Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1854-03-29
Education of Farmers Sons.

Education of Farmers Sons.
The business, pursuits, life, or whatever else,
the profession of the farmer may be termed, is not
necessarily, las some would have us believe,) one
otlncessant toll and gtoveling drudgery, wholly
of the "Eorth, EaIthy.", For the farmer Is that
favored being, WHO Is in point Of fact working
practical, assistant chemist, not TO be sure, in the
laboratory of an earthly chemist, but in the great
laboratory of the Infinite One. For from the first
movement OF the germ in the seed the farmer COM
mitS TO the earth, up to the full maturity of the
crop ii Produces is one continuous series Of chem
ical changes and effects. And all those various
Appliances the farmer brings into requSition,
increasing the amount OF his crops; such as ma
nurng, ploughing. hoeing the soil, &c, are but
meet SSaiy means used TO assist nature in bringing
about aud perfecting those wonderful chemical
changes, by which single grain OF corn is made
to yied its sixty eighty or an hundred fold. And
stupid, indeed, must be that tller OF the soil, who
teels-no instructive longinss, to learn the Chow
and the wherefore" of all this; but is content 10
Plod on year after year, in sowing his seed and
'rearing his crops, without even attempting 20 in-g
vestigate and search out the workings OF those
laws by which such wonderful results are wrought
out. -fi1 = Nstss-. .t-2 fE5 - ie57r o.
But the.labor of the farmer, as a chemist, DIES
not cease, even. when his crops are all secured,
and safely gnrne,ed up in their appropriate place
OF deposit. IFrom then commences another series
of chemical processes by which his hay, grain
roots, &C., ale 10 be trans,nnted into. beef pork,
poulIyp mullOlls WOOL, &C., &C. ANA much, very
much of the profit, IN feeding out these farm crops,
depends upon the farmet's knowledge Of animal.
chemistry M 4 physiology.
But the sptoht and loss". OF feeding out domes-
tic ANNA s, are matters of ptcuniaTy- considera-
ton-mere ''dolars and cents,'' about which we
did not mean to, write, vixen we commenced this
sheet. Our Object was to show, that farming did
not consist wholly in fOrking over wafer soaked
manure, and digging and shouldeung baskets of.
haifro potatoes. But. far otherwise. 1t was
our Intention To show that farming in its b, oldest
meaning, was truly fayorableto the highest men,
tall, moral, and religious enjoyment of man. For
the study and investigation of those ia,os, that
have SO ultimately connected together the earth,
the plant, and the annual, there are found mex
hauxtble and everything sources of ii eful in,
struction and unalloyed qualification.
For Illustration, take the properties of the att
moSphere III reference 10 its purposes in vegetable
aud animal e-and how beautiful il illustrates
the lsdom. skill and brnificence Of its greatAu-
thor. - lt'' q.
"rhe atmosphere by which we are surrounded,
IS composed oil mixture OF oxygen, nitrogen, car
ionic acid. water yapor and ann mia, ond every
living thing on dry land. animal and vegetabIe
Is bal H. lives on II, and such is The adapta-
ton 10 the wants OF animals and plants, that nei-
Their class of doing beings vitiate, or impair its
sutabieness for The other; but the very reverse OF
this, Tor each rs the appointed means OF preserving
1t IN saluhrouS state for the other class; the
plant constantly adding 10 the food OF the ANIMAL
the animal constantly supplying food for the plant
The mixture constituting the atmosphere is
composed of but four elementary bodies, VIZ: oxy-
gen, nitrogen Cthes Two forming the great bulk III
the alr,) hydrogen and carbon. And they are Sls-
ceptible OF forming among themselves and with
others distances, an lntiuily OF chemical combna.
tons, and ofyielding All eudess variety OF organic
products, both animal and vegetable, which we
can no Tore number than we can the stars OF l,ea-
ven. From the four organic bodies above named
are produced more than n nety per cent OF nearly
all animal and vegetable substances. They arc
raw material, out OF which all the organic portions
Chose portions that can be dssipatel by the action
oil Te) OF the various farm crops are manu- iactuted
and the study OF agricultural chemistry POSSESSES
double Interest for the farmer pecu uiariiy and
lntciIeclually-the last as attractive and ennoblinr
as any oil the ! ranches connected with the $50
caLteA) Professions. @A-L s' =
From agricultural chemistry VIC learn the indie
SructiblIitYot matter. When a plant or an ami
mai dies aud deconposeS its atoms will feed aud
! nuurlsh any growing plant, and lhatin turn VIII
feed growing amima!s. Reproduction and decay
follow zach others footsteps throug huul the hole
system OF nature, and the conditions Lf life and
dea til are mutually involved IN, and dependent ON
each other, and there is not probably an atom on
the surface of this planet, winch Is capable of ur
ganizatiop. that has not been many times endowed
with vitality Every time we breathe our bodies
| lose part OF their solids"
| Water is formed OF two invisible gasses oxv
| gen and hydrogen; and all are aware OF the i'm
roItanee oil this indispensable mud Tor te success
full growing of farm crops. But how few regard il
only as thing nec,s sary TO the common uses
4
| Ianu Nude The waters also. Absolutely nure wa.
ter, fresh drawn from the chemists still, or form
ed from its elements BY burning gal on of nv.
drogen gas i'll hall gallon of oxygen seems ~
| simple and inert substance as one can well CON
ceve-derod as il is OF color, tuSt and SMELL Vet
III the whole range OF material substances ther. ~
! perhaps moi one whose transformations are NOR.
surprisingly Protean, whose relations are n,ore
extensive and intricate. a solid BODY Stone I'm ri
falls from the sky aud aud breais your winlo,ys
You pick it up, aud find it dense unsulnr crrs.
tal; which while you examine it in tile palm of
your hanu, changes 10 a transparent fluid, which
again, 1wlndllng adually, as you gaze at it, be-
comes invisible, aud vanIstIes into the air If the
weather be frosty, the vanished SUBSTANCE tean
pears IN dew drops, softly deposited on the cold
wlndow-which Just before its Inonentum ~
power TO break; and these drops while you watch
Item, suddenly shoot into delicate Notifications
anu resume their previous crystalline sotid,ty. -
But wafer IS capable OF assuming different
solid tJrm. OF plaster of Fairs statue w..iyIing
lbs, more than h. is Solidfed wat.r-Syn,sr
IN more solid form than the very hardest from
ice.
VI organic odeS, whether animal or vegetable.
water Is large constituent during life and
powerful solvent after death. Potatoes contain
70 per cent by weight, and turnips no less than
~ per cent OF wafer. Five pounds of bee stakes
strongly pressed between botting paper would
show that nearly four pounds of It's weight wn.
water, OF the human frame (bones included,9
only aboutlone-f fourth is solid matter chiefly Ccnr.
bon and nitrogenl the rest IS water 49,
II plump juicy man, weighing leo lbs was
squeezed fiat under hydraulic press, rs lbs Of
water would run out, and only 25 lbs. of dry !. 81
due would remain.' Now such an experiment
NIGH not be very agreeable especially, if tie man
was was awe when put under the press. But the
fact, is interesting as: showing US Of what stuff we
ase ginade.-GTanite Visitor. .ITnE
Gxpelled from the M nistrv.
Inc Baltimore II, Annual Conference, recently in
session ct Baltimore, expelled by vote OF 1870 to
", tae Rev. Stephen H,ldebrand, on charye NJ
,educlne girl named Hair let a. Allen, W. rava
U.h 10 child on the 27th of January, 1853 The
lIial has taken up great deal of the lime oG c.