AMERICAN AGRIOU LTURIST. 
Q5G 
ever found in your city, and the bread, meat, and 
vegetables, were all that an epicure could desire. 
I had no idea, when I stopped writing, that so 
many of your city folks was a going to follow my 
example, and suspend. I shall have to bo more 
careful of my conduct. 
Yours to command, 
Timothy Bunker, Esq. 
Hookert-'wn, Conn., October 15th, 1857. 
THE A QUAE, HIM- 
“ A NEW PLEASURE.” 
Though the chief aim of this journal is, to col¬ 
lect and disseminate information referring direct¬ 
ly to the practical labors of the field, the garden, 
and the in-door operations of the rural home, yet, 
as we have now more room, a small portion of 
our pages may be appropriately devoted to those 
branches gf the fine arts in which every lover of 
nature has a direct or indirect interest. In our 
last number, at page 229, we introduced descrip¬ 
tions and illustrations of several ornamental 
structures for the garden and lawn or yard, and 
we have more of them in course of preparation. 
We now have the pleasure of presenting to our 
readers some information on a topic of intense 
interest, which will be new to most, if not all, 
since, from its recent development, but little is 
known on the subject in this country, or even 
abroad, though a very lively interest is just now 
awakened in England, where the first discoveries 
have been made within six or eight years. 
The cut. above, represents a simple glass box 
standing upon a common table, in which are 
a variety of plants, fishes, and small animals. 
What is of most interest, is the fact that these 
plants and animals are so situated that they will 
live and flourish for years, in the same limited 
cage, if such we may call it, and that, loo, with¬ 
out any change, of the watci in which they dwell. 
And this remarkable condition is brought about by 
the simple application of one of those beautiful laws 
which seern to govern a wise Providence in the 
arrangement of the whole animal and vegetable 
creation of our eaHh. When we come to under¬ 
stand this, we can but have increasing wonder, 
and admiration of the infinite wisdom and skill of 
Him who made, and governs, and upholds all 
things. But let us study our glass water-box and 
understand what there is particularly curious j 
(tbout. it. 1 
It is called an Aquarium, which signifies simply 
a water-tank of any shape, for rearing water grow¬ 
ing plants. This might, perhaps, be more prop¬ 
erly named an aqua-vivarium, or living water- 
tank, as it is designed both for animals and for 
plants. Most persons have seen the common 
glass globes containing the yellow gold-fish, but 
those who have tried to keep them know by ex¬ 
perience, that it is next to impossible to preserve 
the fish alive without the most careful attention. 
To forget or neglect a daily change of water soon 
results in loss of the fish. The new discoveries 
will enable us to keep in our houses, or gardens, all 
the smaller varieties of fresh and sea-water ani¬ 
mals, without this constant attention. Artificial 
lakes, ponds and miniature streams can be con¬ 
structed at will, and we expect soon to see, even 
in far inland towns, actual representatives of the 
bottoms, not only of fresh water rivers, lakes and 
ponds, but of the bed of the ocean itself We 
will not stop now to speak of the intense interest 
connected with such living, hut ever changing pic¬ 
tures of animal life, pictures which no painter’s 
pencil can ever imitate, but we will endeavor to 
explain in plain language the principles involved 
in the construction of the Aquarium. 
Plants and fishes need to breathe as much as do 
land animals. Fishes get their air from water. 
If we boil water, this expels the air, and a fish 
put into water just boiled will very soon die for 
want of air. All animated beings, whether in or 
out of water, require the same kind of air as hu¬ 
man beings, to support life. Plants require a dif¬ 
ferent kind of air. 
If by the aid of Chemistry we examine the air 
we breathe, we shall find that each little particle 
of it is made up of three atoms. Two of these 
are alike and are called Nitrogen. The other is 
called Oxygen. We may suppose them put to¬ 
gether thus: NON. But it is only the oxygen, O, 
that we need in breathing; and so it is with the 
fishes and other water animals. 
When we take air into our lungs, it comes in 
contact with the blood, and it finds there litt/e 
particles of another substance, derived from the 
food we eat, and called carbon. The oxygen 
leaves the nitrogen in the air, and two atoms ol 
it unite with one of the carbon, and form car¬ 
bonic acid, OCO, so that two particles of air, NON, 
NON, going into the lungs when drawing in the 
breath come out thus N, N, N, N and OCO, that 
is, it brings out a particle of carbon, C. Precisely 
the same change takes place in the lungs or gills 
of a fish. The fish, however, may find the oxy¬ 
gen, 0, in the water without the nitrogen, N. This 
carbonic acid, OCO, which comes from the lungs, 
is a poisonous substance, so to speak, and a per 
son or animal confined in a small space, where it 
would be necessary to breathe over the carbonic 
acid thrown out from the lungs or gills, would 
soon be suffocated. 
Now let us see how plants breathe. On the 
leaves, and often on the bark, are myriads of lit¬ 
tle pores or holes. These draw in precisely'the 
bad air thrown out from the lungs of animals, 
that is the carbonic acid, OCO. The plant takes 
away the carbon C, ar.d stores it in its cells, as 
food to increase its growth, while it sends back 
into the atmosphere or into the water, the oxy¬ 
gen 0, 0, which it does not need. Here then wo 
see that a person can go into a very small room 
and live a long time there, if the room be sup¬ 
plied with a large number of plants, because when 
he takes in air and sends out carbonic acid into 
Fig. 2. 
pESIGN FOP, Pt ANTING A CLP.CULAK AQUAEXCM WITH ARUM (KICHARDSIA), SUNDEW 
IORGEI-MB-NOT ETC, 
