70 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol.. 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICl'LTURE."l,ettei 2<l. 



Before quitting the subject of Carbon, it is proficr to 

 advert to the experiment which is now fretiucntly tried, 

 and whicli I have recently seen here. 



A Hyacinth bulb was placed, early last November, 

 in a tall glass jar with about three inches of good rich 

 earth, and plentifully watered, the mouth of the jar 

 was then closed as well as possible with cork and seal- 

 ing wax, and this was done so elTectually that the 

 moisture did not evaporate ; consequently but little if 

 any air could enter, and the original air within the jar, 

 therefore, remained unchanged by admixture with the 

 fresh external air. The Hyacintli grew vigorously, 

 and in the month of February flowered luxuriantly. 

 Now it is clear that the carbon necessary to form four 

 or five large leaves and a full grown spike of flowers 

 coiUd not have been derived from the small quantity of 

 carbonic acid gas contained in the air in the jar, nor 

 even from the bulb alone ; hence a large portion must 

 have been obtained from the humus of the mould — the 

 carbon of which, combining partly with the oxygen of 

 the air, but cliiefly with the oxygen of the water, form- 

 ed carbonic acid gas for the use of the plant. This 

 confirms the opinion of Lieliig, who states that the 

 principal use of Humus is by its combination with ox- 

 ygen, to provide an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas for 

 vegetables to convert into carbon during their growth. 

 Although the trial with a bulbous root, which in the 

 bulb contains already considerable provision of mate- 

 rial for growth, is not so fair an experiment as it would 

 be with a plant wanting a bulb. Yet I know frjim ex- 

 perience, that a hyacinth does not contain near suffi- 

 cient in its bulb to bring its flowers to perfection with- 

 out any other aid. 



The practical value of these considerations on the 

 subject of Carbon is, that Humus being a considerable 

 means of supplying carbonic acid gas to plants, it must 

 be exposed in sufficient quantity to the action of air 

 and water to generate this gas. This is done by culti- 

 vation, in other words, by stirring the soil, keeping it 

 in fine tilth, and thus continually exposing to air and 

 water fresh portions of it — for this purpose also, the ad- 

 nfixture of a moderate quantity of stones of proper 

 size is useful, they keep the earth more free and open, 

 and increase the surface of the soil where they are in 

 contact with it, so that more humus is exposed and 

 kept in adinixturc with moisture. 



Azote. — It seems to be well ascertained that, what- 

 ever quantity of nourishment be offered to a plant and 

 taken up by it, this nourishment cannot be digested, 

 (assimilated as it is more properly termed in vegetable 

 lite,) unless it be accompanied with a certain proportion 

 of Azote — in other words the plant cannot convert its 

 food into luxuriant growth without the aid of this sub- 

 etance. It follows then, that however. rich the soil 

 may be in other nutriment, if azote in abundance be 

 not supplied, this overplus of undigested food taken up 

 by plants will be again thrown off by them in the shape 

 of gum, honey dew, or other i»xcrempxits, with every 

 indication of disease. Tliis opecTf'in has a ]>erfect 

 parallel in animal existences ; a certain quantity of 

 azote is necessary for the digestion of their food. As 

 upon the views taken of this substance, azote, de- 

 pend results of the utmost importance to agriculture ; 

 its nature and properties cannot be too well under- 

 stood, its application and effects cannot receive too 

 much attentive consideration. I may, therefore, at the 

 outset, be permitted to enter into a few scientific details 

 ■which shall be as brief and as clear as I can make 

 them. 



Payen, a French Chemist of high repute, who has 

 devoted much time and study to these enquiries, has 

 shewn that azote is requisite in the formation of a sub- 

 stance ui plants analogous to fibrin in animals ; that 

 this azolated substance is the origui of all the parts of 

 plants, ia always preeent with, and accompanies all their J 



organs. Azote is, therefore, necessary to produce, with 

 other materials, this concrete fibrinous substance, as 

 the rudiment of all vegetation. Azote also serves to 

 produce the liquid ul/junwri which all coagulable juices 

 of plants contain, and a substance called <:<«(?(»«, which 

 has often been confounded with this albumen. 



Fibrin, Albumen, and Caseum, therefore, exist in 

 plants, and these three azotated substances offer a re- 

 markable similarity in properties with the three non- 

 azotatcd substances mentioned under the consideration 

 of Carbon — thus. 



Fibrin, like woody fibre, is insoluble ; 



Albumen, like starch, coagulates by heat ; 



Caseum, like dextrine, is soluble. 



A more profound analogy also exists in the simplicity 

 of tile combination of their elements, tlius, 48 mole- 

 cules of carbon, 6 molecules of ammonium, and 17 

 molecules of water, constitute or may constitute by a 

 different arrangement of these molecules, either fibrin, 

 albumen, or caseum; and thus in both cases, carbon 

 and water, or ammonium (containing azote) and wa- 

 ter, arc the oidy ingredients necessary for the compo- 

 sition of the substances on which we are now treatijig, 

 and the production of tliese ingredients is constantly 

 renewed by the circle of reactions of the animal and 

 the vegetable existences as stated in my last letter. 



Now it is of much importance to observe closely and 

 separate distinctly in the mind, two operations of na- 

 ture in the growth of a vegetable, because it will be 

 seen that .ample provision must be made for each of 

 these operations. These two important periods are, 

 first, the growth and increase of all parts of a plant, 

 that is stem, leaves &c., until the flowers and fruit ap- 

 )}car in their earliest stages, and fecundation and ripen- 

 ing begin ; the growth and increase of the first period 

 is then gradually arrested, and a new or the second 

 operation commences. It may, I think, be conclusive- 

 ly shown, that if we were to continue during the sum- 

 mer and the early autumn constantly to apply fresh 

 stimulus in the shape of manure and moisture to a 

 plant, take for instance one of annual duration, we 

 should obtain an immense growth of leaf and stalk, 

 but the fruit would amount to nothing — on the other 

 hand, if we abstain from applying moisture and stimu- 

 lants to a plant half grown, we .should obtain prema- 

 ture but worthless fruit. This fact is well known to 

 gardeners who, by confining the roots in small pots 

 and depriving them of stimulants, force their plants 

 into premature bloom — or it may be observed on hot 

 and poor spots of land, where the same causes are in 

 natural operation. It is, I believe, sufficiently appa- 

 rent that proper soil with a suflicient supply of carbon 

 and azote, or in plain terms, well manured land, and 

 plenty of water, are the indispensable requisites for the 

 first operation, and equally so, that sunlight and heat 

 are the necessary conditions for the second operation. 

 If the manure on a hill of corn be examined when the 

 fruit is formcJ, it will be found pretty well exhausted 

 of its powers — tliey are no longer absolutely requisite, 

 Jhey have played their part, the chief necessities now 

 are sunlight and heat, with a degree of moisture in the 

 atmosphere sufficient to keep the outer coverings or in- 

 teguments, and particularly those of the seed and seed 

 vessel, in a soft and yielding state, until they become 

 well filled with the materials which this light and heat 

 is converting, in other words ripening, from the sac- 

 charine and other juices prepared in its first stage of 

 growth. 



The phenomena attending this second period are 

 extremely curious. During the first period the vege- 

 table manufactures and stores up an ample supply of 

 saccharine and other juices, containing chiefly carbon 

 and hydrogen, now when a bud is to open, a flower to 

 be fecundated and fruit perfected, heat is required, and 

 is produced precisely by the same method as in animal 

 life, by the consumption, or rather by the combustion 



as it ought to be termed, heat being produced, of 

 carbon and hydrogen in these saccharine juices, 

 beetroot, lor in.stance, previous to flowering, cent; 

 a large quantity of saccharine juice, alter flowerim 

 however, this has all disappeared. If barley or wha 

 are made to germinate, heat carbonic acid and waM 

 are produced, the starch which these grains containj 

 converted, first, into gum, then into sugar, and the ci^ 

 bon and hydrogen which- this contains, are changj 

 by combustion into carbonic acid. Fecundation is a 

 ways accompanied by heat, flowers respire carbonj 

 acid, they therefore consume carbon ; this carbon 

 the sugar cane, for instance, must arise from the sugt 

 accumulated in the stalk, which sugar disappears whe 

 flowering and fructification arc accomplished. Thu 

 at certain periods in certain organs, a plant, like m 

 animal, becomes an apparatus of combustion — carboii 

 and hydrogen are burnt in it and heat is given OUI 

 This view of these phenomena, will sufliciently t# joti 

 count for the differences of opinion amongst many < 

 the early observers of vegetable physiology, on tb 

 subject of plants respiring carbonic acid, oxygen, &c; 

 In my next letter, I will endeavor to give some stt 

 count of the means, both by the common and by artfi 

 ficial manures, of supplying that absolutely necessap hlii 

 substance, azote — and if I am fortunate enough to obljn'*' 

 tain any insight intj the new artificial manure wliicl 

 has produced the effect on wheat I mentioned in a latJ 

 letter to you and which is now being manufacturetf 

 tor sale in England, I will coimnunicate the informal f 

 lion. I suspect, however, that the same manure wa4 Fori' 

 under process of manufacture here last year and U 

 now awaiting the trial of its efficacy. J. E. T. 



Indian Cum and Wheat Alternately. 



Mr. Colmax — 



I do not send you a description of the manner ill 

 which I have raised my corn for a few years past, bw 

 cause I think my crops have been over large, but ratiM p. 

 er from their uniformity in yield, which is a desirabW 

 object for ever)' fanner in all his crops. 



For the last five years I have alternated corn anM mj 

 wheat, drawing from my barn-yard in the spring, from 

 thirty-five to forty wagon loads of long manure to thH "•' 



1 '«■: 



acre, putting it upon wheat stubble, spreading it even 

 ly, and ploughing it imder ot least eight inches deep 

 then harrowing lengthwise of the furrows, and mark 

 ing rows three feet apart each way, planting six ti 

 eight quarts of seed (Dutton) to the acre, from the 8tll 

 to the •30th of May, according to the season. Whew 'i, 

 up, I leave but tour stalks in a hill. I tilled with a cul 

 livafor, and hoed twice during the summer withou ifi 

 hilling, and harvest by cutting up at the ground fron 

 the first to the tenth of September, and draw it off ant 

 set it up to cure. 



The land is then ploughed once and sowed tc-l 

 wheat ; one and a half bushels of seed to the acre, anc 

 well harrowed in. Froni the above management, my^ 

 corn has yielded for the five years, at least sixty bush- 

 els to the acre, as ascertained by accurate measure ; ii 

 besides giving about two tons of stalks to the acre,. !" 

 which I calculate to be worth at least three fourths as' 

 much as hay. 



My soil is a gravelly loam, dry and warm; subsoil 

 differing very little from the surface, except a liltio 

 more tenacious. One advantage in planting corn on» 

 wheat stubble is, that it is not as liable to be injured hyp 

 worms as when planted nn sward land. My wheatt- [ji 

 that I have sowed after corn, lias yielded from twenty 

 to twenty-five bushels to tho acre, except the past sea- 

 son, which was quite a failure, owing to the badness 

 of the season. 



Gsncsee Co. Mirck, 1842. M. N. 



Edilm-ial Remarks. — Emulalion in AgricuUvre. 



We call the above good husbandry. Sixty bushels 

 of Indian corn and twenty-five bushels of wheat are 

 certainly very good croi53,but they are onlj- halfeneugh 



