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In the following group, make the best match between the words in the column on the left with the
description on the right. In the blank space to the left of each term, write the letter of the item which best
matches it. Do not use an item in the right-hand column more than once.

7. ____competitive (a) profit is okay

8. ____middle class in USA (b) keep costs within acceptable levels

9. _____nontraditional household (c) ultra-rich

10. _____owner of Microsoft (d) 65% to 70%

11. _____capitalism (e) working women

12. _____47% to 48% of work force (f) single parent families

 CHAPTER 2

1. The task of designing and managing a reward system that encourages employee contributions and
performance within organizational cost constraints is a difficult and complex task because of:
(a) problems related to defining exempt and nonexempt employees
(b) the variety of human qualities, job requirements, and situational demands involved
(c) government legislation
(d) limited funds available for rewarding employees

2. An organization designs and implements a reward system to

(a) provide a medium of exchange of the income of an organization to its employees for
their monetary and in-kind claims on goods and services
(b) promote the comradeship of workplace associates
(c) focus worker attention on the specific behaviors the organization considers necessary to
achieve its desired objectives and goals
(d) require employees to perform assignments for which they are best suited

3. Money provides a measure of an employee's worth that is

(a) exact
(b) motivational
(c) qualifiable
(d) quantifiable

4. Claims on goods and services made available and paid for either totally or in some percentage by
the employer are
(a) monetary rewards
(b) in-kind rewards
(c) noncompensation rewards
(d) nonfinancial rewards

5. Which of the following is not a part of the compensation system?

(a) health insurance
(b) cheerfully decorated work station
(c) company car
(d) vacation pay

6. Which of the following is a noncompensation benefit rather than a compensation benefit?

(a) paid holidays
(b) unemployment insurance
(c) office Christmas party
(d) medical insurance

7. Which of the following is not an example of a noncompensation reward?

(a) providing a training program
(b) providing a safe workplace
(c) providing a life insurance plan
(d) providing the resources necessary to perform job assignments successfully

8. Employers and employees both benefit by providing goods and services in lieu of additional
wages for all but which one of the following reasons?
 (a) economies of scale are available through group purchasing
(b) goods and services escape individual income tax
(c) legislation requires the provision of certain benefits
(d) employees may not be able to acquire certain goods and services individually

9. A company car, a company credit card, and subsidized food services are all examples of which
one of the following forms of payment?
(a) deferred income
(b) family income
(c) income equivalent
(d) incentive income

Match the noncompensation reward component listed in the right-hand column with the noncompensation
dimension that it would most closely relate to that is listed in the left-hand column:

Noncompensation Dimension Noncompensation Component

10. Enhance dignity and satisfaction (a) Rotate work assignments

from work performed

11. Promote constructive social (b) Allow sufficient time to get the
relationships with co-workers job done

12. Allocate sufficient resources (c) Opportunity to participate in a

to perform work assignments flexible work plan

13. Grant sufficient control over the (d) Maximize opportunities for
job to meet personal demands cooperative activities

14. Design jobs that require adequate (e) Show appreciation for employee
attention and effort efforts and contributions

Match the compensation component listed in the right-hand column that would be most appropriately
grouped with the compensation dimension listed in the left-hand column:

Compensation Dimension Compensation Component

15. Pay for Work and Performance (a) SUB

16. Pay for Time Not Worked (b) Subsidized parking

17. Loss-of-Job Income Continuation (c) Social Security

18. Spouse/Family Income Continuation (d) Overtime premium

19. Income Equivalent Payment (e) Jury Duty pay

 CHAPTER 3

1. For most companies, human resource (labor) costs consume approximately _____ percent of total
revenue.
(a) 10
(b) 20
(c) 40
(d) 60

2. Which one of the following is not considered as part of a compensation program?

(a) Benefits and services
(b) Short- and long-term incentives
(c) Job-related training
(d) Wage and salary add-ons

3. The average cost of benefits as a percentage of wages and salaries ranges between
(a) 20-25%
(b) 25-30%
(c) 30-35%
(d) 35-40%

4. Over the past five years, employers have seen compensation costs increase most rapidly with
(a) health care and pension payments
(b) base wage and salaries
(c) time off with pay
(d) life insurance

5. Payments provided for overtime work, working on weekends and holidays, and working second
and third shifts are included with
(a) base wage and salaries
(b) wage and salary add-ons
(c) incentive payments
(d) benefits and services

6. The single factor that most influences the rate of pay received by an employee is
(a) job occupied
(b) education obtained
(c) ability of employee
(d) skills possessed

7. Approximately what percentage of workers are unionized?

(a) 8
(b) 10
(c) 12
(d) 14
8. An employer with which one of the following characteristics would most likely pay an employee
an above-average rate of pay?
(a) small in size
(b) unionized
(c) labor intensive
(d) rural location in southern USA

9. Which one of the following characteristics is least likely to describe a capital-intensive business?
(a) low-skilled work force
(b) uses sophisticated technology
(c) requires fewer employees than firm generating comparable dollar revenues
(d) loose control of labor costs

10. A “no more than necessary” pay philosophy is most likely found among executives of
(a) unionized businesses
(b) capital intensive firms
(c) public-sector organizations
(d) small businesses

11. Which one of the following states has the highest level of personal income?
(a) Tennessee
(b) Montana
(c) Connecticut
(d) New York

12. A benefit normally gained by high-paying firms is

(a) higher margin of profit
(b) lower rate of turnover
(c) greater pay satisfaction among all employees
(d) less likely to be unionized

13. Historically, women workers have earned approximately ________ percent of what men workers
earned. By 2003, female workers were earning _______ percent of what male workers earned.
(a) 50,70
(b) 60,80
(c) 50,80
(d) 60,85

14. Over the past decade, which factor has had the least influence on rates of pay provided to USA
workers?
(a) minimum wage
(b) foreign competition
(c) deregulation
(d) leveraged buyouts and takeovers
15. In 2002, production workers in manufacturing in which one of the following countries earned less
than their counterparts in the USA?
(a) Norway
(b) Japan
(c) Switzerland
(d) Germany

16. All but which one of the following conditions will influence jobs and job-related opportunities in
the future?
(a) rapid economic growth
(b) vigorous competition
(c) fewer advancement opportunities
(d) restricted wage and salary increases

17. All but which one of the following assumptions are included within the model of perfect
competition?
(a) employers seek to maximize profits
(b) workers have perfect information about wages and job opportunities
(c) available workers differ with respect to both skill and performance
(d) all jobs in the labor market are open to competition

18. In the supply-demand model, which one of the following statements is false?
(a) supply increases as wages rise
(b) the key wage prediction is where the supply and demand curve intersect
(c) the demand curve slopes upward
(d) at the upper wage rate (Wu) there is an excess supply of labor

19. Possibly the most important point presented by the supply-demand model is that
(a) labor markets can be ignored
(b) there is a range of wages within which a firm has discretion
(c) areas of indeterminacy are of minimal importance
(d) factors other than supply and demand can be ignored

20. In a famous study analyzing the wage rates of truck drivers in Boston in 1953, John Dunlop noted
that the wages were arranged
(a) in wage grades
(b) in a wage classification
(c) on a wage scale
(d) on wage contours

21. From the perspective of labor economics, a wage rate is a measure of

(a) total cost of labor per hour
(b) cost of base wage per hour
(c) cost of base wage and incentives per hour
(d) total cost of base wage and government required benefits
Match the description of a correlate that influences organization-provided rates of pay listed in the right-
hand column with the most appropriate correlate listed in the left-hand column:

Correlate Description of Correlate

22. Kind of business (a) has less than $25 million in annual sales

23. Total compensation package (b) refines crude oil into various chemicals

24. Capital- versus labor-intensive (c) employs researchers in high demand

25. Kind and level of required skills (d) provides food and lodging services

26. Size of business (e) all employees received an annual bonus

averaging $20,000
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Elements of
agricultural chemistry and geology
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
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laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Elements of agricultural chemistry and geology

Author: Jas. F. W. Johnston

Release date: April 19, 2024 [eBook #73427]

Language: English

Original publication: New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1842

Credits: The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at

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images generously made available by The Internet
Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELEMENTS OF

AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AND GEOLOGY ***
Wiley & Putnam’s New Publications.

LECTURES
ON
AGRICULTURAL
CHEMISTRY AND GEOLOGY;
TO WHICH ARE ADDED,

SUGGESTIONS FOR EXPERIMENTS

IN PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE.
BY
JAS. F. W. JOHNSTON, M.A., F.R.SS. L. & E.
Fellow of the Geological Society, Honorary Member of the Royal
Agricultural Society, &c. &c.; Reader in Chemistry and
Mineralogy in the University of Durham, &c.

These Lectures will be divided into four Parts, of

which the First is now ready; the others are in course
of publication, and the whole will be completed in two
volumes.

Outline of Part I.—“On the Organic Constituents of Plants.”—

Lecture I. Elementary substances of which plants subsist. II. and III.
Compound substances which minister to the growth of plants. IV.
Sources from which plants immediately derive their elementary
constituents. V. How the food enters into the circulation of plants—
general structure of plants. VI. Into what substances the food is
changed in the interior of plants—substances of which plants chiefly
consist. VII. Chemical changes by which the substances of which
plants chiefly consist are formed from those on which they live. VIII.
How the supply of food for plants is kept up in the general
vegetation of the globe.
Outline of Part II.—“On the Inorganic Constituents of Plants—the
Origin, Classification, and Chemical Constitution of Soils—General
and Special Relations of Geology to Agriculture—Origin, Constitution,
Analyses, and Methods of Improving Soils in different Districts and
under unlike conditions.—Lecture IX. Kind and proportion of
inorganic matter contained in plants. X. Properties of the inorganic
compounds which exist in vegetable substances, or which promote
their growth. XI. Of the nature, origin, and classification of soils—
Structure of the earth’s crust—Classification and general characters
of the stratified rocks—Agricultural capabilities of the soils derived
from them. XII. Granite and trap rocks, and the soils derived from
them—Superficial accumulations. XIII. On the exact chemical
constitution, the analysis, and the physical properties of soils.
Part III.—Methods of improving the soil by mechanical and by
chemical means—Manures, their nature, composition, and mode of
action—theory of their application in different localities.
Part IV.—The results of vegetation—the nature, constitution, and
nutritive properties of different kinds of produce, and by different
modes of cultivation—the feeding of cattle, the making of cheese,
&c. &c. The constitution and differences of various kinds of wood,
and the circumstances which favour their growth.

CRITICAL NOTICES.
“A valuable and interesting course of lectures.”—
Quarterly Review.
 “But it is unnecessary to make large extracts from a
book which we hope and trust will soon be in the
hands of nearly all our readers. Considering it as
unquestionably the most important contribution that
has recently been made to popular science, and as
destined to exert an extensively beneficial influence in
this country, we shall not fail to notice the forthcoming
portions as soon as they appear from the press.”—
Silliman’s American Journal of Science. Notice of Part I
of the American reprint.
“We think it no compliment to Professor Johnston
to say, that among our own writers of the present day
who have recently been endeavouring to improve our
agriculture by the aid of science, there is probably no
other who has been more eminently successful, or
whose efforts have been more highly appreciated.”—
County Herald.
“Prof. Johnston is one who has himself done so
much already for English agriculture, that to behold
him still in hot pursuit of the inquiry into what can be
done, supplies of itself a stimulus to further exertion
on the part of others.”—Berwick Warder.
 ELEMENTS
OF
AGRICULTURAL
CHEMISTRY AND GEOLOGY.
BY
JAS. F. W. JOHNSTON, M.A., F.R.S.,
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY, AND AUTHOR OF “LECTURES ON AGRICULTURAL
CHEMISTRY AND GEOLOGY.”
NEW-YORK:
WILEY AND PUTNAM.
MDCCCXLII.
J. P. Wright, Printer,
18 New Street, N. Y.
 INTRODUCTION.
The scientific principles upon which the art of culture depends,
have not hitherto been sufficiently understood or appreciated by
practical men. Into the causes of this I shall not here inquire. I may
remark, however, that if Agriculture is ever to be brought to that
comparative state of perfection to which many other arts have
already attained, it will only be by availing itself, as they have done,
of the many aids which Science offers to it; and that, if the practical
man is ever to realize upon his farm all the advantages which
Science is capable of placing within his reach, it will only be when he
has become so far acquainted with the connection that exists
between the art by which he lives and the sciences, especially of
Chemistry and Geology, as to be prepared to listen with candour to
the suggestions they are ready to make to him, and to attach their
proper value to the explanations of his various processes which they
are capable of affording.
The following little Treatise is intended to present a familiar
outline of the subjects of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology, as
treated of more at large in my Lectures, of which the first Part is now
before the public. What in this work has necessarily been taken for
granted, or briefly noticed, is in the Lectures examined, discussed, or
more fully detailed.
Durham, 8th April, 1842.
 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. page
Distinction between Organic and Inorganic Substances
—The Ash of Plants—Constitution of the Organic
Parts of Plants—Preparation and Properties of
Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen—
Meaning of Chemical Combination. 13

CHAPTER II.
Form in which these different Substances enter into
Plants—Properties of the Carbonic, Humic, and
Ulmic Acids; of Water, of Ammonia, and of Nitric
Acid—Constitution of the Atmosphere. 25

CHAPTER III.
Structure of Plants—Mode in which their Nourishment
is obtained—Growth and Substance of Plants—
Production of their Substance from the Food they
imbibe—Mutual Transformations of Starch, Sugar,
and Woody Fibre. 38

CHAPTER IV.
Of the Inorganic Constituents of Plants—Their
immediate Source—Their Nature—Quantity of
each in certain common Crops. 49

CHAPTER V.
Of Soils—Their Organic and Inorganic Portions—Saline
Matter in Soils—Examination and Classification of
Soils—Diversities of Soils and Subsoils. 67
 CHAPTER VI.
Direct Relations of Geology to Agriculture—Origin
of Soils—Causes of their Diversity—Relation to
the Rocks on which they rest—Constancy in the
Relative Position and Character of the Stratified
Rocks—Relation of this Fact to Practical
Agriculture—General Characters of the Soils
upon these Rocks. 78

CHAPTER VII.
Soils of the Granitic and Trap Rocks—Accumulations
of Transported Sands, Gravels, and Clays—Use
of Geological Maps in reference to Agriculture
—Physical Characters and Chemical Constitution
of Soils—Relation between the Nature of the
Soil and the Kind of Plants that naturally grow
upon it. 103

CHAPTER VIII.
Of the Improvement of the Soil—Mechanical and Chemical
Methods—Draining—Subsoiling—Ploughing, and
Mixing of Soils—Use of Lime, Marl, and Shell-sand—
Manures—Vegetable, Animal, and Mineral Manures. 133

CHAPTER IX.
Animal Manures—Their Relative Value and Mode of
Action—Difference between Animal and Vegetable
Manures—Cause of this Difference—Mineral Manures—
Nitrates of Potash and Soda—Sulphate of Soda,
Gypsum, Chalk, and Quicklime—Chemical Action of
these Manures—Artificial Manures—Burning and
Irrigation of the Soil—Planting and Laying Down
to Grass. 165
 CHAPTER X.
The Products of Vegetation—Importance of Chemical
quality as well as quantity of Produce—Influence
of different Manures on the quantity and quality
of the Crop—Influence of the Time of Cutting—
Absolute quantity of Food yielded by different Crops
—Principles on which the Feeding of Animals depends
—Theoretical and Experimental Value of different kinds
of Food for Feeding Stock—Concluding Observations. 216
 ELEMENTS
OF
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY, &c.
 CHAPTER I.
Distinction between Organic and Inorganic Substances.—
The Ash of Plants.—Constitution of the Organic Parts of
Plants.—Preparation and Properties of Carbon,
Hydrogen, and Nitrogen.—Meaning of Chemical
Combination.

The object of the practical farmer is to raise from a given extent

of land the largest quantity of the most valuable produce at the least
cost, and with the least permanent injury to the soil. The sciences
either of chemistry or geology throw light on every step he takes or
ought to take, in order to effect this main object.

SECTION I.—OF THE VEGETABLE AND EARTHY

OR THE ORGANIC AND INORGANIC
PARTS OF PLANTS.
In the prosecution of his art, two distinct classes of substances
engage his attention—the living crops he raises, and the dead earth
from which they are gathered. If he examine any fragment of an
animal or vegetable, either living or dead, he will observe that it
exhibits pores of various kinds arranged in a certain order—that it
has a species of internal structure—that it has various parts or
organs—in short, that it is what physiologists term organized. If he
examine, in like manner, a lump of earth or rock, he will perceive no
such structure. To mark this distinction, the parts of animals and
vegetables, either living or dead—whether entire or in a state of
decay, are called organic bodies, while earthy and stony substances
are called inorganic bodies.
Organic substances are also more or less readily burned and
dissipated by heat in the open air; inorganic substances are
generally fixed and permanent in the fire.
 But the crops which grow upon it, and the soil in which they are
rooted, contain a portion of both of these classes of substances. In
all fertile soils, there exists from 3 to 10 per cent. of vegetable or
other matter of organic origin; while, on the other hand, all
vegetables, as they are collected for food, leave, when burned, from
one-half to twenty per cent. of inorganic ash.
If we heat a portion of soil to redness in the open air, the organic
matter will burn away, and, in general, the soil, if previously dry, will
not be materially diminished in bulk. But if a handful of wheat, or of
wheat straw, or of hay, be burned in the same manner, the
proportion that disappears is so great, that in most cases a
comparatively minute quantity only remains behind. Every one is
familiar with this fact who has seen the small bulk of ash that is left
when weeds, or thorns, or trees, are burned in the field, or when a
hay or corn-stack is accidentally consumed. Yet the ash thus left is a
very appreciable quantity, and the study of its true nature throws
much light, as we shall hereafter see, on the practical management
of the land on which any given crop is to be made to grow.
Thus the quantity of ash left by a ton of wheat straw is
sometimes as much as 360 lbs.; by a ton of oat straw as much as
200 lbs.; while a ton of the grain of wheat leaves only about 40 lbs.;
of the grain of oats about 90 lbs.; and of oak wood only 4 or 5 lbs.
The quantities of inorganic matter, therefore, though comparatively
small, yet, in some cases, amount to a considerable weight in an
entire crop. The nature, source and uses of this earthy matter will be
explained in a subsequent chapter.

SECTION II.—CONSTITUTION OF THE

ORGANIC
PART OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS.
The organic part of plants, when in a perfectly dry state,
constitutes therefore from 85 to 99 per cent. of their whole weight.
Of those parts of plants which are cultivated for food, it is only hay
and straw, and a very few others, that contain as much as 10 per
cent. of inorganic matter.
This organic part consists of four substances, known to chemists
by the names of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The first
of these, carbon, is a solid substance, the other three are gases or
peculiar kinds of air.
1. Carbon. When wood is burned in a covered heap, as is done
by the charcoal burners, or is distilled in iron retorts, as in making
wood-vinegar, it is charred and converted into common wood
charcoal. This charcoal is the most usual and best known variety of
carbon. It is black, soils the fingers, and is more or less porous
according to the kind of wood from which it has been formed. Coke
obtained by charring or distilling coal is another variety. It is
generally denser or heavier than the former, though less pure. Black
lead is a third variety, still heavier and more impure. The diamond is
the only form in which carbon occurs in nature in a state of perfect
purity.
This latter fact, that the diamond is pure carbon—that it is
essentially the same substance with the finest and purest lamp-black
—is very remarkable; but it is only one of many striking
circumstances that every now and then present themselves before
the inquiring chemist.
Charcoal, the diamond, lamp-black, and all the other forms of
carbon, burn away more or less slowly when heated in the air, and
are converted into a kind of gas known by the name of carbonic
acid. The impure varieties leave behind them a greater or less
proportion of ash.
2. Hydrogen.—If oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) be mixed with
twice its bulk of water, and then poured upon iron filings, the
mixture will speedily begin to boil up, and bubbles of gas will rise to
the surface of the liquid in great abundance. These are bubbles of
hydrogen gas.
 If the experiment be performed in a bottle, the hydrogen which
is produced will gradually drive out the atmospheric air it contained,
and will itself take its place. If a bit of wax taper be tied to the end
of a wire, and when lighted be introduced into the bottle, it will be
instantly extinguished; while the hydrogen will take fire, and burn at
the mouth of the bottle with a pale yellow flame. If the taper be
inserted before the common air is all expelled, the mixture of
hydrogen and common air will burn with an explosion more or less
violent, and may even shatter the bottle and produce serious
accidents. This experiment, therefore, ought to be made with care.
It may be safely made in an open tumbler, covered by a plate or a
piece of paper, till a sufficient quantity of hydrogen is collected,
when, on the introduction of the taper, the light will be extinguished,
and the hydrogen will burn with a less violent explosion.
This gas is also an exceedingly light substance, rising through
common air as wood does through water. Hence, when confined in a
bag made of silk, or other light tissue, it is capable of sustaining
heavy substances in the air, and even of transporting them to great
heights. For this reason it is employed for filling and elevating
balloons.
Hydrogen gas is not known to occur anywhere in nature in any
sensible quantity. It is very abundant, as we shall hereafter see, in
what by chemists is called a state of combination.

3. Oxygen.—When strong oil of vitriol is poured upon black

oxide of manganese, and heated in a glass retort: or when red oxide
of mercury, or chlorate of potash, is so heated alone; or when
saltpetre, or the same oxide of manganese, is heated alone in an
iron bottle;—in all these cases a kind of air is given off, which, when
collected and examined by plunging a taper into it, is found to be
neither common air nor hydrogen gas. The taper, when introduced,
burns with great rapidity, and with exceeding brilliancy, and
continues to burn till either the whole of the gas disappears, or the
taper is entirely consumed. If a living animal is introduced, its
circulation and its breathing become quicker—it is speedily thrown
into a fever—it lives as fast as the taper burned—and, after a few
hours, dies from excitement and exhaustion. This gas is not light like
hydrogen, but is about one-ninth part heavier than common air.
In the atmosphere, oxygen exists in the state of gas. It forms
about one-fifth of the bulk of the air we breathe, and is the
substance which, in the air, supports all animal life and the
combustion of all burning bodies. Were it by any cause suddenly
removed from the atmosphere of our globe, every living thing would
perish, and all combustion would become impossible.
4. Nitrogen.—If a saucer be half filled with milk of lime, formed
by mixing slaked quicklime with water, a very small tea-cup
containing a little burning sulphur then placed in the middle, and a
common large tumbler inverted over the whole, the sulphur will burn
for a while, and will then gradually die out. On allowing the whole to
remain for some time, the fumes of the sulphur will be absorbed by
the milk of lime, which will rise a certain way into the tumbler. When
the absorption has ceased, a quantity of air will remain in the upper
part of the tumbler. This air is nitrogen gas.
If the whole be now introduced into a large basin of water, the
tumbler being held in the left hand, the cup and saucer may be
removed from beneath. The saucer may then be inverted and
introduced with its under side into the mouth of the tumbler, which
may thus be lifted out of the water and restored to its upright
position, the saucer serving the purpose of a cover. By carefully
removing this cover with the one hand, a lighted taper may be
introduced by the other. It will then be seen that the taper is
extinguished by this air, and that no other effect follows. Or if a
living animal be introduced into it, breathing will instantly cease, and
it will drop without signs of life.
This gas possesses no other remarkable property. It is a very
little lighter than common air, and is known to exist in large quantity
in the atmosphere only. Of the air we breathe it forms nearly four-
fifths of the entire bulk.
 These three gases are incapable of being distinguished from
common air, or from each other, by the ordinary senses; but by the
aid of the taper they are readily recognised. Hydrogen extinguishes
the taper, but itself takes fire; nitrogen simply extinguishes it; while
in oxygen the taper burns with extraordinary brilliancy and rapidity.

Of this one solid substance, carbon, and these three gases,

hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, all the organic part of vegetable
and animal substances is made up.
Into these substances, however, they enter in very different
proportions. Nearly one-half the weight of all vegetable productions
which are gathered as food for man or beast—in their dry state—
consists of carbon; the oxygen amounts to rather more than one-
third, the hydrogen to little more than five per cent., while the
nitrogen rarely exceeds two and a half or three per cent. of their
weight.
This will appear from the following table, which exhibits the
actual constitution by analysis of some varieties of the more
common crops when perfectly dry.
Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. Nitrogen. Ash.
Hay, 458 50 387 15 90
Potatoes, 441 58 439 12 50
Wheat Straw, 485 52 389½ 3½ 70
Oats, 507 64 367 22 40

These numbers represent the weights of each element in

pounds, contained in 1000 lbs. of the dry hay, potatoes, &c.; but in
drying by a gentle heat, 1000 lbs. of hay from the stack, lost 158
lbs. of water, of potatoes wiped dry externally 722 lbs.,[1] wheat
straw 260 lbs., and oats 151 lbs.

SECTION III.—OF THE MEANING OF

CHEMICAL COMBINATION.
 If the three kinds of air above spoken of be mixed together in a
bottle, no change will take place, and if charcoal in fine powder be
added to them, still no new substance will be produced. If we take
the ash left by a known weight of hay or wheat straw, and mix it
with the proper quantities of the four elementary substances,
carbon, hydrogen, &c., as shewn in the above table, we shall be
unable by this means to form either hay or wheat straw. The
elements of which vegetable substances consist, therefore, are not
merely mixed together—they are united in some closer and more
intimate manner. To this more intimate state of union, the term
chemical combination is applied—the elements are said to be
chemically combined.
Thus, when charcoal is burned in the air, it slowly disappears,
and forms, as already stated, a kind of air known by the name of
carbonic acid gas, which rises into the atmosphere and disappears.
Now, this carbonic acid is formed by the union of the carbon
(charcoal), while burning, with the oxygen of the atmosphere, and in
this new air the two elements, carbon and oxygen, are chemically
combined.
Again, if a piece of wood or a bit of straw, in which the elements
are already chemically combined, be burned in the air, these
elements are separated and made to assume new states of
combination, in which new states they escape into the air and
become invisible. When a substance is thus changed by the action of
heat, it is said to be decomposed, or if it gradually decay and perish
by exposure to the air and moisture, it undergoes slow
decomposition.
When, therefore, two or more substances unite together, so as to
form a third possessing properties different from both, they enter
into chemical union—they form a chemical combination or chemical
compound. When, on the other hand, one compound body is so
changed as to be converted into two or more substances different
from itself, it is decomposed. Carbon, hydrogen, &c., are chemically
combined in the interior of the plant during the formation of wood:
wood, again, is decomposed when by the vinegar-maker it is
converted among other substances into charcoal and wood-vinegar,
and the flour of grain when the brewer or distiller converts it into
ardent spirits.
 CHAPTER II.
Form in which these different substances enter into Plants.
Properties of the Carbonic, Humic, and Ulmic Acids—of
Water, of Ammonia, and of Nitric Acid. Constitution of
the Atmosphere.

SECTION I.—FORM IN WHICH THE CARBON,

ETC.
ENTER INTO PLANTS.
It is from their food that plants derive the carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen, and nitrogen, of which their organic part consists. This food
enters partly by the minute pores of their roots, and partly by those
which exist in the green part of the leaf and of the young twig. The
roots bring up food from the soil, the leaves take it in directly from
the air.
Now, as the pores in the roots and leaves are very minute,
carbon (charcoal) cannot enter into either in a solid state; and as it
does not dissolve in water, it cannot, in the state of simple carbon,
be any part of the food of plants. Again, hydrogen gas neither exists
in the air nor usually in the soil—so that, although hydrogen is
always found in the substance of plants, it does not enter them in
the state of the gas above described. Oxygen exists in the air, and is
directly absorbed both by the leaves and by the roots of plants;
while nitrogen, though it forms a large part of the atmosphere, is
not supposed to enter directly into plants in any considerable
quantity.
The whole of the carbon and hydrogen, and the greater part of
the oxygen and nitrogen also, enter into plants in a state of chemical
combination with other substances; the carbon chiefly in the state of
carbonic acid, and of certain other soluble compounds which exist in
the soil; the hydrogen and oxygen in the form of water: and the
nitrogen in those of ammonia or nitric acid. It will be necessary
therefore briefly to describe these several compounds.

SECTION II.—OF THE CARBONIC, HUMIC,

AND ULMIC ACIDS.

1. Carbonic Acid.—If a few pieces of chalk or limestone be put

into the bottom of a tumbler, and a little spirit of salt (muriatic acid)
be poured upon them, a boiling up or effervescence will take place,
and a gas will be given off, which will gradually collect and fill the
tumbler; and when produced very rapidly, may even be seen to run
over its edges. This gas is carbonic acid. It cannot be distinguished
from common air by the eye; but if a taper be plunged into it, the
flame will immediately be extinguished, while the gas remains
unchanged. This kind of air is so heavy, that it may be poured from
one vessel into another, and its presence recognised by the taper. It
has also a peculiar odour, and is exceedingly suffocating, so that if a
living animal be introduced into it, life immediately ceases. It is
absorbed by water, a pint of water absorbing or dissolving a pint of
the gas.
Carbonic acid exists in the atmosphere; it is given off from the
lungs of all living animals while they breathe; it is also produced
largely during the burning of wood, coal, and all other combustible
bodies, so that an unceasing supply of this gas is poured into the air.
Decaying animal and vegetable substances also give off this gas,
and hence it is always present in greater or less abundance in the
soil, and especially in such soils as are rich in vegetable matter.
During the fermentation of malt liquors, or of the expressed juices of
different fruits,—the apple, the pear, the grape, the gooseberry—it is
produced, and the briskness of such fermented liquors is due to the
escape of this gas. From the dung and compost heap it is also given
off; and when put into the ground in a fermenting state, farm-yard
manure affords a rich supply of carbonic acid to the young plant.
Carbonic acid consists of carbon and oxygen only, combined
together in the proportion of 28 of the former to 72 of the latter, or
100 lbs. of carbonic acid contain 28 lbs. of carbon and 72 lbs. of
oxygen.

2. Humic and Ulmic Acids.—The soil always contains a portion

of vegetable matter (called humus by some writers), and such
matter is always added to it when it is manured from the farm-yard
or the compost heap. During the decay of this vegetable matter,
carbonic acid, as above stated, is given off in large quantity, but
other substances are also formed at the same time. Among these
are the two to which the names of humic and ulmic acids are
respectively given. They both contain much carbon, are both capable
of entering the roots of plants, and both, no doubt, in favourable
circumstances, help to feed the plant.
If the common soda of the shops be dissolved in water, and a
portion of a rich vegetable soil, or a bit of peat, be put into this
solution, and the whole boiled, a brown liquid is obtained. If to this
brown liquid, spirit of salt (muriatic acid) be added till it is sour to
the taste, a brown flocky powder falls to the bottom. This brown
substance is humic acid. But if in this process we use spirit of
hartshorn (liquid ammonia), instead of the soda, ulmic acid is
obtained.
These acids exist along with other substances in the rich brown
liquor of the farm-yard, which is so often allowed to run to waste;
they are also produced in greater or less quantity during the decay
of the manure after it is mixed with the soil, and no doubt yield to
the plant a portion of that supply of food which it must necessarily
receive from the soil.

SECTION III.—OF WATER, AMMONIA,

AND NITRIC ACID.
 1. Water.—If hydrogen be prepared in a bottle, in the way
already described, and a gas-burner be fixed into its mouth, the
hydrogen may be lighted, and will burn as it escapes into the air.
Held over this flame a cold tumbler will become covered with dew,
or with little drops of water. This water is produced during the
burning of the hydrogen; and as it takes place in pure oxygen gas as
well as in the open air, this water must contain the hydrogen and
oxygen which disappear, or must consist of hydrogen and oxygen
only.
This is a very interesting fact; and were it not that chemists are
now familiar with many such, it could not fail to appear truly
wonderful that the two gases, oxygen and hydrogen, by their union,
should form so very different a substance as water is from either. It
consists of 1 of hydrogen to 8 of oxygen, or every 9 lbs. of water
contain 8 lbs. of oxygen and 1 lb. of hydrogen.
Water is so familiar a substance, that it is unnecessary to dwell
upon its properties. When pure, it has neither colour, taste, nor
smell. At 32° of Fahrenheit’s[2] scale (the freezing point), it solidifies
into ice, and at 212° it boils, and is converted into steam. There are
two others of its properties which are especially interesting in
connection with the growth of plants.
1st, If sugar or salt be put into water, they disappear or are
dissolved. Water has the power of thus dissolving numerous other
substances in greater or less quantity. Hence, when the rain falls and
sinks into the soil, it dissolves some of the soluble substances it
meets in its way, and rarely reaches the roots of plants in a pure
state. So waters that rise up in springs are rarely pure. They always
contain earthy and saline substances in solution, and these they
carry with them, when they are sucked in by the roots of plants.
It has been above stated, that water absorbs (dissolves) its own
bulk of carbonic acid; it dissolves also smaller quantities of the
oxygen and nitrogen of the atmosphere; and hence, when it meets
any of these gases in the soil, it becomes impregnated with them,
and conveys them into the plant, there to serve as a portion of its
food.
2d, Water is composed of oxygen and hydrogen; by certain
chemical processes it can readily be resolved or decomposed
artificially into these two gases. The same thing takes place naturally
in the interior of the living plant. The roots absorb the water, but if in
any part of the plant hydrogen be required, to make up the
substance which it is the function of that part to produce, a portion
of the water is decomposed and worked up, while the oxygen is set
free, or converted to some other use. So, also, in any case where
oxygen is required water is decomposed, the oxygen made use of,
and the hydrogen liberated. Water, therefore, which abounds in the
vessels of all growing plants, if not directly converted into the
substance of the plant, is yet a ready and ample source from which
a supply of either of the elements of which it consists may at any
time be obtained.
It is a beautiful adaptation of the properties of this all-pervading
compound (water), that its elements should be so fixedly bound
together as rarely to separate in external nature, and yet to be at
the command and easy disposal of the vital powers of the humblest
order of living plants.

2. Ammonia.—If the sal ammoniac of the shops be mixed with

quicklime, a powerful odour is immediately perceived, and an
invisible gas is given off which strongly affects the eyes. This gas is
ammonia. Water dissolves or absorbs it in very large quantity, and
this solution forms the common hartshorn of the shops. The white
solid smelling-salts of the shops are a compound of ammonia with
carbonic acid,—a solid formed by the union of two gases.
The gaseous ammonia consists of nitrogen and hydrogen only, in
the proportion of 14 of the former to 3 of the latter, or 17 lbs. of
ammonia contain 3 lbs. of hydrogen.
The chief natural source of this compound is, in the decay of
animal substances. During the putrefaction of dead animal bodies
ammonia is invariably given off. From the animal substances of the
farm-yard it is evolved, and from all solid and liquid manures of
animal origin. It is also formed in lesser quantity during the decay of
vegetable substances in the soil; and in volcanic countries, it escapes
from many of the hot lavas, and from the crevices in the heated
rocks.
It is produced artificially by the distillation of animal substances
(hoofs, horns, &c.), or of coal. Thousands of tons of the ammonia
present in the ammoniacal liquors of the gas-works, which might be
beneficially applied as a manure, are annually carried down by the
rivers, and lost in the sea.
The ammonia which is given off during the putrefaction of animal
substances rises partially into the air, and floats in the atmosphere,
till it is either decomposed by natural causes, or is washed down by
the rains. In our climate, cultivated plants derive a considerable
portion of their nitrogen from ammonia. It is supposed to be one of
the most valuable fertilizing substances contained in farm-yard
manure; and as it is present in greater proportion by far in the liquid
than in the solid contents of the farm-yard, there can be no doubt
that much real wealth is lost, and the means of raising increased
crops thrown away in the quantities of liquid manure which are
almost everywhere permitted to run to waste.

3. Nitric Acid—is a powerfully corrosive liquid known in the

shops by the familiar name of aquafortis. It is prepared by pouring
oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) upon saltpetre, and distilling the mixture.
The aquafortis of the shops is a mixture of the pure acid with water.
Pure nitric acid consists of nitrogen and oxygen only; the union
of these two gases, so harmless in the air, producing the burning
and corrosive compound which this is known to be.
It never reaches the roots of plants in this free and corrosive
state. It exists in many soils, and is naturally formed in compost
heaps, and in most situations where vegetable matter is undergoing
decay in contact with the air; but it is always in a state of chemical
combination in these cases. With potash, it forms nitrate of potash
(saltpetre); with soda, nitrate of soda; and with lime, nitrate of lime;
and it is generally in one or other of these states of combination that
it reaches the roots of plants.
Nitric acid is also naturally formed, and in some countries
probably in large quantities, by the passage of electricity through the
atmosphere. The air, as has been already stated, contains much
oxygen and nitrogen mixed together, but when an electric spark is
passed through a quantity of air, a certain quantity of the two unite
together chemically, so that every spark that passes forms a small
portion of nitric acid. A flash of lightning is only a large electric
spark; and hence every flash that crosses the air produces along its
path a quantity of this acid. Where thunder-storms are frequent,
much nitric acid must be produced in this way in the air. It is washed
down by the rains, in which it has frequently been detected, and
thus reaches the soil, where it produces one or other of the nitrates
above mentioned.
It has been long observed that those parts of India are the most
fertile in which saltpetre exists in the soil in the greatest abundance.
Nitrate of soda, also, in this country, has been found wonderfully to
promote vegetation in many localities; and it is a matter of frequent
remark, that vegetation seems to be refreshed and invigorated by
the fall of a thunder-shower. There is, therefore, no reason to doubt
that nitric acid is really beneficial to the general vegetation of the
globe. And since vegetation is most luxuriant in those parts of the
globe where thunder or lightning are most abundant, it would
appear as if the natural production of this compound body in the air,
to be afterwards brought to the earth by the rains, were a wise and
beneficent contrivance by which the health and vigour of universal
vegetation is intended to be promoted.
It is from this nitric acid, thus universally produced and existing,
that plants appear to derive a large—probably, taking vegetation in
general, the largest—portion of their nitrogen. In all climates they
also derive a portion of this element from ammonia; but less from
this source in tropical than in temperate climates.[3]

SECTION IV.—OF THE CONSTITUTION OF

THE ATMOSPHERE.
The air we breathe, and from which plants also derive a portion
of their nourishment, consists of a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen
gases, with a minute quantity of carbonic acid, and a variable
proportion of watery vapour. Every hundred gallons of dry air contain
about 21 gallons of oxygen and 79 of nitrogen. The carbonic acid
amounts only to one gallon in 2500, while the watery vapour in the
atmosphere varies from 1 to 2½ gallons (of steam) in 100 gallons of
common air.
The oxygen in the air is necessary to the respiration of animals,
and to the support of combustion (burning of bodies). The nitrogen
serves principally to dilute the strength, so to speak, of the pure
oxygen, in which gas, if unmixed, animals would live and
combustibles burn with too great rapidity. The small quantity of
carbonic acid affords an important part of their food to plants, and
the watery vapour in the air aids in keeping the surfaces of animals
and plants in a moist and pliant state; while, in due season, it
descends also in refreshing showers, or studs the evening leaf with
sparkling dew.
There is a beautiful adjustment in the constitution of the
atmosphere to the nature and necessities of living beings. The
energy of the pure oxygen is tempered, yet not too much weakened,
by the admixture of nitrogen. The carbonic acid, which alone is
noxious to life, is mixed in so minute a proportion as to be harmless
to animals, while it is still beneficial to plants; and when the air is
overloaded with watery vapour, it is provided that it shall descend in
rain. These rains at the same time serve another purpose. From the
surface of the earth there are continually ascending vapours and
exhalations of a more or less noxious kind; these the rains wash out