Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1844-02-02

This may be called the water of vegetation
II we dry b%eetroot, or any other plant. we
merely drive of this wafer of vegetation
Now what have we left? To 90 back ia
our process of analysis, let US char the dried
root. We drive or more water md volatile
parts. This wafer did not cxistas such in
the plant. 1t existed there as hydrogen and
oxygen gas. Now this word gasls "A chem
ical term, aud it means any substance in va
por, which cannot be condensed mo a liquid
or solid at common temperatures. Different
gases may unite, and so become solids or
liquids. Steam is not gas, for it is the va
por OF water, and Immediately returns to the
state Of water, below gig degrees. Perfect
steam is invisible so are most gases. The
air we breathe is composed of two gases,
oxygen and nitrogen. We do not zee them
we cannot by cooling or compression
make air take other shape than Invisible
air. This is the general property Of gas as
distinguished from vapor or steam. Oxygen
and hydrogen in plants exist in just tin pro-
portion TO form water, but VIC do no,know
that they are united in these proportions
We have compelled them to unite bv Icat-
ing the substance or root. The carbm is
by this same process consumed, and YOU
know, has thus formed carbonic acid. Be-
sides tins, a portion of the carbon untcs
with some of the hydrogen of the plant.
This forms light, infammabIe air. NV
you may collect this light, infammablc air
in any stagnant water where plants arc dc.
caying. Decay gives exactly the same pro.
ducts as are formed i'm making CHARCOAL
Decay is only slow combustion or burning /;
no matter whether we char the plaut or
leave it to decay ; we obtain exactly tlr
same products as we did by our ANALYSIS.
that is, carbon and salts.
But because there is not heat enough, ",
leave by decay Il portion of the hydrogen
and oxygen still united to the coal. A slow
Wondering fire leaves products more like
those Of decay. Decay is Il slow moulder-
ing fire; hence the products of the decay of
plants are very ap,ly termed mould. 1t is
the product of a Wondering Grc-,hnt is,
an impreceptible union Of the oxygen Of the
AIR with the carbon of the plant,-a union
so low that it gives out neither heat nor
light. And yet 1t is in its results the same
as il Ire had actually been seen and felt
Mould contains, then, "A part of the carbon,
oxygen. and hydrogen, or, if you like The
terms better, mould of soil consists of the
water and coal and salts of the plan,s.-
Mould Is truly manure. If the mould of
soil, us it has thus been defined, were
separated from the earthly portions of
soil if it would deprive that of the
power of growing crops. Hero then =.
we come to a broad distinction between soil
and manure. The soil is the earlI,on which
plants grow. The mould is the manure of
that soil. The soil is the earthly; the
mould. that is, the carbon and slls togetI,-
or. with the elements of water, ar, the veg
elable part of arabic land. But though the
earthly part, the soil, as it is usu;lly called,
acts as a support, on which plans grow, it
does not play Il merely mechanical nart. Ii
has a distinct, decided, and important action
upon the manure. The action is chiefly
chemical !; and the fact that soils and ma
nures do mutually affect the growing plant,
is proved by the circumstance, that the first
plants which grew, derived their salts from
the earth.
But this chemical action o. soil does NOT
belong to the present discussion. We can
understand what mannres arc, without de-
Gliding how they act. We c,n ,heorize and
guess about the how of their action when
we have learned what they are. That is
chiefly what the farmer wants to know. He
wants to know what manure is, and what is
like to act as a manure. To these points
we shall contine our present remarks.
Pointing out the great principles applicable
to all manurcs, the nature of soils, and the
manner in which they affect manures, mus,
be left for another essay. The vegetable or
manure part of soil alone is to be now con-
s'dcrcd. Consider now, reader, the great
results TO which our analysis has led us tina,
a slow, Wondering fire gives us the same
products rs are formed by decay that this
is only IA slow, Wondering fire, and that
mould, its product, is the natural manure of
plants. 1t follows, that whatever substance
produces mould, that is, water, carbon, and
salts, may bo used instead of this natural
"'"""ro. Among tho salts found in mould.
some arc volatile, and are easlv dissolved
ny water. Others are fixed, that is, no,
cooperating easily, or not at all, and are
quite '~nsoluhlc in water. Now the first, or
volatile and soluble, first act when used in
manure. They act quick and are quickly
done. The fixed and insoluble act slower.
they last longer. The volatile act in the
early stages of growth the fixed in the la
ter periods. The great difference in the
action of manures, depends almos, c~nlirely
upon the salts which they contain. These
are tho most important and essential. |, is
not so much the vegetable mould of manure
that you want, as the salts winch it contains.
This is a well settled principle. Land
which has undergone the skinning process
old, worn out and run out land, still contains
a very large portion of vegetable matter ;
the coal or carbon of mould without its salts.
Give this worn-out land salts, and You may
ny these alone bring it back no, only to its
'irst virgin freshness, hut you may even by
salts alone make it faircr and richer that il
was before man ever cultivated it.
Too much stress has hecn all along laid
upon the kind of soil. Go nov to "Flob."
in West Cambridge: no better farms or far.
mers' look tho world through. Ask my of
these OrActIcal man ,vba,L,n. Al. -..