Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-11-13
.;fsrn mud Bansfi1uIa.
Rural Economy.

must have been derived from anotnc,
source, as this cannot be found In the SOIL
in form that it can be appropriated 70
the nutrition and growth OF vegetable SUD
stances. =,
The inference then is, that the materials
out of which Segetables are made are de-
rived from the soil, with the single excep-
ton above named. Vegetable physioiogy
demonstrates that the production OF plant
is the result of force residing in the
seed, which we demonstrate vital, or the
life force, acted on. by other forces OF ma
ture, which cali it into play, and that this
life force is able to control the other forces
acting in connection with it, as to termi-
nate the result Of their action, and secure
the construction Of a,plant; and that fur
thermore, the vital force in each particu-
lar kind Of seed, can control the other
forces to the production Of q plant after it's
own kind Vegetable growth, then, is
simply a process under the direction OF the
forces alluded to, by which matter is made
to change its form, and hence elements
that belong to, and enter into the compost
ton of, the soil to-day, may be made TO
enter into the composition of a plant to-
morrow Then to construct a plant, we
must have. to begin with, living, healthy
seed. This is the germ OF plant, con-
tanning vital force, in a passive state, but
ready to be called into activity by the ac-
ton of heat and moisture Under the in
fuence Of heat force, combined with mois-
ture, the vital force begins to manifest It
self the seed first swells, then bursts and
sends forth a sprout, that is soon devel-
oped into the leaves of q plant and all
this may be accomplished just as well out
Il, ,firt1xa
TO grow, and in addition to this, we see
tendrils, or roots, begin to be developed,
and these dip down, or reach out in search
Of nourishment If this experiment be
conducted ia d vessel Of water at proper
Temperature, the plant will continue to
grow until all the elementary matter con-
tanned in the seed shall have
been appropriated to the growth of
the plant, when it will begin to pine, and
in a short time it must die. Death by
starvation If however the seed shall
have been deposited in the earth, the fibers
which constitute the roots of the plant,
draw up nourishment from the soil, and
the plant continues to thrive and grow,
until it shall have been fully developed
and matured.
The rapidity and perfection of its
growth, and development, will depend, all
other things being equal, on the album
dance of the elements necessary to its
growth, found in the soil wherezi 1T grows,
These elements must not only be In the
soilsin abundance, but they must be there
in asoluble state.
~ If this condition be wanting In the sod,
the result will be, instead Of d rapid grew.
ing, healthy, thrifty plant, We shall have
IF oil b
sickly appearance, and that can never at
tain to that size and perfection of develop
ment that it ought, to be perfect speci-
men. AS well might we expect to raise a
fine, large, healthy, perfect specimen of an
fourth rations We cannot make some
thing of nothing.
Then an exhausted soil cannot produce
plants, SO as to yield profit and we
mean by an exhausted soil, one from
which the elements Of vegetable growth,
in soluble, or usable form, have been
distracted by growing vegetation. It is
OF no avail that the soil may yet contain
an abundance of these elements, if they
be not in soluble state. Look at the fine
forests in many parts of East Virginia,
for instance-here we have most aston
aio41uS crop VI LltuUcIt StfHQIuS
so thickly over the ground that you cam
not fire musket in any direction, but
that the ball must strike tree before
traversing distance of one hundred yards.
In passing through these forests, you will
notice the old burrows of the plow; and
you discover that you are travelling over
what was once an old tobacco field, and
learn by inference, as well as by inquiry,
that the soil has been cultivated in corn,
wheat and tobacco, until it would no
longer produce crop that would pay the
expense of cultivation, when it was aban-
doned, and spontaneous growth of fine
timber ensued. Now science has demon
strated that plants derive their carbon
from the atmosphere hence an exhausted
soil may produce heavy growth of any
of the soft woods, as pine; for they con-
tain very little indeed, of mineral ele-
ments, being composed almost entirely OF
carbon. But clear off one of these fine
forests alter the lapse Of 80 or go years,
and q crop of hard wood viii follow spon-
taneously. This then shows that the soil
may be exhausted in the common accepta-
tion of that term, of its mineral elements,
and yet be rich in mineral elements, only
refusing to produce crops because these
are not in q soluble state. VI
& It has only been deprived OF all its
splineral elements that were in q condition
to be appropriated by the growing plants.
The influence Of heat, cold and moisture,
through a series of years, disintegrates,
and renders soluble, another moiety of
these elements and thus the soil becomes
productive again This explains the phe-
nomenon of the spontaneous growth of
the hard woods, on a tract from which a