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of oxygene, may be rather compared to a process 
of fermentation than to that of respiration ; it is a 
change effected upon unorganized matter, and can 
be artificially imitated ; and in most of the che- 
mical changes that occur when vegetable com- 
pounds are exposed to air, oxygene is absorbed, 
and carbonic acid formed or evolved. 
It is evident, that in all cases of tillage the seeds 
should be sown so as to be fully exposed to the 
influence of the air. And one cause of the un- 
productiveness of cold clayey adhesive soils is, that 
the seed is coated with matter impermeable to air. 
In sandy soils the earth is always sufficiently 
penetrable by the atmosphere ; but in clayey soils 
there can scarcely be too great a mechanical divi- 
sion of parts in the process of tillage. Any seed 
not fully supplied with air, always produces a weak 
and diseased plant. 
The process of malting, which has been already 
referred to, is merely a process in which germin- 
ation is artificially produced ; and in which the 
starch of the cotyledon is changed into sugar ; 
which sugar is afterwards, by fermentation, con- 
verted into spirit. 
It is very evident from the chemical principles 
of germination, that the process of malting should 
be carried on no further than to produce the sprout- 
ing of the radicle, and should be checked as soon 
as this has made its distinct appearance. If it is 
pushed to such a degree as to occasion the perfect 
developement of the radicle and the plume, a con- 
siderable quantity of saccharine matter will have 
