Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1851-10-16
INDIANAPOLIS, THURSDAY. OCTOBER Is, 1851

grain Of sand would cover swept by tide that cbbs not
the onward progress oi creative power coming into e
istence and passing from it, to be forever replaced by
kindred tribes thus calling death from e and arrestins
destruction by never-ending reproduction
II And thus is the earth covered with EVERY GREEN
THING, and with this uniformity Of structure all the d
versifed forms of vegetable organization almost inf
nitey various brought into being and made subser
Went to the purposes Of man. Among these gifts o
Nature is sugar MAPLE and elsewhere is the caout
chouc tree, yielding that most useful substance, India
rubber; the poppy whose concrete juice is opium
important article in materia medica the Auapar
whose sap furnishes active poison, used impre
nate the rivers in order to obtain the fish the Bambusa
GuaduaS, which sometimes reaches the height OF
huRdred feet. and whose stem is hollow and divided BY
joints short intervals each OF which pure
impd water, invaluable to the traveller in hot and arid
regions; and the cow tree, remarkable production,
which supplies milky juice similar its properties to
the milk Of animals and extensively used by the nhab
tants where this benefcent production abounds But
the whole vegetable world offers subj ect worthy
of contemplation than the Cocos Mauritia-e found
in the tropical regions of South America. Its green
shoots alment and it furnishes bread and wine
and oil and fruit and materials for clothing, mats, hats,
and sails for ships, and for dwellings, wonderful illus
traton of the power OF Nature evolve substances
numerous and various by the ordinary process
citation, from the same almenary matter which every
where furnishes the nutrmen OF plants The applica-
tion of the principles deduced from the researches of
scientific observers less important the
o the practical farmer than the increased knowledge
system oil VegctdDle ilie 10 MS intellect
ual advancement That plants require proper food for
their growth and for the ultimate development of their
properties and that this food is secrcied and on to
ITS work by vessels varousy constituted for the different
functions they have to PERFORM and that this organza
ton not merely mechanical operating by chemical al
ntes and laws, but physiological, embracing princi-
pie OF vitality, low indeed in the scale of living being,
but mighty in its eXten-these facts, well estab-
ished and daily opening and more to u.s. init
mately connected with the whole process of cultivation.
Stones grow" says Linnnus, in his gradaton of nor-
\ Il
animals grow live and feel" We know that where the
nutmental principle most abundant and judicously
applied there it will produce corresponding effect upon
the body that imbbes it. We thus brought
sderaton of the nature and condition of the soil and of
the properties and preparation Of the materials for
nure-the most important part OF practical agriculture
1t is subject into which have no time TO enter l
touch but the most general outline The system of
alton is Of life and death, following each other in
neverending successon-a system OF production, of de-
strueton, and of reproduction Ii idle to specu-
late upon the final of this ordination Of Nature,
and worse than idle TO endeavor investigate the
pose of the Creator in his infinite multiplication of
ganic beings, performing certain assigned operations,
and then disappearing to give place to their
From the flower that blooms but die the giant OF
vegetation the OF ages that have swept
it, from the insect which sports its brief hour in the
shine, fulfilling the duty imposed upon it, and then
that sea-bcast,
Levathan, which God all his works
Created hugest, that svims the stream"
and man the visible head OF this wonderful creation
to whom was assigned dominion over it-aI all pro.
claim the universal decree, THAT AS THEY CAME FROM
DUST, THEY MUST RETURN DUST when, know
not but know it will be soon for brief is the inter-
val, when most extended which separates from
this momentOus change, ordained by Almighty Wisdom.
But the most superficial observation shows us that
prncp looking to the greatest share of enjoy by
sentient beings rational and irrational compatible with
their condition and to its greatest diffusion, by the null
tipicaon of individuals pervades the system of Ma
and beautiful manifestation is OF the power and
goodness of God II death comes to all, il is but to
give place to removed life, thus fulfilling the great law
of existence. We know but ltle-next to nothing, in
deedof the true elements Of matter These termed
such which battle all our efforts decomposition. At
the commencement of the present century there
twenty mine of these elementary bodes and there
three, showing the great progress Of practical
chemistry. Their number changes with chemical
knowledge but must avoid the error of supposing
that their enumeration makes known to us the true
prmorda substances which constitute the basis OF the
material world. Ii is a knowledge may reach.
But, however, this may be, and whatever is the prnc
pie oil vegetable nutrlment, experience shows that 1t is
exhausted by the supplies furnishes and then becomes
useless and must be replaced by substances in which it
abounds. And we have thus the theory of soil and
and every agricultural observer should keep it in
view in the eparaton his ground in the application Of
lerzng matter and in the various operations connected
with The growth of the CROP 1t is y combining obser
vatons together that give them their value and
learn the general laws that control the phenomena
of nature.
have already said that the field Of agricultural i'm
provement has prescribed limits that human vision
can rest upon, and thus encouraged TO extend
researches with rational prospects Of And
example Of the effect Of cultivation, it is stated by
Bousngault that beet seed weighing but the fraction
of grain has produced beet weighing one hundred
and sixtytwo thousand grains twenty Eight pounds
But though we know not how far we can 60, we know
where cannot 60. We know that increase
the size and improve the properties plants by udcous
culture but that change their essential
conlound the established order Of creation and
destroy the boundary that divides the various species
by new families called into existence by man. Reason
and analogy and universal experience from the earliest
periods teach that efforts ameoration should
be confined within their legitimate limts-the attempt
to improve the qualities Of existing plants and animals,
and invade the province of the Creator by rash
cndeavors multiply, with the faculty of reproductions
the forms OF mater, endowed by Him with life. If we
have be pIoud Of the advance of modern know
edge have reason 70 be humble when the
presumption with which it is to often applied. Not con-
tent with tho proofs Of an intelligent Creative power
which accompany from the cradle to the grave, and
which revelation and experience equally announce we
seeking with blind ashncss reject the true origin
this great scheme of Almighty Wisdom-fEis union Of
mind and mater-and 20 ud some kind OF ifortuitous
aton-some shadowy plan Of progression by which the
most imperfect organization gradually rises in the scale
Of being and step by step, spontaneously and by its own
inherent force ultimately assumes the most perfect forms
of animal life. rtt1.to3 IS tii 4r a Is
There is tendency not to be misunderstood towards
cold and heartlcss materalism in many physical nves
LEGATIONS Of the present day, and there is tendency,
equally obvious in moral Investigations to be carried
away bv new and strange doctrines OF which teach
es us its Herophant announces in work captivating
oits bodncss and novelty that all distinction betceen the
physical and moral is annuled; that grades of mind
like forms Of body stages OF developments and
that there essential betreen and beast
And unfortunately the restraining power Of the Chris
tan religion upon the hearts and minds of men has been
weakened by similar spirit Of presumptuous research
neither directed by wisdom conducting to truth