The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1869-01-08
I've THR LEAVRa.



A leaf is an insignificant porliOn of
matter. Crush dry leaf in the hand.
and i dwindles TO a small space, and
the general impression Is, that leaves do
not amount to much. A single leaf
does not but thousands of leaves do,
and at this season Of the year, we have
thousands, yea, myrisds Of leaves lying
around cur houses, nuisance if left
scattered about, but great blessing Il
rightly disposed Of. We must not dss-
Pise little things ''Nany little makes
a miekle," as the Scotch ploverb has il
The world is made up Of atoms Of mat
Ter which is so small that thew cannot
be seen or weighed.
beaves are richer in inorganic matter
than almost any other vegetable sub
stances, varying with different kinds Of
trees, from two 10 twelve per cent.
They are Dame Natures main resource
for fertihsing the surface of the earth.
furnishing both the organic aud inor-
gsoic matter, in such proportions as to
make one of the best fertilizers. The
roots Of trees extend deeply into the
earth, bringing up from thence, lime,
potash, soda, and ethef various forms
Of inorganic matter, which they find by
iOrsging, and which they assimilste by
their vitalieing power. The leaves also
appropriate the rich organic matter as
it floats through the air. No matter
how poor track Of land may be, plant
trees upon il, and in twenty to forty
years the land will become of virgin !
richness, by the annual deposit Of leayes
and decsyed branches. Some, without
reflection or observation, may suppose
that forest trees exhaust the soil, as does
crop of oats. Not SO, The organic
matter of tree is derived mainly from
the air, Plant willow in tub filed
with earth, and give il no nouFishmsut
but pure rain water, and It viii grow
till the carbon, Of which trees ara main
ly composed, willfsr exceed the vege-
table matter originally in the tub, and
this too, without any perceptibIe dini-
mutton OF the carbonaciOus matter in the
soil in which the willow has grown. In
the forest, the carbon 10 tue soil rapidly
increases, though the trees may have
appropriated from some source some
forty or fifty tons per acre Of this yalua-
bic element The carbon of the trees
cannot have been derived from the soil, !
for The soil has not lost but has gained
carbon. When we remember that one
twenty-five hundredth of the ar ingbulk
is csrbonic acid gas, and that every
green leaf that waves on the treeE is
continually, during the day, sucking in
this gas, decomposing i, retaining the
carbon aud giving out the oxygen, it is
not difficult TO account for this inerease
Of carbon in the land which is covered
with trees. Some one may ask, why
does not the air become exhausted of
carbonic acid 7 The question is q per-
tinentOne and easily answered. A kind
Providence always furnishes supply
equal to the demand. Every plant and
animal that lives, also dies, and as II
decays, it gives forth its carbon to the
air again. With every stick of wood,
or bit of coal, or drop of oil that we
burn, we are furnishing carbon for the.
air, aud for new vegetable life Thus
there is an endless round of life and
death, and in this round little leaves
play 8 most important part, and are not
to be despised in the economy of nature.
We have neglected and trodden them
under foot too long. Every skilIful
horticulturist knows that leaf mould
from the forest is just the substance in
which fruits and Vegetables flourish
with most luxuriance, aud house-plants
neyerfnd a more csngeHial sol thth D
when pottedih this mould, mixed sEith
sfttle sand.
The eurichmentof land by planting
forest trees is not mere theory. Al
most every. country Of Europe has
practised upon this theory and found
It practicable. The Duke Of Athol, in
Scotland, made extensive pIantations'of
larcb, on poor hilly soil, and n the
course Of thirty. years the land increased
in value ten fold. Money at compound
interest does not increase SO rapidly.
The number of leaves on tree, and
the amount Of fertilizing matter they
furnish, viii surprise one who has
never experimental upon them, A
million Of leaves viii be found on COM
mon-sized trees, and even seven mil
lions have been counted on one oak,y
Some leaves viii be found much
NOE valuable than others Thus the
elm contains nearly. twelve per cent, Of
inorganic matter, the willow eight, the
beach seven, the oak five, and the diff
fefent varieties Of the fir only two.
This organic matter is pumped up BY
tue roots Of the trees, some times from
great depths, and is thus made ayaila,
ble on the susface Of the earth for the
purposes Of vegetation. -
How shall We most economically ssTC
the leaves, which disiigure our lawns
and the sides of the road If they are
needed for bedding for horses .of Other
stock, there is DO better mode Of dis.
posing Of them. But, when dry, under
cover, they made good bedding, and,
thrown out with the manure, speedily
decay, through its catalytic action,
When not required as litter for stock,
they should be put into the lcemposi
heap IN alternate layers of manure,
leaves and sods. The fermentation
will soon commence, and if the pile il
built up some four feet high, the inter
nal heat generated will Be sufficient to
keep out the frost most Of the winter
and on shoveibg oyer IN the spfIbg
the whole viii be found one rich car
bonaeeods and nitrogenizsd mass, gooc
for tie garden, good for the lawn, gooc
everywhere.-1Hassdchaset Plough
man