Excerpt from The Elements of Agriculture: A Book for Young Farmers This is the first step toward a knowledge Of agri cultural chemistry. The next will be to examine each Of these two different classes Of matter, that we may learn precisely Of what they consist. Then we must inquire where these substances are found, how they are taken up by the plant, and how we can best supply such as nature, unaided, does not always furnish. This knowledge does not require that farm ers become chemists. All that is required is, that they should know enough Of chemistry to understand, so far as the present state Of knowledge makes it possible, the nature of the materials Of which their crops are composed, and how those materials are to be used to the best advantage. The elements of this knowledge maybe easily ao quired, and should be possessed by every person, Old or young, whether actually engaged in the cultivation Of the soil or not. All are dependent on vegetable productions, not only for food, but for every comfort and convenience of life. It is the Object Of this book to teach young farmers the first principles Of agri culture: and while it does not contain all that is absolutely necessary to an understanding Of the prac tical operations Of cultivation, its teachings are such as the writer found, in his early studies, to be most necessary as a groundwork for future study and thought and most useful in practice. We will first examine the atmospheric part Of plants, or that which is driven away during combas tion or burning. This matter, though apparently lost, is only changed in form. It consists of one solid substance, carbon (or charcoal), and three gases, oxygen, hydrogen and ui trogen. These four kinds Of matter constitute nearly the whole Of most plants, the ashes forming some times less than one part in one hundred Of their dry weight. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.