THE CULTIVATOR 
47 
DICTIONARY OF TERMS USED IN 
&0riniltur£ tmb its kinirreb Sciences. 
HUMUS.—Plants are supposed in some form to derive 
their nourishment from a peculiar substance in the soil, 
called harms, and which is the result of the decomposi¬ 
tion of other and previous plants. “Humus is described 
by chemists as a brown substance, easily soluble in alka¬ 
lies, but only slightly soluble in water, and produced 
during the decomposition of vegetable matters, by the 
action of acids or alkalies.” “ Woody fibre in a state 
of decay, is the substance called humus.” (Liebig.) 
There are various modifications of humus known to 
chemists; those which are soluble in alkalies are called 
humic acid, while the insoluble modifications are called 
humin. Dr. Dana applies the name of geine to this 
substance, and divides it into soluble and insoluble geine, 
and considers that in the three states of vegetable ex¬ 
tract, geine, and carbonaceous mold, it is the principle 
which gives fertility to sails, long after the action of 
ordinary manure has ceased. He pronounces it to be 
the “ decomposed organic matter of the soil.” That 
humus owes its origin to decayed vegetation, can scarcely 
be questioned; but the manner in which it produces the 
fertilizing effects on the soil, or rather in what manner 
it is made subservient to the growth of plants, is a ques¬ 
tion which is exciting no little interest, and is certainly 
one of importance to the farmer as well as the vegetable 
physiologist. The more common opinion has been, 
that humus was no further available than it was soluble, 
and that in this state it was taken up by the roots of 
plants, and converted by their vital action into the sub¬ 
stance of the plant. Others, and among these are the 
celebrated chemists, Liebig and Raspail, maintain “that 
humus, in the state in which it exists in the soil, does not 
yield the smallest nourishment to plants.” That plants 
may receive some nourishment from humus, in the shape 
of humates, or humus combined with an alkali, such as 
humate of lime, would seem probable, as such humates 
become soluble in water; but the ingenious experi¬ 
ments of Liebig prove that but a small part, if any, of 
the nourishment of plants is actually derived from that 
source. Humus, then, must be available in some other 
way than by actual absorption by the roots, and this way, 
Liebig contends, is by its gradual conversion into car¬ 
bonic acid gas. Several furious attacks have been made 
on the German chemist, for his assertion that humus, as 
it exists in the soil, is of no avail to plants; but if 
humus is only the decayed matter of plants, it is clear 
that, no matter how fine its particles may be, it must 
undergo some change before it can be taken up by the 
plant, or be converted to nourishment in any way. The 
modern doctrine is, that plants derive most of their 
nourishment, or in other words, the carbon which con¬ 
stitutes the most of their structure, from the carbonic 
gas of the air, and that humus is only or chiefly useful 
in furnishing a constant supply of this gas for the use of 
the plant. It seems to us, however, that as carbonic 
gas is readily soluble in water, or combines with it in 
large quantities, that in this form it is presented to the 
roots of the plants, and appropriated by them to their 
growth or nourishment, as well as from the air by the 
leaves. This opinion is sustained by the remark of 
Liebig, that every root and leaf acquired by the plant, 
gives it a new mouth and stomach. Common manures, 
such as are derived from vegetables principally, are of 
little use until decomposition has been effected, and the 
formation of carbonic gas has commenced. Those ma¬ 
nures in which the nutritive and stimulating properties 
are combined, or those in which ammonia exists with 
the carbon, are found to be the most efficient and the 
earliest in their action on plants. The prepared manures 
belong to this class. 
HURDLES.—In the cultivation of silk, various me¬ 
thods have been adopted for the feeding of the worms, 
so that the dangers arising from crowding, or from the 
filth of their excrements and fragments of leaves, in 
feeding, may be avoided. In consequence of a neglect 
of these things, disease is engendered, and the whole 
of the worms are not unfrequently destroyed. To pre¬ 
vent this, it has been proposed to feed them on a kind 
of net-work, called hurdles, through the interstices of 
which all offensive matter falls, and by turning which, 
the rejected leaves are easily removed, without disturb¬ 
ing the worms. Several American silk growers have 
directed their attention to this point, particularly Mr. 
Morris of Burlington, New Jersey, Dr. Goodsell of 
Utica, Mr. Fox of Mount Pleasant, Ohio, and perhaps 
others; and very great improvements have been made, 
combining neatness and ease in feeding, and contribu¬ 
ting much to the health and productiveness of the worm. 
HYBERNATION_That state of inaction and rest, 
which some animals and many plants undergo during the 
cold season of the year, is called hybernation, and ex¬ 
hibits some remarkable phenomena, well deserving the 
attention of the naturalist. On the approach of winter, 
the badger, marmot, ground squirrel, frog, toad, snakes, 
&c. betake themselves to their retreats in the earth, 
where, in a torpid, motionless state, with but just circu¬ 
lation enough to preserve vitality, they remain until 
the returning summer rouses their dormant faculties to 
action once more. Those instances in which animals 
and insects have been found in positions where they must 
have remained for centuries, as toads, frogs, bees, &c., 
in solid rocks, are examples of continued hybernation, 
produced by being placed in a position where the tem¬ 
perament and the confined state adopted at the com¬ 
mencement of the hybernation, is continued by causes 
afterwards superinduced. Thus the bats enclosed in the 
old mine, at Cheshire, Ct., by a slide from the mountain, 
while in a state of hybernation, remained in that state 
for more than a quarter of a century, and were so found 
at the reopening of the mine. Thus toads, hybernating 
in swamps, if covered while in that state to a depth 
which would prevent the usual effects arising from the 
changes of the seasons, would remain in that position; 
and the subsequent conversion of the covering matter 
into stone, would enclose them forever in the rocky 
mass. It is to this indurating process that we must as¬ 
cribe the wonderful preservation and continued vitality 
of those reptiles which are found in the sand stones of 
the transition series. The condition of plants, too, du¬ 
ring our winters, in whieh the sap ceases to circulate, or 
circulates but to a limited extent, and in a languid man¬ 
ner, is a species of hybernation. It is a rest of the plant, 
a cessation of its functions, growth ceases, and what may 
be called a sleep of the plant ensues. Other causes 
may produce this rest of plants. Numerous instances 
have occurred the present fall, (1841,) in which a second 
blossoming has taken place, and the flowers of the first 
of October have vied with those of May or June. This 
reviving of the plant has been noticed in the apple, 
plum, and pear. It is unquestionably to be attributed to 
the check which the extreme hot and dry weather gave 
to the trees, and which produced on them an effect simi¬ 
lar to that of the hybernation of tropical plants. The 
functions of the plant were for a time partially suspend¬ 
ed ; heat had performed the effect of cold; the secretions 
of the plant, which prepare it for blossoming and repro¬ 
duction, had been performed, and when rains succeeded 
the drouth, their blossoming in October as well as in 
May, was the natural result. 
HYBRIDS_When copulation takes place between 
different species of animals, the progeny which in some 
cases is the result, is termed a hybrid, as partaking of 
the qualities of both, yet distinct from either. Thus a 
connexion between the ass and the mare, produces the 
mule, and between the horse and the female ass, the 
hinny, the two most common hybrids among animals. 
Hybrids among animals do not have the power of re¬ 
production, a proof that muling is a violation of na¬ 
ture’s law, by which the races as distinct species are 
governed. There is at present in the highlands of 
Scotland, a hybrid between the stag and the mare, the 
first ever known. Hybrid plants are quite common, and 
there is no so certain way of producing new varieties, 
as by muling or cross breeding; and in the language of 
Prof. Lindley, it is to “this process, more than to any 
thing else, that we owe the beauty and excellence of 
most of our vegetable garden productions.” The opera¬ 
tion of producing hybrids, or of muling plants, is very 
simple, consisting in nothing more than the applying 
the pollen of one,plant to the stigma of another. Some 
precautions are, however, requisite in this, such as 
depriving the flower intended to be fertilized of its own 
anthers; otherwise the stigma will be self impregnated, 
and the pollen must be applied at the proper season,when 
the peculiar mucus which detains the pollen is present 
on the stigma. The power of muling is among plants, 
however, confined within narrow limits. Mr. Knight, 
who was probably more successful in the process of mu¬ 
ling than any other man, and to whom we are indebted 
for some of the finest of our modern fruits, was never 
able to make a cross between the Morello and the com¬ 
mon cherry. Prof. Lindley says he has “ in vain en¬ 
deavored to mule the gooseberry and the currant;” and 
the apple and the pear, the blackberry and raspberry, 
have never mixed, though such a result might reasonably 
have been expected. 
HYDATIDS—These are animals, generally pear 
shaped, found in various animals where they are para¬ 
sitic, and resembling a vesicle or bladder filled with 
water. It was for a long time doubted whether they 
had an independent existence; but as they have evi¬ 
dently a voluntary motion, and as they have the property 
of acting on matter in such a way as to convert it into 
a substance like that which constitutes the agent, (which, 
according to Roget, demonstrates a vital power,) there 
is no reason to doubt it has a distinct animal existence. 
Hydatids occur sometimes in man, but more frequently 
in animals. In hogs, it causes the measles; in sheep, in 
the brain, they cause the staggers, and in the liver, the 
rot; and some of them are lodged in the tissue of the 
muscles, while another, the Hydatis globosa, is frequently 
observed on the intestines of pigs. Sheep are best cured 
of these parasites by a removal from all wet, low land, 
to dry pasturage. They have, in some desperate cases, 
where the affection of the brain was indisputable, been 
cured by trepanning, and the extraction of the hydatids. 
IN-AND-IN BREEDING.—This is a term applied 
by the breeders of animals to that kind of propagation 
where both are of the same blood, and the nearest rela¬ 
tions possible. Although some of the most decided 
improvements have been made by following this system 
of breeding in-and-in, yet it has only been done by the 
most judicious selections, and the exercise of cautious 
judgment, while in the hands of the ordinary breeder, 
it is sure to run out a stock, degenerating them rapidly, 
rendering the males impotent in many cases, and the 
females of little value as nurses or breeders. Experi¬ 
ence seems to have proved that crosses of the same 
variety of animals, but of another family, have made the 
best animals, and such a course is to be preferred to 
breeding in-and-in. In some cases, where there is a 
marked superiority in any race of animals, which it is 
wished to retain, a cross with a race less perfect in some 
respects, perhaps, but more vigorous, making what 
Berry calls a strong cross, and then breeding directly 
back to the favorite blood, has been very successful. 
The first attempts to improve the Short Horns, Berk- 
shires, &c. received serious checks from this system of 
in-and-in breeding; and both Berry and Collings found it 
necessary to give more vigor and constitution to their 
animals, by an infusion of different, and in some respects 
inferior blood. 
INDIAN CORN, ( Zea maize.) —One of the most val¬ 
uable of the plants cultivated for the use of man or ani¬ 
mals; a native of America, but now spread over a large 
part of the habitable globe, and where cultivated, con¬ 
stituting an article of bread in perhaps more general use 
than any other. Corn requires a warm climate, a rich 
soil, and good cultivation; under these circumstances, 
the product per acre will rise high, many instances be¬ 
ing reported of crops from one hundred to one hundred 
and fifty bushels. In England and Scotland, the average 
temperature of the summer is too low for corn, and few 
attempts are made to cultivate it, while in the United 
States, it is extensively grown in all parts; and in parts 
of the middle, and over the entire south, it constitutes 
the chief or only source of bread. There are many 
varieties of Indian corn. In the excellent treatise on 
this plant of Dr. P. A. Browne, of Pa., eleven kinds of 
yellow corn are enumerated; nine kinds of white corn, 
ten of red corn, or red cobs, two of blue corn, and four 
of varieties not properly classed with either of these, 
making some thirty-five in the whole. Since this trea¬ 
tise was written, several new varieties have been noticed, 
among which is the singular corn called rice corn. 
Some of the varieties of the white corn differ from each 
other but by slight shades, and the same remark may be 
made of the yellow. We have the present year culti¬ 
vated some twenty-six varieties, most of them very dis¬ 
tinctly marked, but some of them with variations very 
slight, and which we can hardly consider permanent. 
This is particularly the case with two or three of the small 
eight rowed whites. Corn differs in the shape of the 
grain, in the color, in the color of the cob, and in the 
number of rows on the ear. Northern yellow corn is 
considered as the most nutritive, is preferred in distille¬ 
ries, and can be preserved longer in a perfeet condition 
than any other; but the southern white is generally 
preferred for bread, or rather for the hot cakes, in which 
form it is most commonly served up in the south. In 
cultivation, that corn is to be preferred which gives the 
greatest weight of stalks, cobs and corn per acre, where 
the climate is such as to ensure its ripening; but where 
it is necessary that early maturing kinds should be cho¬ 
sen, that variety which has a large kernel and small cob 
is to be preferred, as the cob is the last part of the ear 
that reaches maturity, or that stale of dryness in which it 
is safe from mold. At the north, the Canada White 
Flint, Toronto Yellow, Oswego Long White com, 
Twelve Rowed Yellow, Dutton, and Brown corns are 
much cultivated; while in the south, the white and yel¬ 
low Gourd Seeds, Dent corn, &c. are most esteemed, and 
where the soil is of proper richness, grow to a great 
size. No part of the world seems so well adapted to the 
culture of corn as the Mississippi valley, and the quan¬ 
tity already produced is almost incredible. It is culti¬ 
vated with so much ease, the labor required is so trifling, 
and the product per acre so great, that it will in some 
way constitute the great staple of the west. 
IRRIGATION.—The importance of water to vege¬ 
tation is known to every farmer, yet very few are the 
instances in which this natural want is supplied by arti¬ 
ficial means. In most cases, by a wise dispensation of 
Providence, showers supply the requisite moisture, and 
of all water that can be applied to plants, rain water is 
found the most suitable; but there are some soils and 
some crops which require more water than others, and 
which are greatly benefited by artificial supplies. Thus 
the drifting sands of Arabia are arrested and covered 
with vegetation by water; the rice fields of India and 
the south are flooded to secure a crop; and irrigation, 
or an occasional flowing of water from brooks, rivers, 
or springs, over meadows, is found to add much to their 
productiveness. All water contains more or less mat¬ 
ter essential to plants. The soluble salts, the finely 
divided organic matters, and the richest parts of all 
soils, are continually passing away in the streams by 
which our fields are watered, and it is this cause which 
forms one of the active drawbacks on their fertility. 
To arrest and detain these matters from wholly passing 
away, and being lost to the soil, is another important 
end of irrigation. The more foreign matter any water 
contains, the more valuable it will be for irrigation; 
thus rain water is better than that of springs, and rivers 
below large towns are found to act far more effectively 
than above. Of this there is abundant evidence in the 
use of the Thames water below' and above London, and 
particularly the celebrated Craigintinny meadows below 
Edinburgh. Water generally contains sulphate of lime, 
at least all hard waters do, and a single flowing of a 
meadow with such water for a few days, besides the 
other materials it deposits, will leave more of this sul¬ 
phate or plaster than is usually applied per acre by 
farmers. Some of the best meadows and lands of Eng¬ 
land have been formed by flowing them and increasing 
the deposit, until poor lands have become like the rich¬ 
est alluvion. In this country, few instances of irrigation 
have as yet been attempted; but where it has been done 
by system, and with reference to permanent results, they 
have proved most successful; and the practice, as the 
soils become older, and other methods besides manuring 
become proper to promote fertility, will doubtless be 
common. 
