Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-01-14
AGRICULTURAL PAPERS.
A SERIES PREPARED EsPEcIaLLY FOR
THE "RECoRD-UNfoN."
Presenting the Instruction Contained in
Lectures from the Chair Of Agrt-
culture, State University.
SECOND PER-AGRgCULTURAL CHEMISTRY
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS

IL is necessary heiore proceeding 1urther
| to define few terms which will be of con-
slant occurrence throughout the whole
subject of agricultural chemistry. We
may divide all matter into two classes
organic and inorganic matter Organic
matter is the product Of growth, or vital
organization. 1t either itself constitutes
the organs of life and growth, or is merely
product of vital processes. In the one
case the matter has peculiarly organized
natural structure, inimitable by art as in
! the cells and fbers of wood and flesh. In
the other case this structure is entirely lack
ing as in sugar and fats, which We all know
are productions of vegetable and animal
growth, but which are only the products /;
and are to be distinguished from the cells
and fbers of wood aud flesh, inasmuch as
these are not only prodacts of the vital
processes. but they also help to make up
the body of the wood and flesh, and take
an active part in the assimilation of inor-
COMIC matter. Organic matter is mostly
combustible, and burns away into invisible
gases. Inorganic matter is any matter
which is not part or product of living
organisms 40 mineral matter, rocks, soil,
water and air Most Of the natural forms
of inorganic matter are incembustible and
entirely destitute OF any organized
structure.
Il is advisable TO note the difference
between these definitions and some ex-
tremely inaccurate ones, which agricult-
urai writers sometimes make use of. 1t
Is customary for some to denote organic
matter as 1.-THE volatile part Of
plant or object :" i. e., that
part which on combustion burns
away in the form of invisible gases or, in
other words, they call it the destructible
part Of body. They denote the residue
after combustion, the ash, the indestruct-
lble part, as inorganic matter. Now, this
ash residue, because of its having been an
essential part or product of the organism,
is as truly organic matter as that part
which went off In the form of gas. BY the
processes of burning and decay, organic
matter Is disorganized and Transformed into
inorganic matter. On the other hand, by
vegetable and animal life and growth, in.
organic matter is changed into organic SUBJ
stances. Here we see the dependence OF
vegetable and animal life upon inorganic
matter. During the life of the plant or
animal it has an inexhaustible supply of in
organic matter, both in the soil and in the
atmosphere, from which to draw its susten-
ance; but as soon as the vital organiza
ton of the plant or animal ceases to per-
form its functions, the matter which it has
assimilated and made its own at once be-
gins TO decay, and is reconverted into in.
organic matter. This decay is only slow
combustion, and they both are effected by
the oxidation of matter In decay the
change is gradual, and is unaccompanied by
the perceptible sensations of light and
neat. In combustion the combination is
more rapid, and is accompanied by both
the phenomena of light and heat. Oxi-
dization is the burning or decay OF matter,
and is chemically the combination of mat
ter with oxygen. Oxidation is a phe-
nomenon OF universal occurrence, both in
the animal and mineral kingdom. In the
natural consumption going on in the ami
mai body, it is only external and unassimi-
lated matter when is oxidiZed whereas,
decay ana combustion attack and destroy
the structure and organization of the body.
With combustion as basis of division,
all plants and animals, with their entire
organization, consist of volatile and
fixed part. The volatile part is that por
ton which. during the process of combus
ton, passes off into the all as invisible
gases. The residue, or ash, which Is gen.
orally but from l to 3 per cent. of the
whole, is the fixed part, and is unalterable
by further heat. Many organic substances,
products of life, but containing no vital
organization, as sugar and many of the
organic acids, are entirely volatIlized by
heat. 1t is a pretty generally conceded
fact that the volatile or destructible part
of organic bodies is chiefly made up of the
four elements CARBON, oxygen, hydrogen
and nitrogen and that sulphur and phos-
phorous are present in small guam
titles. The composition of the ASH is much
more complex ; IN it has been found
phosphorus, sulphur, silicon, chlorine, po-
tassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron,
oxygen, carbon and hydrogen while lith-
ium, rubidium, iodine, bromine, hourine,
barium, copper, zinc and titanium are
found rarely, and in such small quantities
that for practical purposes they need
hardly be considered as ash constituents.
These substances are all elements, which
in chemical language signifies that they are
simple bodies, and cannot be resolved into
any other substances. A compound is
made up of mechanical or chemical COM
bination or mixture of two or more of these
elements, and being made up of two or
more elements, it may be resolved into its
primary substances. All OF the varieties
of vegetable and animal matter are com.
pounds. The first fourteen elements named
are essential to the organization of
every plant, and for that reason it is neces-
sary that we should be we'll acquainted
with their properties. For the sake of
! convenience we will first describe the
the elements which comprise the volatile
portion of plants, i. e, carbon, oxygen,
nitrogen, hydrogen, sulphur and phospho-
rus. Carbon, in the free state, is a solid.
We are acquainted with it both in the
crystallne-as the diamond and graphite !;
and in the amorphous form-lampblack,
charcoal, anthracite, etc. 1t is noticeable
of the two crystal ne forms that while the
diamond is extremely hard and slow con-
ductor of electricity, graphite is soft and
conducts electricity almost as well as do
the metals. Heated to very high tenn
perature, diamond aud amorphous carbon
are'converted into graphite. In the pro.
cess of gas making layer of very dense
carbon, known as gas. retort carbon, is de-
posted on the walls of the retort. This
is good conductor of electricity, is very
hard to burn, and is used in the
arcs of electric lights, and is the
negative substance in voltaic batteries.
OF the various forms of carbon, diamond
| y Tho acf oraa,t1a bo.f xrhi
phous carbon has the highest. That is, it
will take less heat to raise given amount
of diamond through a certain number of
degrees of temperature than it will to raise
the same amount of anonymous carbon
through like number of degrees of tenn
perature. All of the different forms of car
bon are, in certain chemical sense, iden.
teal for they all, on being burned, yield
carbonic acid-a compound of carbon and
oxygen, of which we shall speak hereafter.
| Carbon constitute a LARGE mart of the hul (