AX

ADDRESS

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

'^>)lijniantji Caimti) ilgrintltnral .Inrirti},

AT THKIR

ANNUAL EXHIBITION,

IN THK TOWN OF BRIDGEWATER.

SEPT. 25, 1850.

liY CHARLES T. JACKSON. M. D..

Cfinnlt'er tie la Legion d Honneur.

Assayer to the State of Massachusetts. Late (Jeologist to Maine, \ew Hampshire. Rhode IsIanJ,

ana the United States. Member of the Geological Society of France, of the Imperial

Mineralogical Society of St. Petersburg, etc., etc.

E C) ?< T O N:
PRINTED BY CHARLES C. P. MOODY,

5 2 W'A SIC I NOT ON STKKET.

1850.

AN

ADDRESS

DELIVERED BEFOKE THE

^.Mijniontlj Cnimtij 5lgririilturnl ?nrirtij,

AT TUEIR

ANNUAL EXHIBITION,

IN THE TOWN OF BRIDGEWATER,

SEPT. 25, 1850.

By CHARLES T. JACKSON, M. D.,

Chevalier de la Legion cP Honneur.

Assayer to the State of Massachusetts. Late Geologist to Maine, New Ilampshire, Rhode Tsland,

and the United States. Member of the Geological Society of France, of the Imperial

Mineralogical Society of St. Petersburg, etc., etc.

BOSTON:
PRINTED BY CHARLES C. P. MOODY,

52 WASHINGTON STREET.

1850.

At a meeting of the Trustees of the Plymouth County Agricultural Society,
at Bridge water, on the 25th of September, 1850 —

" Toted, " That the thanks of the Trustees be presented to Dr. Jackson,
of Boston, for his able and eloquent address, this day delivered before the
Ph-mouth County Agricultural Society, and that he be requested to furnish
a copy for publication."

JESSE PERKI^'S, Sec'y.
A true copy. Attest,

JESSE PERKIXS, Sec'y

Boston, Dec. 2d, 1850.
To The Trustees of the Plymouth County Agricultural Society.
Gentlemen : — In compliance with your request, I furnish a copy of the
address I had the honor to deliver before your Society, on the 25th of Sep-
tember last.

Respectfully,

Your Ob't. Servant,

CHARLES T. JACKSON

ADDRESS.

Mr. President, and

Gentlemen of the Agricultural Society: —

I HAVE been called upon to address you as a former inhabi-
tant of this county, and as one deeply interested in its welfare.

Without making any pretensions to the rank of a practical
farmer, I may claim to be somewhat conversant with the ope-
rations of many of the best Agriculturists of New Engh\nd, and
to be intimately acquainted with the nature of the soils of sev-
eral of the States which it was my duty as the State Geologist
to Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, to examine.

By attentive study in the fields with practical farmers, I have
endeavored to discover how a chemist could best serve them,
while at the same time I have learned how to appreciate their
skill, enterprise, and industry, in overcoming those obstacles
which are presented by our comparatively poor soils and severe
climate.

It affords me great pleasure to be able to state that I have
found every where in those States which I have examined, the
most praiseworthy desire for improvement in the science of
Agriculture, and a readiness to engage in any experiments that
gave reasonable promise of success. The universal comfort
and general prosperity of oin- New England farmers, indicates
that they do not toil in vain, and that they are generally suc-
cessful in the cultivation of the soil.

It is not my intention to offer a mere eulogy upon the art of
Agriculture, or to present any apology for the first and most
important of human labors. We have learned from the most
ancient records that the Creator of the world planted the first
seed, and commanded our first parents to keep the garden, and
to " till the ground," and it has pleased Him so to prepare the
earth as to render its cultivation necessary, in all time : tlius by
a permanent law of nature, establishing forever tlu; art of Ag-
riculture.

By endowing man with reasoning powers, and placing within
his reach the means of improvement, a constant necessity re-
quires man to improve the earth, as well as his own mind, and
add to the productiveness of the soil, as he replenishes the earth
and multiplies its population.

It is the glory of your noble art, that it possesses almost cre-
ative powers.

Not onlv has every seed been made to produce " after its
kind," but also to yield still other kinds ; not indeed new spe-
cies, but varieties so improved that they cannot by all the skill
of science be identified with the wild plants from which they
originated. Who can point out the native or original wild
grasses, from which our cereal grains have been produced ? —
Botanists have suggested that they must have had such or-
igins, but they have not been able to identify the particular
species of gi-asses from which wheat, barley, rye, and oats,
have been derived.

Our large, plump, juicy, and mellow apples, are all said to
have originated from the bitter and sour wild crab apple,
which differs so much from them that it is difficult for us to
conceive how those rich fruits were derived from so humble an
origin.

From an insignificant and almost tasteless wild fruit, origi-
nated all our numerous varieties of delicious pears.

Our large, plump, and luscious peach, would blush at seeing
its dry, withered and bitter father ; — and our juicy plums would
be slow (sloe)* to recognize theirs. The apricot and nectarine
cannot boast of the excellence of then* ancestors. The apri-
cot is said to be a variety of the peach.

From nauseous and poison \veeds have many of our garden
vegetables sprung. The tender and juicy asparagus is sup-
posed to have been, originally, a bitter and disagreeable plant,
growing upon the sandy shores of the sea. The cabbage, with
its head full of tender and highly nutritious leaves, was originaUy
a weed growing in meadows by the sea shore, and the delicate
cauliflower has no better parentage.

* The common plum is said to have been derived from the sloe. The nec-
tarine is considered by some botanists as a distinct species ; but there can be
no doubt on this point, as the peach itself is nothing more than an improved, or
fleshy almond, which bears a similar relation to the peach and nectarine, as the
crab does to the apple, and the sloe to the plum.

To prove that the peach and nectarine are essentially the same, it may be
mentioned that fruits of both have been found on the same branch ; and even
an instance is recorded, where a fruit had the smooth surface of the nectarine
on one side, and the downy skin of the peach on the other. — Trees of America,
natire and foreign, hy D. J. Browne, P. 230. Most of the cultivated plums,
damsons, ami gages, are varieties ofthep-u?ius domestica, L., the cultivated
plum tree. It is found growing wild in elevated situations in Europe. [De
Candolle Prod.. 533.] This species, as also the P. insdtitia, are considered by
some botanists as varieties of the sloe thorn, P. spinosa, which is usually a
thorny shrub or small tree. — Pteport on trees and shrubs of Massaclmsetts, by
Geo. B. Emerson, Esq., p. 448.

Our mealy potatoe belongs to the same family with the
deadly nightshade, and in its wild state, was an insignificant
plant, with little tubers not worth digging from the earth, or of
eating \viien they were dug.

The onion was a nauseous shore plant, growing in the sand,
like its relation the medicinal squills.

Parsnips, turnips and carrots, in their wild state, were also
strong, unpalatable roots, unfit for food.

From small beginnings came our plump, cereal giains, our
rich, juicy, and delicious fruits, our nutritious esculents, and sa-
vory garden vegetables.

Who, as it were, created wheat, barley and rye, or first ])nt
the wild Iruits and vegetables in the way of improvement, we
may never know.

The ancients ascribed these creations to mythological deities,
and thus did the farmers injustice, unless indeed they meant
by their fables to deify them, and exalt their labors.

It may be justly claimed that these great agricultural im-
provements were the work of heads and hands of mortal men
like yourselves; — men engaged in practical agriculture ; men
of genius who believed in improvement, and bravely set about
the work in good earnest.

Have we reached the end ? Are the powers of nature ex-
hausted ? Or shall new and valuable varieties of fruits, grains,
bulbs, tubers, and esculent roots, and other delicate and nourish-
ing plants and fruits reward the labors of the experimental
agriculturist ?

Perhaps it may not be our good fortune to witness any
startling result, or any very wonderful improvement arising
from the transient experiments made in our dav ; but who will
say what will be the effects of time, and a continually improv-
ing culture ?

Have we not seen improvements made in a few years that
encourage us to expect others ? How endless are the varieties
of Indian corn, {zea mai/s,) all of which have, it is supposed,
been produced from a single species.

Have not new varieties of fruits been ))ro(lncec1. not onlv
from seeds, but also by skilful graftiiig and budding, with gooJl
and appropriate cultivation of the soil ? Certainly we do see, in
our market places, fruits, that have been so improved within the
last half century, as to deserve new names, expressive of ex-
cellence.

I would suggest to you that it is highly probable that the
wild rice of the lakes and rivers in the nortli western portions of
the United States, which is a highly nutritioi^s grain and very

prolific, now feeding myriads of wdld geese, ducks, pigeons and
other birds, and supplying \\'inter food to the Indian hunter,
might be advantageously introduced into our flowed mead-
ows, and be improved by cultivation. The wild sea kale* has
been successfuUy cultivated in Em*ope, and is now extensively
used for food.

How many other wild plants there may be in this and other
countries, that might be inti-oduced and cultivated in our fields,
I do not know, but I believe there is still room for improve-
ment, and the mind of the American farmer is active, enterpri-
sing, and capable of as great discoveries as have been made in
their art, in any portion of the world.

Progress is a law of nature. From the earliest dawn of cre-
ation, there has been a constant series of improvements in pro-
gress. Geology reveals that the lower orders of sensitive beings
gave way to those of a higher grade, until the last term of phys-
ical creation was attained in the creation of man, whose im-
provement, as a rational creature, and an immortal soul, is still
destined to be onward and upward.

In celestial space, progress is also indicated, and though we
may not comprehend its end and uses, we have reason to believe
that it is in harmony with the other plans and operations of the
All-wise Creator. Astronomers have discoA'ered that no planet
ever traverses again the same path, and that the whole solar
system, with its sun and magnificent train of worlds, is con-
stantly translated into new regions of space. It is believed by
some astronomers, that there is a central sun around which our
solar system revolves, and that this imaginary sun is also mov-
ing onward in space. Our whole solar system is said to be
moving toward the constellation Hercules.

A desire in the human mind merely to repeat the thoughts
and operations of others, indicates at best an unworthy indo-
lence. Conservatism in error is obviously a folly, and our ad-
hesion to a custom merely because it is old, or considered
established, in this world of change, is an absurdity.

We should keep our minds open for the reception of every
new truth, treasure up every new fact and principle, and test
their value whenever opportunity offers, or promise of success is
reasonable.

I would not advise the running after every project because it
is new, nor would I denounce a rational conservatism, but we
should be cautious not to deny everything that does not chance
to have fallen within our own personal experience.

* The sea kale is extensively cultivated in Enjrland, and is highly valued as
a substitute for asparagus. It has been cultivated by some gardeners in this
country. Teschemacher (oral comm.)

The new and startling discoveries which burst upon the world,
from time to time, warn us that we may not have known every-

thing belore.

Agriculture presents still, a field where advantageous improve-
ments may be made, by the aid of the modern sciences, and we
may look to chemistry for most valuable assistance in unfolding
the mysteries of the vegetable economy, and in explaining the
relations of the soil and atmosphere to plants, and in learning
the influence of various substances upon the growth of our
usual crops.

How far we may be able to prepare the soil for particular
crops by sjjecial manures or fertilizers ; — how far this may be
done economically, is one of the questions now before the
world. Whether it is better to make our fertilizing matters
highly soluble, and to add them to the soil more frequently, or
to render them comparatively insoluble, and allow plants slowly
to appropriate them, is a subject of high importance in econom-
ical agriculture, and is one which will occupy our special
attention.

By chemical analysis of the crops, grown upon any soil, we
are enabled to discover exactly how much of each ingi-edient,
essential to the growth of plants, has been removed from it,
and, if we sell the produce of the land, we should estimate the
nature and amount of the mineral salts we have removed, in
order to enable us to restore, in some form, those ingredients to
the soil, which would be ultimately exhausted if this were not
done.

By analysis of the soil, we learn how much of each of these
ingredients exists in it, and by comparison, of the analyses offer-
tile with those of exhausted soils, the exact difference may
be pointed out, and the deficient ingredients may be supplied
so as to renovate the soil.

Chemical science is able to discover the cheapest and best
methods of rendering soils fertile, and not unfrequently the
sources from whence the wanting ingredients may be obtained,
by simple processes, may be indicated.

In order to renovate a soil, by restoring the substances re-
moved from it by crops, we must consider what state the mat-
ters should be in, for the production of the best effects, and for
long continued action. This requires the joint efl'orts of the
chemist and farmer ; for practical experiments in the field are
necessary for the verification of the researches made in the la-
boratory ; and several years, or an entire rotation of crops is
needed, to render the value of a new method of manuring
certain.

By hasty generalizations and mere dogmatism, some wTiters
on Agricultural Chemistry have disappointed and disgusted
many sensible practical farmers, and the reproaches which
have been cast on book farming are too often well merited ;
but they should be referred to the book makers, and not to the
science of Agriculture, which is not responsible for the eiTors
of all its votaries, whether in the laboratory, the garden, or
the field. The farmer requires some knowledge of the science
of chemistry, to be able to judge of the value of books treating of
the chemical principles of his art, and to enable him to under-
stand and apply the results of analytic investigations in his prac-
tical operations. His defective knowledge often stands in the
way of successful improvements, and he is obliged to restrict his
operations to the mere following of specific directions, instead
of having all the latitude that chemical principles would allow.
It is not to be expected that old farmers will go to school
again to learn the principles of the modern sciences applicable
to Agriculture. Some, whose taste leads them to scientific
reading, will doubtless endeavor to keep up with the progress
of science, and inform themselves of what is going on. A
few only will be found, whose opportunities will enable them
to become proficient in the chemistry of Agriculture, so as to
make a safe and practical use of the information they may
obtain from books on Chemistry.

An improvement, once introduced, may often be practically
adopted and followed by those who do not understand the
principles on which it depends, so that one enterprising man
may not unfrequently do much good in his neighborhood by
instructing, by experimental labors, his brother farmers.

To the rising generation — the young men who will ere long
occupy your places — we must look for students in Agricul-
tural Chemistry. They should be taught thoroughly all those
principles of science that can be rendered available in Agricul-
ture. For them, agricultural schools should be established on a
liberal scale, and every opportunity that could be desired for
learning the sciences of Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology, Bot-
any, Zoology, and the principles and practice of Surveying,
with the application of those sciences to the business of prac-
tical farming.

While we have good and liberally endowed colleges for
the education of young men for the other professions, it
is to be regretted that no institutions exist in our coun-
try for the education of young farmers in the sciences applica-
ble to rational and practical Agriculture. This deficiency, I
trust, will ere long be supplied by the establishment of agri-

cultural schools, upon a basis commensurate with the magni-
tude and importance of the subject.

It will not be advisable to plant such institutions under the
shade ol our classical colleges. They will never flourish there j
for other studies of a different natur(>, ajipropriate to their edu-
cational establishments, occupy their attention — and tlu; leaves
of ancient literature cast too deep a shade to admit of the
growth of modern science in the academic groves.*

An agricultural school shonld be of an eminently practical
character to meet the wants of the conmuinity. Every prin-
ciple taught should be iitunediately practic-ally illustrated, and
the pupil should be required to repeat every operation until he
becomes familiar with it, and thus fixes the principle and mode
of operation indelibly in his memory. In the field he should
be required to work with his own hands ; whether with the
plough or the compass, he should become familiar with his tools.
So also in the laboratory he should be required to do his ow^n
work, and in the dissecting room should learn the anatomy of
animals, and in the garden and study, that of plants. Much
good will result from the establishment of thoroughly scientific
and practical agricultural schools, and it is highly desirable
that the experiment should be made forthwith. I am confi-
dent such institutions will be sustained by the people.

The imperfect state of American Agriculture, and the destruc-
tive system of exhaustion of our soils by methods now too
extensively in operation, sufficiently indicate the necessity
of an immediate reform. Look on the numerous exhausted
or impoverished fields of Eastern Virginia, and to the dimin-
ishing fertility of the wheat lands of New York, and other

* Tliero is no time to be spared, from the usual college course of study, for
the purt^uit of the sciences connected with Agrlcultui-e, lu a tliorough i)ractical
way, and no other method of studyiuix them will piove of any j)ennanent
value. "There are in the whole four years, one hundred and sixty weeks of
study. SupjKise the student pursues twenty of these branches of learning,
[tlie usual college course,] this will allow eight weeks to each. Seven-eighths
of the first year, and one half of the second, are devoted to Latin, (jreek, and
Mithemvtics. If we subtract this amount — fifty-five weeks from one hundred
and sixty — it leaves one hundred and five weeks to be devoted to the rc-
miinder. This will give us six weeks and a fraction to each of the other
studies. But this is not all. In oider to introduce so many sciences into (he
period of four years, the student is freipu'ntly obliged to carry on live or six
at the same time ; some occupying him three times, others twice, and others
on -e in a week In this manner all continuity of thouyhc is interrupted, and
literary enthusiasm rendered almost impos.sil)le. Such has, to a greater or less
deiree, been tlie eour-e pursued by all our colleges." — Presiilcnt Wni/lancTt
Report to the Corporation of Brown Universily, March 2Sth, 1850, p. lo.

2

10

States, and you will see that there is something wrong in the
systems pursued. You are doubtless aw^are of some of the
causes which are effecting this exhaustion of the soil, and
know that it results from the continual removal of certain in-
gredients from the soil, and seUing them in the form of grain
and flour, wdthout restoring to it similar substances.

By the analysis of gi-ain we learn what has been removed
by it, and by a knowledge of chemistry w^e may learn how to
restore the requisite elements to an exhausted or impoverished
soil, so as to render it perpetually fertile, even to the same
crops.

Chemistry teaches the cheapeat methods, and prevents waste-
ful empirical experiments.

Already, by chemical analysis of the ashes of tobacco, the
Virginia planter has learned how to renovate his soil that had
been exhausted by numerous crops of that plant. And the
cotton planters of the Southern States have caused analyses of
cotton and of the seed of that plant to be made, with a view
to supplying the materials removed by it from the soil.

It wnll not be long before our farmers, generally, will learn
how^ to restore to fertihty soils that have been, in a measure,
impoverished by long cropping ; and the Western farmers,
instead of abandoning Iheir homes and pushing farther w^est
in search of virgin soils for the growth of wheat, will obtain
still larger crops from their old wheat fields, and do so without
so much labor as before.

You are aware of the fact that wheat was once profitably
raised in this State ; and that now, although some few disti-icts
are favorable for its growth, that it cannot be generally raised
on our soils. This was pretty effectually proved by the unfor-
tunate law, offering a bounty on wiieat grown in the State,
which resulted in large crops of nearly worthless straw. It
w^as interesting to the geologist and chemist to observe in
what particular districts the wheat crop did prove successful,
and important hints were derived from those observations. It
is a question of considerable practical importance to know^, by
carefully conducted experiments, wdiether our granite soils can
be so improved as to render them capable of bearing good
crops of wdieat, and wiicther this can be done economically.

Indian corn is now known to be best adapted to those soils ;
but even that crop will exhaust the soil, if we do not take care
to return to it those mineral substances which are removed by
the grain. If we sold our crops, instead of feeding stock wath
them, w^e should rapidly impoverish the soil ; but our New
England method, of farming for ourselves, and of consuming

n

the products of the soil upon it, and of restoring the inorganic
matters of the crops in the form of farm-yard manure^, obviates,
in a great measure, the exhaustion of the soil by returning to
it those important salts which are in tlu; manures. We should
remember, however, that when we sell any animal that has
been reared upon the produce of the soil, w(* disposi; of a con-
siderable amount of the phosjihates, and other valuable salts
which the animal derived from its food, and which all came
from the soil, through the medium of the crops raised.

The farmer who raises grain and breeds cattle for a distant
market, is continually removing from the soil its essential ele-
ments of fertility, and sells the very life-blood of his land. To
him, therefore, it is of the very highest importatice that he
should know the best and cheapest means of renovating hi.s
soil, so as to prevent exhaustion and ensure constant and
even improving fertility.

To the chemist is he indebted for the discovery of the most
certain and cheap processes for effecting this very desirable
object; and notwithstanding all that has been said by ignorant
persons against science and " book learning," all the substantial
improvements made by chemists for the benefit of farmers,
will be ultimately adopted; for that powerful incentive, to
which "we may never plead in vain" — self-interest — wiU
prompt to their adoption.

Let us, for a moment, glance at the inorganic matters which
enter into the composition of our usual crops, and see what
ingredients are actually removed from the soil by their cultiva-
tion. They are —

Bases. — Potash, Soda, Lime, Magnesia, Oxides of Iron
and Manganese.

Acids. — Silicic acid, Sulphuric acid. Phosphoric acid, Chlo-
rine.

The acids and bases are here given separately, but in the
soil and in plants they are combined with each other, forming
various saline compounds, which are generally neutral. We
obtain some of them in that state from the ashes of all plants,
and when wt; obtain alkaline matter, it is derived by the
decomposition of the organic acid, with which the alkali was
originally combiiKHl. Th(> saline matters varv in their propor-
tions in dirterent plants and even in the ditl'erent parts of the
same plant.

I do not wish you to suppose that these ingredients exist in
the soil in the same state of combination that they do in the
plants. On the contrary, it is evident that decompositions
take place in them during their circulation in th(! vessels of

IB

living vegetables, and when we burn a plant, the substances
found in ihe ashes are differently combined Irom what they
originally were in the vegetable tissues.

In the soil, Phosphoric acid occurs in combination with
lime, alumnia, and oxide oi iron, while in the plant, we find
a part of it combined with potash, soda, and magnesia, as
well as with lime, but never in combination with alumina,
which is not an ingredient of the vegetable tissues, and is not
found in any plants.

Sulphuric acid may exist; in combination with oxide of
iron and alumina, in the soil, as well as with lime and mag-
nesia, and the alkalies ; but in the plant only, particular com-
binations of sulphuric acid and of sulphur are iound, and they
are not the same as occur in the soil in which the plant grows;
hence the sulphates are not merely accidentally absorbed, but
are essential to the growth of the plant.

Silicic acid in the soil, is combined with potash and soda,
and is generally insoluble in water, even when so combined,
but by the action of carbonic acid, the insoluble silicates
undergo partial decomposition, and carbonate of potash is
formed which dissolves a small portion of the silicic acid, and
renders it capable of absorption by the plants. Then the
silicate of potash is decomposed by organic acids in the plant,
and the silicia is set free, and is secreted, and forms a part of
the tissues, and sheaths the sap vessels, and covers the exte-
rior of the hollow stems of the cerealia or grasses.

Clilorine is found combined with the metallic bases of soda
and potash, forming, with sodium, the well known sea salt,
chloride of sodium ; and with the basis of potash, chloride of
potassium, and with those of lime and magnesia, the very soluble
chlorides of calcium and magnesium. These salts, absorbed
from the soil, also undergo decomposition, and produce other
combinations in the plant.

Fluorine, not yet detected in the ashes of plants, must exist
in them . in small proportions, for it generally accompanies
phosphate of lime, and it forms a constituent of the enamel of
teeth, and occurs in small proportions in the bones of all animals.

The minerals constituting the substantial basis of all soils
must contain all the fixed elements found in plants grown
upon them ; but it often happens that they contain too small
proportions of the most important elements, to iurnish, for a
length of time, the inorganic constituents of crops that are
removed from the soil.

The native forest, every year, pays its tribute of deciduous
fohage, and thus, in part, renovates the soil ; but stiU more by

13

the ultimate decay of the aged trunks of trees, is the soil
replenished with the materials drawn from it by them during
their growth, and, for interest, is added those materials which
the trees had withdrawn from the atmosphere. The organic
matter thus derived, acts on the mineral ingredients of the soil,
various acids being produc^ed which dissolve the tardily
decaying minerals in the soil.

Thus, forest trees do not rob the soil of any of its constitu-
ents, and it remains ever able to renew theu* growth.

Fire, though it dissipates the organic matters, leaves all the
fixed saline matters of wood in its ashes, and by the sudden
addition of so much readily soluble mineral matter, alters the
character of the soil, so as to enable it to bear plants and trees
that did not grow upon it before.

Thus we see an abundant growth of raspberry bushes and
of oak trees where a pine forest had been destroyed by fire ;
those bushes and trees requiring a larger proportion of potash
than pine trees. By comparing the composition of the ashes
of the oak and the pine, this difference will be at once noticed :

The ashes of the oak, Quercus Kobur, contains. That of pitch pine, Piiius Picea.

Potash, 64.64 21.75

and Soda 6.76
Lime, 4.89 1.54

Magnesia, 5.57 16.79

Chloride of Sodium, 0.98 0.57

Phosphate of Iron, 2.61 Ox. Iron 1.31
Sulphate of Lime, 4.73
Piiosphoric Acid, 15.62 39.65

Silex, 0.96 11.71

— Annates de Chem. et Phar. Wohler.
The oak contains more alkaline matter than the pine and less
phosphoric acid. Hence we can at once understand why the
oak grows on the soil where a pine forest has been destroyed
by fire. The red raspberry is also remarkable for the large
proportion of potash it contains, and every spot where a fire
has been kindled in the woods of Maine, is, in a few years,
covered with an abundant growth of this plant. So also in
New Hampshire, the raspberry springs up in luxuriance on
burnt lands. The raspberry also clings closely to rocks, and
thrives best near granite ledges and old stone walls, on account
of the alkaline matter they yield to its roots. New soils, rich
in potash minerals, are not unfrequently overgrown very soon
by raspberry and blackberry vines. In order to estimate the
importance of the saline matters removed from the soil by
crops, let us examine the results obtained by Boussingault, a

14

distinguished chemist and agriculturist of France. He esti-
mates the proportions of inorganic matter contained in each
year's crop of grass from his meadows, as follows :
Phosphoric Acid, 1254 pounds

Sulphuric Acid, 627 "

Chlorine, 602 "

Lime, 4155 «

Magnesia, 1672 "

Potash and Soda, 5456 "

Silicic Acid, 7312 «

I 21078 "

^ These meadows receive an annual supply of fresh ooze from
waters of the Vosges, so that the soil does not require an arti-
ficial supply of manure. The hay, being consvimed by his
cattle, their manure goes to supply the uplands, so that the
saline matters used on his ploughed land really come from the
alluvium deposited annually on his meadows by the overflow-
ing water.

Suppose that there had been no restoration of these matters
to the soil of his meadow, and that he had sold his hay, it is
obvious that there would have been a large removal of valuable
salts from the soil, and his land would, in the course of time,
become exhausted or impoverished, so as to be unproductive.

Mr. Owen Mason, of Providence, Rhode Island, has esti-
mated the amount and proportions of inorganic matters
removed from the soil of Mr. Adam Anthony's farm, in North
Providence, in the course of eight years, as follows. The
crops raised were alternate growths of millet and clover.

Potash,

424.92

pounds

Soda,

131.92

Lime,

532.88

Magnesia,

64.08

Silicic Acid,

390.40

Sulphuric Acid,

113.88

Phosphoric Acid,

108.12

Chlorine,

58.64

Oxide of Iron, &c.,

5.96

1830.80

in all.

"It is doubtful," says Mr. Mason, "if the cultivator ever
suspected, ;that he carried to lus ham two casks of potash, two
casks of lime, one cask of soda, a carhoy of oil of vitrol, a large
demijohn of 'phosphoric acid, and a variety of other matters, con-
tained in his fourteen tons of fodder, which were as certainly

15

stowed away in his mows, as if conveyed thither in casks and
carboys.*

Since all plants, from the majestic oak to the most humble
herb, contain and require for their existence, the elements of
the soil above pointful out, and the cereal i^rains, especially,
abound in phosphates, we cannot fail to jierceive that it is
necessary that we should make provision for restorinfr to the
soil, in some form or other, those important elements which are
removed by the crops, and which, like the phosphates, exist in
the soil quite sparingly.

From what I have already said respect iiiir the use of phos-
phate of lime, and of other phosphates derived from it by
decomposition in the circulation of plants, you will perceive
that it is reorarded as one of the most important ingredients of
the soil, and that it ought to be supplied by manures which
we spread on the land.

The basis of the bones of all animals is phosphate of lime,
and it is derived by animals from their food, the plants draw-
ing it from the soil.

Ground bones or bone dust, is a valuable manure, but is
slow in its action. If we wish to hasten its absorption by
plants, it is necessary to decompose it bv means of sulphuric
acid, adding thirty pounds of common "oil of vitrol to one
hundred pounds of bones, and then drving up the pasty mass
by mixing it with leached ashes and s()il, so as to convert the
whole into a dry powder, capable of being strewn upon the
soil broadcast. The ashes act chemically as well as mechan-
ically upon this mixture, phosphates of the alkalies resulting
from decomposition of th(^ silicates of potash and soda. [
have mentioned leached ashes, because it is the cheapest, and
will answer the purpose, but unleached ash(\s may be used
with still greater benefit, a larger proportion of phosphate of
potash being formed.

A native mineral phosphate of lime, called apatite, and
asparagus stone, is found in the rocks. It is rather a rare
min<>ral in this vicinity, and there are but few localities in the
world where a large supi)ly of it can be obtained. The
British government sent Prof Daubeny to Estramadura, in
Spain, to examine the most abundant locaUty of it known in
Europe, but it was not found to exist in sufficient quantities to
repay the expense of bringing it to England. The experi-
ments tried with samples of it, by Prof. Daubeny, proved it to
be equal in value to ground bones.

V *,F"?!'^^'^'^^? iectuTQ delivered before the Providence Franklin Society,-
by Mr. Owen Mason. ^\-

16

I have the pleasure of stating that Mr. Francis Alger and
myself, during the month of June last, discovered an important
vein of this mineral in Hurdstown, N. J., and, by my advice,
Mr. Alger has purchased the vein, and will soon introduce the
prepared mineral into agricultural use in this state. The
native phosphate of lime contains also a small proportion ot
fluorine and chlorine, so as to render it capable of supplying
the materials needed in our granite soils. It is ob\-ious that
the mineral phosphate of lime will answer full as well lor
supplying phosphates to plants, as the phosphate of lime of
bones, and since it is free from any admixture with carbon-
ate of lime, it will not require so much sulphuric acid to de-
compose it.

In St. La^\Tence county. New York, a considerable quantity
of native phosphate of lime is found in the form of crystals
of a bright green color. I am not aware of any experiments
having been made with it in practical agriculture.

In England, every fossil containing phosphate of lime is
sought for with avidity by intelligent farmers, and such mate-
rials are dissolved in sulphuric acid and water, and sprinkled
on the soil, and by this means the land is made doubly pro-
ductive. Even coprolites are used when they contain but ten
per cent, of phosphates, and rocks containing a few fossil
bones are readily sold. Peruvian guano contains about half
its weight of phosphates, and those salts are its most perma-
nent fertilizing materials. In fish manure, the bones which
consist of phosphate of lime remain in the soil .a long time
after the animal matter has disappeared, and act favorably on
vegetation. One of the best farmers of Rhode Island informed
me that he regarded the bones of menhaden as the most per-
manent and valuable of manures, and he extracted the oil from
the fish for sale, and used the refuse for maimre on his land to
great advantage. Horn piths, consisting of bony matter, may
be very advantageously used for making Ihe prepared phos-
phates for agricultural use, and I hope never to see them
thrown away or employed in mending roads, as was formerly
done.

It is possible that there may be some persons here who do
not sufficiently appreciate the value of inorganic matter, like
phosphate of Ume, as a constituent of plants, but when they
look to the composition of the frame work of animals, they
will perceive that bread A\^ould cease to be the staff" of life
if it did not consist partly of stone ; for the bones of our bodies
consist chieffy of phosphate of lime deposited in cartilaginous
cells ; and if our food did not contain that mineral, we should
have no bones, and could have no existence.

If

The mother's milk, if it was not ehargod with this indispen-
sabh' iMgredient, would not nourish and support the child, or
solidify its bony framework. Most of ihv, mineral constituents
of plants are useful in the animal economy, and some of them
are as essential as the more abundant combinations of carbon,
hydrojren, oxygen and nitrogen, which constitute the principal
and more directly nutritive matter that forms our food. Phos-
phorus, sulphur, chlorine, iron, potash, soda and magnesia, with
numerous salts, enter into the composition of every one of our
bodies, and are essential to life and health.

The adult animal, whose bony fabric is comi)leted, is enabled
to spare a large proj)ortion of its' pliosphate of lime in nourish-
ing and lorming the bones of its young, and th(^ mother acts as
a medium between the vegetable kingdom and her oflspring in
preparing its food, her milk containing all the elements of nutri-
tion in the most favorable condition for easy assimilat on.

Potash and soda are well known as important mineral ele-
ments of plants, and they are also known to be valuable
manures when presented to the growing plant in projier
combinations. Their origin is to be traced to the mineral world,
feldspar and mica, two of the most abundant minerals, con-
stituting granite, gneiss, and mica slate rocks, furnishing them
by their slow decomposition in the soil.

Those minerals contain from 12 to 16 percent, of potash and
soda, combined with silicic acid. They are insoluble in water,
but by means of carbonic acid, disengaged by decaying vegeta-
ble matter, the silicates are decomposed and carbonates of the
alkalies are formed, which are soluble in water, and go to nour-
ish plants, and serve as solvents of the humus of the soil, so
that it can be absorbed by plants.

The vegetable acids, derived from decaying peat and rotten
wood, also have the property of slowly acting upon feldspar and
mica, and separate the alkaline matter. A small proportion of
the silex is also dissolved by the action of the liberated alkalies,
and goes into the vegetable economy, forming a part of the solid
stru(tun> of the sap vessels, and shielding the surface of delicate
hollow stems with a layer of glass, serving to pnnent their de-
struction by mildew and rust, while it prevents the loaded stem
from breaking down undcT its burden of grain.

Ashes of plants containing these alkalies and soluble silicates
is one of the best of fertilizers, and may be justly regarded as an
universal manure, containing all those inorganic elements that
are known to be constituents of plants.

Leached ashes, although d(>prived of part of its alkaline mat-
ter, is valuable as a manure, lor it is capable of yielding still

18

more to the searching powers of the rootlets of plants, and con-
tains other materials, insoluble in a great measure in water,
which are capable of being slowly taken up by growing vege-
tables. Experience has proved that 200 bushels of leached
ashes will render fertile for many years the sandy soil of a pine
barren, which before was a waste of blowing sand.

Lime, in the state of carbonate, and in combination with
various organic acids of the soil, is also a valuable manure, and
operates favorably for a long term of years, enabling soils that
were before unproductive, to bear heavy crops of grain.

Magnesia enters into the composition of all plants, though
in smaller proportions than the other mineral ingredients I have
named. In the state of phosphate, it is a constituent of both
vegetables and animals. It is found in soils generally combined
with silex, and is slowly eliminated by the decomposition of
the minerals containing it.

Oxides of iron and manganese abound every where in all soils,
and we need not trouble ourselves to supply them by composts
or manures of any kind. They exist in all plants and animals
in small proportions.

Sulphuric acid exists in soils in combination with lime,
magnesia, alumina, oxide of iron, and the alkalies, and goes
into the circulation of plants, generally in the combination with
lime, ammonia, and the fixed alkalies. It is not only separated
in part from its mineral combinations during its circulation in
plants, but is actually reduced in some of them, sulphur being
known to exist in a free state in most of the cruciferous plants,
such as the mustard, turnip, cabbage, and cauliflower. Every
housewife is familiar with the action of mustard on a silver
spoon, the blackening being due to the action of sulphur, which
combines with the silver.

Sulphate of lime or gypsum, is supposed to owe part of its
fertilizing power to its exchange of elements with carbonate of
ammonia arising from the decomposition of animal manures,
sulphate of ammonia and carbonate of lime resulting ; but it is
certain that clover and some other plants also appropriate sul-
phate of lime in its undecomposed state. Sulphate of ammo-
nia is the most powerful of the soluble sulphates, for it conveys
nitrogen and hydrogen to the plant as well as sulphuric acid.
It is not known exactly how this saline manure acts, but it has
been proved, by experiment, to be one of the most powerful,
acting favorably when used in the minute proportions conveyed
by a steep for seed : this being the German secret of raising
grain from prepared seed without manure, a secret which made
so much noise in the agricultural world a few years since.

Chlorine, in combination with the metallic bases of the allvalies,

19

and with those of magnesia and lime, enters into the eomposi-
tion of all plants, and is always found in such combinations in
their ashes. In some places, sea salt operates favorably as a
saline manure, and increases generally the crops of grass. It is
also favorable to the plum tree, and to vegetables which flourish
best near the sea shore. It is not known what part the chlo-
rides play in the vegetable economy, but their constant presence
seems to indicate that they are in some way useful.

Oxides of iron and manganese doubtless perform useful
functions in the vegetable economy, for they are always found
in the ashes of plants. The oxide of iron, derived from veget-
able food, enters into the composition of blood, and is supposed
to be one of the vehicles for the trans|)ortation of oxygen to
different parts of the body, in the circulating blood. These
oxides being universally present in the soil, there is no need of
supplying them by artificial means. More frequently we have
to neutralize the action of their salts, for some of the soluble
salts of oxide of iron are highly injurious, and destroy tender her-
baceous plants. Lime and a^hes are th.> most common amend-
ments used in case sulphate of iron exists in the soil, and
by their action new and valuable saline manures are produced.

The few mineral substances I have named, are the chief
inorganic constituents of plants of all kinds. Hence they are
universal fertilizers, and we have to examine the soils to ascer-
tain their presence, and the proportions in which they exist, and
to determine the condition that is most favorable to vege-
tation. We have also to ascertain the cheapest and best
methods of supplying those ingredients that are wanting, or are
deficient in quantity, cr to alter the condition or combinations
of those that are not in their most favorable state.

The relative j)roporlions of the different mineral salts, nuiuired
for each different crop, is a study of much interest, and this
inquiry is now occupying the attention of distinguished chem-
ists, who will, in the course of time, discover nuich that will
prove useful in directing the labors of the husbandman.

In the present advanced state of chemical science, new
analyses of plants and of the soil can be advantageously made,
and the highest skill of analytic chemistry is required in this
most important department of agricultural science. Rude and
imperfect analyses are of no use, and only tend to lead the
farmer astray. licence all the " short cut methods" proposed in
newspapers should be di^scarded, as leading to error, and as inju-
rious to society. *

* The acricultural ni'w>papeis foinicrly aboundel with " easy mothwls of
analvzin"- the soils," but h;n)i)ily we do not see tliem so often at this day.

20

ORGANIC MANURES.

Although it is evident that the first vegetation of our globe
grew without the aid of organic manures, or those derived from
the decay of organic matter, either of vegetable or animal origin,
and we know that the lower classes of plants, such as lichens,
and mosses will grow without any other nourishment than
what they derive from rocks, water, and the atmosphere ; still
it is no less certain, that profitable agriculture cannot be carried
on without the aid of decomposing vegetable and animal sub-
stances.

Vegetable matters by decay produce acids, and these acids
decompose the minerals in the soil, and form neutral combina-
tions with the alkaline and earthy bases, rendering many of
them soluble in water.

They also absorb and fix the ammonia, generated by the
decay of animal matters, and form valuable soluble compounds,
which are digestible by plants.* These acids may be called
the vegetable acids of the soil.

The most common acids formed by the decay of vegetable
substances in humid soil are humic acid, apocrenic acid, ulmic
acid, and crenic acid, and a matter called extract of humus.
Besides these, there are neutral substances, called humin,
ulmine, and coal of humus, which, by the action of the air, are
changed into other substances, and become soluble in water.

These vegetable acids of the soil, form combinations with the
various alkaline and earthy matters, and are carried with lh( m
into the circulation of living plants, in which the organic sub-
stances are assimilated or converted into the sap of the plant,
and ultimately into the substance of its tissues.

Animal matters, whether solid or liquid, by decomposition
always form alkaline matter, chiefly ammonia, and its salts.
This alkali corrects the acidity of the soil, combines with the
vegetable acids, extracts them from their insoluble compounds,
and renders them highly soluble in water. It decomposes
noxious mineral salts, such, for exainple, as sulphate of iron and
sulphate of alumina, and forms, with the sulphuric acid, one of
the most valuable saline manures, the very salt which has
acquired so much celebrity for its fertilizing properties when
used as a steep for seeds.

From what has just been said, it appears that science
explains and justifies the experience of ages, which has proved
that is best to mix animal and vegetable matters together in
forming compost manures. Knowing that urine, by decom-

* This I have proved by direct experiments with apoercnate of potash.

21

position, forms carbonate of ammonia, we arc prepared to
understand the necessity of mixing it in compost with peat
and gypsum, so as to retain matters that would otherwise ily
away in a gaseous form.

Carbonic acid gas is composed of one atomic equivalent of
carbon or charcoal, and two of oxygen or vital air. It is this
gas which sparkles in a glass of the beverage called soda
water, and that which causes the foam in a bottle of beer,
cider, or champaign wine. It constitutes a small portion of
the general atmosphere, and is exhaled in the breath of every
animal, and is also produced by the combustion of wood and
coals. It will not support animal respiration, but, on the con-
trary, is poisonous when inhaled into the lungs. This gas is
the supporter of respiration in plants, is absorbed by their
foliage, and, whenever the sun shines on them, the leaves
decompose the carbonic acid which they have absorbed, appro-
priate the carbon, and throw forth pure oxygen gas, or vital
air, into the atmosphere, which goes to supply the breath of
life to animals. So that it is true, that our respiration, in part,
feeds the vegetable world, and that we receive back our breath
in the form of fruit, flowers, and fuel, and the air is restored to
its healthful composition through this marvellous property of
living vegetation. Dumas, the French chemist, says, that the
leaves of plants absorb carbonic acid with so much avidity,
that when a branch of fresh foliage is placed within a glass
globe, and the air is blown rapidly through with a blast bel-
lows, it loses all its carbonic acid in its passage over the leaves,
provided the sun shines on the plant at the time. In darkness,
this action does not take place. Hence, it is evident, that the
sun's rays serve to nourish plants, by aiding in the decomposi-
tion of carbonic acid gas.

A portion of the carbonic acid of the air is dissolved by
rain, and penetrates with it into the earth, and there aids in
the decomposition of the materials of granite rocks, forming
carbonates of potash and soda from the silicates of those
bases. Aquatic vegetation also feeds, in part, on the carbonic
acid of rain water, and absorbs the carbon, and gives out
oxygen gas to support the respiration of fishes, wliich soon
return carbonic acid to the water to repay the plants.*

Thus nature performs a series of the most interesting chem-

* This operation of sub-aqm^ous plants I have witnessed on the coast of
Lake Superior The lake water generally contains about two and a-half per
cent, of its bulk of air dissolved in it. Among aquatic plants, free oxygen is
seen bubbling through the water.

3

22

ical experiments, and keeps up forever the circulation of the
life-supporting matters required by the two great living king-
doms. AMMONIA OF THE AIR. Carbonatc of ammonia has
been supposed to be a constituent of the general atmosphere,
but there is reason to believe that it exists only near the sur-
face of the earth, and arises from decaying animal matters, the
effluvia of which consist partly of this volatile salt.

Many ammonia-producing organic matters, exist in rain
and snow water, and the first snow that falls is well entitled
to the name of the " poor man's manure," for it brings down
with it a very considerable proportion of ammoniacal matters,
which are found in the form of a yellow organic substance, which
is quickly converted by mineral acids into salts of ammonia.
This yellow matter, found in snow and rain water, has been
named by Zimmerman, pyrrhine, and, according to the
researches of Dr. A. A. Hayes, it is the chief source of the
ammonia found in the atmosphere. The well known superi-
ority ot rain water over spring water, as a fertilizer, may be due
to the presence of this highly nitrogenized and easily decom-
posable organic matter in rain water. It is, as before
observed, especially abundant in the first rains, which fall after
a long drought, and hence, those rains produce such marvellous
effects, so far surpassing those produced by terrestrial or spring
water. (See Memoir on the supposed existence of ammonia
in the general atmosphere, by A. A. Hayes, read at the
American Association for the Advancement of Science,
August, 1850.)

Did time permit, we might examine into the systems of agri-
cultural practice, investigate the theory of composting, liming,
and the use of ashes, guano, and saline manures generally, and
explain the effects of these various fertilizers. We might also
shew the various methods of reclaiming peat-bogs, and of
converting them into rich meadows and corn fields.

Irrigation might also claim a share of our attention, for in
spite of the old Spanish proverb in relation to irrigation, that

" In Valencia,
Flesh is grass,
Grass is water,
^/en are women.
And women nothing ! "

we could shew that on many a dry hill side, and pasture,
heavy crops of good substantial grass, capable of making excel-
lent beef and stout muscular fibre in those who eat it, might be
raised, by the action of a trickling overflow of water, from a
narrow ditch, carried along by the hill side, and fed by some
brook or pond, from whence the water might, by proper con-

23

trivances, be derived. Inigatioii is practised in Smithfield,
Rhode Island, with advantage, and I have witnessed its favor-
able effects. There are many farms in this county were it
could be used favorably and at little cost.

Sub-soil ploughing, by giving greater depth to the tilth,
removing cold and stagnant waters, and bringing into ac-
tion the valuable salts which had settled into the deeper soil,
is one of the greatest improvements of modern agriculture, and
has caused two blades of grass to grow where but one grew
before, and given a considerable extension to the root crops, by
allowing them to penetrate deeper into the soil, and draw more
steadily their supply of moisture. This improvement has given
celebrity to its active and intelligent expounder and advocate,
(Mr. Smith, of Deanston, England.) It has been used to advan-
tage by many good farmers in this country.

Under-draining, by tile drains, the last and most costly
improvement of English agriculture, has been practised to a
very hmited extent in this country, but sufficiently to prove its
great value, as a means of improving cold and wet soils.

It may now and then be worth while to drain in this way a
valuable piece of land, or a garden, but its cost is so great that
few persons will use it in general farming, in a country where
land is so cheap as it is with us.

It would doubtless be useful to discuss the value of fish
manures, and to consider the best methods of converting them
and slaughter-house offal into nearly inodorous, but highly
concentrated manures something hke guano — to explain the
best methods of forming that kind of manure, called by the
farmers of Rhode Island "fish pie," (not a very savory dish) —
to explain how fish could be used without carrying an infectious
tieus odour or bringing a swarm of myriads of ugly green flies
to cover our farms, and to take possession of our dweUings ;
but we have not time to enter upon the examination of these sub-
jects, each of which would consume an hour in its discussion.
I may however say, that by making fish into a compost,
with swamp muck, or i)eat, well sprinkl(xl with ground gypsum
and lime, nearly all the disagreeable odour may be prevented,
and the fish will be converted into several substances, all of
which will prove useful as manures. This experiment has
been tried successfully.

Dr. Robert Hare, of Philadelphia, one of the most distinguish-
ed Chemists of our country, has invented a method of form-
ing an artificial guano directly from fish, by the agency sul-
phuric acid. He has secured letters patent for this invention,
but will, I understand, ere long give it to the public. By his

24

process the nitrogenized matters of the fish are directly con-
verted into sulphate of ammonia, while the carbonaceous mat-
ter^is changed into a sort o( humus, and the bones are changed
into superphosphate and sulphate of lime, all Avhich matters
are good manures.

Concentrated manures rarely succeed at first in the hands
of practical farmers, for they use them too freely, and thus
destroy the tender plants. This was the first experience of
most of our farmers with that powerful manure guano. They
have now learned how to use it with safety and effect. It
should always be largely diluted or mixed with soil, or be
spread, one half on the surface and ploughed in, and the other
half may be harrowed in. It should not be put in a hill, but
always should be sown or spread broad cast.

It can be also used advantageously in peat composts. Not
a particle of the ammonia then escapes, for the acids of the
peat combine with it and fix it in a non-volatile state.

In England, the humidity of the climate, prevents guano from
killing the plants, as it sometimes does with us, under oin*
burning summer sun, and in our dry and parched soil; hence
it has proved more generally successful in England than with us.

Peat, by its strong retentive power holds twenty-five percent,
of water in its substance, even when dry enough for fuel. Its
tendency then is to prevent drought, and it forms the safest
basis for all composts, and is the best material to place under
stalls to absorb liquid manures. Ground gypsum, mixed wdth
it, augments its power of taking up ammoniacal gases, and
of decomposing carbonate of ammonia, fixing the ammonia
as a sulphate.

By high manuring, it is perfectly practicable to raise on most
of the soils of this county, seventy-five bushels of corn per acre.
I have seen more than one hundred bushels per acre, raised on
similar granite soil in New Hampshire. The question with
the farmer is, can this be done profitably? Is it better for him
to spend money and labour for manure, or to rest satisfied with
fifteen or twenty bushels of corn per acre without expending
anything for manures ?

These questions each will consider and reply to for himself.
My own opinion, derived from observations made quite exten-
sively, in New England, is that where materials for the formation
of the basis of compost exist, it is advantageous to manufacture
manures even though some of the materials like guano might
have to be purchased.

Where cattle are kept in sufficient numbers, barn-yard ma-
nures will of course take the place of all others, but if the farmer
yvonld make the most of this manure, he will convert it into

• 25

compost with peat, sjypsum, ashes, and in some cases with the
addition of lime. Lime is a powerful decomposing agent, and
must never be mixed with animal manures, unless they are first
mixed with peat or swamp muck, for the ammonia would
otherwise be lost.

Finished composts, or thoroughly rotted manures are gene-
rally preferable since they are more soluble and are free from
seeds of weeds and grasses. I have seen compost heaps made
five years in advance. The composts cost but little money, and
yet were of excellent qualily. By avaiUng himself of al Ithe refuse
of his house and stalls, even to the soap-suds and waste water
of the sink, and causing every such matter to run into his peat
heap, this compost was kept always forming, and when deemed
saturated sufficiently it was removed and replaced by fresh peat.
By addition of a marly day, containing about ten per cent, of
carbonate of lime, the" compost was completed and answered
admirably on both uplands and meadows.*

Leached ashes is a cheap and excellent manure for light
sandy soil. I have seen in a neighbouring Statef a barren
sandy plain rendered fertile by spreading upon it 200 bushels
of leached ashes per acre, and cultivating millet and clover ior
eight years, no other manure being added during that tune, and
the crops being removed. By the stubble left, as analysis has
proved, the soil became annually enriched in vegetable mat-
ter, and gained three per cent, of organic matter in eight years.
The ashes enabled the plants to grow, and they drew on the
atmosphere for a considerable supply of carbon, derived from
carbonic acid gas, so that even the stubble, to say nothing of
the crops removed, proves that mineral manures, such as ashes,
enable the crops to appropriate a larger portion of carbon from
the air. I have seen seventy-five busliels of corn and three and
a half tons of hay produced per acre, on a peat bog that was
thirty feet deep, and had been properly drained and cultivated.?
I have witnessed the valuable effects of lime both in compostj^
and when spread on the soil. This mineral amendment and
manure is not generally understood or well managed, hence
there is great diversity in opinion among farmers as to its value.
It is certain, that the beneficial effects of lime are very rarely
seen the first year, and it is certain that it acts favorably in
two or three years after it is spread on the soil, and that its
fertilizing properties remain for a great number of years.§

* Judge Hays's farm, South Berwick, Maine.

f Rhode Island, Adam Anthony's farm.

t Elias Phinnev's tann, Lexington. ,

§ Levi Bartlett's farm, AVarner, N. 11. Read also his papers.

3*

26

If lime is used in composts its beneficial action may at once
be seen. It makes a very cheap and useful compost with peat,
or swamp muck, nearly equal in value to barn yard manure
though rather slower in its operation.*

In all trials of the value of manures it is necessary to carry
the experiments tluough an entire rotation of crops, for four
years, and a comparison should be kept up with other portions
of land not manured or treated by other methods, as standards
of comparison. ]Most of the agricultural experiments of far-
mers are imperfect for "^'ant of such comparative trials.

The numerous, and constantly improving market gardens in
the neighborhood of cities, prove that the fertility' of soils may
not only be retained, but even be annually augmented by the
judicious use of manures.

The farmer in the country, remote from cities, cannot pur-
chase manures, and must learn to make them from cheap
materials. By mixing with peat, swamp muck, dead leaves,
rotten straw, or rotten w"ood, the alkaline and earthy matters
that will combine with the acids, or by adding any ammonia-
producing matters, such as liquid manures of the stalls, and all
waste liquids of the house, also ground or bmnt bones, gypsmn,
slaughter house ofFal, dead animals, night soil, or any such mat-
ters, excellent and cheap composts may be formed.

Wherever drains can be laid from the house, through
the vault to the barn yard, the arrangement may be so
made as to save the trouble of transporting the waste matters
to the compost heap. This I have seen most conveniently
arranged, the waste water of the sink drains, passing over an
inclined plane of plank in the vault, and then going directly to
the muck heap in the barn yard, so that all waste water of the
house went to the compost heap and cleansed the inclined
plank in its way. thus proving both economical and cleanly.f

When tlie farmer purchases fertihzing substances to spread
on his soil, it is very important to him to know exactly what
the soil requires, so that he may waste nothing, and supply the
deficient matters.

He should know also what degree of solubility' manures should
possess, in order to act most favorably. Nature does not indi-
cate the use of very soluble matters : they would infiltrate into
the sub-soil, and soon be too far removed from the rootlets of
plants to be available to the crop, and most certainly would be
lost in the course of a year or two. The best met.iod is, so to
manage the elements, as to bring slowly and gradually into a

L. Bartlett.
t Judge Hayes'3 &nn. South Berwick, Me.

27

soluble state the substances the crop requires, and thus to im-
prove on nature by following her suggestions.

" For Nature ever faithful is,
To such as trust her faithfulness."

To drench a field with a solution of potash, soda, or ammo-
nia, would serve to exhaust the soil by extracting at once the
organic matters which nature had stored up for a long contin-
ued supply.

The rain would wash away the solution and ere long it would
reach that common recepticle of saline matter, the ocean, and
would leave the field barren. The first effect of the alkaline
solution on the soil would be to produce a large crop, but the
soil would rapidly decline in fertility. Thus it would be a
poor method to use saline manures in this way.

By the use of leached ashes, we eliminate alkaline matter gra-
dually, just as it is needed by growing plants, and it is found
by experience that leached ashes is nearly as valuable in the
long trial, as recent ashes.

It is obvious to the chemist, that ashes produces a better
effect than could be derived from the alkali if separated and
applied by itself.

So also we should find that pure phosphoric, or sulphuric
acids, would not answer for manures, but would be destructive
to plants ; nor would their most soluble salts prove most eco-
nomical.

Nature presents in sparingly soluble combinations her most
rare and precious fertilizers. The phosphates are the most
rare of all, and seldom do we find the phosphoric acid in com-
bination with any bases that form soluble salts with it, but on
the contrary it is generally found in combination with lime,
alumina, and oxide of iron, and fornung not more than three
tenths per cent, of the soil.

Sulphate of lime, or gypsum, is also a sparingly soluble salt.
It is slowly decomposed by the action of carbonate of ammo-
nia, and, little by little, sulphate of ammonia is produced, and is
ready to meet the wants of growing plants, while, at the same
time, carbonate of lime is formed by the union of the carbonic
acid of the carbonate of ammonia, with the lime, of the sulphate
of lime.

This again is decomposed by the freshly forming organic
acids, produced by the decay of vegetable matters in the soil,
and carbonic acid gas is disengaged and goes to decompose
the silicates of the alkalies, while the organic lime salts, are ab-
sorbed and digested by the living j)lants ; so that there are
numerous combinations and decompositions always going on

28

around the roots of the plants ; chemical changes, which have
by some been attributed to the mysterious powers of life.

It might be expected, that I should discuss the value
of different breeds of cattle, and point out the various im-
provements that have been made. I admit the importance
of the subject, and wish that time and my own knowledge
would permit me to enter upon its examination ; but although I
have admired the new and beautiful varieties of live stock that
have been imported into the country, and have been delighted
at witnessing the valuable results which have been attained by
many distinguished cattle breeders, I do not profess to be suf-
ficiently acquainted with the subject, to advise those who have
a more full and experimental knowledge of such matters.

I would also willingly detail to you what I have seen in the
triumphs of the orchardist, and expatiate on the interesting
operations of budding and grafting, and of the rnarv'elous ope-
rations of restoring both bark and roots to mutilated trees, and
shew the superiority of dendral surgery, over the more destruc-
tive operations of animal surgery, the former adding limbs, while
the latter removes them, but our time and your patience must
now be nearly exhausted, and I forbear. I leave this subject with
less reluctance, because I am aware that many members of this
society are far better acquainted with the arts to which I refer
than I can be, for I have been but a looker on, while the far-
mers have done the work.

I cannot close this portion of my address without alluding
to the labours of that distinguished agriculturist, the late Elias
Phinney, Esq., of Lexington, a gentleman to whom I am in-
debted for many of the observations to which I have referred,
and whose well balanced and beautiful orchards stand as mon-
uments of his unsm-passed skill in the management of trees.

I may say, with truth, that in every department of agricul-
tiu-e, he was truly a model farmer, and to no individual am I so
much indebted as to him for valuable facts and useful sugges-
tions. I would also acknowledge my obligations to that scien-
tific fanner, Levi Bartlett, Esq., of Wai-ner, N. H., and to Judge
Hayes, of South Berwick, Elaine.

I have devoted the largest portion of this address to sugges-
tions concerning the best methods of fertilizing soils, knowing
that on such improvements the profits of agriculture must ulti-
mately depend. With an increasing population the value of
land will necessarily rise, and in order to render it valuable for
cidture, it must be improved with a degree of skill rivalling that
of the English farmer.

A nation, to be truly independent, should be able to produce

29

its own food and clothing, and draw from the earth the metals
required for the prosecution of the arts of civilized life.

The first requisite is food, and hence the nation's energy
should be devoted to the encouragement of agriculture. Man-
ufactures and commerce depend on agriculture and mining,
the two fundamental arts on which all others rest.

The destiny of our country is indicated by the nature, extent,
and capacity of our material resources. Enterprise, skill, and
industry, we have inherited from our ancestors, and have culti-
vated with success. To nature we must look for materials on
which we are to operate, and we may with confidence and
pride point to the extent of our domain, and ask, if such a
country, embracing twenty degrees of latitude and fifty-nine
degrees of longitude, with every natural resource that could be
desired, cannot sustain the liundreds of millions of people who
are destined to dwell on this continent?

Yes, gentlemen, we have, and shall have " bread enough,
and to spare," for ages yet to come, and for millions yet un-
born. And with the augmenting population shall spring up
new improvements in the arts, and agriculture improved and
renovated shall be able to sustain in abundance every man to
his acre.

Let no internal dissentions interrupt our progress, or sever
the union of our confederacy. Let us suppress all feelings of
hostility to our fellow-men, and look on the whole human fam-
ily as brethren, not only

" From Mississippi's proud majestic flood,
To where St. Croix meanders through the wood,"

but farther yet, to the whole family of man. In our own coun-
try, let patriotism like the railroad's iron bands unite the sister
States, never to be disunited. Let the sympathy of all Ameri-
cans flow, like the streams of intelligence along the electric
wires, which are rapidly covering our continent with their reti-
culated web, and meet with a response in all parts of our land.
Then with brotherly love uniting us and with emulation in
well doing, under the providence of God, we may look forward,
with sublime confidence, that we may become a great people,
" zealous of good works," and our country shall become an ex-
ample to the world, a desirable asylum for oppressed man, a
home of the brave, the just, and the free.