278 THE CULTIVATOR. Sept. 
VITAL ACTION OF PLANTS. 
“ There are some chemists, learned in the highest de¬ 
gree, who speak with confidence of pounded glass being 
used as manure; and another, eminent in his peculiar 
science, speaks of the power of a plant in its wonderful 
action of growth, to decompose the sides of the glass 
vessel in which it is grown, and appropriate portions for 
its nutriment. I believe it.” (Colman’s European 
Agriculture, Part VI., p. 11.) 
It seems to us, there can be no question that living 
plants do exert a force similar to that above mentioned. 
This opinion, so far as held by the writer, was original¬ 
ly derived solely from actual observation; though he has 
since been much gratified to find it entertained by vari¬ 
ous individuals of acknowledged attainments in the sci¬ 
ence of vegetable physiology. We alluded to this sub¬ 
ject in our June number, under the head of “ Manuring 
by Green Crops,” but advert to it again at this time, for 
the purpose of bringing forward the remarks of others 
in support of our own. 
The theory to which we refer, is very appropriately 
spoken of in an article published in the Transactions of 
the Highland Agricultural Society, on the “Theory of 
Manures—their Agency as fertilizers;” by John Tow¬ 
ers, Esq., a well known able writer. Mr. T. directs 
his remarks chiefly to an illustration of the modus ope¬ 
randi by which the decomposition of manures and their 
assimilation by plants is effected. He argues that the 
value of common animal manures, as the food of plants, 
consists in furnishing a source of carbonic acid ,—this 
substance being produced, in his opinion, “ under the 
action of the roots of plants, or rather by their vital 
principle .” 
Mr. Towers had given this subject some considera¬ 
tion in a previous article, some portions of which he 
copies into the one to which we first referred. In the 
former article, he observes it is generally supposed that 
manures become the food of plants by “ being dissolved 
in the moisture of the soil,” the solution being taken 
up by the roots of the plants. He thinks this doctrine 
is involved in doubt and uncertainty. He admits it is 
difficult to ascertain precisely what part manures actual¬ 
ly perform in the support of vegetables; for “ it is quite 
certain,” he says, “that not a single particle of the 
most impalpable powder can be made to enter into the 
vessels of the l'oots; and it is equally certain that water 
—boiling water—can dissolve only a very small portion 
comparatively of the most reduced spit-dung. But eve¬ 
ry observant gardener or farmer must have remarked 
that when manures are added to earths in due proportion, 
and not so as to glut the soil, the whole mass vanishes; 
and though for a time the earth be somewhat blackened, 
it gradually acquires its natural tint, and loses every 
trace of the decomposable substances which were added 
to it. Another fact is apparent, namely, that under the 
stimulus of a vegetable crop, land frees itself from the 
manure sooner than if it were left to act solely by its 
own unassisted energy 
In regard to the special agency by which these chan¬ 
ges are produced, Mr. Tower remarks that “every 
particle of putrescent manure which is given to the earth 
must undergo a decomposition, which can only be in¬ 
duced by the play of chemical affinities, and those so 
powerful as to develop the elements of water, to re-form 
water; also the elements of hydro-carbons and of am¬ 
monia; and to model and incorporate all these so as to 
produce that specific crude sap, which is exactly appro¬ 
priate to each individual vegetable. 
“ Chemical agencies involve electric induction, and 
water can only be electrically decomposed, as Faraday 
has shown, by the passing of a current. Now in the 
germination of seeds, water is decomposed, and new 
modifications of its elements effected. But to what 
prime motor cause are we to look as that which gives 
the first spark, or rather what the medium through which 
that elemental stream passes, which induces those mys¬ 
terious decompositions and recombinations? * * * Ad¬ 
mitting that the voltaic apparatus furnishes the type of 
the current, and knowing the electric condition of the 
atmosphere, what other agent need be sought ? Manures 
are decomposed most rapidly under the action of a ve¬ 
getable crop, and atmospheric electricity rushes through 
every pointed termination of the structure; we cannot, 
therefore, doubt the superior efficacy of a bulk of ma¬ 
nures like those of the farmyard and fold, over the mere 
lop-dressings and scatterings of guano or its represen¬ 
tatives; as by the former it enjoys all the direct results 
of organic developments, and obtains a permanent fund 
of carbonaceous substances whence to derive an abun¬ 
dant supply of carbonic acid, whereas the latter may be 
considered as the remains of laboratories already effect¬ 
ed, and therefore deficient in one of the chief requisites 
of vegetable nutrition.” 
EARLY VEGETABLES—DRAINING-, &C. 
The earliest vegetables I have seen in Western New- 
Yorlc this season, were at Aurora, on the east side of 
Cayuga Lake. Here green peas were grown and eaten 
by the 30th May, stringed beans by the middle of June, 
and at this time, 1st July, new kidney potatoes are in 
tolerable perfection. On this day, I saw well formed 
ears of Indian corn, nearly eight inches in length, in the 
garden of Eleazer Burnham, Esq., but this has been an 
uncommonly early growing season, no frosts have inter¬ 
rupted vegetation on the margin of this warm lake, 
since the tenth of April. 
Aurora presents the rare spectacle of a rural village 
with well-conditioned streets, side-walks, sewers, &c., 
without its almost universal accompaniment, corpora¬ 
tion taxes. Here are side walks of smooth calciferous 
slate, beautifully level ana square, laid with a care not 
to encumber the shade trees. It is true that the width 
does not exceed six feet, but this only proves the un¬ 
pretending character of these villagers, who, perhaps, 
neither anticipate nor wish for an extensive population. 
The only truly ambitious house here, once struck me 
in painful contrast with the rural simplicity and floral 
beauty which adorned the others. But at this time its 
stately proportions are only seen through graceful cir¬ 
cling avenues of deciduous and evergreen trees, and 
flowering shrubs. 
From Aurora to Poplar Bulge, four miles east, the 
land rises six hundred feet; this rise is by a succession 
of low parallel ridges, and intervening swales. The 
soil is generally clay loam, with quartz and lime peb¬ 
bles. The ridges are warm, first-rate land; the swales 
formerly produced good corn and grass, but as the light 
vegetable mould gave way under successive tillage, 
to the hard subjacent clay, vegetation suffered from sur¬ 
plus water. Almost every farmer who first settled this 
section, has sold out and gone west; so that the land 
along this road from Aurora to Poplar Ridge, is principal¬ 
ly held by two or three wealthy families. One of 
these proprietors, Augustus Howland, an intelligent, 
enterprizing young man from New Bedford, has made 
many miles of open and blind ditches; in some places 
cutting deep and wide on the road side, and then lead¬ 
ing the united surplus water into a deep gully running 
to the lake. It was both a refreshing and a novel spec¬ 
tacle in this champaign country, to see water running 
briskly through artificial ditches on the road side, on 
this first of July, with the thermometer at 90°; espe¬ 
cially when we reflect that this water redeems thou¬ 
sands of acres from aquatic swales to good wheat land. 
It is often said that so much land in the hands of a 
single man, is subversive of the ends of a healthy, busy, 
intelligent, democratic population. Be this as it may, 
great credit is due to Augustus Howland, morally and 
physically, for the personal vigilance and attention he 
gives to these great improvements. 
Hessian Fly. —The Genesee Farmer says, “ Taking 
Western New-York together, the loss from the fly 
alone will doubtless be at least 500,000 bushels. Late 
sowed wheat has escaped the best. William Garbutt, 
who plowed up 14 acres of wheat destroyed by the fly, 
to sow with oats, ascribes his loss mainly to early sow¬ 
ing, at or near the first of September. 
