THE CULTIVATOR. 
155 
deeply with a plough—six furrows are usually enough. If more ma¬ 
nure is needed, it can be carried between the beds and there dropped. 
Fourteen feet from centre to centre is none too wide for the beds. They 
should occupy about five when they are first planted, but soon spread 
to six or seven. 
Roots that are designed for planting should be kept as much as pos - 
sible from the air; and if they are buried during winter, they should 
be covered with dirt without straw. Freezing does not hurt them il 
they are not exposed to the atmosphere while they are thawing. 
I have lately made a purchase of all Mr. R. Bronson’s seed, and can 
supply those wishing to plant next spring, to the amount of 300 bush¬ 
els. Prices the same as stated in the August number of the Cultivator, 
second volume. Yours, very respectfully, 
HERBERT WOODBERRY. 
Chemistry applied to Agriculture. 
From Chaptal’s Chemistry app'ietl to Agriculiure. 
REAL ESTATE AS AN INVESTMENT. 
Perhaps at no period of our history, as in the last year, has there been 
so great a demand for money, or greater facilities for obtaining it.— 
Every means that man’s ingenuity could devise, have been tried to make 
it as speedily and abundantly productive as possible; and whilst a few 
have succeeded to a certain extent, others have been unsuccessful. Upon 
the whole, there has been an over-exertion for great profits, and in many 
cases, where they have been made, it has been at the expense of truth, 
good example and honesty. Stock-jobbing, or buying and selling public 
stocks, has been carried, in this country, to an inordinate extent; and 
the frequent fluctuations in price admonish us, that there are dealers in 
the article who have little to lose, and who use every art to circumvent] 
those that are disposed to buy, and have money to spare. Upon the 
whole, it is an unsafe business for a moneyed man to engage in, although 
some kinds may be profitable for capitalists to hold. Bank stock, other 
than that which has been most sold this last year by the brokers, has 
been profitable, and not so fluctuating in price as the rail-road stocks, 
and their real value has been better ascertained. I presume, as an ave¬ 
rage, they have divided the last year at least ten per cent, and they pro¬ 
bably will, in future, have still more enlarged dividends, if their dis¬ 
counts are not curtailed, or their numbers multiplied at the ensuing ses¬ 
sion of the Legislature. 
The rale of interest on bonds and mortgages, being settled by law, 
has been unaffected by the general spirit of speculation and activity 
which has manifested itself in all kinds of business, and is still consi¬ 
dered by capitalists a profitable, and, with common prudence, is, always 
a safe investment. It is true, the rate of interest is not so high as the 
profits that have been realized in many cases from holding stock; but 
from the nature of the security, which in your own judgment is ample 
—retaining that security in your own hands—subject to your own over¬ 
sight, and unler your own control, mortgages are a safe and beneficial 
investment, both for debtor and creditor. Still, for an active man, an 
investment of money in real estate, where the products are taken instead 
of interest, and where, by good management, the farm is rendered more 
productive, is, all things considered, probably the best investment of 
money he can make. As a security, it partakes of the nature of a 
mortgage, while as a property, it is subject to his immediate control. 
The question may be asked, can he realize the legal interest from the 
products? I answer, at this time of day, with the advance of the art, 
it must be miserable farming indeed that will not do that. If I should 
rate the products of farming at ten per cent, upon the present price of 
land, after deducting all expenses, I am satisfied, from my own expe¬ 
rience, and that of my neighbors, it will not be putting it too high. 
Were this a proper place, I could give many instances in which these 
profits have been nearly doubled; but it is not necessary at this time to 
substantiate this statement by facts—these, if necessary, can be subse¬ 
quently made—yet, thus far, we have only a part of the profits. Who 
ever heard of a man buying and selling a farm at the same or a lessened 
price ? It is so well understood that the seller is to have more than he 
gave, that is has almost become a settled principle in the purchase of 
real estate. This per centage is sometimes very high, but in almost all 
cases, it adds materially to the profits of the investment. Besides, it is 
correct in principle ; a tract of land under judicious culture, must be en¬ 
hanced in value at least five per cent per annum,* and the purchaser of 
course can afford to pay more for it, at each successive sale. We adopt 
this as a general rule, to be varied, however, as the peculiar circum¬ 
stances of each case may determine. I think it must be conceded as an 
established fact, that nine-tenths of all our property has been derived 
from this source alone, the increased and increasing value of real estate. 
Neither is this value fictitious, as culture gives large products, which 
in turn induce and enable us to pay more for the soil. A. 
* Our correspondent’s remarks will hold good in regard to all well cultivated 
districts; but upon many, the light of agricultural improvement has hardly yet 
dawned—the old system of depletion is still going on, and the soil depreei.it 
ing in fertility and value.— Conductor. 
INFLUENCE OF HEAT AND LIGHT UPON VEGETATION. 
The changes of temperature experienced by the atmosphere in the 
course of a year, are so great, as to cause some liquids to pass alter¬ 
nately either to the solid or aeriform state, and some solid bodies to be¬ 
come liquid. The natural effect of heat upon these bodies is, by dilat¬ 
ing them, to weaken the force of cohesion which unites their molecules, 
and, by facilitating the action of chemical affinity, to enable them to enter 
into combination with foreign bodies. Thus heat renders the juices of 
plants more fluid, and facilitates their circulation through the cells and 
capillary vessels; and by giving activity to the suckers of roots, enables 
them to draw from the earth the juices necessary for their nourishment. 
Above a certain temperature, heat, by promoting evaporation, causes 
the juices of plants to become thickened and dried in their organs, and 
thus vegetation is arrested, and life suspended. This effect always takes 
place during great heats, when neither rain, dew, nor irrigation, can 
sufficiently repair the loss occasioned by evaporation. This effect would 
be more frequent, if provident nature did not employ means to moderate 
the action of heat. 
The first of these means is the transpiration of the vegetables them¬ 
selves, which cannot take place without carrying off a large portion of 
heat, and thus preserving the transpiring body at a temperature below 
that of the air. The second means is found in the organization of the 
leaves, which are the only parts of a plant where transpiration lake place. 
Thatsurface of leaves which is exposed to the direct rays of the sun, is 
covered by a thick epidermis, which resists the calorific rays. In herbace¬ 
ous plants, as in the stalks of grasses, this covering is composed principal¬ 
ly of silex. In other plants it is analogous to resin, wax, gum or honey; 
whilst the epidermis, which covers the opposite sides of the leaves, is 
fine and transparent. It is by this, that transpiration and the ab¬ 
sorption of nourishment from the atmosphere are carried on. If we 
should reverse the order of things, and present the under surface of a 
leaf to the rays of the sun, we should very soon-see that it would make 
great efforts to resume its natural position. 
When a plant is dead, or rather, when an annual plant has fulfilled 
its destiny, giving assurance of its reproduction by the formation of its 
fruit, the action of heat and of the other chemicai agents is no longer 
modified by any of the causes of which I have just spoken, and the 
plant receives their impression in an absolute and unmodified manner. 
When the temperature of the atmosphere sinks below a certain point, 
the fluids in plants become condensed, the movement of the juices is 
retarded, the activity of their organs languishes, and is at length sus¬ 
pended, until restored by the return of heat. The action of the atmos¬ 
phere upon plants, when deprived of its due proportion of heat, is, 
however, modified by the emission or disengagement of caloric, which 
is always given out when liquids are condensed, or solids contracted; 
and this occasions the temperature of plants, during the winter, to be 
always a little higher than that of the atmosphere. 
It sometimes happens that the temperature of the atmosphere sinks 
so low, as to produce fatal effects upon plants by freezing their sap, and 
thus occasioning their death. This effect does not always depend upon 
the intensity or degree of cold to which they are exposed, but upon par¬ 
ticular circumstances. I have seen olive trees resist a temperature of 
22°.2 Fahrenheit, and perish from that of 23°-6, because in the last 
case the snow, which had collected upon the branches of the trees during 
a night, was dissolved the following day by the heat of the sun, and the 
wet tree was exposed during the succeeding night to the action of 23°.6. 
There is nothing more dangerous for corn and grasses, than those frosts 
which follow immediately after a thaw, because the still wet plants, not 
being deeply roote 1 in the ground pulverized by the frost, have no 
means of defending themselves from the effects of the cold. 
Though the action of light upon vegetation does not appear to be so 
important as that of the other fluids of which I have spoken, it is not, 
in reality, less so. Plants which are raised in the shade, or in darkness, 
are nearly or quite without colour, perfume, taste, or the firmness of 
texture of those that are exposed to the direct rays of the sun; and if 
the luminous fluid does not combine with the organs of plants, we can¬ 
not deny that it is a powerful auxiliary in their combinations. 
When we reflect upon the influence which the atmosphere exercises 
over vegetation, and over the principal operations which are carried on 
in rural establishments, such as fermentations, the preparation of va¬ 
rious productions, and the decomposition of some substances, in order 
to apply them to particular purposes ; we are astonished at finding no¬ 
where any of the simple and unexpensive instruments which announce 
its changes every moment. 
I do not propose that delicate or complicated instruments should 
be provided; but I wish to find on every farm an hygrometer, to ascer¬ 
tain the humidity of the atmosphere, a thermometer to indicate the 
changes of temperature, and a barometer to determine the weight of 
the atmosphere. This last instrument would be particularly valuable. 
