INDIANA FARMER
DEVOTED   TO   AGRICULTURE,     HORTICULTURE,   MECHANICS,   AND   TIIE    USEFUL   ARTS.
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KICI-tMOND,   IND.,   A PRIL 1 5 , 1 855..
[NO. It
COMMUNICATIONS.
For tho Indiana Farmer.
SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE—No. 4.
BY PROFESSOR.   D. L-UVRENCE.
; vegetable life.    Thc elements of both kingdoms!
! are precisely alike; there is not a, simple element
(in the animal kingdom, but what may be found
likewise in some vcgctal'l***-, nor in the vegetable kingdom, which canno*. be found also as a
constituent in some of the products of animals*
I or of animal life.
Of Simple and Compound Bodies.
One of the greatest obstacles iii the attainment of useful and practical knowledge in sci- \ There are two classes of simple substances;
entific agriculture, is the inability to distinguish j which enter into the composition of vegetable
between what is simple, and what is compound) and animal life. Those which belong td one
tothe products of the soil. Nor is this true off class, are called organic, and to the other, inor-
scientific agriculture alone, but it is equally (ganic elements. The former consist of gases
true Of every science practiced by the ingenui- until the moment of combining in the formation
ty and industry of man; and he who does not |0f vegetable and animal tissue, when they take
inform himself at an early day, so that he can1,the solid form. They are all highly combusti-
dislinguish between the simple and the com-j ble, and wholly disappear in thc act of burning;
pound, will never attain to any excellence in his \ being reconverted into invisible gases, and min-
profession, let that profession be what it may. • g.e again with the atmosphere from which they
The elements of every science and of every j were derived. They constitute from eighty-
tttt, ate few and simple, but tlio combinations j eight, to one hundred per cent of all animal and
which may be made of these elemements will J vegetable substaiices cicept bon*_s.
produce a variety—a complexity, which seems I The other class is derived from the mineral
little, if at all short of infinity. What is more . kintrdom, and consists of silex, or the earth of
simple, for instance, than the alphabet of a Ian- s flints, and various salts of lime, magnesia, pot-
guage, which consists of only about twenty-five j ash, soda and iron. They are all incombustible
simple, elementary sounds; and yet thero island are left after burning in the form of ashes,
no* fend to' the number of words which may j They exist in all vegetable and animal substan-
be found likewise in some vegetables; nor in thc , ces, in varioiis proportions, from one to' ten per
vegetable kingdom, which may be made of them? .cent, except in the oils and fats, sugar, starch
And who could ever acquire the art of read-<and gum; which wholly disappear in burning,
ing, if he did not first learn the alphabet, so that; which shows that they consist of organic ele-
he ctfuld  distinguish between these simple cle-  ments.
fiielits, and the endless diversity of words which      The whole number of elementary substances
may bo produced by them? which enter into the composition of all the com-
So it is with every art, and science; each one pounds, of both the animal and thc vegetable-
has its alphabet, or a small number of simple kingdoms, is only about ten; four of which aro'
elements by ihe combination of which, all the organic and constitute an average of .about nine-
diversity of which it is capable, is practiced, jty per cent of their whole weight when dry.—
and he who attempts the practice of either} The other six, which .are inorganic, exist in much
without a knowledge ofthe letter, walks in \ smaller quantities, as is shown by the small
darkness and is liable to stumble at every step. I quantity of ashes, which is left after being burn-
Now the rearing of animals, as well as ofjed. Rut no one animal or vegetable substance
Vegetables, constitutes the business of thc ag-1 contains all of these elements, nor does any
riculturalist; and the whole number of differ-; contain less than two or three,
ent substances, which these two kingdoms of! Thc great variety of substances wliicti is
nature are capable of furnishing, is very great; found in these two kingdoms, is owing partly
not one of which is a simple body. All are j to thc different simples out of which they are
e'tfm'pound, consisting of the chemical combina- ; formed; partly to the different proportions in
tion of two or more of the few simple elements ; which they are combined; and partly to the dif-
which enter into the composition of animal and ■ ferent  arrangement of tlio  part-do*, ^f which