Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1854-02-03
THE THEORY OF vEGET-
ALTON.

We cannot do our agriculture
friends a better service, this week
than giving them the substance o
a lecture, by Professor Mapes, sci
entidc and practical agricuIiurist o
',cw Jersey, before the Mechanics
Institute in the city Of New York
on the 10Th ul,. His subject was
The theory Of regefatiom The sen
sibIe farmer will read II with pleasur,
and profit After a short iniroduc
tion, the lecturer said -
My subject is a difficult one t.
meet before mixed audience, so al
TO make II neither too practical no
too general. | will state principles
aud illustrate them toy some auec
doies. The crops Of one year furn-
lsh the raw material for the creation
of those of the next. No particle
of matter can ever be annlhilated. -
For example: 9S per cent. of the
dry material Of every vegetable i,
carbon though the vegetable be de
composed the carbon is not lost. buI
pei vades the atmosphere as carboaic
acid gas. We may look a; the at
mospherc as Natures great store.
house. Let US trace back this car
bon into the vegetable. The remain
ing 2 per cent. contains several con
stiiuents, most OF them mineral -
There are in nature slxly-three sim
pie elements, so far MS we know .
OF these fourteen ly are TO be
found in organic Nature. For in.
stance, piece Of wood has two
cases of ingredients LIST, the or
ganic, which once existed in organi-
zsd Nature these may be said To
be carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and
nitrogen. When we burn the wood
all the carbon passes into the air.
The hydrogen is found in water, and
Oh" same quantity now exists that ex
istcd on the first day of the creation.
and has always existed, either as wa
ter, steam, or gas. Burn the wood
an the organic portion passes up the
CHI mney; but when the calbon dis
solved IN oxygen, loses its heat. it be-
cones heavier thau air, and sinks To-
HE earth. The inorganic portion re-
mains IN the CRATE pan, ms lime, soda.
potash, maguesla, silica, oxide Of IRON
OXIDE OF manganese, alumina, &c
Without these The plant could not be
created. Heretofore. the art of the
iarmer consists not only in supplying
the organic, but in allowing the plant
To call on natures great store house
Tor the inorganic constituents. Gu
The outside OF every rattan, or corn
stalk, a glazed surface is observed :.
this exposed TO heat, will become
glass, being silicon. Glass with an
alkali is soluble; if too much aIkai
IN added in making it, ii soon be-
comes dull. No truly practical far
mer will allow his corn to lodge; he
viii apply G. needed) an alkah
" Inch will sufficiently dissolve the
silicon To enable the stalk to take G.
npugh of this CLASSY matter to
strengthen it aud prevent il from
lodging. Ii he wants To strengthen
aa apple Tree he wall take slhcale OF
lime. because lime is good for apples /;
but for a pear tree he will use sllcate
If potash. The bones of animals
contains phosphate OF lime. In the
Mohawk aud Genesee Valleys, where
thirty bushels of wheat were reaped
per acre. thirty years ago, there are
now only twelve and half. Why +:
lIecause wheat requires phosphate Of
lime but the cows led there require
1t also 10 make their bones, and the
phosphate required for tie wheat is
carried away in every animal and
pal of milk that is brought TO this
market.
The farmers now begin to use bone
dust dissolved in suIphurc acid il,
must be dissolved because plant
cannot take hard particle and bite
IT as we would biscuit. The organ
&c portion, IL is true, must be receiv-
ed from the atmosphere, but gener-
ally the cullIvator can assist thus
there is IN the atmosphere ammonia,
a composition of nitrogen and hydro
gen the rain water washes il out of
the atmosphere TO the ground the
muscles of animals contain nitrogen,
when decayed they 90 10 make amo-
mia but the clay Tor alumina) and
the carbon in the soil most readily
receive The ammonia. For example
bury fshy duck in the earth, take
u out and II has no f.hy smell remain
ing.
Water will not take out ammonia.
bu, the root Of growing plant will
After shower garden will look
brighter than # you pour as much
well water on II, because the shower
brought down ammonia but if you
put little sulphate of ammonia in
the well watet il wll do as WE'LL
Now the way the good farmer will
help the process is by disiDtegratlng
hls soil, so as present as much as
possible Of the clay and carbon 10
the ammonia, and have the creates,
quantity of IT received by the soil.
Where did the soil come from We
may regard the whole earth US origi-
nally mass OF rocks, crumbled away
by the action Of water, sun and air,
10 form the soil. The 6rsl growth
would be moss continuing carbon,
taken from the atmosphere the moss
decays, aud the carbon becomes parl