294 A WORD ABOUT MANURES. 



and apocreic acids, convertible with the salts, under the 

 general term mould. So far as nourishment is derived from 

 the soil, this substance is the food of plants. It has been 

 deposited over the clay, by the gradual decay of vegetation, 

 through many ages, and according to the amount deposited, 

 depends the value of the land. 



Why it is that plants live and grow, or how they grow 

 is a mystery no philosopher has ever been able to explain. 

 God gives the vital principle, and so long as that continues 

 the plant is able to resist an opposing power, which is chem- 

 istry. When life ceases, chemistry then asserts its power 

 and decay begins, which leads to fermentation, and after 

 this process is ended, putrefaction takes charge, which soon 

 resolves the body into its original elements ; and they are 

 then ready to aid in the construction of another living.body. 

 Thus nothing is ever lost. It may change its location ; the 

 plant that grew at the head of a mountain torrent, may ul- 

 timately enter into the composition of a sugar cane in the 

 delta of the Mississippi, but it is still in the universe, silent- 

 ly performing its duties. 



What particular duties are performed by this geine or 

 mould? It has the property, as already stated, of com- 

 bining with nitrogen and forming ammonia. Ammonia is a 

 powerful solvent of the inorganic elements of the soil, and 

 by this action, fertility is generated. Alumina, magnesia, 

 and various oxides of iron and manganese, will also unite 

 with this geine, and the combination is to some extent insol- 

 uble, and thus stores of riches are, as it were, laid up for fu- 

 ture use, and here it will remain an indefinite length of time. 

 Under proper solvents or manures, they are again freed 

 and ready for use. Suppose, however, none of these ele- 

 ments are in reach of the mould? Then the mould, dis- 

 solving in water in the form of a dark powder, filters down 

 to the subsoil, where it lies until plowed up and brought 

 into contact with air and water, when it regains its activity 

 in dissolving, or rather uniting with the earth, and metallic 



