jJTJWTJtW'Tf'J^'^f^Srr 



-■5j>,i^i^«*«!-^r^ 



S^'*^IS?f^^^*^ 



^^ 



1863. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



311 



From the Scientific American. 



Sustaining Animal Life. 



The life of an animal may be described chemically 

 a3 a process of oxidation ; the tissues of his body 

 are continually undergoing combustion ; he is con- 

 stantly breathing out carbonic acid gas, and thus 

 deteriorating the ocean of air at the bottom of 

 which he lives and moves ; so that, were not a 

 counteracting influence at work, he would, during 

 each moment of his existence, be working his own 

 destruction. This counteracting influence is exerted 

 by vegetables, whose life is chemically character- 

 ized by a change opposite to that of the animal ; 

 that, namely, of deoxidation or reduction. Animals 

 take up oxygen, and give off carbonic acid; plants 

 reverse the process; thev take up carbonic acid 

 and give off oxygen, and thus the composition of 

 the atmosphere is maintained in equilibrio. 



The animal derives its power from the forces 

 locked up in the vegetable organisms which consti- 

 tute its food, and of which it builds up its tissues. 

 The animal cannot create force ; he can only direct 

 its application; he cannot move a muscle without 

 a certain given quantity of force being changed, 

 without a certain portion of his tissues undergoing 

 oxidation, an amount which is regulated by the 

 grand principle of the conservation of force — so 

 that the total energy which the animal exhibits is 

 regulared by the same laws which apply to the 

 work of the steam or electro-magnetic engine. 

 Every pound of carbon burnt to carbonic acid in 

 the animal body, evolves heat enough to raise the 

 temperature of 8,080 pounds of water 1 ® Fahren- 

 heit, centrigrade, or can produce a mechanical 

 effect suflficient to raise 2,784 tons one foot high. 



The source of the power of the animal is the force 

 which has been accumulated by the plant. The 

 animal world cannot continually withdraw energy 

 from the plant, unless the latter receives as contin- 

 ual a supply. The source of this energy is the sun ; 

 the plant sucks up or absorbs the rapidly vibrating 

 solar radiations, and stores them up to be given 

 out again in the various forms of energy when the 

 vegetable tissue is destroyed by oxidation. It is 

 only in the presence of the sunlight that the true 

 function of plant life can be exercised. It is the 

 sunlight which, acting on the green coloring matter 

 of leaves, decomposes the carbonic acid of the air 

 into its constituent elements; enabling the plant 

 thus to assimilate the carbon and to turn the free 

 oxygen back into the air. 



Tree Planting. 



"Have you never heard of the student who, on 

 being told that the crow would sometimes live a 

 hundred years, bought a young crow to try the ex- 

 periment ?" Yes, indeed, we have heard of him — 

 the irony is excellent — and of Dr Johnson's growl 

 "about the frigktful interval between the seed and 

 the timber ?" Still, we say, plant trees. They who 

 plant at once, instead of wasting their breath in 

 selfish complaints of the shortness of life, find 

 luxuriant foliage waving over them much sooner 

 than they expected. But whether you live to see 

 the maturity of your trees or not, be benevolent j 



enough to plant for posterity. Transmit to your 

 children the inheritance of rural beauty received 

 from your fathers, greatly augmented. By all 

 means plant, and plant well, and the result will 

 overpay the labor. And let not your labor end 

 with planting. Feed your trees from year to year 

 with generous food and guard them from injury. 

 And in the words (slightly altered) of an old plant- 

 er. — " What joy may you have in seeing the suc- 

 cess of your labors while you live, and in leaving 

 behind you, to your heirs or successors, a work 

 that, many years after your death, shall record 

 your love to your country ! And then rather, 

 when you consider how short a time your life is 

 likely to last." If you have country homes to em- 

 bellish, be content with simplicity. Remember 

 that a great establishment is a great care, and the 

 proprietor is apt to become a slave to it. Let your 

 dwelling place be marked with what planters call 

 "repose." Make them the abodes of comfort and 

 refined enjoyment, places whidi afford you aggree- 

 able occupation, but not oppress you with care. 



® 



BAILHACHE & BAEEB - - - FUBLISHEBS. 



M. L. DUNLAP, Editor. 



SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER, 1863. 



Trial of Implements by the State Agri- 

 cidtural Society. 



Dkcatuk, Sept. 22, 1868. 



The trial of implements commenced this morn- 

 ing, and has been vigorously prosecuted through- 

 out the day. 



The awarding committee consists of A. S. Sted- 

 man, of Dixon, S. Graham, of Paris, Uriah Mills, 

 of Salem, A. J. Mattson, of Prophetstown, and M. 

 L. Dunlap, of Champaign. 



The entries are as follows : 



Two HoBSE Old Land Plows. — Dickinson & Ora- 

 hood, Clinton, Illinois ; Col. John Dement, Dixon, 

 niinois ; Charles H. Deere, Moline, Illinois. 



Two Horse Sod Plows. — Dickinson & Orahood- 



Gano Plows. — Jacob L. Runk, Nashville, Illi- 

 nois; W. L. Black, Lancaster, Illinois; J. G. Rob- 

 inson, Springfield, Illinois ; G. &. J. Seibert, Ash- 

 ley, Illinois. 



Tkehch Plows. — W. L. Black, J. G. Robinson. 



DiTCHiNa Machinb. — Greggy & Wiggins, Black- 

 bury, Illinois. 



Two HoBSE CuLTiTATORS. — Gilbert & Hamilton, : 

 Kewanee, (G. W. Brown's Patent;) W. D. Dorsey, 



