328 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Jnterinm %ralirai 
Mew«¥orii, Wednesday, laa. 31. 
Answer to Inquiries about Back Numbers, &c.— 
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can still be supplied at 4 cents per number. 
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CIISIISTEf 
FOR SMALL AND LARGE BOYS AND GIRLS. 
H 
c 
0 
N 
s 
i 
2 
8 
4 
5 
P 
Cl 
Ca 
K 
Na 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
Mg 
Fe 
A1 
Si 
Mn 
ii 
12 
13 
CHAPTER IV. 
14 
15 
44. We know or perceive any bodies or sub¬ 
stances, by means of the senses ; that is, we 
see, or taste, or feel them. We see a thing, 
because its atoms are so arranged as to send 
to the eye certain rays of light. Its color 
depends entirely upon the arrangement of 
the particles upon its surface. It has a 
particular taste, because its atoms are put 
together in such a manner as to produce a 
peculiar effect upon the tongue, or organs of 
taste. It feels hard or soft, because its par¬ 
ticles cling together in an unyielding manner 
or otherwise. It feels heavy or light, in 
proportion to the greater or less number of 
particles packed into a small space. 
45. The atoms of a body—a lump of sugar 
for example—being put together in a partic¬ 
ular manner to give us the appearance of 
sugar, if we mingle or pile up these atoms 
in a different manner, we shall then have a 
mass that will have a different appearance 
from sugar. We said (28) that sugar is made 
up of 10 atoms from box H, 12 from box C, 
and 10 from box 0. Now' let us use the let¬ 
ters instead of the atoms, and pile them up 
together thus : 
CO 
HOHCH 
HOCOHCO 
COC OHC 
HOCHC 
CHHCO 
CO 
This mass of atoms we may suppose to 
represent a single small particle of sugar. 
46. But it is plain that we can put the par¬ 
ticles represented by these letters together 
in quite a different manner, thus : 
CHOCHOC 
OHOCHOCHC 
COCHOOHOH 
CHOCHOC 
This figure may be supposed to represent 
a particle of starch, for we know that starch 
and sugar are made out of the same kind of 
atoms, and that there is the same number of 
each kind of atoms in a particle of sugar as 
there is in a particle of starch. The differ¬ 
ence between the two is not in the kind or 
number of atoms out of which they are 
made, but in the manner in which these 
atoms are put together. In one method of 
arranging them they produce a sensation of 
sweetness, and in the other no such effect 
is produced. 
47. When particles of charcoal are loosely 
put together, they absorb the rays of light, 
and the mass appears dark or black; but 
when these same particles are compactly 
arranged, in regular order, they constitute 
the brilliant diamond ; for there is, in fact, 
no difference in the composition of a pure 
diamond and a piece of pure charcoal—both 
are made up of little atoms, called carbon by 
the chemist. These are the kind of atoms 
we put in the box C. 
48. But not only do bodies differ from each 
other in the manner in which their atoms 
are arranged together, but they also often 
widely differ when the number of the differ¬ 
ent kinds of atoms is not the same. Thus : 
a particle of vinegar is made of three atoms 
from box H, four atoms from box C, and 
three from box O, that is HHHCCCCOOO ; 
while a particle of alcohol has six atoms 
from box H, four from box C, and two from 
box O ; that is, HHHHHHCCCCOO. To 
change alcohol to vinegar, then, we have 
only to take out one O atom and three H 
atoms. These changes are constantly going 
on naturally. Put sugar in^water and let it 
stand awhile in the air, and it will change to 
alcohol, and the alcohol will then change to 
vinegar. In these changes, when some of 
the atoms are not wanted, they will escape 
into the air ; and when other atoms are 
needed they will be taken from the air. 
49. Some of these changes we can make 
by artificial means, and some of them we are 
not skillful enough to perform. A particle 
of wood contains the same kind of atoms as 
a particle of sugar or starch, and the chem¬ 
ist has already learned to change a stick of 
wood into a mass of sugar—though he has 
not learned to change the sugar back to 
wood. The writer has very often taken a 
pound of dry wood, and at other times a 
pound of starch, and changed each into a 
pound of sugar. All that is necessary to be 
done is, to arrange the atoms together differ¬ 
ently from what they were in the wood or 
starch. 
50. Give each of two men the same quan¬ 
tity of stones, brick, mortar, wood, nails, 
glass, and paints, and one of them could 
build an ugly-looking barn out of his mate¬ 
rials, while the other could construct a beau¬ 
tiful palace. It would depend entirely upon 
how they arranged their materials. Give 
two ladies the same amount of flour, sugar, 
eggs, butter, &c., and they could make two 
cakes very different from each other in form, 
in appearance, and even in taste. Give sev¬ 
eral boys some of the same large and small 
blocks of different colors, and they would 
pile them up very differently. Just so a few 
kinds of atoms can be made into a thousand 
different forms, by arranging them together 
differently , or by using different quantities of 
each. 
51. So true is this, that the four kinds of 
atoms which we have supposed to be put in 
the first four boxes—H, C, O, N—are enough 
to constitute or make up the chief bulk of 
nearly every thing which grows. All kinds 
of flesh, our own bodies and those of all ani¬ 
mals, the trees, plants, flowers, &c. ; in 
short, all things that have animal or vegeta¬ 
ble life, and which can be burned away, or 
which decay, are made out of four kinds of 
atoms or elements. 
52. The names of these four kinds of 
atoms are : Hy-dro-gen—Car-bon—Ox-y- 
gen—Ni-tro-gen.* These names may sound 
hard or strange to those who are not accus¬ 
tomed to them, but they will soon become 
easy and familiar, and we shall learn that 
there is a good reason for using them. Our 
first four boxes are marked with the first 
letters of these names, PI. C, O, N. 
* The letter g is pronounced like j in each of the words 
Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen. 
GUANO ON CARROTS. 
On the poorest part of our garden, after 
trenching in a compost of pig dung and muck, 
we spread about a peck of guano, and raked 
it in very thoroughljN There was about 
seven.square rods in the bed. A part of it 
had been planted with carrots two years in 
succession; another part was a gravel pit 
filled up with earth, and the rest was a dry 
gravelly loam. The yield was 61 bushels to 
the square rod, or at the rate of 1,040 bushels 
to the acre. Considering the excessive 
drouth of the past season, the product was 
much larger than we anticipated. The part 
which had been planted to carrots before, 
apparently yielded as well as in former 
years. The old gravel pit was distinctly 
marked all through the season by the great¬ 
er greenness and luxuriance of the leaves, 
and the product was judged to be nearly 
double that of any other equal area. This 
was a satisfactory demonstration of the util¬ 
ity of subsoil plowing. We have no doubt 
that the yield was very much increased by 
the application of the guano. We have be¬ 
gun to feed the crop to a cow and horse, a 
half peck a day to each, in connection with 
all the herd’s grass hay they can eat. The 
cow yilds milk in larger quantity and of bet¬ 
ter quality, by this addition to her food. 
The horse has increased in flesh, and his 
skin assumed a more glossy appearance. 
We have no doubt of the economy of the 
root crop upon all our farms. It would be 
a great point gained in our husbandry, if the 
attention of farmers generally could be turn¬ 
ed to the cultivation of carrots for feeding. 
They would be a great safeguard against a 
short crop of hay, like that of the past sea¬ 
son, and would bring out the stock in much 
better condition in the spring. With a thor¬ 
ough mechanical preparation of the soil, and 
liberal manuring with well rotted com¬ 
post and guano, 1,500 bushels to the acre 
may be raised in a good season. We have 
seen 2,000 bushels to the acre reported, but 
it must have been on extra soil. 
We have just received the “ American Al¬ 
manac and Repository of Usefrl Knowledge” 
for the year 1855, published at Boston, by 
Phillips, Sampson & Co. 
Also, the “ Transactions of the Bristol 
County Agricultural Society” for the year 
1854, with the address of Hon. Jacob Miller. 
