1851. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
71 
a link wanting in order to complete the chain. Says 
he, “I know now the quantity of each inorganic 
ingredient that is removed yearly from my soil. It 
will not pay me to go to a commercial establishment 
and purchase these substances. My crops, if I do 
this, will hardly pay me for the food they eat. I 
must take some other course. Here are a variety 
of substances called manures. If I learn the com¬ 
position of these, I shall then know whether they 
contain all the bodies which are removed by my 
crops. If they do, then I can add such of them as 
will yield to my soil the ingredients which are re¬ 
moved. This is admitting that my soil is fitted to pro¬ 
duce in the best manner any crop which I wish to 
to grow on it when I begin. But suppose my soil 
is poor, or does not contain all the ingredients in a 
sufficient quantity to be productive. My first step 
is to find out its precise composition. After I have 
determined the percentage amount of each ingredient 
which it contains, I then know what bodies to add, 
and in what quantiny to fit it to grow any crop I 
wish it to produce. 
I now understand the mechanical condition of 
my soil, the ingredients which compose it, the in¬ 
gredients which enter into my crops, and the in¬ 
gredients which make up my manures. If the me¬ 
chanical state of my soil is such as to make it too 
wet, too cold, too adhesive, too loose, too fine or too 
coarse, I have only to drain it, or to add such ma¬ 
terials as will make it less adhesive, or more adhe¬ 
sive, less fine or less coarse, as the case may be, to 
fit it, so far as the mechanical part goes, to grow 
any plant adapted to the climate in which it lies. 
“ If now, my soil is in a proper state, mechanical¬ 
ly, and does not contain all the ingredients which I 
know exist in the plants which I wish to grow on it, 
all I have to do, is to add such manures as will yield 
to it the bodies in the proper proportion, which my 
plants require to feed upon. This is necessary, be¬ 
cause my plants cannot travel about and collect their 
food like animals, but are stationary, and must have 
everything which goes to nourish them, or to build 
up and support their several tissues, placed within 
the reach of their arms or roots. 
“ I now begin to see my way clear. I feel that 
this knowledge has entirely changed my mode of 
farming. You will observe that I do not believe as 
I once did, and do not transact my business as I 
used to do. I do not, now, think it advisable, when 
dealing with my soil, to claim the best end of the bar¬ 
gain—to pilfer, cheat, or rob it of a little, every year, 
because I have learned that such a course is not for 
my interest. Although it might at first, perhaps, 
give me a few extra coppers to jingle at my leisure; 
yet eventually it would prove a permanent injury, 
for by it I lose both my reputation and my soil. I 
find it much better for me to deal honorably and 
honestly,—to return to my soil an equivalent for; 
whatever I take away. I then feel myself an honest 
man. My soil admits my honesty, and is ever ready 
to serve me with the bounty I ask.” 
The practical use of knowing the composition of 
the several parts of the animal body. —Our thinking 
friend now understands clearly that part of his oc¬ 
cupation which pertains to the best mode of cultiva¬ 
ting plants. But there is another branch intimate¬ 
ly, and we might almost say inseparably connected 
with agriculture; and that is the rearing and fatten¬ 
ing of animals. Says our thinking friend as he 
reasons, my animals subsist upon the plants which 
I grow upon my soil. They must, then, contain the 
ingredients which are found in the plants on which 
they feed. I may hence infer that if I would rear 
and fatten them in the best and most economical way, 
I must advance one step further, and study the com¬ 
position of the several parts of the animal body, and 
understand the functions or office or duties of the 
several organs which compose it. I must not only 
know the composition of bone, the composition of 
muscle, nerve, fat, membrane, cartilage, hair, &c., 
with the general percentage of each of these in the 
healthy animal; but I must also understand what 
matters pass off through the various organs of se¬ 
cretion, as the liver, kidneys, &c., together with those 
which go off through the lungs in respiration or 
breathing, those which are carried off through the 
skin in perspiration or sweating, and those voided 
as manures. I must, also, know how the secretions 
a,nd excrements vary in the same animal when fed, 
at different times, upon different kinds of food. I 
shall then understand what part of any given kind 
of food eaten, goes to feed the bones, what part to 
feed the muscles, nerves, membranes, &c., what de¬ 
posited is in the form of fat, and what is rejected and 
cast off in the form of excrements. This knowledge 
I know, says our friend, is of great practical use. 
For instance if I wish an animal to fatten in the least 
possible time, with the least possible waste of ma¬ 
terial, it enables me to feed him on such materials 
as will bring about this end. If I desire an ox or a 
horse to endure great muscular fatigue, I am enabled 
to keep him on such food as will best strengthen and 
support the muscular system. 
The proximate compounds for the most part, 
which we find in animals, we find also in plants. 
These compounds are made up entirely of ultimate or 
simple elements. All of the ultimate elements, so 
far as known, which exist in animals, exist in plants. 
All of those found in plants exist in the soil and air. 
These ultimate elements, it is supposed, enter plants 
nearly, if not entirely, in their simple state. It is the 
office of the plant to organise or group together these 
simple bodies into compounds, which take the name 
of proximate bodies or compounds; which means 
that they are made up of two or more simple or ulti¬ 
mate ingredients—as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, &c. 
