THE BOOK OF THE FARM. A POPULAR TREATISE ON AGRICULTURAL

CHEMISTRY.

WE know not whether the movement on the Corn-laws has had any thing to do with stimulating the productions of books on agriculture, but one of the wisest modes of neutralizing the agitation is to send the schoolmaster abroad into the rural districts and enable the agriculturist to call to his aid the powers of system and of science. From the nature of the case, the farmer cannot avail himself of the aid of machinery and other elements of production, with such certainty as the manufacturer; because he is to a great extent dependent upon the seasons, and many well-considered plans are liable to be defeated because he cannot guard against all the con- tingencies which induce failure. Well-deduced rules of practice, conjoined with sound scientific principles, and a well-trained ability, however, will do more in overcoming these uncertainties than has yet been accomplished, and more perhaps than is now supposed pos- sible. Where would navigation have been had man sat down with his hands before him and said he could not contend with the winds and waves? At all events, if British agriculturists have to contend with the weather, so have foreigners ; without that variety of soil, aspect, and as it were region, which in Britain affords a counter- balance to unfavourable skies, some places thriving best in wet, others in dry seasons. A still greater counterbalance is our excellent roads, our capital, our implements, and our command of labour. If these were wielded by well-informed science matured by experience, it may be doubted whether any but the richest and most favourably situated Continental soils could compete with our agriculture,— always excepting those very inferior soils that have been forced into a cultivation for which Nature had unfitted them. To assist the intelligent agriculturist in conducting his business by system or science, is the object of the works before us; though the character of one is perfectly distinct from that of the other.

The Book of the Farm, written by Mr. STEPHENS, the editor of the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, is comprehensive and prac- tical. His object is to furnish the pupil with a guide, from the time he turns his attention to agriculture, until, having passed the period of probationersbip, he is about to set up for himself. With this view, Mr. STEPHENS intends dividing his work into three parts. In the first, every field-operation as it comes round in season will be successively pointed out, so as to overcome the difficulty felt by the learner, of witnessing incipient or incomplete operations without knowing why they are done or to what they are tending. The second part will explain "in detail the various kinds of farming practised in this country, and point out that which the author reckons the best for adoption under given circumstances. The operations of the recommended system are given, from the beginning to the end of the agricultural year; together with instruc- tions for the culture of the plants, and the treatment of the various animals usually found on a farm." The third section will accom- pany the young farmer into the world, to look about for a farm, and to point out the characteristics of a good one, as well as the amount of capital required to stock and conduct it. The implements, and such practices of husbandry as are better explained by being pre- sented to the eye, will be exhibited in wood-cuts, and illustrations of more striking subjects in copperplate. Those in the part before us are the portrait of an Edinburgh draught-horse, and a ground- plan and•isometrical view of an existing steading.

So far as a judgment can be formed of a single part, The Book of the Farm exhibits considerable practical knowledge, and a suffi- cient amount of scientific information, with, strange to say it of an editor, a deficiency in literary skill—a want of art to display his materials to the best advantage in the shortest space. Much of the matter in this first number is introductory, and should, there- fore, have been brief; yet a large portion is merely an expansion of the prospectus, that expansion increased by frequent repetitions ; whilst much. of the other—such as advice to young emigrants, or a plan for a private agricultural seminary on a large scale—is scarcely essential to an embryo farmer; and the advice to learn home agricul- ture to practice in the Colonies is contrary to the opinion of all cola costs of experience. Indeed, if we except the description of the farms where pupils are taken, the two pieces of instruction in the first number are, " Begin your pupilage at the end of autumn, when the agricultural year commences, otherwise you see processes in the middle"; and " Do not satisfy yourself with merely looking at others work, but get a knowledge of the work itself."

For example, when the ploughs are employed, the pupil should walk from the one to the other, and observe which ploughman or pair of horses performs the work with the greatest apparent difficulty or ease. He should also mark the different styles of work executed by each plough. A considerate compa- rison of these particulars will enable him to ascertain the best and worst sped- mens of work. He should then endeavour to discover the cause why different styles of work are produced by apparently very similar means, in order to en- able himself to rectify the worst and practise the best. The surest way of de- tecting error and discovering the best method, is to take hold of each plough successively ; and he will find in the endeavour to maintain each in a steady position, and perform the work evenly, that all require considerable labour— every muscle being awakened into energetic action, and the brow most probably moistened. As these symptoms of fatigue subside with repetitions of the ex- ercise, he will eventually find one of the ploughs more easily guided than any of the rest. The reasons for this difference he must himself endeavour to find out by comparison; for its holder cannot inform him, because he professes to have, indeed can have, no knowledge of any other plough but his own. In prose- cuting this system of trials with the ploughs, he will find himself becoming a ploughman, as the mysteries of the art divulge themselves to his apprehension : but the reason why the plough of one of the men moves more easily, does bet- ter work, and oppresses the horses less than any of the rest, is not so obvious; for the land is in the same state to them all; there cannot be much difference in the strength of the pairs of horses, as each pair are generally pretty well matched ; and in all probability the construction of the ploughs is the same, if they have been made by the same ploughwright ; yet one ploughman evidently exhibits a decided superiority in his work over the rest. The inevitable con- clusion is, that ploughman understands his business better than the others. He shows this by trimming the irons of his plough to the state of the land and the nature of the work he is about to perform, and by training his horses more in accordance with their natural temperament, whereby they are guided more tractably. Having the shrewdness to acquire these essential accomplishments to a superior degree, the execution of superior work is an easier task to him than inferior work to the other ploughmen. This case, which I have selected for an example, is not altogether a supposititious one; for however dexterous all the ploughmen on a farm may be, one will always be found to show a supe- riority over the rest." HINTS To PARENTS AND GUARDIANS.

Most farmers in the Lowlands of Scotland practise the mixed husbandry, but it is reduced to a perfect system nowhere so fully as in the Border counties of England and Scotland. There many farmers accept pupils, and thither many of the latter go to prepare themselves to become farmers. The usual fee for pupils in that part of the country is one hundred pounds per annum for bed and board, with the use of a horse to occasional markets and shows. If the pupil desire to have a horse of his own, about thirty pounds a year more are demanded. On these moderate terms pupils are generally very comfort- ably situated. I am very doubtful of it being good policy to allow the pupil a horse of his own at first. Constant attention to field-labour is not unattended with irk- someness; and, on the other hand, exercise on horseback is a tempting recrea- tion to young minds. Besides, the desire to possess a horse of one's own is so very natural in a young person living in the country, that, were the pupil's inclinations alone consulted, the horse would soon be in his possession. So long as the choice is given to the indifferent pupil, he will certainly prefer pleasure to duty. The risk is, that the indulgence will be confirmed into a habit that will constantly lead him astray from attending to his business. Were his equestrian excursions confined to following the hounds upon all occa- sions, forming acquaintances at a distance from home, and loitering about towns on market-days, the roving pupil might see the state of the country, and acquire a knowlege of the world; but the evil of this kind of life is its being introductory to one of dissipation and extravagance. This consideration should have due weight with parents and guardians in supplying their charge with the luxury of a horse when placing him under the roof of a farmer. It is enough for a young man to feel the removal of parental restraint, without also having the dangerous incentive of an idle life placed at his disposal. They should consider, that upon young men arrived at theyears when they become farming-pupils, it is not in the power, and is certainly not the inclination, of farmers to impose ungracious restraints. It is the duty of their parents and guardians to impose these ; and the most effectual way that I know of, in the circumstances, to avoid temptations, is the denial of a riding-horse. Attention to business in the first year will most probably induce a liking for it in the second; and after that the indulgence of a horse may be granted to the pupil with impunity, as the reward of diligence. Until then, the horse occasionally supplied by the farmer to attend particular markets, or pay friendly visits to neighbours, should suffice ; and, as that is the farmer's own property, it will be more in his power to curb in his pupils any propensity to wander abroad too frequently.

These remarks are sound and shrewd, and exhibit, we dare say, what our Farmer will be when he has fairly " put his hand to the plough."

If Mr. STEPHENS were as high an authority on general subjects as we have no doubt he is on practical farming, Mr. SQUAREI might have spared himself the trouble of writing a Popular Treatise on Agricultural Chemistry; for it would be useless. According to Mr. STEPHENS, science has not contributed any thing to the improve- ment of agriculture, and will not for an indefinite period of time, if ever. Of the various sciences which people have been foolish ,enough to suppose might reduce the cultivation of the soil to a pursuit of principle, instead of a blind or jog-trot routine, chemistry has been rated the highest : but Mr. STEPHENS cries nought upon it, (though, with a strange inconsistency, he enumerates chemistry, in another place, as one of the things a well-educated agriculturist should study.) " A knowledge of the constituent parts of soils, plants, or manures," quoth he, " now forms a branch of general chemical education ; but how that knowledge can improve agricul- tural practice, has never been practically demonstrated," &c. Let us see.

When the seed has germinated into a plant, its nutriment can only be received from two sources—from the earth, by means of the spongelets attached to the fibres of the roots ; and from the air, through the absorbing power of the leaves. Over the air the

farmer has, of course, nopower beyond some judgment as to its general character; in which, we venture to affirm, knowledge will have an advantage over doltish and conceited ignorance, whether the question relate to an a priori conjecture or a decision after experiment. The soil is within his power as to choice, and not beyond it as regards improvement, whether generally as to its nature, or specially with a view to a particular crop, or, it is said bj high authorities, with a view to a distinct character in par- ticular products. The modus operandi is as follows.

The nutriment the spongelets take up to assimilate by a mys- terious process to their own substance, (just as animals assimilate their food into blood, bone, muscle, &c.; and such is the beautiful simplicity of nature, that the absorbents of the stomach are in principle the same as the spongelets of plants,) must be in a liquid state, any earthy particles being only taken up when held in solu- tion. The medium which conveys the nutriment of vegetables is water ; and the gases forming the substance of plants, and either a constituent part of the water itself or derived from substances in the soil, are four—carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen ; the earthy matters held in solution, and which fulfil the same pur- pose, are potash, soda, lime, and magnesia. The use of chemistry to agriculture is, therefore, to point out what manures contain the largest amount of these nutritive substances, and what parti- cular plants appear to contain most of any particular substance, or in other words to thrive best upon it ; to warn the cultivators against manures which contain noxious substances that peculiar soils may evolve, though the manure itself may be highly useful in other conditions ; and finally, to point out the best natural manure or the best mode of preparing a compost. It may be true that the weather or some occult influences may defeat the best-formed plans : equally true is it, that to apply science successfully is an art only attainable by practice and observation ; or that a foolish pedant may be beaten by an able man, whose faculties have been sharpened by a life of experience till he has got the results of science through long experiment. But, other things being equal, we must think that a man who for every operation can give a reason founded in the laws of Nature, and who observes her processes with an inquir- ing eye to account for success or failure, is far more likely to bene- fit himself and agriculture, than a boor who can give no better rea- son for any thing than the words of the song, " my father did so before me." And the best mode of stimulating the farmers in this line will be, to withdraw from them an artificial protection, which 'less encourages agriculture than an obstinate prejudice or a dull staguation in agriculturists.

Such farmers as wish to have a plain elementary view of the structure and functions of plants, the manner in which they derive their nutriment from foreign substances, and of what that nutri- ment consists, will find them in the little volume of Mr SQUAREY which has given rise to this discussion. The Popular Treatise on Agricultural Chemistry also contains a rather elaborate account of the different kinds of manure, both native and compound, with a variety of directions for their preparation and use. The style of the author is designedly plain ; but it might have received a little more close- ness, without any loss of familiarity or effect upon the class to whom it is chiefly addressed. Looking to the same object, the dis- quisition on the alternate action of carbon and oxygen on the at- mosphere might have been spared, and some of the chemical de- ductions rendered more convincing by popular illustration. We particularly allude to the analogy between the nutritive functions in plants and animals, as one of the most beautiful instances of the simplicity and variety of Nature. Again, the elementary character of chemical experiments, the reductio ad elementa which is its prin- ciple of action, though touched upon sufficiently for the informed, is hardly impressed with sufficient force or illustrated with suffi- cient popularity for persons unacquainted with these kind of in- quiries. With proper retrenchment, additions of this kind would not extend the work ; but that matter is no real extension which not only interests the reader in the subject but prepares his mind more fully to understand the points at issue.

The merely chemical parts of the work are either not of a nature for extract, or would have no novelty for readers who have even a general knowledge of animal and vegetable physiology ; but the manner in which chemistry can improve agriculture may be indi- cated.

A CURIOUS FACT ON FOOD AND MANURE.

It has been before stated that every part of a plant contains nitrogen as well as carbon ; but as an invariable rule, the seed of all plants contains a much larger quantity of nitrogen than the leaves and stalks, and a lesser quantity of carbon, and inversely, the leaves and stalks contain a much greater quantity of carbon, and a lesser quantity of nitrogen. Now when a horse is fed on grass, his food consists almost entirely of carbon ; and the result is, that when he has a sufficient supply he gets fat—that is, that particles of oily, fatty matter arc deposited on the muscles under the skin ; but, as it is well known, a horse in this condition is quite unequal to any work, and the least exertion reduces his bulk. But when the same horse, under other circumstances, is fed ou corn, his food consists principally of nitrogen ; and although be may never, under this keep, get as fat as under the other, still the increase he does acquire will be pure muscle, or, as it is technically called, sound flesh ; and on this keep he can perform infinitely more work with less fatigue than on food containing no nitrogen. A more complete instance could not be adduced to show that animals as well as plants can only assimilate that food which is presented them : in the first case, carbonaceous matters being the food of the horse, carbon is deposited in the shape of fat ; in the latter, when more nitrogen enters into the com- position of his food, the deposit of muscle preponderates. So it is with wheat. With a manure that only supplies carbonaceous matter, starch is the result. With a manure containing nitrogen, gluten is formed; both cases being com- pletely analogous, and affording unerring proof of one simple and uniform law. Here is another example of the singular effects resulting from the use of a chemical manure; not in the common and well-known

case, resulting from all manures, of an increase in the quantity of the crop, but in the quality. The authority is Professor DAUBER; of Oxford.

In an analysis of 100 parts of two different specimens of wheat which were grown in the same field, one of which had been dressed with the nitrate of soda and the other not, the result was— Wheat on which nitrate was used, gave

Bran 25 Gluten 23} Starch 49} 55 Albumen Extract, loss and water 1 100 100

Thus it is seen that the wheat so nitrated contains 4} per cent more gluten and per cent more albumen than the wheat not so nitrated ; and as it has been stated that gluten is the substance to which flour owes its nutritious qualities, this alone would prove our position. But if we carry our investiga- tion further, and see its results as to the realproduce of bread, we shall be more fully convinced than ever of the utility of this manure. And here again we resort to experiments made by the same distinguished Professor, for an elucidation of this fact.

Three pounds and a half of floor made from wheat dressed with nitrates produced 4 lbs. 14 ozs. of bread; whilst three and a half pounds of flour, made from wheat where no nitrate was used, yielded only 4 lbs. 4 ozs. of bread; thus leaving ten ounces of bread in favour of the wheat so nitrated.

Wheat on which no nitrate was used, gave 24 19