THE CULTIVATOR. 
143 
Tulti)7 ai 'i ses from the nourishment which the plants absorb from! 
the air or soil, during the two months of fructification. 
If the wheat is mown when in blossom, it leaves in the earth, 
to be converted into manure, a quarter part of the weight of the 
plant; but when it is reaped after having come to maturity, there 
remains only one -seventh; and this last residue is worthless as 
manure in comparison with the first; this contains almost nothing 
but carbon, whilst that is rich in juices and in decomposable mat¬ 
ter. Thus we see that those plants which form seed exhaust the 
soil most, because for all they have received they return nothing 
but their dry roots and stalks ; whilst those that are cut when green 
give back with their roots and stalks what they have drawn from 
the soil, and a part of that which they have drawn from the at¬ 
mosphere. 
The nutritive principles contained in the soil pass into plants 
only in a state of solution, or of extreme division in water. 
Healthy plants absorb from preference those salts* that are most 
congenial to them ; but if waters be charged with salts unsuited 
to their natures, they absorb the fluid and reject the salts till the 
water becomes thickened by them. 
There are some salts which enter naturally into the composition 
of certain plants ; the pellitory and nettle, for instance, which 
grow upon the borders of the sea, contain muriate or sulphate of 
soda; these vegetables, transported into other soils, afford no ves¬ 
tige of these salts, and their growth is vigorous. M. le Marquis 
de Bullion has proved that the tumsol, raised in earth containing 
no nitre, does not, upon analysis, afford a vestige of any ; but that 
plants of the same kind, raised in the same soil, but watered with 
a solution of nitrate of potash, are charged with that salt. 
Generally speaking, a superabundance of salts, especially if 
they be of kinds very soluble in water, injures vegetation ; this is 
particularly the case when the salts are not such as enter natural¬ 
ly into the plants, amongst the number of their constituent prin¬ 
ciples. Salts of foreign natures cannot be useful, excepting as 
they may serve, in very small quantities, to excite and stimulate 
the organs of plants. The great value of sulphate of lime as a 
manure, is owing to its insolubility, which allows water to con¬ 
tain but a very small portion of it at once ; so that it passes into 
plants very gradually, and thus its effects are prolonged for seve¬ 
ral years; till, as I have before observed, the soil is exhausted 
of it. 
The quantity and quality of the salts contained in plants may 
be ascertained by an analysis of the ashes arising from burning 
them in a dry state. It may not be useless to mention here some 
facts which may throw light upon this subject. 
Kirwan and Ruckers have proved, that an equal weight of her¬ 
baceous plants furnishes more ashes than of ligneous plants. M. 
Pertuis has found, that the trunks of trees afford less ashes than the 
branches, and these last less than the leaves. Evergreens yield 
less ashes than trees and shrubs that shed their leaves in autumn. 
On the other hand, Hales and Bonnet have observed, that the per-; 
spiration of herbaceous is greater than that of ligneous plants, and; 
that that of evergreens is less than that of plants which shed their 
foliage. These circumstances may explain why some plants af¬ 
ford more ashes than others. The water which is evaporated by 
transpiration deposites in the cells of the plant the salts which it 
had held in solution, and is replaced by a new quantity which is 
in its turn thrown out, leaving behind it an additional portion of 
salts ; so that those plants, and those portions of the same plant, 
which transpire most, must necessarily contain the greatest quan¬ 
tity of salts. 
The salts and earths contained in plants are of the same nature 
as those existing in the soil in which they grow, but not, accord¬ 
ing to analysis, in the same proportions; because the plant ab¬ 
sorbs more or less of them according to its own nature and their 
solubility. It cannot, however, be strictly said, that all the salts 
contained in plants existed previously in the soil, as some neutral 
salts are evidently formed within their organs; such are those of 
which the acid is known to us, and particularly those that contain 
in their composition a vegetable principle : of this sort are the 
* Salt is an acid combined with an alkali, an earth, or a metallic oxide, the 
latter of which are termed the base. They have double names, which indi¬ 
cate both the acid and its base: Thus muriate of soda, (common table salt.) 
is formed of soda and alkali, its base, and muriatic acid; carbonate of lime, 
common chalk or limestone, of carbonic acid and lime— sulphate of lime, or 
gypsum, of sulphuric acid and lime, &c .— Cult. 
acetates, the malates, and the citrates. The salts do not exist af¬ 
ter the burning of the plant, because their acid is decomposed by 
the action of fire, and there remains only their base, which is usu¬ 
ally potash or lime, but an analysis of the plant “by the wet way” 
gives proof of their existence. 
It is even possible in some cases to follow the formation of the 
acid, by observing the progress of vegetation, and the changes 
produced in its products. Of this I will mention one example 
Beets gathered late in autumn, in the North of France, do not yield 
the same principles as those gathered at the same period in the 
south of France ; the first contain sugar, the second salt petre. 
According to the experiments carefully made by M. Darracq in 
the department of Landes, the beet roots of the south, yield as 
much sugar in the month of August and the earlier part of Sep¬ 
tember, as those of the north ; this sugar then is replaced by salt¬ 
petre, of which the acid is formed during the progress of vegeta¬ 
tion. It has been observed, that beets containing sugar frequently 
underwent a change during the winter by which the sugar entirely 
disappeared, and was replaced by salt-petre ; in this case we can 
almost follow witli the eye the process of decomposition. The 
juice of beets in which the change has commenced, when thrown 
into the boilers, becomes covered with a thick, white foam, which 
gives out a reddish vapor of nitrous gas : in this state the labor of 
extracting the sugar becomes very difficult; the sugar crystallizes 
badly, and the proportion of molasses is very great. It may be 
seen clearly, that in this state oxygen is already united in the beets 
with azote, and that only an additional portion, which would be 
gained during the progress of change in the roots, is wanting for 
tlie formation of nitric acid ; this combined with the potash, which 
is contained in these roots in the proportion of 1-100 of its weight, 
would produce salt-petre. 
If we observe a plant during the various stages of its vegeta¬ 
tion, we shall perceive at these different periods very remarkable 
differences in the odor, taste, consistency, &c.; from this circum¬ 
stance we must suppose that it forms new products, new combina¬ 
tions, and consequently new salts. 
The alkaline salts are the most abundant in green herbaceous 
plants. M. de Saussure has observed, that the ashes of young 
plants that grew upon a poor soil, contained at least % of their 
weight of alkaline salts, and that those of leaves of trees which 
grew from their beds contained at least 
The proportion of alkaline salts diminishes in proportion as the 
plants advance in age ; this remark applies equally to annual 
plants and to the leaves of those trees that shed their foliage in 
autumn. The ashes of seeds contain a greater proportion of alka¬ 
line salts, than those of the plants that produced them. 
These facts are very important to those who are engaged in the 
manufacture of salts furnished by the combustion of vegetable 
substances ; since they show clearly that it cannot be equally ad¬ 
vantageous to them to consume all sorts of plants, nor at all peri¬ 
ods of their growth. 
Next to the alkaline salts, the earthy phosphates of lime and 
magnesia are the most abundant in plants, and, like the first, these 
diminish in quantity in proportion to the age of the plant. Plants 
also contain, but in very small proportions, silica, and some me¬ 
tallic oxides, especially those of iron. 
Yornsg- Men“§ Department. 
FROM A FATHER TO HIS SON.—No. 3. 
MATRIMONY. 
The first concern of a young man, in starting in business, is, or ought 
to be, to connect himself with a suitable partner in life. Early marriages 
tend to save young men from habits of extravagance and dissipation, to 
call into wholesome exercise their mental and physicial powers, and to 
fix them in habits of usefulness. They are calculated to avert evil, and 
to produce good. Young people can more easily conform to each other’s 
habits, and correct their faults, than old ones. The common objection 
against early marriages, that a man is not yet able to support a family in 
the style he wishes, is a fallacious one. Let your beginning be humble, 
not ostentations, whatever be your means; for it is easier to advance, as 
your ability and prudence will permit, than to retrench, when you find 
you have graduated your expenses too high. Begin to live upon a small 
income, and you will soon acquire the means of living upon a larger one 
—if you desire it. 
In choosing a wife, consult judgment before passion; for if the latter 
gets the rein, discretion isgenerally disregarded, in matrimonial as in other 
