Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-03-13
Fer the Freeman.
Plant Food.
BY AGRIC0LA.

The most important condition of veg
etable growth is q full supply of suitable
food. All plants, as well rs animals. live
by eating, and without food, would as lit
orally die of starvation.
OF the sixty elements found in nature,
moi more than fifteen enter into the COM
position of ordinary plants. From these
each plant selects its bill of fare with as
much care as an epicure. But in seeks no
variety. 1t is perfectly satisfied with its
one course of soup at all times of day,
and at every stage of its growth Its food
is always liquid, except some invisible
gases which are absorbed from the air by
its leaves. This liquid is sucked up through
its roots, and is assimilated into life-giving
nourishment.
Manure is the food which farmers give
their crops. There are two kinds of ma
nure-the organic and the inorganic. The
former consists of decayed matter which
had once been organized into some form
of animal or vegetable life; the latter
comes from the dust worn off from rocks
by friction or frost, or by heat under the
influences of chemical laws. The most
| important of these elements are the four
gases-oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and
chlorine; five metals, potassium, sodium,
calcium, magnesium and aluminium; four
etalloids-carbon, silicon, phosphorus
and sulphur.
Now water is the union of oxygen and
hydrogen; air, of oxygen and nitrogen
ammonia, of hydrogen and nitrogen; car.
bonic acid, of oxygen and carbon; gypsum
of oxygen, sulphur and calcium; potash,
&c rThonn
unions of acids and bases form neutral
salts. These chemical experiments are
constantly being tried in the soil and in
,, the plant, and nature is thus feeding her
vegetable kingdom.
The combinations of the greatest inter-
est to the farmer are potassa, lime, soda,
magnesia, alumina, silica. the four acids
(carbonic, sulphuric, phosphoric and n.y.
drochloric) and the oxides of iron.
Iregret the necessity of using so many
scientific terms which none but the STU
dent of chemistry can fully comprehend.
My apology is, every farmer should be-
come scientific, all labor should be edu-
Gated, that the tillers of the soil may not
waste their strength, but reap abundant
harvests. Every farmer should know
where these elements that feed the plant
come from. and how they can be produced
and applied. He should know that potash
is supplied in great abundance by fresh
ashes; that soda, magnesia and chlorine
abound in common salt, and exist in lime
and ashes; that silica is extracted from
the crumbling rock; that phosphoric acid
is found largely in guano; that carbonlc
acid and ammonia are the product of de-
caying vegetables and animals, and it also
results from the combustion of burning
wood and burning food. in the chimney or
IN the lungs.
Now let US see how such knowledge can
be made useful to the farmer. He wants
to raise u good crop of potatoes. If intel
ligent he knows that the potato consists
chiefly of sulphuric acid, lime, magnesia
slick and i. 1t must follow, therefore
that all these elements must be in the sol
when he plants his field, or he will lose
the crop. If not there when he plows, he
must apply such manure as contains them
This is a matter of common sense. If ig
norant of science, the farmer works in The
dark, is liable to misapply his labor anC
lose all.
Plants require certain kinds of food
there can be no Substitute. FOR instance
a kernel of wheat cannot be developed
without phosphoric acid and ammonia
the stalk must have slick to give i
strength and stiffness. Apply phosphat,
of lime to the worn out field, and the yielt
will be greatly increased. Clover, pea
and beans are fond of lime, and henc,
should be fed with gypsum. Berries arc
hungry for potash, and hence they climl
the crumbling stone wall or spring up OIL
burnt ground. But enough of scientific
facts for once. If | could induce GU
young farmers by this allusion to an i'm
portant subject to spend their rainy day
and long winter evenings in reading AM
study of practical books on chemistry, m,
efforts would be amply rewarded, Al
may become scientific farmers, if they ar
willing to make the necessary effort.