250 
OF GARDENING AS A SCIENCE. 
pots, — he disturbs the condition of his ground, brings fresh matters and substances 
into contact, and thus promotes the decomposition of water, and of hydro-carbonous 
materials, and produces an equivalent stream of electricity, which conveys the 
nutritive, newly-formed fluids, into the absorbent vessels of the roots. 
Dr. Faraday of the Royal Institution first instructed the world that definite 
quantities of electricity were required to decompose chemical bodies, and reveal 
corresponding quantities of the same fluid ; whereby a comparative standard of 
effect, or a positive measurer of the subtile agent, may be established. In the course 
of experiments which are recited in the New Researches in Electricity , it was deter- 
mined, “ that the quantity of electricity which, being naturally associated with the 
particles of matter, gives them their combining power, is able, when thrown into a 
current, to separate those particles from their state of combination ; or in other 
words, that the electricity which decomposes, and that which is evolved by the 
decomposition of, a certain quantity of matter, are alike/'' (Researches, 8vo edit, 
p. 256). 
In Elorticulture , when we apply this theory, every portion of soil contains 
decomposable substances, which contain the elements of water (oxygen and hydrogen) 
in the proportions to form water, united with a determinate quantity of carbon 
(the base of charcoal). These elements are held together by definite quantities of 
the electric principle, the source of which is the sun. In culture this electricity 
becomes disturbed, and the particles deranged ; they change their position, and 
become re-united under various solid, liquid, and gaseous forms — all and each again 
combined with appropriate, equivalent proportions of the all-pervading ethereal fluid. 
Now though we may not be able to ascertain minutiae, or even to acquire the 
credence of doubters, certain it is, so much has been elicited and demonstrated by 
experiment, that there can be no hesitation to challenge the whole world of 
antagonists to disprove it, or afford a rational ground for disbelief ; and especially 
since the theory is perfectly consistent in itself, and offers a complete solution of 
every phenomenon. At present we are only emerging from a state of ignorance 
and darkness ; but the light has dawned, luminous facts are revealed, and we are 
in the “ royal road of scientific discovery.” 
Our writer of “ the Series ,” page 66, says, “ If according to Franklin’s notion, 
the only distinction between these two kinds of electricity ” (called the vitreous and 
resinous) “ be the plus or the minus condition, it is singular that the negative or 
minus condition should possess distinct and determinate properties, differing from 
those of the plus ; because the logical inference is, that the minor condition, being 
proportionately deprived of electricity, would display the same precise character as 
the electric body, but only in a less degree ; or if the minus condition involved a 
complete deprivation of the electric principle, then it would display no electric pro- 
perties at all. But it has been observed that each kind of electricity, like the two 
poles of a magnet, is repulsive of itself and attractive of the other.” 
We do not conceive that there is any position in science more conclusive than is 
