New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-01-13
SKETCHES OF LECTURES.
THE THEORY OF VEGETATION.
ranE

lec,ured For two or three years | spent all my
evenings in your Institute AMI have some most pleasant
recol@eops onnected with its history Ny subject IS
difficult one Ia meet before mixed audience, 50 az 20
make il neither to- practical nor TOO general VIII 8 e
principles, and Illus them BY some anNeees IA.
crops II year furuh the material Tor me creation
of tose OF the No particle of matter eal syer be
annibaied For example o. per cent Of the dry MAZE
rial Of every vegetable i carbon thocgn the Veyesoe
be deoompOsed the carbon is not osi but pervafes the
atmosphere oarbonic acid gas. We may look at TIC
aimosI here Natures great st0rehouse Let u trace
back this carbon into the vegetable The remaining 2
per cent contains several constituents, most OF
them mineral There are in iture Sky three
simple elemeIts, so far az We know: OF these
fourteen only are to be found in organic Mature For
instance, piece Of wood has two classes of ingredients
LET, the organic which existed in organized Nature
tLey may be said to be carbon hydrogen, oxygen a1d
nitrogen. When We bum the wood all the carbOn passes
into the air The hydrogen is found in water and the
quantity exists that existed the first day Of
creation and has always exist either water steam or
gas Bum tie wood and the organic portion passes mp
The chimney but when the carbon dissolved in oxygen,
loses its heat becO heavier than air and sinks to the
earth The inorganic portion remains in the CRATE pan,
lime soda potash magueia silica oxide Of iron, oxide Of
manganese, slumma &c Without these the plant could
not be created heretofore the art OF the firme consists
not only in SUPPLYING the organic but in allowing the plant
to call natures great store house for the inorganic con-
stueIts. On the outside OF every rattan stalk
glazed surface is observed this exposed to heat will be-
come glass being silicon Glass with ak ali is soluble
ifioo much aka be added in making IT, il soon becomes
dull. No truly practical farmer. will allo" his corn
to lodge he S Sppy needed ths . III ahi ~
enable the stalk 10 take enough Of this CLASSY matter
to sueniben and prevent from lodging Ii he wants
TO strengthen apple tree he will take sicate OF lime
because lime is good for apples but for pear tree he
will use scste of potash The bones of animals contain
phosphate of lime In the Mohawk and Genesee Valleys,
whore thirty bushels OF wheat were reaped per acre thirty
years ago. there now only twelve and half Why!
Because wheat requires phosphate of me but the cows
fed there require il also 20 make their bones, and
the phosphate required for the wheat is carried away
in every animal and pail of milk that il brought
TO this market. The farmers now begin to use
bone dust dissolved III sulphurc acid; ii must be dis
solved because plant cannot take hard particle, and
bite it a. We would biscuit The organic portion il is
true must BE- received from the atmosphere, but general
" the cultvai0r assist thus there in the
an mona, composition of nitrogen and hydrogen; the
rain water washes out of the atmosphere 10 the gOuld
the muscles of animals contain nitrogen when ocsyed
they go to make ammonia; but the clay Tor aumna ami
the carbon III the soil most readily receive the nona
For example: bury fshy duck in the earth.
take il out and it has no fshy smell remain
ing Water will not take out ammonia, but the root
of growing plant will After shower garden will
look brighter than if you pour as much well water on it,
because the shower brought down ammonia but II you
put little sulphate Of ammonia in the well water VIII
DO well. Now the way the good farmer will help the
process BY disinegang his SOIL so as present as much
possible of the clay and carbon to the ammonia ana
have the greatest quantity OF 1t received by the slu'
Where did the coil come from We may regard the
whole earth originally a mass OF rocks, crum
bled away by the action OF water sun ana ar'
tanning arbop taken from the atmosphere the moss de
Gays and the carbon becomes part OF the soil higher
10 tue SOU
What the farmer has to do is supply the soil with what
it wants cheapy possible. The more plants decay
in soil the more carbon it receives and therefore the
easily it retains the gases presented to It, Aso
seed il contains large amount Of matter ready to supply
the organic part of the plant so the young plant nnd all
its food in the seed but when grown enough,
from the soil 1t is mistake among farmers to sup
pose that these filter down through the soil 80 as
to be in great part lost they decomPose and become
gases. Then the deeper they are placed the mre ro
they will in rising. Passing up through twelve
inches they will do four times IA much good ns through
three There is any drouth where the sou is wen
dsneersted because cold surface Is there presented,
on which the atmosphere necessarily deposits waer-as
YOU will see water collect under the hottest sun on
lie outside Of q cold pitcher. This water in the
soil dssolves the inorganic matter and thus iructi'
fes the plant We may analyze plant, but let u;
md there material requisite which has neither weight
nor measure which call the principle OF life and which
cannot control Ii is an error to suppose that the sap
down a tree-it always runs up The moisture IS
carried of tree by the blasts over II but the car
bon, &C. which it holds, remain. Twelve gallons per
minute of air rendered by each pers )ns breathing
ilcaIsbe Of sustaining life carbon being exhaled which
maks carbonc acid gas butthe gas passes away through
openings email enough To contain common air Ii wpiss
through cast iron granite, &c. Sap never s except
small portion between the wood and the bark ON this
Irnc ple farmer pats stake upside down according to
growth to prevent rotng Place one end OF ra tan IN
the other end 10 and fro ami the water Mes
on by cenireuga force The wind produces the same re-
suit in q tree Fruits may be improved byremoYal The
reach was originally poisonous, until removals have made
II fine fruit The pollen from a red of will blow
over all the field ard hybridize all the rest have ex
tmired pollen and found it to consist OF small bal
looms filled with hydrogen so formed that they
travel through the air til they meet one OF their kind
thousand oIpe pits of the tree will ali give different
fruits TO have the same fruit graft must be used After
giving coed deal OF information such as the above the
lecturer concluded with an encomam ON agriculture aud
its mportance 10 the nation He continued thus: we IN
large cities think we welding the destDies of the
ton but we are wrong more than brokers to
the aeriCulusts three quarters OF the country capital
is embarked in Agriculture. All the activity IN cur large
cities il ONLY for the purpose OF supplying our
farmers with The commoditie they require from abroad.
One half of per added IT, the agricultural products
Of our country would be better mine OF wealth than
California The stupid son generally Kept on the farm,
and the bright ones college but they came back,
in time TO feed on the stupid The map Of the United
States is rot the Battery. We see the successful
adventures III City, but not the large majority VINO
fs The corn Of the United States will this year be 700
millions of bufhes; this, at so cents bushel IL worth
pare with the hay. The cotton crop Will not compare
with tia lat crops the dead hogs packed into
barrels az worth more than all the cotton crops but the
quantity OF the latter is registered in the Custom House
and Tins we think much of IT, The horse shoe nails used
hy the farmers Of country worth than any
Bank in New York and the dscoverer OF plOw that
yod rIov one inch deeper would does more good than
ell the dscoy in political economy since the days OF
bacon Professor Mapes next alluded Mr. John Ran.
das plan for raised railroad in Broadway, OF which
model was exhibited in the Lecture, Room, to which
le asked attention He said, Mr.. Randall is
not valued as he deserves. He took hold
Of This whole island and laid it out from Houston st. to
Kings Bridge he planted two thousand monuments
AID no man ever yet discovered the thousandin OF
an inch of error any thing he did Where one OF his
monumeIts is within gunshoi il settles all disputes as 10
limits But for him we would have the fine streets
and avenues which have. In times gone by ne was
hunted and his lite endangered because ne dd puOlc
DUTY He has been brought before the Sheriff Tor walk
INC through mans field 10 lay out street. when people
- a. do nj