THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



549 



cayed animal matter, and purifies it. 

 Hence, too, its value as a filter. It is of 

 gre.'it value to the field, vi^hether mixed 

 with the soil or applied on the surface. 

 It absorbs largely at common tempera- 

 tures, and when heated by the sun, yields 

 up its atmospheric treasures to assist the 

 growth of plants and vegetables. You re- 

 member the coal beds on the old farm 

 " down East," where, no matter what the 

 season, or its effect upon the balance of 

 the crop, you were sure to find well-ma- 

 tured corn, a large growth of plumj) wheat, 

 heavy oats, or enormous melons, within 

 the area of the coal bed. Can you' recall 

 a time, a season, when there w^as not a 

 marked difference between the pioducts 

 of the coal-bed and the rest of the field ? 

 Had you ever investigated the subject ? 

 You remember to have planted cucumbers 

 and melons in your garden, and to have 

 heard some one, noted for his success in 

 growing these luxuries early and large, 

 say that charcoal was a capital manure. 

 You may have tried it with success ; but 

 why were you content with the re- 

 sult } Why not seek for the reason ? How 

 many lose the benefit of an extended ap- 

 plication from the want of a spirit of in- 

 quiry I We hope the Farmers' Club will 

 provoke and develop investigation. 



Charcoal absorbs ofl^ensive odours. Mix 

 it with night soil, and it makes it dry and 

 portable. Saved and applied, this is ren- 

 dered a most valuable manure. Charcoal 

 has great preservative qualities. It will 

 keep meat sweet and pure a long time ; 

 and who has not tried its efl^ects in the pre- 

 servation of the potato ? Who ever saw 

 a watery potato grow on a coal bed } Who 

 ever saw small ones gnw there ? We 

 never did. Mix it with musty grain, if 

 you have any, or impure meat, and tell us 

 of its elTects. Pack meat and vegetables 

 in it, and they will not soon decay. It is 

 a most unchangeable substance ; hence 

 posts, charred at the bottom, do not decay 

 as soon as otherwise when set in the 

 ground. Liquids passed through it lose 

 their colouring and bitter or astringent 

 flavour. Sugar-refiners discolourize their 

 brown syrups with its assistance. 



Thus, while we have not strictly departed 

 from the text, we have given you some 

 facts which may be of great value to you. 

 We have deviated from our intended 

 course, but our aim is to make these arti- 



cles as plain, practical, and valuable as 

 possible. 



Remember that we have said, the or- 

 ganic portion of plants consists of carbon, 

 oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. Water is 

 composed of hydrogen and oxygen. Then 

 water feeds the plant with these two 

 gases. Burn the plant, and these gases 

 escape in the form of vapour, which, con- 

 densed, falls to the earth as rain. You 

 may desire to know something of the 

 character of these gases abstractly. Oxy- 

 gen is heavier than the atmosphere : 

 it is a colourless gas, has neither taste nor 

 smell ; inhaled by animals, its efl?ects are 

 exhilarating and exciting. We have seen 

 it given to individuals for the purpose of 

 exhibiting its eflfects upon their action. 

 In some cases the most extraordinary 

 movements are made. It is, of course, 

 injurious, and were we to inhale only oxy- 

 gen, we would soon be unable to inhale 

 anything. About one-fifth cf the air, one- 

 third of the ocean, and one-half of the 

 solid earth are oxygen. 



We extract the following passage from 

 one of Johnston's lectures : 



" But the quantity of this substance, 

 which is stored up in the solid rocks, is 

 still more remarkable. Nearly one-half 

 of the weight of the solid rocks, which 

 compose the crust of our globe, of every 

 solid substance we see around us — of the 

 houses in which we live, and of the stones 

 on which we tread ; of the soils which 

 you daily cultivate, and much more tlian 

 one-half of the weight of the bodies of 

 all living animals and plants — consists of 

 this elementary body, oxygen, known to 

 us, as I have already said, only in the 

 state of a gas. It may not appear surpris- 

 ing that any one elementary substance 

 should have been formed by the Creator 

 in such abundance as to constitute nearly 

 one-half, by weight, of the entire crust of 

 the globe ; but it must strike you as re- 

 markable, that this should also be the ele- 

 ment on the presence of which all animal 

 life depends, and as nothing less won- 

 derful, that a substance, which we know 

 only in ihe state of thin fir, should, by 

 some wonderful mechanism, be bound up 

 and imprisoned in such vast stores in the 

 solid mountains of the globe, be destined 

 to pervade and refresh all nature in the • 

 form of water, and to beautify and adorn 

 the earth in the solid parts of animals 



