46 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



which can be better done by a machine, is a use- 

 ful exercise of the mental faculties, is it not to say 

 that it would be an improvement of the mind to 

 become like a machine ? 



The writer of these communications is not will- 

 ing that his opinions on this subject should be at- 

 tributed to ignorance or to dislike of mathematics. 

 In early life, he was more fond of this study than 

 of any other, and more successful in it. In col- 

 lege, he attained some distinction therein, and, two 

 years after leaving college, he was invited back 

 to teach mathematics there. This pleasant duty 

 he performed for about two years, during which 

 he translated, annotated, and prepared for use 

 by the students, a work on the Differential Cal- 

 culus, a branch of mathematics which had not 

 previously formed part of the studies of undergrad- 

 uates. He was urged to remain at the college 

 and give his life to this department of teaching. 

 The temptation was very strong. He resisted 

 it from a rising suspicion, which has gradually 

 grown to a settled conviction, that there was 

 great danger of giving too much time to math- 

 ematical- studies, to the neglect of others far 

 more important. It would lead too far, to state 

 the grounds of this opinion at length. He will only 

 say that all that he has seen and read upon the 

 subject for manv years has confirmed him in it. 



Upon other means by which time maybe saved, 

 in the schools, for higher and more real studies, I 

 shall have more to say in another paper. 



G. B. E. 



For the New England Farmer. 



INFLUENCE OP THE ATMOSPHERE 



On the Soil, and on the Animal and Vegetable 



Kingdoms. 



[Read before the Concord Farmers' Club by J. B. Farmer.] 



Mu. President : — As well might we expect to 

 live and flourish shut up in a glass receiver, with 

 the air exhausted, as to think of any living thing 

 existing on the face of the earth without the at- 

 mosphere. Of the fifteen elements that made up 

 more than 99-100 of all known matter, more than 

 one-half are gases, or can be converted into gas. 

 The atmosphere is but a combination of gases, va- 

 ried somewhat by heat, cold, and other causes. 



When Solomon said, "There is no new thing 

 under the sun," his idea might have been, that 

 the elements which compose the leaf, or our bod- 

 ies, to-day, are-the same elements that composed 

 leaves or bodies thousands of years ago. These 

 elements can be changed, but not destroyed. 

 Burn a stick of wood, for instance, and you but 

 change a solid into a gaseous substance, which 

 combines with the atmosphere and is then food 

 for animal or vegetable life. The same is true of 

 all organic matter ; the ash only remains. The 

 part that has disappeared will return, perhaps in 

 vain, or shower, to fertilize the soil, or refresh our 

 bodies ; or, it may float in the ear, and be taken 

 up by the leaf or rootlet of some plant or tree. 

 The elements of creation are the same throughout 

 the world ; but may be of a different combination, 

 and affected by heat or cold. Were it not so, 

 what would be the condition of the earth now ? 

 The calculation has been made that a thousand 

 millions of human beings die every thirty years, 

 and in addition, there are all the beasts of the 

 field, the fowls of the air, and all the vegetable 



productions of the earth, that are as thoroughly 

 consumed as by fire. Were it not for the decom- 

 position of all these bodies, by their being turned 

 into gases, and absorbed by the atmosphere, 

 thence reorganized into living things, life to all, 

 human, animal, and vegetable creation, would be 

 extinct. 



I trust I shall be pardoned if I make a few ex- 

 tracts from more able writers than myself, as well 

 as attempt to show the effect of the atmosphere 

 indirectly on the soil, by showing how it affects 

 animal as well as vegetable life. Loudon, in his 

 "Encyclopedia of Agriculture," says, "manure is 

 useless in a state of solution, if the water so 

 abound as to exclude the air ; for then the fibres, 

 or mouths, unable to perform their functions, 

 would soon decay and rot off." Any one of com- 

 mon observation may see the truth of the above 

 quotation. Nearly every spring, in some part of 

 our oat or wheat fields, the grain is drowned out, 

 as it is termed. So sure as the water excludes 

 the atmosphere from the roots, the plant dies, but 

 it would as Burely die if the air were kept ex- 

 hausted by any other means, as it would to keep 

 the soil covered with water. But he further says 

 — "Water is known to be a condenser and solvent 

 of carbonic acid gas, which always exists in the 

 atmosphere, and is carried down by rains and snow 

 to fertilize the soil ; animal and vegetable substan- 

 ces exposed to the alternate action of heat, mois- 

 ture, light, and air, undergo spontaneous decom- 

 position, which would not otherwise take place." 



Speaking of pulverization, he says, "A portion 

 of atmospheric air is buried in the soil. This air, 

 so confined, is decomposed by the moisture re- 

 tained in the earthy matters, and heat is given ou( 

 during these processes, more especially if manure 

 has been added at the same time, and the process 

 of fermentation will go on faster when the soil is 

 loose, and the interstices filled with air, than after- 

 wards, when it becomes compressed with its own 

 gravity." Of aeration, or summer fallows, he says, 

 "For this purpose if the soil is laid up in large 

 lumps it is evident that it will receive more heat, 

 by exposing a greater surface to the atmoshere. 

 Clay soils, it is said, may be heated to 120°, which 

 may, in some measure, alter their absorbent pow- 

 ers, as to water, and contribute materially to the 

 destruction of vegetable fibre, insects, and theit 

 eggs." 



In New England, I -think well of fall plowing, 

 particularly of clay, peat, and hard, stony soils, 

 which results in a free admission of air and water, 

 thereby favoring minute mechanical division, the 

 water freezing and occupying more space in a sol- 

 id than in a fluid state, and thus earthy matter is 

 rent asunder, and the soil crumbles gradually to 

 a fine mould. 



It is a well known fact, that the atmosphere 

 warms the soil, when light, and well pulverized, 

 to a greater depth than it does one that is more 

 tenacious. 



Thus you see that in addition to the gases ab- 

 sorbed by the soil, you have it warmed, and ren- 

 dered far easier of cultivation, which is a great 

 advantage in all clay soils. Peat, clay, and black 

 soils, are absorbents of atmospheric gases. We 

 cannot but acknowledge nature's powers, heat, 

 cold, moisture and air, as far superior to any in- 

 strument of man's invention, for breaking down 

 tenacious matter, and rendering it fit food for veg- 



