The Elements of Agriculture Part 2

2. It is necessary to the formation of animal muscle.

3. It is often deficient in the soil.

4. It is liable to be easily lost from manures.

Although about four fifths of atmospheric air are pure nitrogen, it is almost certain that plants get no nutriment at all from this source. It is all obtained from some of its compounds, chiefly from the one called ammonia. Nitric acid is also a source from which plants may obtain nitrogen, though to the farmer of less importance than ammonia.

AMMONIA.

[What is the princ.i.p.al source from which they obtain nitrogen?

What is ammonia?

How is it formed?

Where does it always exist?

How do plants take up ammonia?]

_Ammonia_ is composed of nitrogen and hydrogen. It has a pungent smell and is familiarly known as _hartshorn_. The same odor is perceptible around stables and other places where animal matter is decomposing. All animal muscle, certain parts of plants, and other organized substances, consist of compounds containing nitrogen. When these compounds undergo combustion, or are in any manner decomposed, the nitrogen which they contain usually unites with hydrogen, and forms ammonia. In consequence of this the atmosphere always contains more or less of this gas, arising from the decay, etc., which is continually going on all over the world.

This ammonia in the atmosphere is the capital stock to which all plants, not artificially manured, must look for their supply of nitrogen. As they can take up ammonia only through their roots, we must discover some means by which it may be conveyed from the atmosphere to the soil.

[Does water absorb it?

What is _spirits of hartshorn_?

Why is this power of water important in agriculture?

What instance may be cited to prove this?]

Water may be made to absorb many times its bulk of this gas, and water with which it comes in contact will immediately take it up. Spirits of hartshorn is merely water through which ammonia has been pa.s.sed until it is saturated.[A] This power of water has a direct application to agriculture, because the water const.i.tuting rains, dews, &c., absorbs the ammonia which the decomposition of nitrogenous matter had sent into the atmosphere, and we find that all rain, snow and dew, contain ammonia. This fact may be chemically proved in various ways, and is perceptible in the common operations of nature. Every person must have noticed that when a summer's shower falls on the plants in a flower garden, they commence their growth with fresh vigor while the blossoms become larger and more richly colored. This effect cannot be produced by watering with spring water, unless it be previously mixed with ammonia, in which case the result will be the same.

Although ammonia is a gas and pervades the atmosphere, few, if any, plants can take it up, as they do carbonic acid, through their leaves.

It must all enter through the roots in solution in the water which goes to form the sap. Although the amount received from the atmosphere is of great importance, there are few cases where artificial applications are not beneficial. The value of farm-yard and other animal manures, depends chiefly on the ammonia which they yield on decomposition. This subject, also the means for retaining in the soil the ammoniacal parts of fertilizing matters, will be fully considered in the section on manures.

[Can plants use more ammonia than is received from the atmosphere?

On what does the value of animal manure chiefly depend?

What changes take place after ammonia enters the plant?

May the same atom of nitrogen perform many different offices?]

After ammonia has entered the plant it may be decomposed, its hydrogen sent off, and its nitrogen retained to answer the purposes of growth.

The changes which nitrogen undergoes, from plants to animals, or, by decomposition, to the form of ammonia in the atmosphere, are as varied as those of carbon and the const.i.tuents of water. The same little atom of nitrogen may one year form a part of a plant, and the next become a const.i.tuent of an animal, or, with the decomposed dead animal, may form a part of the soil. If the animal should fall into the sea he may become food for fishes, and our atom of nitrogen may form a part of a fish.

That fish may be eaten by a larger one, or at death may become food for the whale, through the marine insect, on which it feeds. After the abstraction of the oil from the whale, the nitrogen may, by the putrefaction of his remains, be united to hydrogen, form ammonia, and escape into the atmosphere. From here it may be brought to the soil by rains, and enter into the composition of a plant, from which, could its parts speak as it lies on our table, it could tell us a wonderful tale of travels, and a.s.sure us that, after wandering about in all sorts of places, it had returned to us the same little atom of nitrogen which we had owned twenty years before, and which for thousands of years had been continually going through its changes.

[Is the same true of the other const.i.tuents of plants?

Is any atom of matter ever lost?]

The same is true of any of the organic or inorganic const.i.tuents of plants. They are performing their natural offices, or are lying in the earth, or floating in the atmosphere, ready to be lent to _any_ of their legitimate uses, sure again to be returned to their starting point.

Thus no atom of matter is ever lost. It may change its place, but it remains for ever as a part of the capital of nature.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] By _saturated_, we mean that it contains all that it is capable of holding.

CHAPTER IV.

INORGANIC MATTER.

[What are ashes called?

How many kinds of matter are there in the ashes of plants?

Into what three cla.s.ses may they be divided?

What takes place when alkalies and acids are brought together?]

We will now examine the ashes left after burning vegetable substances.

This we have called inorganic matter, and it is obtained from the soil.

Organic matter, although forming so large a part of the plant, we have seen to consist of four different substances. The inorganic portion, on the contrary, although forming so small a part, consists of no less than _nine_ or _ten_ different kinds of matter.[B] These we will consider in order. In their relations to agriculture they may be divided into _three_ cla.s.ses--_alkalies_, _acids_, and _neutrals_.[C]

[Is the character of a compound the same as that of its const.i.tuents?

Give an instance of this.

Do neutrals combine with other substances?

Name the four alkalies found in the ashes of plants.]

Alkalies and acids are of opposite properties, and when brought together they unite and neutralize each other, forming compounds which are neither alkaline nor acid in their character. Thus, carbonic acid (a gas,) unites with lime--a burning, caustic substance--and forms marble, which is a hard tasteless stone. Alkalies and acids are characterized by their desire to unite with each other, and the compounds thus formed have many and various properties, so that the characters of the const.i.tuents give no indication of the character of the compound. For instance, lime causes the gases of animal manure to escape, while sulphate of lime (a compound of sulphuric acid and lime) produces an opposite effect, and prevents their escape.

The substances coming under the signification of neutrals, are less affected by the laws of combination, still they often combine feebly with other substances, and some of the resultant compounds are of great importance to agriculture.

ALKALIES.

The alkalies which are found in the ashes of plants are four in number; they are _potash_, _soda_, _lime_ and _magnesia_.