Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-04-24

vital force IN piants can effect rev.
olu'ions w..srn Leibig canho,i and that
Ipcc~abiy "a growing plsul may supply IT,
self With phosphorus and silica ont Of sir
and water in which Lisbig can ina none
Unfortunately, nothing of this kind hap
pens. When our worn out COW pastures
are exhausted CT phosphstes, we hare to
apply bones to them At cost d five or six
pounds Ter acre, and when cur fields are
exhausted Of soluab,e silica, the corn gets
lsid for the want Of the aint stifIen-
ing 10 The straw. Unless the soil is the
store house cf plant Sood, how are we to
explain the cumulative results ofhigh farm
Ing? How explain the chemical effects Of
paringsnd burning, and Of deep tillageP
The unexhaus;ea fertility ofthe prairie and
The fote1as, where vegetation decays for cen
fdries, decreases rspidly in yield of
crops under pioneer. farming.n
Ths Bengal author of aThe Natural
Laws Of Husbandryn is profoundly mista-
ken, and Baron Liebig is right, erring. in IA
few instances by carrying theory too far.
Dry, hot summers in large districts Of Brit
ish India, as in large districts Of this eonti-
nent, bring 50 mitch Of the fertiIizing salts
of the earth to The surface that the supply
for making cotton may be practically mex
haustible. The same ground that yields
one crop Of saltpeter in India, produces an
other, after that is removed, Just as the
same lake or pond Ia Massachusetts, gives
second crop OF ice, after one is harvested.
Where the ground receives alI the seed and
plant, losing only the lint. or the ashes that
win remain when tint is burnt, the drain
on the deep subsoil for plant food is very
small. Taking into the account the saltpe-
ter climate of Bengal,the author of the Nat
ural Laws of Husbandry may not be far
cut of the way, as regards .
local truth. What, with cheap
land, cheap railways, cheap white laborers,
and wide exranse ofgeuuine ssltpeter
in the ground, where 1t is needed for ma
nure that costs nothing, we may soon have
competitors In supplying the markets of
the world with cotton that viii put down
The price to five or six cents pound. This
would soon turn the balance Of trade heav-
lily against the United States, and work
great commercial revolution, It would
also induce industrial changes in the South,
materially affecting the business of ali
cities, and The Velue of all rea estate,
whether IL town or country. The inteli-
gence, industry and enterprise which have
made the British Empire the richest in the
world, will labor long and earnestly to
maintain this ascendancy.
What British capital and British brains
may do in Asia and Australia, 1t is difficult
to predict. Their industrial efforts are PRO
jected on magnificent scale, in warm eli
mates, and have every promise of success
Australia cattle by the million give bones
as well as beef for export to Eng
land. Viewed agriculturally, the millions
Of cattle are simply the fertility Of a CONT
rent transported to the wheat fields and
gardens of an island on the opposite side of
the globe. Brains, bones, busbandry and
commerce are mixing things every where
in curious way. Every year gives exis-
terce TO new relations, and unprecedented
combinations, wbose outcome no one can
conjecture. Since the time when Julius
Cesar conquered England, and perha ps for
ages before, the cid COW pastures and grain
fields of that Island have lest the white
earth that makes bones; and now, bones
from the p2mpas of South America, Aus
tralia and elsewhere, are shipped to Eng
land to repair damages.