The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1844-06-20
nisIRES-i PRIZE EsslY.


SEcTIos FIRsr.
fleains and Bnaking M and linking Compost.
There 10 oas hing seIlled in farming.
stable manure sever falls. Railways tells.
There are no txo ways about u. There
ishere neither theory. nor speculation. nor
dslhi. mr. nisgising. 4" Muck il well, mas.
irr.zha 10 will come right" j. 40 aid pro-
verb. II IL considered fact so well esiab-
lished. that M body thinks of dispaling IL.
There 10 sdEsatage in asking why bsra-
yard manure never fails. The answer is
easy. II contains all that plants need Cor
their gro~ih. live know then what plants
contain We can easily tell shat is in ms-
nure. The whols doctrines Of manurts,
then. falls inlo two plain principles, on
which hang all the law and the profit"
Of agriculture.
.. Plants contain and need CERTAIN sub.
stances which are essential 10 their
growth.
2. Manure contains all those substances
which plants want. II. then. we would
find Out SHAT il is which manure contains.
and makes the plants grow, we must find
ga, what grown plant contains. This
cannot be done without some liisle, very
li,,le knowledge Of chemistry. DO not
be startled, reader. ! suppose that you
may know nothing of chemistry. no. not
even lis terms. As very sensible man,
who wrote letters on Botany TO a Young
lady. said. To encourage hrs pupil. il was
possible tn be very good 10 anist with
out knowing one plant by name; 50 is
D. possible IN become a good agricultural
chemist. without knowing liule more
than the chemical names Of a very few
substances. You know nothing of che
laisiry il may he. and as little Of Law; yet
YOU will 90 In law, and learn some of its
terms By adesr-bought experience. The
isw terms arc harder 20 laarn than the
chemical terms. Now fear that some
persons. who have followed me thus FAR,
will shut up The book. II is, say they,
ali stuff, book.iarning. and beyond us.
IL one NAV Rnt understand what manure
is without this learning, we may as well
begin where our fathers ended. aud that
was where our forefalhers began ages
ago. By little law. however. picked
up as a juryman. or Wins -, selec,man,
Town clerk, justice Of the peace. yea. per.
haps. hearing an indictment read. men do
rome To understand what a lawyer means
when h. talks. SO. too, by little che
inical talk, man may learn what chtmis,
means when he talks ofoxygcn, hydrogen,
nitrogen, chlorine. and carbon; potash,
soda. lime. fab. these are old friends, the
very names make us feel al home again,
alumina. magnesia. iron. manganese. aud
sick, suIpur, and phosphorus. Here is
long list. Long as il is. perhaps i, VIII
be thought worh learning, when you
are told. that these are the names Of all
the substances found in plants every sub
stance which they want. Out Of these
is made every plant. Every p RI Of eve.
~ plant, from the hyssop on The wall I"
the mountain cedar, contains some or all
Of these. De not disheartened. Look
over, reader, the list again carefully; see
how many are old names Of things which
YOU know. OF the fifteen, you know
nearly one half by name and BY nature
These are potash, soda, lime. magnesia,
iron. sulphur. Perhaps you will add, thai
you know carbon is coal, or rather coal
carbon. You have heard from some travel
ling lecturer at your town Lyceum, tina,
oxygen and hydrogen together, form wa
ter. That oxygen and nitrogen form the
air we breathe; that nitrogen and hydro.
gen form ammonia, or sal volatile, which
gives the sharp smell To the smelling
b't,lc. Besides, the thing has been said
80 often. that you must have heartiit, that
chlorine, the substance which hleaches IN
b!earhing salts, united TO soda, make
common salt: or if chlorine is united to
ammonia, sal ammoniac is formed. Now
hv changes and combinations among these
fifteen things. nature makes everything
we find in plants. Many Of these are in
visible as is the air. The substance cal.
lei chlorine, perhaps YOU have never
seen, but if you ever smelt it YOU will
never forget il. II is often smelt in a
piece of bleachcd cotton, when opened
in the shops. !, gives the smell to bleach
ing power used to disinfect the air, du
ring cholera and other diseases II you
could see it, il would appear merely
faint yellowish green air. 1t is all-pow
erful on vegetation. As it forms par
of common salt, say halfof its weight. we
may dismiss the further onsideration o
1t, by saving that, in some shape or other
chlorine is universally diffusej in soil an,
plants.
The list above may be divided as fol