66 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Upon trying, by means of chemical tests, the materi¬ 
als taken up by plants from the soil, they are found to 
consist of water, with which are mixed carbonic acid gas, 
and nitrogen or azote, along with a few other princi¬ 
ples, usually in small proportions, which it may be well 
to examine separately. 
WATER. 
From experiments made by Van Helmont and Boyle, 
who reared plants in earth previously dried in an oven, 
and by Du Hamel and Bonnet, who reared others upon 
sponges and moss supplied only with water, it was con¬ 
cluded that water alone is the food of plants; though 
the inference is faulty, in consequence of overlooking 
what might be contained in the water before it was 
used, and also what it might afterwards derive from 
the atmosphere, as well as from tlie earth or the sponge. 
That water, indeed, was not all the food necessary, was 
proved by the plants so treated not remaining healthy; 
and it is well known, that though hyacinths and other 
bulbs will flower in glasses containing nothing but wa¬ 
ter, yet they never in such cases form seed; and if thus 
kept for a few months, they will infallibly die, as other 
plants do when placed in calcined or roasted sand, and 
watered with distilled water. The hyacinths in glasses, 
moreover, are not found to thrive unless the water is 
frequently changed, indicating that it is not the water 
alone, but something in the water which has become 
exhausted, or at least deteriorated, by the slimy matter 
thrown out by the roots. 
The materials, which water holds or may hold dis¬ 
solved, are therefore important to be ascertained, and 
this may be partially known by color, taste or smell, but 
more correctly by chemical tests. It is only, however, 
requisite for gardening purposes, to discover the ma¬ 
terials which may prove useful or hurtful, and these, 
for the most part, are but few in number. 
Among the substances useful to vegetation, dissolved 
in the water of soils, may be reckoned atmospheric air, 
carbonic acid gas, hydrogen gas, humic acid, and a small 
portion of the salts of lime and potass. 
Among the things hurtful, are most of the acids, the 
salts of magnesia, and iron, metallic substances in gene¬ 
ral, and stagnant water. 
It is also important to bear in mind, that the purest 
water is not a simple substance, but composed, as dis¬ 
covered by Cavendish, of eight parts oxygen gas, and 
one part hydrogen gas, or two volumes of hydrogen and 
one of oxygen, the correctness of which composition is 
proved by exploding, or burning these proportions of 
the two gases together, when the result is pure water. 
Plants seem to have the power of decomposing the wa¬ 
ter which enters into their system from the earth or the 
air; that is, of separating it into its component parts, 
oxygen and hydrogen. 
Socrates in Praise of Husbandry* 
It was the noble aim of Socrates, the Grecian sage, 
according to Cicero, to bring down philosophy to 
the level of common capacities, to render it more 
useful in common life, and to apply it solely to what 
might make men more rational, just and virtuous. 
In the extracts from Socrates, below, which have 
been handed down by Xenophon, we find Cicero’s 
words verified: philosophy is happily applied to 
agriculture, and to the common business of life.— 
Cond. Cult. 
“ There is no condition of life,” says Socrates, “ how¬ 
ever exalted, that should exempt a man from the prac¬ 
tice of agriculture. By exciting in the soul an arduous 
activity for labor, it diffuses the most pure and delight¬ 
ful satisfaction. In augmenting our riches, it exercises 
the body, and gratifies every rational wish of a free 
agent. The earth not only rewards the toil of cultiva¬ 
tion with those blessings essential to the support of life, 
but also indulges us with whatever can contribute to 
the embellishment of our persons, our houses, our tem¬ 
ples ! Our senses are regaled with the most agreeable 
and exquisite perfumes, and enraptured with varied 
prospects of hanging woods and enamelled meads.— 
The increase of flocks and herds, necessarily arising 
from agriculture, is productive of a variety of ali¬ 
ments for the sustenance of man. But in this liberal 
dispensation of her choicest gifts, the earth denies their 
enjoyment to sloth and inactivity; requiring rather 
that the body, habituated to the inclemency of winter, 
and the fervid heat of summer, should become almost 
invulnerable, and capable of enduring every kind of fa¬ 
tigue. The task of manual labor, in obliging ns to be 
thinly clad, considerably augments the strength and vi¬ 
gor of the constitution; and the necessity of rising ear¬ 
ly, incumbent on all good husbandmen, by a uniform 
course of exercise, renders them robust, diligent and 
courageous.” * * “ What other art so bountifully dis¬ 
tributes to its votaries the necessary wants of existence ? 
Or what other art so amply recompenses their care and 
assiduity? A cheerful fire-side in the country, and a 
warm bath, resists the roughest blasts of -winter; and a 
free circulation of air, the coolness of winding rivulets, 
and lofty groves, abate the intolerable ardor of summer. 
A man of independent fortune will find agriculture the 
most agreeable and satisfactory of all employments, 
and what will find him with maxims for the strictest 
propriety of conduct in any station of life. In the cot¬ 
tage, justice is never perverted, since the best laborer is 
always the best paid. Humanity, and reciprocal assis¬ 
tance to the wants of their fellow creatures, are daily 
practised by those employed in cultivating the same 
field with the sweat of their brow. Here the general 
may learn to instil obedience into his troops, by follow¬ 
ing the example of the farmer, who invites his laborers 
cheerfully to fulfil the task assigned them; reward¬ 
ing the diligent and punishing the idle. A good farmer 
sees the indispensable necessity of animating his labor¬ 
ers, in the same degree a general does his soldiers; and 
the hired peasant, who works for bread, has even more 
occasion for encouragement to perform his task with 
alacrity, than the voluntary companion of honor. Re¬ 
verence to the Superior Being is always inculcated in 
the most forcible manner, from a constant series of ob¬ 
servations, that all things are dependent on the will of 
Providence; that snow and hail, frost, drought and 
storms, blights, and a thousand epidemical maladies, 
destroy the fruits of the earth, and defeat the best ef¬ 
forts of assiduous industry, directed by consummate 
prudence. 
“ Agriculture seems to possess an incontestible right 
to the title of parent and nurse of all other professions. 
Observe a country where agriculture flourishes, and you 
will behold arts and sciences flourish in equal perfec¬ 
tion. But where devastation lays waste the soil, or 
slothful neglect induces men to leave the earth unculti¬ 
vated, a general stagnation in maritime, as well as in 
commercial affairs, immediately succeeds. 
“ I have studied, with uncommon assiduity, the cha¬ 
racters of men of every profession, who have been dis¬ 
tinguished for prudence and understanding. I observ¬ 
ed with astonishment, that among those engaged in the 
same occupations, some were rivited in penury and 
want, whilst others enjoyed affluence and ease. The 
cause of this inequality seemed worthy of the exactest 
and most accurate examination; and the pains I took to 
investigate it at length succeeded; I perceived that those 
persons who formed no regular plan of life, strangers to 
reflection and foresight, thoughtless of to-morrow, were, 
by the negligence of their conduct, the sole authors of 
their own distresses and disappointments. Those, on 
the contrary, whose steady and enlarged principles go¬ 
vern and guide their sagacious and determined views; 
who unite, in their several professions, diligence and at¬ 
tention, order and'punctuality, qualities which smooth 
the rugged paths of life, will find the journey more 
easy, more speedy, and infinitely more lucrative.— 
These are maxims which, whoever attends to, must 
gain his point, in defiance of opposition, and amass 
wealth, should the malignity of men, or demons, endea¬ 
vor to wrest it from him. 
Capital. 
[From the New-England Farmer .] 
Ah! but he has no capital to begin with! Very 
often, very often we hear this said; and uttered in 
such piteous tones, that we are in such cases almost 
tempted to ask, what extraordinary and melancholy 
destitution does this young man, who is thus compas¬ 
sionated, labor under; or what singular calamity has 
befallen him, that he is thus held up as the victim of 
misfortune ? 
He has ordinary talents and capacity for labor ; he 
has health and strength ; he has enjoyed and improv¬ 
ed the advantages of a useful education ; he has ac¬ 
quired, or is in the way of acquiring, a respectable 
and good trade ; he is not the slave of any bad ha¬ 
bits ; and above all things his character is good, and 
he has lived without reproach. Because he has no 
moneyed capital, you choose to pity him: now I en¬ 
treat you, reserve your compassion for some more 
worthy object. He does not demand your pity half 
so much as your congratulation. He is much more 
an object of envy than of pity. “ But he has no capi¬ 
tal.” Now what is capital? In respect to trade, or 
the business of acquiring wealth, capital is the means 
or instrument of acquisition and accumulation, and is 
generally applied to the money or property on hand 
not required to be consumed for immediate subsis¬ 
tence, but which we can use or apply for the pur¬ 
poses of begetting more. In an agricultural view, 
land which we may render productive by cultivation, 
or the seed which we cast into the ground, and which, 
under favorable circumstances of situation, season, 
and culture, will multiply and return to us very often 
a hundred or a thousand fold, is capital. In a com¬ 
mercial view, capital is property beyond the wants of 
immediate subsistence, which you can invest in goods 
or articles of trade, and hold them in your possession, 
until under favorable circumstances you can sell, or 
exchange, and realize; the profhs of such adventure. 
Capital^ in short, is money on hand, or the reserved 
profits of former labor, and speculation, or trade, 
which you can use for other and further purposes of 
trade and accumulation, and be able to wait its re¬ 
turns. But there is much other capital besides land 
or money. Every means of accumulation should be 
considered as so much capital. There is another 
acent in trade of equal power, as a means of accumu¬ 
lation, as money, and that is credit. This is often 
even far better than a moneyed capital. This will 
enable you, as far as you ought to desire it, to com¬ 
mand the moneyed capital of other men, as if it were 
your own, and to use it for your benefit and theirs ; 
and where it is based upon those substantial qualities of 
character, which form the only just and sure founda¬ 
tion of credit,—-namely, truth, honor, industry, fruga¬ 
lity, exactness, or punctuality,—it may be used with 
equal success and propriety as the instrument of ac¬ 
cumulation, as the heaped up thousands which lay in 
the coffers of the most affluent. 
Every thing in relation to matters of trade, and the 
pursuits of wealth, which is a means of accumulation, 
is capital. Now let us see, then, with what propriety 
it can be said of this young man of whom we have 
spoken, though he has no money at his entrance into 
life, that he has no capital; or rather, let us see what 
renders him an object of compassion. 
He has youth, health, and ability. These all ena¬ 
ble him to labor, and labor will command its reward. 
He has habits of frugality, which will lead to ex¬ 
pend carefully, and lay up the surplus wages of labor, 
—that is, the surplus beyond his immediate necessi¬ 
ties. He has the elements of a good education ; this 
furnishes him the means of acquiring more know¬ 
ledge, and knowledge is always power. He has an 
art or trade ; and this gives him an immense advan¬ 
tage, and puts it in his power to apply his labor and 
faculties with far more advantage and profit than he 
could without. He is not the slave of any bad ha¬ 
bits ; his gains therefore are not insensibly creeping 
away from him. Above all, he has good character, 
this will give him credit. Habits of industry, frugali¬ 
ty, and exactness, will secure, establish, and increase 
his credit to all the extent he should desire; and give 
him the command of the property of others. All this, 
then, is capital—capital of the best kind. A purely mo¬ 
neyed capital may pass away from him by a thousand 
contingencies ; but this other capital, which I choose 
to call a moral capital, is under his own control, se¬ 
cure from all the fluctuations and vicissitudes of trade 
and business, and never can be taken from him with¬ 
out his own consent. 
For a young man to be placed at once in the pos¬ 
session of a large moneyed capital at his setting out 
in business, though it may be highly gratifying to his 
vanity, is extremely hazardous to his virtue. I have 
known in such cases innumerable instances of deplo¬ 
rable failure and bankruptcy. The passion for specu¬ 
lation, over-trading, and extraordinary gains, to which 
they are excited by the possession of a large money¬ 
ed capital at setting out, leads men into a thousand 
risks, which they cannot encounter without extreme 
peril. On the other hand, those habits of care and 
caution, which small means, and gradual and mode¬ 
rate earnings beget, are a sure foundation of increase 
and security. 
Large means and extensive speculations, where 
the possessor has had no lessons in a humbler sphere, 
nor been compelled by an early and stern necessity 
to proceed with the greatest caution, almost inevit¬ 
ably lead to habits of wasteful expenditure. “ Many 
estates are spent in the getting.” Wealth and ac¬ 
cumulation depend as much upon saving as upon 
gaining. 
To say of a young man, therefore, coming into life 
with health, strength, capacity for labor, a good edu¬ 
cation, a useful and respectable trade, habits of so¬ 
briety and frugality, and above all a good and unsul¬ 
lied character, that he has no capital, is a gross ab¬ 
surdity and error. He has the best of all capital—a 
moral capital; the noblest of all power—moral pow¬ 
er ; he has the most certain means of honest and ho¬ 
norable accumulation and fortune, and may be sure, 
under circumstances ordinarily propitious, to rise to 
that competency of influence, respect and general 
confidence, and that honorable measure of wealth 
and independence, which should fully satisfy a rea¬ 
sonable and virtuous ambition. H. C. 
Cheering Prospect. 
[From the Franklin (Ky.) Farmer .] 
Our information from all quarters indicates that the 
coming agricultural year will be one of unprecedented 
activity and spirit in Kentucky. Improvement dn the 
breeds of horses, cattle, mules, sheep and hogs; in 
all descriptions of seeds ; in modes of culture; in feed¬ 
ing; and in agricultural implements, is now “ all the 
rage.” In the present year, our farmers, will sow 
more and better seed and reap larger and richer har¬ 
vests. There will be an improvement in the number 
and quality of all kinds of domestic animals. Why, 
some of our breeders are incurring considerable ex¬ 
pense to improve the breeds of poultry, though Ken¬ 
tucky boasts the possession of the “game cocks” of 
creation. Our farmers will have better fences than 
formerly; and many well painted gates will be substi¬ 
tuted for those annoying inconveniejicies, “ draw bars ” 
and “slip gaps.” The fence corners will be freed 
from weeds, and corn or grass will take the place of 
briars in the old fields. The logs, brush and under¬ 
growth in the woodland pastures will be cleared out; 
and blue grass will be set in their place. Many of 
our Green river friends will abandon tobacco planting 
and adopt the grazing business instead. The root 
culture will be more generally and more energetically 
tried, and its adaptation to our soil and to the purpose 
of feeding stock, will be verified or dispro-ven. The 
silk culture will receive wider attention, and many 
