Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1859-12-02


making in all the one hundred parts of
any given quantity Different kinds OF
plants require these properties III different
portions. The grains, cobs, hnsks skins,
leaves, stalks, and tassles of corn, for ex-
ample, are made up in different proper
ties, each one containing its own proper
quantity. The grains and cob both con-
taip potash and soda, the grains bore OF
each than the cob, while the two contain
the same quantity of lime. The leaves
take up soliba, potash and soda in large,
and lime and magnesia in considerable
portions. Wheat requires silica, li,nar
potash, soda and phosphoric acid in large
proportions ;the silica for the straw, and
the other elements mentioned for the
grain The tifty-eighth part in one hun
drcd Of the potato is potash and soda
The tobacco plant contains forty-eght
nine Of magnesia, fourteen Of phosphates
of lime and magnesia, eight of sui phuric
acid, and four of so.ica. The cotton plant,
with the seeds, abounds in lime, potash,
soda, and magnesia.
Now, these are hard names, and the
practical farmer may be curious to know
in what respect they affect his business;
| but they are not more difficult to the ag-
ricultural chemist thoroughly scientific
| farmer, than colnpasses and planes are to
! the carpenter, or chases or shooting sticks
/ to the printer, or advowsons, detinue, or
trover to the lawyer. Every practical
farmer, who has succeeded well IN his vo-
cation, who has made good crops. and at
| the same time preserved or increased the
original fertility OF his land, has availed
himself of the elements or agencies Just
referred to. He may not have known
! these agencies or elements by name, and
he may have attached but little importance
to what is called book, or scientific farm
ing yet whenever he ditched, or drained,
or horizontally plonghed, or thoroughly
cultivated his land and whenever he APP
| piled fertilizers to it, whether in the form
of stable nanures, lime, plaster, guano, or
! green crops turned in, he practiced the
principles of agricultural chemistry, and
was, to that extent, scientific far
rner.
In order to produce, as we have just
stated, there must be, first, fertility of soil
| for the seeds planted secosed, warmth ;
| third, moisture. The air is a reservoir or
J holder and dispenser of substances which
! improve the soil, and water is the medirm
| communication. Earth, air, wa e., light
and heat; these are the agents in the labo-
ratory of nature by which production is
constantly maintained. Without the
earthly inorganic without light
or heat in due roportions-without the
ammonia and carbonic acid OF the atmos-
phere, and without water, which holds
both ammonia and carbonic acid in solu-
ton, and, in descending, imparts it to veg
eta'ion, the husbandnan would plant in
vain. For example, the soil is prepa ed,
and a grain Of corn is deposited in the
ground. Under the influence of warmth
and moisture it expands aad mantests
life. Gradually but surely, obeying the
life-principle infused into it by the Crea-
tive hand, it first sends its root downwards
and fastens it In the soil, while it shoots up
its green bud to drink in the light and the
richness of the air. Soon the tap-root.
which steadies the stalk, sends out smaller
roots in all directions, which feel for and
absorb the nutrient properties Of the earth.
The plant now lives and breafhes. Taking
up substances from the soil, by the aid OF
water and the combined action of air and
light, it deposits them in the stalk and
blades. Now the tassel appears, and then
the shoot. with its delicate silk; the pol-
| len from the tassei, shaken by the winds,
is showered on the silk, and the grains are
formed. Tie plant then natures, and To-
we have 'the ripe corn in the ear" Thus
since the creation, has all vegetation been
formed, varying only in the modes and
periods peculiar to each plant
Ii is obvious, then, that agriculture does
not merely imply Gearing, blowing, dig,
ging and narrowing, but that it is a science
or art, and must be pursued with the sanle
intelligence ard perseverance which are
Indispensable to snecess in other vocations
The soil i'll its primitive state generally
yields abundantly, and the first tiller en
joys its productiveness without thinking
OF the exhaustion & aing on, or OF the I'M
portance OF renovating measures. This
has been peculiarly the case in the OLD
Atlantic States Vast bodies of land have
been cleared, scourged and exhausted by
farmers, many of whom entertained the
erroneous opinion that land was made tc
be worn out and having as they thought
accomplished their work as farmers In
their first localities, they nave removed te
distant regions aud settled on new SOIL
This exhausting process was formerly
as common in the Northern aud Eastern
States as in this; but their means Of inter
communicating and of reaching the mar
kets of the world, which were early esrab
lished, and the demands for breadstnff::
and life sustaining food of all kinds, Great
ed by their rapidly increasing population
the result in a large degree OF emigra
tion from Europe gave an extraordinary
impetus to agricultural. production, which
has been steadily kept up, and the fruits
of which are seen in all directions in neal
and almost perfect farms, and in a pros.