134 



THE WHEAT CULTUKIST. 



Tlie wheat plant lias been raised in a great yarietj 

 of artificial soils, where each ingredient was carefully 

 weighed, both before and after the plant was taken from 

 the earth. By careful analysis, what the soil had lost, 

 and what the plant had gained, was susceptible of dem- 

 onstration. A very large portion of the elements of all 

 cultivated plants comes from the atmosphere. The pre- 

 cise amount will depend alike on tlie composition of the 

 soil and the nature of the particular plant upon which 

 the experiment was made. 



" I regard it as a fact of great practical importance, 

 that wood ashes, even leached ashes, so abundant in the 

 southern tier of counties of the State of ]^ew York, 

 contain all the earthy elements of this invaluable bread- 

 bearing plant. 



" Our primitive forests have been for centuries draw 

 ing the above earthy constituents of wheat from the 

 soil. And instead of carefully preserving this indispen- 

 sable raio material of good wheaten bread, thousands 

 of bushels of leached ashes have been thrown away ! 

 Being but slowly decomposed by the vital action of 

 plants, ashes are an enduring fertilizer, when compared 

 with stable manure. Mixed with quicklime, their good 

 efibcts are more speedily obtained. Lime will render 

 alumina, either in the soil or in leached ashes, soluble in 

 water, so that it can enter the minute pores of roots. 

 Clay in the soil is always combined with a large por- 

 tion of silica, and before it has been exhausted by con- 

 tinuous cropping it holds in combination considerable 

 potash and soda. Lime, by combining with alumina, 

 the basis of clay, liberates these alkahes and silica, 

 which, uniting chemically, form soluble silicates of pot- 

 ash and soda. These also enter into the circulating 



