THE CULTIVATOR. 
159 
table for absorption and after-deposition, is provided for 
the newly awakened energies and action. This is fur¬ 
nished by geine, and is presented in a state the most 
suitable for the circulating juices of the plant. Taken 
up by the roots, or absorbed from the air, it is converted 
into lignin or woody substance by deposition and aera¬ 
tion, and thus becomes a new plant, prepared to run its 
course of growth, maturity and decay. 
Taking this simple, and we think philosophical view 
of the subject, the reasons of many farming processes, 
hitherto but little understood, are made more plain; and 
various improvements suggested and made practicable. 
If a soil on analysis contains an undue proportion of any 
one of the earths, the evil can be remedied by combining 
them in the proper manner, by adding what is deficient 
until the balance isrestored. Butthefact, thattheearths 
themselves, uncombined with salts or geine, are never 
fertile, and that all the combinations of which they are 
capable, can never be made to supportvegetation, should 
not be lost sight of. Some soils, from the proportion of 
the earths found in them, are more friable and easier to 
work than others; and some combinations are proved 
to be more suitable for the union with salts necessary to 
the excitement of voltaic or galvanic agency and the 
consequent vitality and circulation of plants; but alone, 
no possible modification or combination can make what 
is called a fertile soil. Were we to name for compari¬ 
son the agents and the several parts they perform in the 
process of vegetation, we would call the earths the plates 
of the galvanic battery, inert while dry, or not subjected 
to exciting causes; the salts by their solubility furnish¬ 
ing the acids, such as carbonic, sulphuric, phosphoric, 
necessary to rouse the battery to action ; and when this 
is done, humus or geine offers the only matter that can 
be taken into circulation and constitute (properly speak¬ 
ing) the food of plants. 
According to the modern investigations of science, 
every particle of matter is pervaded by this universal 
agent, and requires only the aid of moisture to its great¬ 
er or less development; the intervention of the fluid 
serving as a conducting power between the several par¬ 
ticles. Pure water is the weakest exciting power yet 
known, but at the same time the most durable. This is 
beautifully exemplified in the experiments of Mr. Crosse, 
who uses only water for the exciting power of his bat¬ 
teries when he requires their uninterrupted action for 
weeks or months, the slow continued excitement being 
more favorable to the development of animal life, or 
metallic or mineral crystallization, than one more power¬ 
ful, but of shorter duration. This action of water shows 
why water alone, applied to the earths and through them 
to vegetables, has so feeble and tedious an operation on 
their development. On the contrary, if the acids are 
supplied, and this is done in a multitude of ways, the 
action becomes at once vigorous; and connected with a 
proper supply of food, vegetation will be rapid and 
abundant. 
This theory of vegetable nutrition explains, in our 
opinion, far more satisfactorily than any other, the mode 
in which manures, vegetable, animal and mineral, pro¬ 
duce their effect on vegetation, and stimulate its growth. 
According to Chaptal, the different substances afforded 
by animals, and useful as manure, including all their se¬ 
cretions, are, “ gelatine, fibrine, mucus, fat, albumen, 
urea, uric and phosphoric acids, and some of the muri¬ 
ates or salts.” Here, it will be seen at a glance, are a 
multitude of exciting and nutritive causes mingled, and 
when combined, as animal manures usually are, with 
vegetables decomposed, the available geine is considera¬ 
bly increased. The liquid manures found so powerful 
in Flanders, and the use of which is such a marked fea¬ 
ture of the excellent Flemish husbandry, are, it is well 
known, mostly composed of the urine of animals. The 
analysis of urine by Mr. Brandt discloses the cause of 
this efficiency. 
Water,.....65 
Phosphate of lime,.. 5 
Muriate of Potash and ammonia,.15 
Sulphate of Potash,. 6 
Carbonate of Potash and ammonia,.... 4 
Urea,... 5 
100 
A more active combination could scarcely have been 
devised than this analysis shows such manures to be; 
and though Fourcroy and Berzelius slightly vary the 
constituents, their analysis does not materially alter or 
impair its efficiency. Of the above animal ingredients, 
we will select but one to illustrate our theory, as it is 
one respecting the efficiency of which as a manure there 
can be no doubt, and which is daily coming into more 
general use—we allude to phosphate of lime or bone 
dust. 
Bones, as a whole, contain about equal quantities of 
phosphate and gelatine. The harder and more compact 
the bone, the greater the amount of phosphate, and the 
less the proportion of gelatine. The bones of the ox 
contain from 50 to 55 per cent, of gelatine ; those of the 
horse only from 36 to 40 ; those of the hog from 48 to 
50; and the bones of the legs and feet of the deer, elk, 
roebuck, and hare, give an analysis from 80 to 90 per 
cent of phosphate'. All the roots, such as beets, carrots, 
&c. and the grains, such as wheat, corn, 8tc. contain con¬ 
siderable quantities of this phosphate ; and its presence 
would seem to be of much importance in the vegetable 
and animal economy. When bone dust is deposited in 
the ground, it speedily undergoes decomposition, and the 
principal ingredients in its composition are set at liber¬ 
ty to form new combinations, and perform a new part in 
the great circle of nature’s revolutions. The phospho¬ 
ric acid leaves the lime, and as in all its forms of exis¬ 
tence it is one of the most exciting agents, its applica¬ 
tion to the earths is almost as immediate as the dip of 
the chemist’s plates into the galvanic trough. The lime 
set free is, by the absence of the neutralizing acid, per¬ 
fectly caustic, and seizing at once on whatever geine is 
found in the soil renders it soluble, and thus fit for im¬ 
mediate use by the plants while in their excited state of 
action. Can it be wondered at then, that bone dust 
should be efficacious, or that its effect on vegetation 
should be almost instantaneous ? It may be further re¬ 
marked, that bone dust applied to very dry or very wet 
land, loses much of its efficiency; a reason for which 
may be found in the fact, that in the first instance the 
ordinary voltaic agent is but imperfectly supplied, and 
in the last, the acid is so diluted as to become but little 
superior to water itself. 
The efficiency of carbonate of lime as it is generally 
applied to soils, is to be accounted for on the same prin¬ 
ciples. It differs, however, in this respect; in the phos¬ 
phate the acid is set at liberty in the soil, in the carbo¬ 
nate it is driven off by burning. Like the phosphate, 
the lime is at liberty to unite with and render soluble, 
all the insoluble geine or vegetable matter in the soil, 
but unlike that it furnishes no acid to stimulate the vol¬ 
taic agency to more vigorous exertions. Its effects, 
though certain, and most beneficial, are not so immedi¬ 
ate as those of the phosphate. We may say, that, by the 
application of common lime, the food ot plants is cooked 
for their use; by the phosphate, it is not only cooked, 
but they are excited to devour it. The better the ope¬ 
ration of lime in all its forms is understood, the more 
highly will it be prized and its use the more widely ex¬ 
tended. 
This theory of the nutrition of plants by voltaic agen¬ 
cy, mosthappily explains the manner in which such small 
quantities of the salts of lime produce such astonishing 
effects on vegetation. Every experimental chemistknows 
what effect the combination of a few drops of acid with 
the water of his galvanic trough will have on his battery; 
and the application of lime to our battery of nature, 
when under proper circumstances, is equally effectual; 
—nay it does more, for the application of the acid by 
the chemist only excites hisinstrument to activity, while 
the lime furnished the earth by the farmer not only ex¬ 
cites the action, but furnishes the material upon which 
that action can profitably be exerted. All persons ac¬ 
quainted with the use of lime are agreed that it produ¬ 
ces little or no effect, except by mechanical division, only 
on lands that contain animal or vegetable matter that re¬ 
quires decomposition, a decisive proof that lime of it¬ 
self does not constitute the food of the plant. But let a 
soil deficient in lime, and containing the food of plants, 
be furnished with the smallest quantity, and, unless ren¬ 
dered inactive by perfect dryness, or excessive moisture, 
its effects will be observable at once. Even the small 
quantity that adheres to wheat, when steeped and roll¬ 
ed in lime, produces a sensible effect on the vigor and 
rapidity of the shoot. So too with the sulphate of lime, 
which, at the rate of only one or two bushels an acre, 
produces such an effect on many kinds of vegetation. 
If our notions of vegetable nutrition are correct, all 
soils will be fertile that contain lime, and geine or hu¬ 
mus; and the object of the analysis of soils will be di¬ 
rected to the determination of these two points. The 
sand and the clay present in any soil can be known with¬ 
out difficulty. Every farmer knows whether his soil is 
adhesive, retentive of moisture, or, in other words, con¬ 
vertible into mortar by moisture and the operations of 
agriculture ; or whether it is dry, porous, easily parting 
with water, and liable to leach; and he knows too that 
a combination of these soils will materially benefit, and 
remedy the evils of both. But he has not hitherto been 
able to determine the best applications to give fertility 
to his soil, or ascertain whether the defect was the want 
of lime or vegetable matter; and the methods of analy¬ 
sis proposed by Davy, Chaptal, Beck, and others, are 
too complicated and nice for his purpose. 
This difficulty we imagine is now in a great measure 
overcome, and a method of analysis discovered, by which 
any farmer, with little time and expense, may determine 
the quantity of vegetable nutriment that exists in his 
soils, whether it is soluble or insoluble, and whether lime 
is present, or requires to be applied to promote decom¬ 
position and vegetation. Dr. Dana of Massachusetts, 
who has long been occupied in chemical investigations, 
connected with manufactures and agriculture, has lately 
given the following directions for ascertaining the geine 
in the soil, and the lime. It will be seen the process is 
very simple, and can scarcely fail of being effectual.— 
We quote from Prof. Hitchcock’s Report: 
“ 1. Sift the soil through a fine sieve. Take the fine 
part, and bake it just up to browning paper. 
“ 2. Boil 100 grains of the baked soils, with 50 grains 
of pearlashes, saleratus, or carbonate of soda in 4 ounces 
of water, for half an hour; let it settle ; decantthe clear; 
wash the grounds with four ounces of boiling water;— 
throw all on a weighed filter previously dried; wash till 
colourless water returns. Mix all these liquors. It is a 
brown solution of all the soluble geine. All the sul¬ 
phates have been converted into carbonates, and with all 
the phosphates are on the filter. Dry that, therefore, 
with its contents at the same heat as before. Weigh— 
the loss is soluble geineP 
For the lime: 
“Replace on a funnel the filter and its earthy contents; 
wash with 2 drams of muriatic acid diluted with 3 times 
its bulk of cold water. Wash till tasteless. The car¬ 
bonate and phosphate of lime will be dissolved, the alu¬ 
mina scarcely touched. We may estimate all as salts of 
lime. Evaporate the muriatic solution to dryness, weigh, 
and dissolve in boiling water. The insoluble part will 
be phosphate of lime. Weigh again—the loss is sulphate 
of lime.” 
To ascertain whether the residuum contains insoluble 
geine: 
“ Test it by burning a small quantity on a hot shovel— 
if the odor of burning peat is given off, the presence of 
insoluble geine is indicated. Calcine and filter. The 
loss in weight will give the insoluble geine.” 
Science of Gardening. — Continued. 
[From the Alphabet of Gardening.'] 
GARDEN PHYSICS. 
The first topic to which I request attention under this 
head, is the direction in which plants and their several 
parts, naturally grow; a thing of important considera¬ 
tion in all the varieties of training, as much injury may 
be done by opposing natural laws, while much benefit 
may accrue from turning these artificially to advantage. 
DIRECTION OF PLANTS. 
On going up a steep hill, we find ourselves forced to 
stoop forwards by an invisible force, as if it were pulling 
the body down to the slope. It is this force which 
causes a stone thrown up in the air to fall down again, 
and which causes a soap bubble and a balloon to rise up 
above the ground by pulling down from above them the 
heavier air, which, being very moveable, will not rest 
on the top of a light body, any more (and for the same 
reason) than a sheet of water would rest on the top of 
a cork. 
It is inferred from certain ingenious experiments, that 
it is this same force which causes most plants to grow 
upright with their roots more or less perpendicular to the 
stem. Dobereiner, a celebrated German writer, proved 
by experiments, that the same species of plants will rise 
higher in condensed than in rarified air, and hence, on 
high mountains, trees become dwarfish; a circumstance 
also in part caused by the light being there more bright 
and intense. 
On the supposition, that the roots of plants descend 
into the soil either from their dislike to light, or their 
natural propensity to extend themselves in search of 
nourishment, Dr. Grew, and recently M. Dutrochet, 
found, that when kidney beans were placed in a sus¬ 
pended box, with air above them, and holes below to 
admit light, they sent their roots down through the holes 
into the light, and not into the earth in the box. 
M. Dutrochet also repeated the ingenious experi¬ 
ment of Mr. T. A. Knight, of planting kidney beans in 
moistened moss, and placing them on ivheels, revolving 
both vertically and horizontally, by a shaft from a water 
mill. The beans germinated well, and the result was 
curious. The vertical wheel, which went at the rate of 
150 turns in a minute, caused all the roots to point out¬ 
wards, precisely in the direction of the spokes of the 
wheel, while the stems pointed as invariably towards 
the centre, where, in the end, they all m et. 
[Fig. No. 56 ] 
Mr. Knight’s vertical wheel, with germinating beans. 
On the horizontal wheel, again, which went at the 
rate of 250 turns in the minute, the roots, instead of 
running directly downwards, as they would have done 
if at rest, pointed in a slanting direction outwards, while 
the stems pointed aslant inwards, forming a cone at some 
distance above the centre. 
[Fig. No. 57.] 
Mr. Knight’s horizontal wheel, with germinating beans. 
Lord Karnes mentions a plane tree growing on the 
high wall of a ruin, which sent a root down along the 
wall to the ground; a circumstance easily accounted for 
on the same principle, though it has been adduced as a 
proof of instinct, if not of reason, in the tree itself. 
From these facts, it is evident that the number of tall 
plants, such as Jerusalem artichokes, on a particular 
piece of ground, cannot be increased, as some have fan¬ 
cied, by making the surface irregular; nor can more 
