Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-02-07
Communicated
VEGETABLE CREATION.


l
posed that the seed dlOayS precede
the plant. Upon what facts doe
any one rely TO sustain the theory
Simply, if we wish a certain plan
we put the proper seed into the soil
and in process of time the plant, as q
rule, il produced But where die
that seed come from if not from /
plant? 1t therefore stands: plantc
produce seeds. and seeds produce
plants. This may be traced back
wards al infnitum, provided the pres
ent order OF things has always exist
ed. If this had been the order ''frou
all eternity" then neither one is first
tor neither had beginning. But
we do not believe that either seeds
plants, or the earth itself always ex.
listed for every tangible thing of the
earth, or on it, is a compound. And
the constituents of every compound
must have pre-existed. The constit-
uents Of the earth and its fora exist
ed before they were compounded in
to the earth and its fora. An eternal
compound is nonsense. There must
therefore have been u beginning and
either the various seeds, from the CO.
coanut to the tobacco, were directly
created and scattered upon the sur
face of the earth, or the earth was
created with mission to send forth
all the plants now growing on it,
each bearing its own peculiar seed !,
and was fully empowered by the
Creator to execute the charge COM
mitted to it at the beginning, and
perhaps through all time. But, says
the savan, show me the plant that
did not grow from the seed. To
whom | reply, show me the seed that
did not grow upon plant. Now
we are equal with our "knock-d0wn
arguments" Yet it is quite possible
that he has seen hundreds of plants
that did not come from a seed ma
tured upon a plant The Mosaic ac-
count, Gen. II; IL, II, "God said let
the earth bring forth the tender
grass, and the herb yielding seed af-
ter its kind, and the fruit tree yield
ing fruit after its kind, whose seed is
in it, upon the earth and the earth
brought forth grass, and the herb
yielding seed after its kind, and the
tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in
IL, after its kind" seems to me to
contain more nearly literal truths
than is usually granted. This would
place the plant first in the order of
existence. l know it has come to be
considered very scientific to ignore
the Mosaic account Of the creation.
But of that 10 its place.
Now, does not the great mass OF
facts. known to us, go to establish q
spontaneous production Of heritage in
numerous instances There needs
TO be a concurrence of various things
TO produce this or that. Some OF
these things observing men have
learned, aud when but few things
arc necessary to the end, are able TO
bring about a result with about as
much ertainty as they can produce a
crop of wheat.
As an example; knew q section
Of country 10 Ohio where, the tim
Der being chopped down in the Win
ter and burned off the ground the
next Fall, the rubbish gathered and
likewise burned, the ground sowed 10
wheat and narrowed in without plow-
ing, fair crop OF wheat might be
expected the next Summer, if the
ground was not too fiat and the sea-
son wet (then crop of chess might
be looked tor), but in either case,
without sowing any seed, and the
field being kept clear of stock, the
next season it would produce good
crop of clear timothy, from one and a
half to two tons OF hay to the acre.
And the timothy would remain for
many years, | know not how long.
The timber was made into large clog
heaps" from fifteen TO forty feet long
and one-fourth as wide, and in burD-
ing them the soil was burnt like u
orlck six or eight inches deep, and on
these fire beds the wheat was tho
oest; and so was the grass the next
year. Not very likely that grass
seed passed through such fiery or
deal and then grew Now, whence
came the timothy? | cannot tell,
unless the power to produce it Was
originally created with the soil, and
it waited for the foregoing, or SINH
lar treatment, to cooperate, and it
drought forth the tender grass" as
in the beginning.
Take another case /; | have field
of ten acres, of originally what was
called Numbered openings" over
which the fires had passed yearly for
perhaps centuries. About twenty
years ago it was "broken," and plant
ed to corr three or four years, then
two years to wheat and one year to
oats and seeded down, one half TO
timothy, and the other half to limo
thy and clover. | moved it four or
five ears, then plowed it up IN the
Fall aud planted in corn next Spring
When | commenced going through II
the fourth time with the cuItivator,
discov the ground to be literally
covered with purslain, portatdca, Chat
looks learned, but found it in Web
ster,) commonly called pursley. By
a diligent application of the cultiva'
TOR. pillow and hoe, | mastered it, sc
that after harvest | could scarcely
find q spear of it. The field has beer
in cultivation ever since, in wheat
corn or oats; and | saw no more Of
il it till last Summer, which was nine
or ten Years from the former growth
of purslain. 1t was planted to corn
and when the corn was laid by" al
ter the long drouth, and the rains
had set 10, and we had begun harvest
ing Cup to which time scarcely &
weed of any kind could be seen il
the field), the purslain again appear
ed, and in three weeks the grounC
was so completely covered by it al
over the field, that the surface wa
hidden from sight. At this time thu
fox-tail and pigeon-grass began to ap
| Naar 4 hropr,h and ahova II and in