550 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and plants. But all nature is full of sim-r 

 ilar wonders ; and every step you advance | 

 in the study of the principles of the art 

 by which you live, you will not fail to 

 mark the united skill and bounty of the 

 same great Contriver." 



Oxygen supports combustion, and all 

 substances which burn in the open air 

 burn in it (oxygen) with far greater bril- 

 liancy. We have said that plants exhale 

 oxygen under the influence of sunlight, 

 and we suggest a simple experiment by 

 which this exhalation may be made per- 

 ceptible. 



Let a sprig of mint be placed in a white 

 glass globe, which is then to be filled quite 

 full of spring water, and the mouth in- 

 verted in a tumbler of water ; it is then 

 to be placed in the direct rays of the si;n, 

 and in a short time bubbles of gas will be 

 seen collecting in the upper part of the 

 glass, which is nearly pure oxygen. 



Hydrogen is fourteen times lighter than 

 the atmosphere, and sixteen times lighter 

 than oxygen, being the lightest substance 

 known. It is combustible, but does not 

 support combustion. The affinity of oxy- 

 gen and hydrogen is very great, yet they 

 do not combine spontaneously. Hydro- 

 gen is colourless, and does not support 

 life. Animals die and plants wither when 

 introduced into it. It is not necessary to 

 the growth of plants. United with oxy- 

 gen, it becomes water or the protoxide of 

 hydrogen. Water is an essential to the 

 plant, but nature lias provided an ample 

 supply. It is our province to regulate 

 and modify this supply. Irrigation at the 

 proper lime is an immense stimulant, or, 

 more properly, fertilizer. But our best 

 soils, the most durable and reliable, re- 

 quire drainage, and provision for feeding 

 the plant with only the amount of wafer 

 needed, and disposing of the surplus. 

 We need write no " apostrophe to water." 

 It may be of use and abuse. It is both 

 used and abused. Let us learn to use it. 



Next in order of the organic portions 

 of plants is nitrogen — -one of the most im- 

 portant organic constituents of vegetable 

 matter. It cJIstitutes about four-fifths of 

 atmospheric air. Animals cannot live in 

 it alone, yet they cannot be matured with- 

 out it. Plants die in it, yet it is necessa- 

 ry to their growth. Reference has al- 

 ready been made to its use to dilute the 

 oxygen of the air, so as to render it pala- 



r table and life-giving. Its existence has 

 I been known since 1772, and it was re- 

 cognized as a constituent of the atmos- 

 phere in 1775. It does not support com- 

 bustion, but extinguishes all burning bodies 

 immersed in it. It is not inflammable. 

 It is generally supposed that plants get no 

 nitrogen from the air. Johnston says, 

 " Spring and rain waters absorb it, as they 

 do oxygen, from the atmospheric air, and 

 bear it in solution to the roots, by which 

 it is not unlikely that it may be conveyed 

 directly into the circulation of the plants." 

 But plants are mainly fed by nitrogen 

 through some of its compounds. ^Smmo- 

 nia is one. It is composed of nitrogen 

 and hydrogen. Seventeen pounds of am- 

 monia contains about fourteen pounds of 

 nitrogen and three pounds of hydrogen. 

 It is important to the growth of the plant 

 — one of the most important compounds. 

 It is common — every farmer has to do 

 with it and daily witnesses its effects — is 

 made aware of its presence by his senses, 

 yet scarcely heeds its value, and of- 

 ten regards it as a noxious vapour which 

 ought not to exist. But it does exist in 

 the atmosphere everywhere where animal 

 or vegetable m.atter is decaying. It is 

 about three-fifths as heavy as atmospheric 

 air. Our readers will recognize it as spir- 

 its of hartshorn, and it is sometimes call- 

 ed alkaline air, or volatile alkali. It is 

 colourless, does not support combustion, 

 and is inflammable. Here is another won- 

 der for you, reader — a combination of two 

 colourless and tasteless gases and wnthout 

 smell, in the proportion of 14 and 3 pro- 

 duces another gas that has pungent smell 

 and a very perceptible taste. And is it 

 not more wonderful, that it should exist, 

 and enter so largely into all the successes 

 and reverses of the farmer's operations, 

 become part of his stock-in-trade, and yet 

 create no inquiry into its properties, no 

 curiosity as to its use or value ? It is es- 

 caping j^onder from that manure heap, 

 from the liquid steaming excrements of 

 your cattle. Here again you witness the, 

 value of absorbents to mix with animal 

 manures. Charcoal or muck absorbs 

 largely and should be largely used. Wa- 

 ter absorbs ammonia over 700 and nearly 

 800 times its bulk of it, and is made the 

 medium to transfer the ammonia of the 

 atmosj)here to the growing plants. Am- 

 monia is powerful in its effect upon the 



