soil, furnished to the plant. And as all plants are known to be composed of these elements found in the soil and the atmosphere; and as they consist of systems of tubes or vessels which terminate at one extremity in roots, and at the other in leaves; and the matter furnished by the soil is taken up by the roots, and in passing up is modified by exposure to air, heat and light in the leaves, and then descends through the bark producing organised matter as it flows; and the matter furnished by the atmosphere is absorbed by the leaves, and commingles with that received through the roots, aiding in the formation of the organized matter, it can at once be seen how the soil, the atmosphere, and water act on vegetation. And consequently an enlightened system of agriculture can be directed to the control of these agencies. And we at once see, that as plants are composed of certain elements some of which they derive from the soil and others from the atmosphere, it is necessary that the soil and the atmosphere should each contain the elements proper to it, as food for the plants. For otherwise the plants must be, as it were, starved to death. And as it is ascertained that the atmosphere has never changed since the earliest period at which an accurate analysis of it has been made, we may conclude, as we know the manner in which its equilibrium is kept up, that it will always contain those elements of plants which it is its province to furnish to vegetation. But as such is not the case with the soil; for as by a succession of crops all the elements necessary for the growth of plants will be removed from the soil, and the plants cannot grow for want of food, we also see how important it is to know what elements of plants are furnished by the soil and what by the atmosphere. For, otherwise, we might at a great expenditure of labour and capital, be endeavouring to furnish to the soil the elements which the plants derive from the atmosphere; whereas all that is necessary is to furnish those to the soil, which it gives to the plant. And as chemistry informs us of the nature of all manures, what elements each kind contains, we are enabled to put on the soil the kind of manure it wants, and thus make an economical expenditure of labour and capital, and direct our means with certain success. Thus chemistry tells us what ought to be done, and shows us how to do it.

Wherever chemistry has been applied to agriculture, there has agriculture most flourished. The first treatise of agricultural chemistry ever written, was published by Sir Hum

phrey Davy in England in 1813; and from that time to the present, the noble science has been cultivated with zeal in England, and the art of agriculture has improved more in that country, than in any other in Christendom. Whole deserts have been converted into fertile fields, yielding from thirty to sixty bushels of wheat; and, though many of the British population have heretofore starved for bread, it is now confidently believed by agriculturists, that the improvements will enable England at no distant day, to export wheat to foreign countries. And in Germany and in this country improvements in agriculture have kept pace with the study of chemistry. In this country most of the old lands had been worn out by the old system of culture. The tobacco lands of Maryland and Virginia were almost entirely exhausted by growing upon them so many successive crops: but Plaister of Paris and clover have restored fertility to most of the tobacco lands, and lime is doing the same thing for the exhausted wheat lands. Chemistry enables us to use these great fertilizing agents, with economy, and without the possibility of failure, and also teaches us how to aid them by other means when they alone, are not sufficient to give fertility to the soil. And without a knowledge of chemistry we could not distinguish good lime from bad. For example, it had been for a long time known, that a particular species of lime-stone found in different parts of the North of England, when applied in its burnt and slacked state to land in considerable quantities occasioned sterility, or considerably injured the crops for many years. Mr. Tennant, in 1800, by a chemical examination of this species of lime stone ascertained, that it differed from common limestone by containing magnesian earth; and he proved by experiments that this earth is prejudicial to vegetation when applied in large quantities in a caustic state. And it has now been ascertained that, in some conditions of the soil, this magnesian lime-stone itself is beneficial, especially in this country where Indian corn is raised, the base of which is magnesia. Without this application of chemistry, the injurious effects of this lime-stone would ever have remained a mystery; and the agriculture of the North of England would have greatly suffered. It is seen then how chemistry unravels the mysterious functions of plants, tells us the nature of soils, points out the agency of the atmosphere in vegetation, and teaches us the principles upon which the mechanical operations of farming depend; and not only

teaches us how to prepare the soil for the growth of plants, but also how to remove every obnoxious influence.

The importance to agriculture of correct scientific principles, may be estimated by taking another view of the subject. Suppose that we still thought, as we have shown was once believed, that water was the only agent necessary to the growth of plants; and that in accordance with this opinion, we were to attempt to fertilise our fields by pouring water over them? Or suppose that we still thought, as we have shown was once believed, that all that was necessary to enable us to raise crops forever upon the same land, was to pulverise the soil; and that in accordance with this opinion we were never to put manure of any kind upon our lands? What sort of agriculture would we have? Or suppose even, that we were still ignorant of the fact that vegetables derive their carbon and nitrogen from the atmosphere, and were to direct our efforts towards procuring carbonaceous and nitrogenized manures which, though under some circumstances, they may be useful, are never necessary to the most luxuriant crops, as the atmosphere will always, as we have shown, supply carbonic acid and ammonia sufficient for any crop? What a useless expenditure of capital and labour, would we be subjected to! These considerations amply show the great importance to agriculture of true scientific principles. Without such principles to guide us, we may waste our efforts upon the wildest and most absurd schemes. Even so common a matter as fallowing land was not correctly understood until lately. It was said to improve the land by resting it, just as the strength of a tired animal is restored by rest; and this was the most intelligent explanation that could be given of so common an agricultural practice. But chemistry teaches us that the oxygen and carbonic acid of the atmosphere aided by rains, changes of temperature, &c., act upon certain elements of the soil and render them soluble, so that plants can take them up by their roots and assimilate them. For frequently there is in the soil all the elements of fertility, but in such a state as to resist the atmospheric agencies so far as to be too slowly dissolved for the purposes of agriculture. It will sometimes happen, for instance, that in certain soils a sufficient quantity of silicate of potash for a single crop of wheat, will not be dissolved by atmospheric agency, in several years, though there be an abundance of it in the soil. By leaving such a soil, then, uncultivated or fallowing it, as it

is called, for a few years, we see how it is that it will produce a crop of wheat without there being any manure added to it. But chemistry does not leave such a soil to the action of the atmosphere alone; but teaches us that we should apply quick-lime to it, and thereby decompose it, and thus render the alkalies, and alkaline earths which are the elements essential to the most important crops, fit for assimilation by the plants. It is important too to know the proper succession of crops. To know, for instance, that if you raise potatoes and turnips upon your wheat fields, that as these vegetables do not abstract any silica from the soil, your following wheat crop will not be injured by it. It is important too to know why it is that one field may produce wheat and no peas; another, beans and turnips in abundance, and no tobacco; another will produce turnips in great abundance, but no clover; and why it is, that though a field may not produce a given crop, yet after a certain other crop of a different kind is grown upon it, it will then produce it in great abundance; and other such facts. All these, and thousands of other facts equally important to the farmer, chemistry explains, and thereby teaches him the means by which the largest amount of produce adapted to the food of man and animals may be obtained from a given surface of earth. And this is the whole end of agriculture.

We have thus in this hasty sketch, endeavoured to exhibit the method of analysis employed in organic chemistry; and also, to set forth the prominent features of scientific agriculture. And if we shall induce one reader to turn his attention studiously and in good earnest, to the important subject, we shall esteem ourselves amply compensated for the time bestowed upon the subject, and for the room given to it in our pages. And we cannot conclude our remarks, without saying, that in order to derive advantage from agricultural chemistry, it must be made a part of academic education-it must be taught in our high schools and colleges in order that the rising generation who are to cultivate our fields may be instructed while young, in its important truths. A cabinet of minerals and soils ought to be established in one principal school in every county in the state, and soils from every section of the county procured and analyzed, and the analyses set down in a register. Agricultural surveys should also be made, and maps formed, showing the various agricultural indications, such as the

slopes, exposures, soils, &c. of the several sections of the county. So that on inspecting the register and maps of the chemical department of this principal county school, the agricultural capabilities of every part of the county might be seen. And regular courses of lectures should be delivered on agricultural chemistry in this institution. Affiliated agricultural societies should also be formed throughout the various neighbourhoods of the county; and should hold regular periodical meetings, by delegates from each society in the chemical department of the County Institution. By this means, the subject can be made a practical one even to those unacquainted with the principles of the science.

ART. V.-Vindication of the Rev. Horatio Southgate : A Letter to the members of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, from the Rev. Horatio Southgate, their Missionary at Constantinople. New York: Stanford & Swords. 1844. 8vo. pp. 39.

THIS publication owes its origin indirectly to the late Nestorian massacre. Soon after that event, a letter from the east appeared in a London journal and was extensively copied in Europe and America, ascribing the catastrophe to the rivalry of Popish and Protestant missionaries. The Rev. Mr. Badger, a Puseyite from England, was represented as siding with the Papists against the American Congregationalists. At the annual meeting of the American Board in 1843, Dr. Anderson, one of the Secretaries, is reported to have said that Mr. Southgate, the American Episcopal missionary at Constantinople, had co-operated with Badger in all his opposition to the missions of the Board, and so far as his influence had gone, coincided with the Papal emissaries. The accuracy of this report Dr. Anderson has called in question. He does not think he made any reference to Papal missionaries in speaking of Mr. Southgate. The latter has nevertheless thought it necessary to vindicate himself from all these charges. The points which he attempts to establish are chiefly these: that the Nestorian massacre had nothing to do with the missionaries or their quarrels; that he himself has not united either with Papists or with Badger in opposition to the American mis