Glasgow weekly times. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1848-1861, 1853-10-20

State, some politicians would affirm that il
presented the beau-ideal of what is some
times called "nasterly insctivity"-others
might maintain that it was happy illustra-
ton OF the "manifsst destiny" doctrine;
while an ardent Wing would be sure to
claim IL asa conservative and against in
tervention''--it would become Taleyrand
in politics, and could live, in favor, under
every dynasty. In the air it is in the midst
of every active, and combustible agents,
that have a wide range of affinities prompt
ing them TO unite with many substances,
but nitrogen is characterised by its utter
indifference TO all other substances--it has
an apparent reluctance 10 enter into combina-
ton with any of them.
Whenever by the force of circumstances
it is compelled to unite with something else,
it remains in union, only because of lis ten
dency to remain in the same place--and the
slightest cause will disunite it from its COM
pounds--yet it is an invariable constituent of
plants, and during their life, is subject to
the control Of their vital powers; but the
moment the mysterious principle Of life
ceases to influence it, it disengages itself,
and promotes decay by lis escape. It forms
much the largest portion of the atmosphere,
and saves nature from total destruction, by
the check which its Indifference opposes to
the activity and energy of oxygen. 1t is
the great conservative power of nature
but its disposition to be released from all
other substances, and the slight force neces-
sary to its escape, demand the mintuest care
Of the practical farmer, when he wishes to
restore it to his soil. This gas and hydro
gen form ammonia--and the volatility of the
ammonia of animal manure must be fred, or
you can never cart it to your fields. The
agency Of man in the supply of nitrogen is a
clear necessity. 1t is doubtful whether the
nitrogen of the atmosphere, either as gas or
in solution in water, ever enters d.
rectly into the living plant. If at all,
it does SO in quantities too small for its
supply. 1t comes TO it in the shape of
compounds, as ammonia, nitric acid, and
other compounds, some of which are pro-
duced by The decay of matter.
The volcanoes Of the globe furnish am
monia-the consumption by burning of coal
fields contributes indirectly to the supply
of nitrogen. The electricity of the otmos-
phere aids in its production-but the farmer
cannot rely upon these operations of nature
for supplying the continued demand for
nitrogen created by continued cultivation.
Animal life is great consumer of this ele-
ment. The fields are exhausted of it by
the demands of cities, crowded with popula-
ton, and, unhappily, what is thus carried
away never returns. Lastly, this element
is much less abundant in nature outside of
the atmosphere than any other of the organic
elements.
The supply of the remaining element,
hydrogen, is not, in any important respect,
dependent upon the agency of man. Its
main source is water, in its various forms,
and the artificial application of the bountiful
fluid, to the garden and the field, seems to
be the limit of mans action in the pre-
misses.
pass from the elements of air to those of
earth. When plant is submitted to flame,
we have seen its organic elements are CIV
en- back 10 the air, while an ash remains
which fire does not destroy. This ash con-
sttutes the inorganic portion of plants. It
forms SO small part of the plant, that for a
long time it was supposed this organic mat
ter, derived from the soil, was accidentally
present, and could be of no essential or
vital consequence to the plant. Science has
forever expelled this error. Careful ex-
periments have shown
LIST. That on whatever soil plant is
grown, If it shoots up in healthy manner
and fairly ripens into seed, the quantity and
quality of the ash is nearly the same; and
I'd. That though grown on the same soil
the quantity and quality of the ash left by
no tUo species of plants is the same-and
that the ash differs more widely in these re-
speets the more the plants differ from which
the ash is derived
1t is thus certain that these inorganic con-
stituents contained in the ash are essential
parts of the plants-that they cannot live
healthy life and come to perfection without
them--and the practical consequence is that
the farmer must supply these inorganic
substances to every deficient soil. IF any
thing was needed TO make this conclusion
absolute, it was supplied in the experiment
which establishes that if you take healthy
young plant, and place it on a soil where it
cannot obtain this inorganic matter found in
the ash OF the mature plant Of its species, it
droops and dies. Fp
Who IN view OF this great truth, can
deny the importance Of Science to Agricul-
ture? Itestablishes clear relation between
the kind and quality Of the crop-and the
chemical composition of the soil on which it
grows. 1t makes il as easy TO know how to
feed plant as to feed sheep. 1t shows
how some manures permanently impoverish
il. 1t explains the action of mineral sub
stances upon plants, and how the dead earth
IS turned into food for the living. 1t
shows what a soil must contain, and thereby
how it must be improved. 1t is truth that
must ultimately control all the important
operations of husbandry, 1t is not confined
10 the fields or the meadows. It can be
carried to the orchard and the garden. The
root of a tree selects from the soil the kind
and quality Of inorganic matter required for
is life. Any other tree may be grated up
IN it, provided it requires the same kind of
substances in nealy the same pro-
portion in its natural states. On the orange
heIlemon will grow-because the inorganic
God of each is nearly the same but the fig