu Bi'iuilngton, \*t. has I'aised a crop 

 this season, on six rods of ground, for which be recei\- 

 ed 124 dollars and 68 cents, cash. 



Ceiii^ion.— Some of the notes of the Eannirs' Ex- 

 change Bank, Gloucester, (K. I.) which failed some 

 years ago, have been put in circulation in New York. 



An Apprentices Library is about to be established at 

 Portsmouth. 



Two noted gamblers from New York, were lately 

 convicted at Baltimore of keeping a gaming table, anel 

 fined ifSSO. 



A numerous mission family, consisting of 18 persons, 

 sailed from New Haven on the 20th Nov. for the Sand- 

 wich Islands. 



An extensive quill manufactory has recently been 

 established at Philadelphia. 



A splendid eruption e>f .Mount Versuvius occurred on 

 the night of the Cth Sept. unaccompanied by earth- 

 quake. 



On the CRth Sept. William Haygate, F.sq. merchant 

 tailor, was elected Lord Mayor of the city of London. 



Two men have been arrested in Fredericksburg, Va, 

 for passing counterfeit money ; upwards of $6000 ii> 

 spurious notes were founil concealed in one of their 

 trunks, and were remarkably well executed. 



The number of ijader graduates at Yale College i» 

 ,371 — medical students 92 — reeieitnt graduates 18-»- 

 making a total of 461. 



