Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1854-05-19
Farm as a Mandatory.

There are some fourteen different
substances which enter into the
composition Of plants and which
must exist in an available form in
the soil or the atmosphere surround
ing it, before any crop can be OBJ
tanned. A knowledge of the source,
nature, and properties of these vari-
Gus substances. cannot but be inter
esting and useful to every inquiring
agricuturist. Yet it is in looking
at the farm as mandatory of hui
man food, and those fourteen sub
stances as the raw materials employ
ed, that we can hope to arrive at
correct notions of farm economy, or
adopt any judicious system of rota-
ton and general farm management.
Taking this view of the matter,
we find that while every one of
these fourteen elements enter into
the composition of all our crops, yet,
that they enter into them in very
different proportions, and also that
the quantity of them in the soil is
very variable. Thus in some soils
we get more than thousand times
as much silica or alumina as of pot
ash and phosphoric acid. Sulphur
and lime are in many cases equally
proportionally scarce. We have,
therefore, not only to look at the a.
mount of substances in the plant,
but also at the quantity of these
raw materials at command in the
soil and, what is still more impor-
tant, the quantity of substances ne
cessarily removed from the farm in
grain and animals raised from the
soil. We cannot expect to treat
such subject satisfactorily in SIM
gle article, and shall therefore con-
tinue it i'll subsequent numbers of
the Farmer.
OF the fourteen elements which
compose our commonly cultivated
plants, ten are called inorganic or
mineral elements, and are left in the
form of ashes when the plants are
burnt the other four are termed Or
ganic elements, and are, in their nat
ural unorganized state, gases. These
four elements are from S4 to 9S per
cent. of the dry substance of all our
crops, and are dissipated by the
burning process the change from a
solid to a gaseous form, elimina-
ting both light and heat, as is well
known to all. The form in which
these various elements enter the
plant, is not by any means well I'M
derstood. 1t is true we have many
plausible theories on the subject, but
what is really known-demonstrat-
ed by inductive philosophy-is We
ry little. The four organic elements,
it is generally admitted, enter the
plant as carbonic acid and ammonia,
the former containing carbon and OK
ygen, the latter nitrogen and hydro
gen so that carbonate of ammo
MIA (smelling salts contain all the
organic elements of plants. 1t is
well known that plants take up all
the food in solution, and il has
been asceriained by careful expert
ment that for every pound of organ
ic elements organized by the plant,
or, We will say for every pound of
carbonate of ammonia taken up by
the plant, 200 lbs. of water are i'm
bibed and evaporated throughout the
leaves, &C., and for every pound of
the mineral elements organized,
1000 lbs. of water are imbibed. In
this large quantity of water, most of
the mineral substances of plants are
soluble. 1t is perfectly obvious TO
all, that if we wish TO increase the
fertility of farm, or even maintain
it in a normal condition, and annu-
ally export crops and animals from
1t, We must restore, in some way,
the elements SO exported. Yet while
this is SO, it is not only possible,
but is, in too many instances, the
case, that all soil can, by cultiva-
ton alone, be made to produce large
crops, without having any of the
removed elements taken hack nc