Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1915-10-19
EAT AIR AND RAIN
interesting Statement Made by
a Prominent Scientist.
Of All Food We Eat 10
Derived Originally From Rain; 30
Per Cent Of Remainder
Comes From Air.

/ lnlNOrlOullub vi Ill liC hOO0 WO Co'
is derived originally from rain. OF the
remainder, so per cent comes from the
air. the balance-one-twent part OF
the whole-is obtained from tue soil.
This interesting statement Is made
by Dr. A. T. Stuart OF the Canadian
department OF agriculture. who de-
scribes the farmer as the great man
ufacturer. He makes the things
which other people merely put to-
gether in different ways.
The farmer takes rs pounds of wa
ter. 20 pounds OF air and rounds of
soil. These are his raw materials.
and from them, in the quantities and
proportions above mentioned. he
turns out 100 pounds of products.
The mixture of gases which we call
air is fluid by no means so thin and
imponderable as we are accustomed
to imagine. An ordinary packing box
three feet cube will contain about two
and one-half pounds Of it. The twenty
pounds of air that contribute so i'm
portant a percentage of our food sup
ply would occupy. at normal sea-level
pressure, cubical space Is feet on an
edge.
The IS pounds of water would make
about nine and one-half gallons. Five
pounds of soil will represent the con-
tents Of a clay flower pot of moderate
size; and thus one forms an idea cas-
lily grasped of the quantities of the
three original raw materials required
by the farmer for the manufacture of
100 pounds of products.
These products are food and cloth
ing. OF all the clothes people wear,
8 per cent is made of animal or vege-
table materials that are the yield Of
agriculture. Even the leather Of which
our shoes are made is, of course, a
farm product. Silk is spun by catereil- |
lars, but In reality is is nothing but |
mulberry leaves, converted by their |
agency into a fiber that can be woven.
We know what air is. and water is ]
familiar enough. That soil Is merely
powdered rock, containing a small
percentage of decayed vegetable mat
ter, has long been understood. But
many facts in regard to this last in
raw material of the farmer
have only recently been learned.
Consider, for one thing. the size of
the rock particles. In some soils they
are so tiny, according to Doctor Stuart,
that one hundred millions of millions
of them may be held on the point of a
penknife.
That seems remarkable, does 1t not?
But take a single pound of this kind
OF soil. and measure the total surface
area represented by its component
particles. 1t is a not very difficult
problem in mathematics. The total
surface area Of the particles that go
to make up one pound is about three
acres.
This is in itself a matter of much
Importance, from the viewpoint of the
farmer-manufacturer for each particle
of soil is enveloped by thin film of |
water. And 1t is from this water that |
the plants he grows derive their sus-
tenance.
The fluid In question, however, Is |
not merely water 1t is a kind of !
soup, in which plant food, both or.
ganic-from the decayed vegetable
matter-and mineral, is dissolved.
What we call the fruitful land" is
merely bed for the plants to stand
up in while they feed upon this soup.
Under the microscope all plants are
found to be made up of little cells or
pouches filed with fluid. In an
orange or lemon they are so big as to
be easily seen when the fruit is cut.
Each OF these cells-which multiply
at a wonderful rate to make what we
call growth-is little chemical fac
tory, and it is they which. under the
general management Of the manufac.
turing farmer, produce protein" fat,
starch. sugar, fiber. ETC.. with inciden-
tai colors and fiavors, to supply in a
multitude of forms the demands Of
the market.