Newspapers / The Arator (Raleigh, N.C.) / Feb. 1, 1857, edition 1 / Page 15
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THE ARATOIU CO5 err make every addition to them that nature of local circumstances have placed within his reach, These very desirablo purposes ho will bo better able to carry into effect when' ho fully understands the nature of the manure ho has1 under his man agemont, and" by that means ho' can exercise a fiound discretion in adding to ls quantity and cf-fect. " Let it not be alleged against any inquiry by. the farmer into the ' constituent nature and chemical prosperities of his manure, fhat ho has no ideas attached to the several terms used to designate the substances of which jt is said to consist. He is obligedto learn the names and uses of tho several implements he employs in the cultivation j and upon what principle, we may ask him, should he refuse to make himself acquainted with the names and general properties of tho produce he raises ? But little effort - is required to obtain a precise knowledge of tho several elements or substances, at least by the employment of which, he is ena ableu to raise anJ increase his crops, and is it not pleasant to learn, as well as most, useful to under stand, the reason of their value to him? Nor is this limited degrco of chemical knowledge of diffi cult attainment. Every farmer has seen wood ashes, and also seen water poured upon them, for the purpose of extracting a something; that sub stance is chiefly potash which may bo seen by evaporating the clean water, which leaves the al kali behind, and tho dregs which remain behind consist, for tho most part, of earthy phosphates a similar substance to the earth of bones. Soda is now so commonly used as to bo known at sight to most persons; lime and magnesia arc still more familliar; ammonia is the common pungent salt of smelling-bottles ; sulphuric, muriatic uud nitric acids aro extensive articles of commerce, and, vrlih phosphor & acid, maybe found at any chem ist's shop, and theso acith as well as their bases potash, soda, lime and magnesia may be had for a trifle, either separately, or combined as salts. When, therefore, the appearance, or more obvious qualities of these several substances have become familiar, their efficacy as manure my be proved by mixing them thoroughly with two or three hun dred times their weight of mould, and applying the compost to garden plants. The farmer might in this way soon become acquainted with the name character and properties of the invaluable sub stances contained invisibly in the muck of his yards; and would be the better able, and more desirous, to prevent J'seir stealing away from him.rr ; THE ORIGIN OF WHEAT. , ' Tho origin of the wheat which we now cultivate! is involved in considerable obscurity. Nowhere 14 . it found to exist native. In a papcf in the Edin burgh Review, tho author of it takes the ground that all our common cereals hate been developed by cultivation, from, grains having, ''in their natural ."; state, scarcely any resemblance to those now cuK tivatcd, and' ho asserts that tho particular plant from which wheat has originated, is a grass grow-,; ing wild on the shores of Ntho Mediterranean, and. known to botanists by the name of agilops. If. this is true, it will . afford some clue to solvo the question, "does wheat ever become cheat. " j j PHOSPHOItESENCE OF INS.ECTS Tho English chemist, Thornton T. Hcrcpath has been taking advantage of. a recent trip to South America to collect and examine fireflies, in order to pot tit thr snernt of thnfr luminosity. Tho com monly received opinion in regr.rd to tho source of , the light emitted by insects, i3 that it i3 due to tho slow combustion of phosphorus, resembling that a produced by gently rubbing a moth with the lingers. Mr. Hcrcpath denies this however, as ho was un able, on tho application of tho most delicate tests, to detect the smallest -trace of phosphorus in tho bodies of these curious little creatures. His opin is that the light is caused by the burning of a pe culiar compound of carbon and hydrogen, formed in a special gland. ARTIFICIAL MILK. Tho Paris correspoudent, J. Nicklcs, of SUli men's Journal, describes as follows a new liquid under the above name, which has lately been in troduced in Paris. For some lime a liquid has been prepared which is said to have so far the qualities of milk that it is called artificial milk or "laityiande." It is pre pared as follows. Into a Papin's digester three killograms of fresh pounded bones arc put aud one killoram of meat with five or six times as much of water. The top is hern.itically closed : double sides surround it, and in the cavity between, a cur rent of steam circulates which raises the tempera ture of the digester up to I iOvv F. Atho cud of forty minutes after reaching this temperature a stop-cock with a small orifice is opened which lets out a vapor having tho odor of broth ; but some seconds after, there issues a white liquid which b nothing but the artificial milk. After this milk has passed out, the digester contains only the meat, the boih'd bones, and :i Foup of inferior quality.
The Arator (Raleigh, N.C.)
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Feb. 1, 1857, edition 1
15
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