THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
55 
CjI. McDonald then took the Chair, and re- 
turned his tiianks to the Society lor the honor 
conferred in electing him President, and earnest- 
ly solicited all to lend their energies to promote 
the objects for which the Society was organized. 
Unless this was done- unless every man went 
to Work as if he felt there was something to be 
done, and something for him to do, he thought 
it better that we quit the house and never enter 
it again in the capacity of an agricultural soci- 
ety. He alluded to the praiseworthy examples 
of the Farmers’ Club of Hancock County, Ga., 
and other associations of a similar character, 
and then e.xhorted the members to a similar 
course on iheir part. He concluded- by sug- 
gesting that another meeting of the Society be 
held on the third Saturday in March, at which 
time it would be advisable to adopt the neces- 
sary measures lor holding an Agricultural Fair 
in this place some time daring the 'fall, at the 
same time leading the way with a contribution 
for that purpose — remarking, that if we expect- 
ed to do any thing, we must have money, with- 
out it, we could do nothing. This example was 
immediately followed by other gentlemen pre- 
sent. 
On motion, Messrs. McDonald, Bufcrd and 
J. G. Shorter were appointed to revise the Con- 
stitution. 
On motion, the Society adjourned until Sa- 
turday the 15th of March, to meet in the Hall 
of the Market house. A. McDonald, Pres’t. 
B. Gardner, Sec’ty. pro rem. 
Eufaula, Ala ^ Feb. 22, 1845. 
From ths Boston Cultivator. 
Agricultural Cliemistry. 
Messrs. Editors : - Not long since, 1 heard 
a person who possessed some knowledge of 
agricultural chemistry, telling some farmers 
and others, that a laigepaitof the solid substance 
ol trees, and other vegetable productions, was 
dorived from the air, or rather, that part of the 
atmosphere called carbonic acid, and that this 
acid, or gas, was precisely like that which is- 
sues Iron) a barrel of fermenting beer or cider. 
After the man left them, they began to express 
their doubts about the truth of his theory. Says 
one, ’lis all nonsense, the visionary dreamings 
of a book farmer. Yes, says another, if his 
doctrine is true, what’s the use of manure, muck, 
and composts that he talks so much about. A 
third one observes, when he can make me be- 
lieve that the moon is made of green cheese, 1 
shall believe his story about trees being made 
out of the slea ri that flies imt ol the bung-hole 
of a barrel, when the cider is working 
Now, Messrs. Editors, I cannot' think any 
of your readers are so ignorant, but still some 
of them may not have taken pains to in vestigate 
the subject as ti.ey ought, either Irom a belief 
that it is not riecessarv for a “ comm' -n farmer,” 
or that chemistry is too intricate a study for the 
tiller ot the soil to trouble his head about. 
T') while a way an evening, and, perhaps, to 
throw a little light upon the subject, I forward 
you the following, with the hope it may in some 
measure stimulate farmers to a more familiar 
study of agricultural chemistry. Of its impor- 
tance there can no .onger be any doubt; it is a 
matter about which there “are no two ways.” 
The atmosphere we breathe and in which 
plants grow and live, is compounded principal- 
ly of a mixture ol oxygen and nitrogen gases, 
in the proportion very nearly of 31 of the form- 
er to 79 of the latter. It also contains as a con- 
stituent necessary to the very existence of ve- 
getable life, a small per centage ot carbonic 
acid, un an average of about 1.2599 part. At 
first view it wou Id seem impossible that this 
apparently small amount ol carbonic acid could 
supply about one-half the solid substance to all 
plants that annually grow upon the whole face 
ofthe globe — but when we recollect that the at- 
mosphere not only entirely surrounds the earth, 
but extends in every direction about 45 miles — 
“and if the whole acid were collected in a stra- 
tum or bed occupying the lower part of the at- 
mosphere, such a stratum would have a thick- 1 
ness of about thirteen feet;” and this would be 
spread over the entire waters ot the oceans, seas, 
lakes and rivers, the deserts ol sand, the frozen 
regions ofthe poles, and in fact over every pait 
and place of the globe th.il does not yield a ve- 
getable growth, and by the wisdom ol the great- 
est Contriver, this gas is, in innumerable ways, 
returned to the air as fast as abstracted ; heie 
then our wonder ceases. Now, from 40 to 50 
pei cent, by right, ol all trees, plants and vege- 
tables, and in fact all parts ot plants which are 
cultivated for the food of animals, or of man, 
consists of carbon, and unquestionably most of 
this is derived from the air— although there can 
be nodoublthata small portion is taken in by the 
roots, mixed with water, and some ot the inor- 
ganic substances, that are in solution — but this 
was also derived from ths air. 
The leaves of plants are their lungs, and they 
have the powers of taking in or absorlnng from 
the air the carbonic acid, and in daylight this 
gas is decomposed, but much more rapid and 
energetic in clear sunlight. This gas is com- 
posed ol two proportions of oxygen and one of 
carbon, and when decomposed in the leal, the 
oxygen is set free and escapes into the air — the 
carbon is retained, and in obedience to those 
mysterious laws ot chemical combinations, is 
made to form a moiety ofthe endless variety of 
wood, fruit, seeds, &c. &ec., that gro w upon the 
earth. 
In proof ol ihis, I will offer the following il- 
lustration. We know, if we lake a given quan- 
tity (by weight) ot well seasoned wood and dis- 
til it in a close vessel, or burn it in heaps co- 
vered over so as to exclude the free access of 
air, wood-charcoal is left behind. When this 
process is well performed, the charcoal will 
weigh from 40 to 50 per cent as much as the 
wood did. The charcoal consists of carbon,, 
with a slight admixture only of earthy and sa- 
line matter, which remains behind when the 
coal or carbon is burned in the open air. When 
this charcoal (or carbon) is burned in the open 
air, it combines with the oxygen (which is se- 
parated from the nitrogen) ot the air to keep up 
combustion, and the whole of the coal enters in- 
to combination with the oxygen and forms car- 
bonic acid — or, in other words, carbonic acid 
consists of oxygen with a quantity of charcoal 
dissolved in it, and this is precisely the gas that 
escapes from a barrel of fermenting beer or ci- 
der, and in this condition it is fitted to be again 
taken in by the leaves of plants and reconverted 
into wood, truit, seeds, &c. &c., and this pro- 
cess has been going on without intermission from 
the first morn of time down to the present 
dav 
Perhaps it may seem somewhat mysterious. 
to many or all, how this elastic invi.sible gas 
can be converted into wood or other solid sub- 
stances, but it is no more wonderful than many 
other of its combinations. Every 100 lbs. of 
pure marble or limestone, as taken from the 
quarry, contains in round number.® 44 lbs. of 
this very gas; by subjecting the marble to a 
strong red heat, this gas is driven oft, and leaves 
but 56 lbs. ot lime. In this town there is a 
pearl-ash factory. In every 100 lbs. of pearl- 
ash the manufacturer sends to Boston, there is 
32 lbs. of this gas combined with 68 lbs. of cau- 
stic pearl-ash, or to place it in another point of 
view, in sending 70 lbs. ot pearl-ash, 22 lbs. of 
it is carbonic acid. The pearl-ash is taken to 
the distillery, and a current of carbonic acid is 
made to pass through it, vthen another portion 
ot the acid is made to combine, and the 70 lbs. 
of pearl-ash come out 92 lbs. of saliE' atus, — 
that is, 22 lbs. more ot this gas is fixed in the 
pearl-ash. At the distilleries this gas is disen- 
gaged from the molasses and water while fer- 
menting, preparatory to its being distilled into 
spirit. Now can any one tell how this 44 lbs. 
of gas got combined with 66 lbs. of lime, so as 
to form 100 lbs. of marble 7 or how 44 lbs. ol 
carbonic acid entered into combination with 48 
lbs. of caustic potash to make 92 of salaeratusi 
If a pound of charcoal is burned in a close vessel 
of oxygen gas sufficient to keep up combustion 
til! the whole of the coal is consumed, there is 
neither gain nor loss in the weight, the pound 
of charcoal is in the oxygen, and the 
I gas weighs a pound more ihan it did before 
combustion commenced, and what is still more 
strange, the volume or bulk ofthe gas is notin- 
creased by the addition ofthe pound of charcoal 
or carbon. The quality or nature of the gas is 
materially changed— being converted into car- 
bonic acid. Perhaps no one can tell, or perfect- 
ly understand the “modus operandi” of the 
above, but ofthe truth ol the statements we are 
as confident as we are that two and two make 
four. It is well known that lichens and mosses 
will grow and thrive upon the s lid rocks. Aa- 
ron’s rod and some other plants will flourish and 
gain in weight suspended in the air. The roots 
of a hyacinth, when the bulb is placed over a 
glass vase of water, will descend into it, the 
leaves and flowery stem will shoot upwards, 
and fragrant flowers are produced; during this 
time the w'ater is not changed nor any manure 
added, and perhaps the whole plant when in 
bloom will weigh twice as much as it did when 
placed in the vase. Now from what source do 
these plants draw their growth but from the air 7 
But some may say this is on too small a scale 
to satisfy them ; then we will lake it upon a 
larger one. We know, if we take crop after 
crop from a given piece ot land, without return- 
ing any thing in the form of manure, it is yearly 
impoverished till at last it will scarcely produce 
any thing. The reason ol this is, we c'arry from 
the land all that is derived from the air, and all 
that is drawn from the soil, the inorganic parts 
of plants, which are just as necessary as the car- 
bon ; the soil thus becomes destitute of it — part 
of the funds necessary to carry on the co-part- 
nership — but the air is always solvent, ready 
to meet its engagements at sight, and contribute 
its full quota in proportion with the other part 
of the joint concern, and no farther. But if this 
impoverished soil is sown with the seeds of 
some kinds of trees, and they vegetate and grow, 
the longer they stand and the larger they grow, 
the richer and more fertile the soil becomes. If 
this growth of trees had derived its whole food 
from the soil, it would have been poorer than 
when it was planted; but as that is not the fact, 
we can come to no other conclusion than that 
the food for the carbon of the trees was drawn 
from the carbonic acid of the air, and the other 
organic substances from the air, water and the 
soil. 
The inorganic matters that enter into the 
composition of the plants, silex, lime, potash, so- 
da, gypsum, &c., drawn wholly from the soil, are 
gradually supplied by the mineral constituents 
of the soil, which generally yield them as fast 
as required for the growth of forest trees, with- 
out the aid or application of them by the hand 
of man. But not so with our cultivated crops, 
they are annually carried trom the land, and to 
keep up the fertility of the soil, the inorganic 
matter must be returned in a more soluble form 
than they exist in the mineral constituents of 
crops which do not decompose fast enough to 
supply annual crops of corn and grain lor a 
very long series of years. — Please excuse the 
length, and repetitions in this ; my object is to be 
understood by that class who are not familiar 
with “agricultural chemistry.” 
Yours, truly, Levi Bartlett. 
Warner, N. H., Dec. 24, 1844, 
Gulf Stream.— It may not be generally con- 
ceded that Dr. Franklin first made known to the 
world the existence ot the Gulf stream. It was 
made known to him by a Nantucket whaler, 
while in London, in 1’770. The stream had 
been previously ignorantly crossed, by Europe- 
an sailors, for nearly three hundred years before 
this. Franklin received from thesaihir, whose 
name we do not recollect, a map ol this current, 
and in 1775 discovered the higher temperature 
of its waters. The publication caused the trade 
ofthe Northern ports to increase rapidly in con- 
sequence of the advantages in the winter to. be 
derived from it in the management of vessels 
