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THE

FARMER’S MINE,

OR

SOURCE OF WEALTH,

BEING A COMPILATION, WITH THE ADDITION OF NEW AND IMPORTANT
INFORMATION ON THE SUBJECT OF MANURE, TOGETHER WITH THE
MOST APPROVED METHODS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF VEGE-
TABLE MANURE, BY WHICH THE FARMER CAN OBTAIN
IN THE SHORTEST POSSIBLE TIME, AS MUCH MANURE
OF THE RICHEST QUALITY AS HE PLEASES.

TO WHICH IS ADDED,

PRODUCTIVE FARMING,

BY JOSEPH A. SMITH.

‘To the Farmer, Manure must be the first thing, and it must be the last thing; with
it he can do everything, without it, nothing.—GayLerp.

BY HENRY HEERMANCE.

REVISED AND CORRECTED BY
A. B. ALLEN,

£DITOR OF THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST.

~

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY HENRY HEERMANCE,

AND FOR SALE BY SAXTON & MILES,
Office of the American Agriculturist, 205 Broadway.

eg ws fe eee,

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by
HENRY HEERMANCE,

in the Clerk’s office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Ss. W. BENEDICT & CO., PRINT.,
128 Fulton St, N.Y.

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CONTENTS—PART I.

Page
CHAPTER I.

Introduction, . F ? : ; 2 : 9
CHAPTER II.

Salts, . ° . ° . e ° ° 15
CHAPTER III.

Marl, — . . ° 2 ° e . 36
CHAPTER IV.

Gypsum, : - ; ay : - : 49
CHAPTER V.

Ashes, . . ‘ . : ° 53
CHAPTER VI.

Salfy isi. = - ; z - - ‘ 58
CHAPTER VII.

Salt and Lime mixed, . . i 70

CHAPTER VIII.

Action of Manures, . ‘ 5 : 72
CHAPTER IX.

Vegetable Manures, . é : a 45
CHAPTER X.

Manures produced by the dead or dry parts, 81
CHAPTER XI.

83

Manures produced by seeds and fruits,

CONTENTS

Page
CHAPTER XII.
Manures produced from the herbage of fresh water, . : 85
CHAPTER XIII.
Artificial Manures, . : ; : ; “ 87
CHAPTER XIV.
Manures produced by Marine plants, . é ‘ - 114
CHAPTER XV.
Animal Manures, : - 3 . - 116
CHAPTER XVI.
Animal offals, . ~ : 4 - : 122
CHAPTER XVII.
Charcoal and Soot, ‘ : : : - : 129
CHAPTER XVIII.
Excrements of Birds, . “ 2 : ‘ : 136
CHAPTER XIX.
Night Soil—Poudrette, : - - : 4 138
CHAPTER XX.
Liquid Manures, - F : ; é : 142
CHAPTER XXI.
Animal and Animalized Black, P ; : F 152
CHAPTER XXII.
Manufacture of disinfected Manures, . : : Z 155
CHAPTER XXIII.
Yard Manure, . : . - : 4 : 158
CHAPTER XXIV.
Composts and Liquids, . : , : ; 168
CHAPTER XXV.
Different Methods for the poner or Manufacture of
Vegetable Manure, . : 4 : é 173

CONTENTS—PART II.

Preface, i ~ ‘ 7 - : .

CHAPTER I.
Introductory Observations, - : - s °

CHAPTER II.

Some Account of the Simple or Elementary Bodies found (com-
bined or uncombined) in Animals, Plants, and Soils, :

CHAPTER III.

Plants and Animals are both alike endowed with Life; the
Elementary Materials.and many of the Proximate Principles
of Animal and Vegetable matter are precisely identical—they
have similar Organs essential to their growth and reproduc-
tion, and are nourished or destroyed by the same agencies,

CHAPTER IV.

Of the Elementary Composition of Water; of the Composition
of the Atmosphere; and of the artificial ie ciiaes of bine
ter to Grass Lands, - ° :

CHAPTER V.

Of the Nature of Vegetable Growth; the true use of Vegeta-
ble Mould or Humus ; and of the Sources of the Elementary

Constituents of Plants, , :
CHAPTER VI.
Of the Sources of the Saline, Earthy, and other rte
Constituents of Vegetables, . 4

CHAPTER VII.

Of the necessary Relation between the Composition of a Soil
and the Vegetables it is fitted to raise. Fallowing and
Green Crops considered as Vegetable Manure, : ‘

Page
185

187

200

210

232

238

259

265

CONTENTS

CHAPTER VIII.
Of the Nature and correct Use of the Excrements of Animals
considered as Manure; the Mode of its Action and Preserva-
tion.—Bone Dust, and dead Animal Matter,

CHAPTER IX.
Of the comparative Value of Vegetable ee. as contrasted
with Animal Excrements, : 5 “ :
CHAPTER X.

Of Manures of Mineral Origin, or Fossil and Artificial or Che-
mical Manures; their Preparation, and the Manner in which
they Act.—Of Lime in its different States; its Operation as
a Manure.—Of Alkalies, and Common Salts, as to their
Action upon the Land, : : .

CHAPTER XI.

Of the Composition of Productive Soils, and of the Agency of
the Elements in their Natural Formation, from the Rocks
upon which they rest, : . P ‘ P

CHAPTER XII.

Of the Chemical Analysis of Soils, and how far this is practi-
cable by the Farmer, ° : ‘ .

CHAPTER XII.
Of Advertised “ Fertilizers” for the Soil,

Page

276

295

298

308

320

325

PREFACE.

7

In the following compilation, I have selected largely
from the “ Farm House of the 19th Century,” also from
Dana, Gaylord, Liebig, and several of the agricultural
papers of the day. The object has been, to present
the subject in a form calculated to interest and instruct
our farmers. We have long witnessed the want of econo-
my and skill in fertilizing the. soil, and have made some
small effort to correct the evil. A full view has been
given of the different substances used to enrich the soil,
together with the different modes practised in different
countries.

It only remains for our farmers to avail themselves of
the information furnished here, especially of the improved
method for manufacturing vegetable manure, and the feed
of their pastures and yield of their harvests will be
greatly increased ; thereby filling their pockets, and mak-
ing the book, to them, what its title claims, “ The Farmer’s

Mine, or Source of Wealth.”
H. Herermance.
New York, September, 1843.

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THE

FARMER’S MINE.

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.

Or all the pursuits to which mankind, from necessity or
inclination, have devoted themselves, there is none more
honorable—certainly none more useful—than that of
agriculture. Perfect agriculture is the true foundation
of ail trade and industry—it is the foundation of the
riches of States. To pursue this business successfully,
knowledge, extensive and varied, is required ; for,
although a man may succeed by following the beaten
paths of his predecessors, occasions will frequently arise,
when the end desired may be attained by methods much
shorter than those usually adopted, if the farmer is able
to form and apply them. It is here that science has,
within a few years, rendered the most essential aid to
agriculture. Sometimes, reasoning from well known
effects to their causes, the agricultural chemist has
placed in the hands of the farmer the means of producing
results, always desirable, but which, under the older sys-.
tems of farming, with his utmost care, he frequently failed
of obtaining. Again, taking well-established facts in
animal or vegetable physiology as his starting point, he
has arrived at results of the highest practical importance,
and is enabled to render more certain, and effective the

10 THE FARMER’S MINE.

more tardy operations of nature. In no department of
agricultural industry, it is believed, have the labors of
science been more beneficial or more apparent than in
that of the preparation and use of manures; certain it
is, there is no department more deserving attention, or
where an elucidation of the principles and laws that
govern the growth of plants, acts with a more direct
aud energetic influence.

The true farmer, no less a sage than the ancient ora-
tor, who gave to action the first, second, and third place
in eloquence, will answer, if it isasked him, What is his
first requisite? Manure. Whatsecond? Manure. What
third? Manure. These answers are to be united. Ac-
tion and manure are the first and last requisites in agri-
culture, and in the attempt to show what is the last, and
how it acts, will be offered every inducement to action.

Definition.— A. definition of the term manure may be
necessary, in order to treat the subject understandinely,
as different individuals use the word in widely different
senses, Some in a wide, and some in a limited one. A
few instances of the meaning put upon the term will be
given from a few of the modern writers who have ad-
verted to this topic. Thus Dr. Leiber, in his German
Conversations Lexicon, defines manure to be ** veceta-
ble, animal, and mineral matters, introduced into the soil
to accelerate vegetation, and increase the production
of crops.” The int yelsoeats: published by the London
Society for the Prometion of Useful Knowledge, thus
defines it:—“ Every substance which has been used to
improve the natural soil, or to restore to it the fertility
which is diminished by the crops annually carried away,
has been included in the name of manure.” Loudon, in
his great work on Agriculture, says—“ Every species of
matter capable of promoting the growth of vegetables,
may be considered as manure.” Prof. Low, in his Ele-
ments of Agriculture, says—“ Al! substances which,
when mixed with the matter of the soil, tend to fertilize
it, are in common language termed manures.” Mr

INTRODUCTION. dl

Johnson, in his “ Farmers’ Encyclopedia,” lately pub-
lished, says—“ A manure may be defined to be any fer-
tihzing compound or simple ingredient added to a soil,
of which it is naturally deficient.” The definitions of
Prof. Liebig and Dr. Dana, two of the latest writers on
the subject, do not differ essentially from those already
given. Of these definitions, I prefer the most simple
and comprehensive, that of* Loudon, and in this paper
shall consider the term manure as embracing every sub-
stance capable of promoting the growth of plants.

Manures, by some, are classed as earthy, organic, and
saline; others divide them into animal and vegetable,
mineral and mixed manures, and some speak of them as
composed only of geine or humus and salts. Others
class them as organic and inorganic; but these divisions
are of little consequence, as every farmer understands
that manure is the result of decomposition or change ; and
that, whether organic, that is, derrved from animal or
vegetable matter ; or inorganic, such as the earths, clay,
lime, the alkalies, &c., it is only efficient when presented
to plants in certain forms, such as decomposition, division
or solution. In France they have terms to distinguish
those substances which act mechanically in improving the
texture of the soil, from those which act directly in the
nourishment of the plant. The former class of substances
they call amendements, and tlie latter ones engrais. It is
probable, however, that the system which considers all
manures as consisting of humus or geime, and sults, com-
prehending in the Jatter term all the mineral substances
that enter into the growth or nourishment of vegetables,
will eventually be found the most simple, and at the same
time the most accurate of all the proposed divisions of
manures. Thus, humus constitutes the source of the car-
ben, forming the principal part of the structure of plants ;
and the salts, where they do not enter into the structure of
plants, are active in preparing the other inorganic elements,
and exciting the vegetable organs in their reception and
appropriation of nutriment.

12 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Humus or Geine, is simply decomposed animal and ve-
getable matter; and as from it, by the action of oxygen,
carbonic gas is derived, to be absorbed by water and
taken up by the roots, or mixed with the atmosphere and
taken up by the leaves of plants; or, as some agricultural
chemists with good reason suppose, is under certain cir-
cumstances dissolved, or is soluble, and thus rendered fit
for immediate nourishment to plants, it must be considered
the most important item in the production of manures.
The salts, which are the most efficient in aiding vegeta~
tion, or the most active manures, are those formed from
the alkalies and their various combinations. Thus, from
pure lime or calcium, is formed, by the union with carbo-
nic acid, carbonate of lime ; with phosphoric acid, phos-
phate of lime, the base of bones, one of the most efficient
of fertilizers ; with sulphuric acid, sulphate of lume, or gyp-
sum, the value of which is well understood; and so with
the other alkalies, which, in their combinations, form sub-
stances of the utmost consequence to plants. It is well
known that the outer covering of some kinds of cane
coitains so much flint or silex as to strike fire with steel ;
and some of the grasses contain this substance in such
quantity that their ashes wil] melt into glass with potash.
Now, this hardness, so necessary to their perfection, could
not be attained unless this flint had been rendered soluble
by union with an alkali, forming a silicate of potash, and
by this solubility been rendered fit for the action and ap-
propriation of the plant.

Food of Piants.—If we would know what kind of food
is required by plants, one of the first steps necessary is to
ascertain of what the plants themselves are composed.
The combinations of matter may be said to be absolute]

endless; but the original elements of this multitude of
combinations are few in number. Chemistry has detected
only some fifty-five substances incapable of further reduc-
tion, or what are called simple substances; and of these,
Strange as it may appear, only four, except in proportions
merely accidental, go to the formation of plants. Of these
the first is Carbon. This forms from 40 to 50 per cent by

INTRODUCTION. 13

weight, of the plants cultivated for food ; and is therefore
most important to animals and to man. Carbon is an ele-
mentary substance, endowed with a considerable range of
affinity. With oxygen it unites in two proportions, form-
ing the gaseous compounds known under the names of
carbonic acid and carbonic oxide. The former of these is
emitted in immense quantities from many volcanoes and
mineral springs, and is a product of the combustion and
decay of organic matter. It is subject to be decomposed
by various agencies, and its elements then arrange them-
selves into new combinations. Carbon is familiarly known
as charcoal, but in this state it is mixed with several
earthy bodies; in a state of absolute purity it constitutes
the diamond.

The second of these simple substances, is Orygen. The
quantities of this substance are immense ; and though we
are acquainted with it only in the form in which it exists
in the air, nearly one-half of the solid crust of the globe,
21 per cent of the atmosphere, eight pounds in every nine
of water, and more than one-half of the living bodies of
all plants and animals, are oxygen. In an isolated state
it is a gaseous body, possessed of neither taste nor smell.
It is slightly soluble in water, and hence is usually found
dissolved in rain and snow, as well as in the water of
running streams. It is the agent employed in effecting
the union and disunion of a vast number of compounds.
It is superior to all other elements in the extensive range
of its affinities. The phenomena of combustion and de-
cay are examples of the exercise of its power.

Hydrogen is the third substance peculiar to plants.
This is the lightest of known substances, and forms a
small part of the weight of all animal and vegetable bo-
dies ; constitutes one-ninth part of the weight of water,
but enters into the composition of none of the masses that
go to form the crust of the globe, coal excepted. Hydro-
gen is a very important constituent of vegetable matter.
It possesses a special affinity for oxygen, with which it
unites and forms water. The whole of the phenomena of
decay depend upon the exercise of this affinity, and many

14 THE FARMER’S MINE.

of the processes engaged in the nutrition of plants origiw
nate in the attempt to gratify it. Hydrogen, when in the
state of a gas, is very combustible, and the lightest body
known; but it is never found in nature in ar isolated con-
dition. Water is the most common combination in which
it is presented ; and it may be removed by various process-
es from the oxygen with which it is united in this body.

The fourth simple substance, entering into the formation
of plants, is Nitrogen. This forms 79 per cent. of the
bulk of the atmosphere; constitutes part of most animal
and some vegetable substances; is found in coal to the
amount of one or two per cent, but does not exist in any
other of the mineral masses constituting the crust of the
globe. Although not an abundant substance, the impor-
tance of it is not the less decided, and some of its functions
are of the most indispensable kind. Its principal charac-
teristic is an indifference to all other substances, and an
apparent reluctance to enter into combination with them.
When forced by peculiar circumstances to do so, it seems
to remain in the combination by a vis inertie ; and very
slight forces effect the disunion of these feeble compounds.
Yet nitrogen is an invariable constituent of plants, and
during their life is subject to the contro! of the vital
powers. But when the mysterious principle of life has
ceased to exercise its influence, this element resumes its
chemical character, and materially assists in promoting
the decay of vegetable matter, by escaping from the com-
pounds of which it formed a constituent.

Plants, then, are composed of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen,
and nitrogen; the first derived from carbonic acid, the
second from the atmosphere, the third from the decompo-
sition of water, and the fourth from ammonia absorbed by
water, and taken up by the roots of the vegetables. Some
of the earths are occasionally detected in plants, and salts
of some kind are always present. In the preparation of
manures, the principal object to be aimed at, it is evident,
must be to supply the materials needed to furnish the carbon
and the ammonia ; and these are found in the greatest abun-
dance in dead or decomposed animal and vegetable matter.

CHAPTERII.

SALTS.

To preserve due order, we will first notice those
substances, which by some are denominated amendments ;
by others, mineral manures ; in the preceding classification,
Salis. These may be supposed to act in different ways.

Ist. They may act upon the soil by improving its texture,
or by rendering soluble the parts of it which are insoluble,
or by otherwise fitting it to promote the growth of plants.

2d. They may act immediately upon the plant itself, by
being received into its substance.

The manner in which this action takes place upon the
organs of the plant may elude our observation ; but this
much may be admitted, that certain earths, oxides, and
alkalies, combined with acids, pass into the substance of
the plant, absorbed, it may be, in part, from the atmos-
phere, but chiefly along with the aqueous portion of the
sap, from the earth in which the roots are fixed. Some
substances taken up in this latter mode, are known to act
as poisons, while others exercise a beneficial action on the

lant.

P We cannot generally distinguish when a mineral sub-
stance acts upon the plant, through the medium of a
change in the soil, or when it acts directly upon the plant
itself. All that we truly know is, that certain earthy and
alkaline bodies, or their saline combinations, applied to the
soil, promote the growth of plants, and so, in the language
of farmers, are manures.

16 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Lime.

Of all the mineral substances known to us, lime is
that which performs the most important part in improv-
ing the soil and promoting the growth of vegetables.
Lime is found in nearly all soils that are capable of sus-
taining vegetation, and, in combination with different acids,
in nearly all vegetable substances.

Lime, as employed in agriculture and the arts, is derived
from three distinct series or orders of rocks.

1. From the rocks of the primary series. These are
very compact and crystalline. They afford the finest of
our marbles, and yield a pure lime.

2. From the lower secondary or transition rocks.
These, like the last, are hard and crystalline, and yield a
lime of good quality.

3. From the carboniferous rocks, or those of the middle
secondary order. It is from this source that the largest
supplies of the mineral are derived. Of this series is the
mountain limestone, which is the most familiar to us, and
the most generally employed in agriculture and the arts.

4. From the upper secondary rocks. In this series is
the magnesian limestone, which, from its possessing pecu-
liar properties, to be afterwards adverted to, is termed hot-
lime by agriculturists.

Of the same order of rocks, too, namely, the upper
secondary, are the lias and oolite, which are found in some
parts of England, and the lime of which is employed for
agricultural purposes.

The last of the series of the upper secondary rocks is the
chalk, which is found abundantly in the south-east coun-
ties of England and in France, extending eastward
through the central parts of Europe.

Limestone, from whatever series of rocks derived, when
submitted to the action of heat, loses the carbonic acid
with which it was united, becomes a substance of an acrid
nature, absorbs water with an evolution of heat, and, by
this union, forms what is termed a hydrate. In absorbing
water, it crumbles down by degrees, while at the same
time it begins to imbibe carbonic acid from the atmosphere.

LIME, 17

in absorbing carbonic acid, the water of the hydrate is
expelled, the carbonic acid taking its place. In this man-
ner the lime recovers the principles which it had lost by
calcination. It becomes again a carbonate, without, how-
ever, having recovered its hardness and external charac-
ters. In proportion as its recomposition takes place, it
loses the properties which it had acquired by calcination,
ceases to be acrid and caustic, and its solubility in water
is diminished.

Lime is applied to the ground either in a state of hydrate,
that is, immediately after being slacked, and when it still
retains its caustic properties ; or in the state of carbonate,
that is, after it has again absorbed carbonic acid from the
Surrounding medium and become mild.

When the object is to supply calcareous matter to a soil
in which it is deficient, it often appears to be unimportant
whether it is applied as a carbonate or a hydrate. In the
latter state, however, it is more perfectly divided, and may
be spread more equally upon the surface, and better min-
pled with the soil; and further, in its caustic state, it pro-
duces effects which it either does not produce in its mild
state, or which it produces in a less degree.

Lime, in its caustic state, is observed to exercise a pow-
erful action in decomposing the ligneous parts of plants.
The same effect is indeed produced by the action of mild
lime, but in a less perceptible degree.

Caustic lime, while it dissolves vegetable fibre, and ren-
ders it soluble, has also the property of forming compounds
of asoapy nature with the soluble portion of vegetable
and animal substances, which compounds are not dissolved
till after a considerable time.

Caustic lime thus performs two. functions apparently
opposed to each other. It decomposes the inert vegetable
matter cf the soil, and then forms compounds which are
not themselves readily soluble.

Lime forms these insoluble compounds with almost all
the soft animal or vegetable substances with which it can
combine ; but these compounds, exposed to the combined

9*

18 THE FARMER’S MINE.

action of the air and water, are altered in time; the lime
gradually becomes a carbonate, the animal or vegetable
matters are by degrees decomposed, and furnish new com-
pounds capable of nourishing plants ; so that lime, in per-
forming two functions seemingly opposed to each other,
really promotes the fertility of the soil and the growth of
plants. It first disposes certain substances insoluble in
water to become soluble, while, by combining in part with
substances which are soluble, it prolongs the nutritive
action of soft vegetable and animal substances beyond the
time in which they would have acted, if they had not
entered into a combination with lime.

Of this particular mode of action, an example may be
given in one of the arts. When it is wished to carry off
from the vegetable juices in the manufacture of sugar the
animal substances which have been used, lime is employed,
which combines with these substances, and rises with them
to the surface of the liquid in the form of a thick scum,
which is insoluble in water. This scum, laid upon the
fields, is injurious to plants; but when it is deposited in a
ditch, and is allowed to ferment for a year, it forms one of
the richest manures. Count Chaptal states that he has
proved this fact during a period of many years in his manu-
facture of beet-sugar, by employing in this manner the
scum which is obtained by the first operation which is per-
formed on the juice of the beet.

In like manner the application of lime to night-soil,
does not hasten the decomposition of this substance, but,
on the contrary, forms with it a less soluble compound. It
moderates its action, and renders its effects less sudden,
but more permanent.

Mixed, too, with any pure animal substance, lime does
not waste it, as, reasoning from its action on vegetable
fibre, we might infer. It hastens decomposition indeed,
but then it forms with the substances decomposed com-
pounds less easily decomposable. Hence it is not opposed
to theory that lime should be applied to the soil at the
same time with dung and other animal and vegetable sub-
stances, as is frequent in the practice of farmers.

LIME. 19

Certain acids and acid combinations often exist in the
soil or subsoil, and produce infertility. Lime, by forming
new combinations with these bodies, frequently neutralizes
their hurtful effects. Thus, if sulphate of iron, or green
vitriol, which is a combination of sulphuric acid with the
oxide of iron, exists in the soil, and lime be applied, the
lime will combine with the sulphuric acid of the vitriol and
form gypsum, and thus convert into fertilizing matter a
substance which, in excess, is injurious.

Now, the carbonate of lime performs only in part these
several functions; and although cases may exist where
the application of the carbonate will be as effectual as
that of the caustic lime, yet, in the great majority of cases,
it is better that lime be applied in its caustic than in its
' mild state.

Absolute quicklime, however, 7. e. lime at once taken
from the lime-kiln, will decompose or destroy living plants ;
but it is never employed in this state by the farmer. It is
always slacked, and generally suffered to slack gradually
in the air, in which case it also attracts some carbonic
acid, and then it may be employed without injury even to
plants when growing.

Lime may be applied to the land in different ways, and
at different periods.

1. It may be laid on the surface of land which is in
grass, and remain there until the land is plowed up for
tillave, even though this should be several years after-
wards. The lime, in this case, quickly sinks into the soil,
and acting upon it, prepares it for crops when it is again
tilled.

2. It may be spread upon the ground, and covered by
the plow, just after a crop of any kind has been reaped.
In this case, it prepares the soil for the succeeding crops.

3. It may be spread upon the surface even when plants
are growing. This practice, however, though sometimes
convenient, is rarely to be imitated.

4. It may be, and is most frequently, applied during the
season in which the land is in fallow, or in preparation

20 THE FARMER’S MINE.

for what are termed fallow crops. The manner of apply-
ing it in these cases will be afterwards explained.

5. It may be mixed with earthy matter, particularly
with that containing vegetable remains; in this case it
forms a compost.

The quantity of lime applied to soils is very various,
and is dependent upon the nature of the soils, the climate,
and other circumstances. In warmer countries, a smaller
quantity need be used than in those that are cold and humid.

The stiff clays for the most part require a larger pro-
portion of it than the lighter soils ; and in the case of such
soils as contain much undecomposed vegetable matter, as
peat, a quantity should be applied sufficient to decompose
effectually the inert fibre.

In the north of England and south of Scotland, a mo-
derate application of lime for the lighter soils is held to
be 120 bushels heaped measure, and a medium dose for
soils of different kinds about 130 bushels, though a much
larger quantity than this is frequently applied in certain
clay-land districts. I speak here of newly-calcined lime-
stone; for when it has imbibed moisture and becomes
a hydrate, it swells out to about two times its former bulk.

The periods at which doses of lime should be repeated,
differ according to the quantity applied and the manner of
using it. In cases where the large applications just
spoken of are made, an effectual liming need not occur in
less than fourteen or fifteen years.

But, in other cases, lime is applied in smaller quantity,
and more frequently, and there 1s nothing opposed to a
sound theory in this practice. Nay, there is reason to in-
fer that a more frequent application of lime, and in smaller
quantity, is the most advantageous method of using it.

The application of lime calls into powerful action the
nutrient principles of the soil; and hence, if land be
severely cropped after lime has been used, it is reduced to
a greater state of sterility than if the stimulant had not
been applied. Lime, therefore, calculated as it is to pro-
duce the best effects in fertilizing a soil, is frequently made

LIME. pF |

the means, in the hands of an injudicious farmer, to injure
it. This is especially observable in the case of light soils
of an inferior kind. These are frequently so injured by
injudicious cropping after the application of lime, that
they are reduced to a state of the greatest barrenness.
When soils are brought to this condition by scourging
crops, they cannot be restored to fertility by a subsequent
application of lime. So far from this, the future dose
generally renders them more barren than before. The
only good remedies are the application of vegetable and
animal manures, and rest in grass.

But although the stimulating properties of lime may be
abused, it is an instrument of production of the highest
importance in the hands of the skilful farmer. On land im-
proved and cultivated for the first time, it exercises a very
powerful influence, and it is difficult to conceive how in
many parts such land could be improved at all without the
assistance of this mineral.

Lime is found to improve the quality of plants produced,
to render those cultivated more productive of farine mat-
ter, and even to cause species that were not before grow-
ing naturally to occupy the ground. Thus, lime spread
upon a piece of peaty land, is frequently found to eradicate
in whole or in part the heaths, and to permit the grasses
and clovers to take their place.

Whenever it is found advisable to deepen a soil by
plowing up a portion of the subsoil, the application of
lime is the most speedy means presented to us of correct-
ine the defects, or stimulating the productive powers, of
the new substance exposed.

To admit of the beneficial action of lime, the soil
should be freed of superfluous water. Not lime only, but
all manures, are inefficient when the land is saturated in
consequence of the excess of wetness.

In the ‘Farm House of the 19th century,’ we have the
following valuable article on Lime :—

Lime suits soils which do not already contain in excess
the calcareous combinations. Every soil which consists of
granitic debris, of slate, almost all the sandy clay soils,

aD THE FARMER’S MINE.

those moist arid cold soils of the immense argilo-
siliceous table-lands which confine the basins of our large
rivers, the grotnd upon which the fern, the small ajone,
the broom, the little white carex, and the whitish lichens
grow spontaneously ; ; almost all the soils infested with
beaded oats, dog’s-tooth, agrostis, red sorrel and small
motherwort ; that which yields only rye, potatoes and
black grain ; where the sainfoin and most of the vegeta-
bles of commerce do not succeed ; where, however, trees of
every sort, and especially those of a resinous nature, the wild
pine, the maritime pine, the larch, the Weymouth pine, and
the chestnuts flourish better than in better soils; all these
soils do not contain the calcareous element, and all the
amendments in which it is found will give them the quali-
ties and cause them to yield the product of calcareous soils.

But here, more than elsewhere, we must guard against
too much haste; the liming on a large scale should not
take place till after having succeeded in experiments upon
a small, in different parts of the estate.

Of the various modes of employing lime upon the sol.

Three modes are principally in use for spreading lime.
The first and the simplest, that which is employed in most
places where lime 1s cheap, cultivation little advanced, and
manual labor dear, consisis in putting the lime immediately
upon the soil in small heaps, distant from each other
twenty feet in the mean, and containing, according to the
dose administered, from one-half foot to one foot cubic
measure. When the lime in consequence of its exposure
to the air, is reduced to powder, it is spread upon the soil
in'such a way as to be equally diffused.

The second method differs from the first in this, that we
cover each heap with a thickness of from six inches to one
foot of earth according to the size of the heap, and which
equals five or six times the bulk of the slacked lime;
when the lime begins to swell in slacking, the cracks and
crevices of the heap are filled with earth, and when it is
reduced to powder it is worked over, to mix the earth and
the lime. If work is not driving, the same operation is

LIME: : 93

repeated a fortnight °after, and in another fortnight the
whole is spread upon the soil.

The third process, used in countries the best cultivated,
where lime is dear, and which unites all the advantages
of liming without some of its inconveniences, consists in
making compost of the lime and earth or mould. For this
purpose a bed is first made of earth, mould or turf, one foot
thick, of a length double its breadth; the clods are broken ;
and it is covered with a layer of lime one hectolitre to 20
cubic feet (that is 3,5 cubic feet of lime to 20 of mould, or
about one-sixth), upon this lime is placed a second layer
of earth, then a second of lime, then a third layer of earth
and of lime, which is finally covered with earth. If the
earth is moist and the lime fresh, eight or ten days will
suffice to slack the lime; the compost is then cut down
and mixed ; it is again pitched over before being used, be-
cause the older and more perfect the mixture the more
powerful is its effect upon the soil, and especially when it
may have been made with earth containmmg more humus.
This method is most used in Belgium and the Netherlands ;
itis almost the only one in Normandy ; it alone is prac-
tised, and with the greatest success, in Sarthe. Lime in
compost never injures the soil ; it carries with it the sur-
plus of manure required by a surplus of products. Light
gravelly or sandy soils can never be overcharged with it.
Finally, this mode of applying lime to the soil seems to us
the surest, most effective, and least expensive.

The reduction of lime to powder by means of moment-
ary immersion in water in baskets with handles can much
hasten the liming, whether it be done immediately upon
the soil or by means of compost; a few hours then suf-
fice instead of waiting a fortnight. If great rains succeed,
this operation is not without inconveniences, for then the
lime more easily turns into paste and this is what above
all things should be avoided.

The reduction of lime to powder, whether done sponta-
neously or by immersion, produces in the compost a bulk
one-half larger than lime in the stone ; ten cubic feet, for
instance, produce fifteen.

94 THE FARMER’S MINE.

The liming in use in different countries.

1. Liming in the Department of Ain.—The use of lime in
this country dates back fifty years; the soil limed at that
period is still more productive than the neighboring soil
not limed. Nevertheless, the liming is only beginning to
extend itself, while marling, commenced fifteen years later,
has already covered some thousands of acres; this is be-
cause marling is an operation within reach of the poor
cultivators, because it is effected by manual labor only,
while liming requires considerable advances, especially in
: country where lime is dear, and the dose employed

are.

Indeed the doses vary from 60 to 100 bushels per acre,
according to the nature of the soil, or rather according to
the caprice of the cultivator.

Although the limings here have-not been practised with
all the care and economy which are desirable, they have
been very efficacious when the soil limed has been suffi-
ciently drained.

The registers of the products of three contiguous estates,
during 12 years, 3 before and 9 during the limings, give
us the means of appreciating their results. The quantity
of seed and the products are calculated in double deca-
litres. [The decalitre contains about 2 gallons and1 pint.]

Lable of the products of the estate of Croisette.
RYE. WHEAT.

a Seed. |Product.| Seed. | Product.
1822 110 600 24 146
1823 110 764 24 136
1824 110 744 24 156
1825 107 406 27 251
1826 106 576 28 210
1827 100 504 30 249
1828 90 634 36 391
1829 82 538 48 309
1830 60 307 60 459
1831 78 350 48 417
1832 55 478 68 816

1833 61 529 52 545

LIME. 25

Table of the products of the estate of Meyzervat.

a RYE. WHEAT.
¥ Seed. |Product.| Seed. | Product.
1822 120 487 16 100
1823 120 708 16 103
1824 120 644 18 84
1825 112 504 28 228
1826 120 677 20 115
1827 115 594 20 162
1828 118 726 40 328
1829 104 566 41 277
1830 79 298 71 ATT
1831 91 416 43 326
1832 79 411 75 786
1833 76 661 48 351

Table of the products of the estate of Baronne.

RYE. WHEAT.
YEARS. | Seed. |Product.| Seed. | Product.
1822 110 505 22 180
1823 110 652 22 138
1824 110 662 24 149
1825 102 398 a2 252
1826 110 612 32 187
1827 107 546 34 204
1828 98 696 35 343
1829 84 608 40 268
1830 91 389 59 374
1831 92 411 40 295
1832 70 512 80 649
1833 75 511 51 471

The use of 3000 hectolitres (8255 bushels) of lime
costing 6000 francs ($1142), upon 32 hectares (72 acres)
of ground, successively durig nine years, has therefore
more than doubled the product of winter grain, the seed
being first deducted. The other crops of the estate have
received a proportional increase, and the income of the
proprietor by doubling has been increased annually by at
least two-thirds of the capital sum expended in the pur-
chase of lime, and yet he has not half his arable soil limed,

86 THE FARMER’S MINE.

since of 76 hectares only 32 have received the amend-
ment.

Numerous other examples confirm these results, and it
is shown particularly that the product of wheat is in-
creased from twice to three times the seed, that rye lands
pass from a product of from four to five times in rye to
one of from seven td eight times in wheat, and that the
other products have a proportional increase. The amelio-
ration is much more considerable upon bad farms than
upon good ones,—since it is two-thirds and more in wheat
lands, and the crop is threefold in value upon rye lands.

2. Flemish Limings.—The use of calcareous amendments
in the department du Nord as well as in Belgium, appears
to be as old as their good agriculture; it is much less fre-
quent in Belgium. The former and successive limings
have, it would seem, furnished toa great part of the soil
all the calcareous matter which is for the present neces-
sary; but the department du Nord still receives lime, marl
or ashes, almost whenever lime is not an original consti-
tuent of the soil. In this country there is a distinction
between deep liming and the liming of the rotation; the
first consists in giving to the soil, every 10 or 12 years,
before the autumnal sowing, 4 cubic metres or 40 hecto-
litres (about 110 bushels) of lime to the hectare (nearly
50 bushels to the acre); the ashes of coal and of peat are
usually mixed with the lime, and form from one-third to
half the bulk.

The liming at each renewal of the rotation or upon the
spring grains, 1s given in compost ; it 1s the regular prac-
tice in this country, more even than in Belgium, upon the
meadows and cold pastures which are not subject to nri-
gation; it warms the ground and increases and improves
the products ; the older the compost is, the greater is the
effect: it is prolonged for 15 or 20 years; at the end of
which it is renewed.

The limings of Normandy, the oldest in France, are
maintained about Bayeux, whilst elsewhere they are for-
bidden in the leases. However, they still get all the sur-

LIME: 27

face which has need of them, but instead of an immediate
application to the soil as formerly, the lime is almost al-
ways in compost. :

3. Liming in Sarthe-—Of all modes, that of Sarthe
seems to me preferable ; it is at the same time economical,
productive, and guards the soil from exhaustion. It is
applied once in three years—at each renewal of the rota-
tion, at the medium dose of twelve bushels per acre; in
compost made beforehand with seven or eight times as
much mould or good soil as lime. The compost is used
upon the soil for the autumn sowing in alternate rows
with dung. This process, which grows daily more suc-
cessful, is much spread upon the banks of the Loire, and
would seem worthy of adoption wherever the soil easily
drains.

We thought it our duty to insist upon the propriety
and advantages of using lime and manure simultaneously.
Here they do better still by employing the compost of
lime and earth simultaneously with dung ; hence for half a
century since the people of Mans commenced their liming,
the fruitfulness of the soil has not ceased to increase.

The countries of which we have spoken are those parts
of France where liming is most extensive ; however, more
than half the departments have commenced the practice,
I think, and in one fourth it is thoroughly established.
Doubtless the first trials may not everywhere succeed,
and it would require a union of rare circumstances to cause
some successful trials to be imitated by the masses; still,
instances of success multiply, and become centres of
impulse which will propagate the amelioration.

A, English Liming—The use of lime in England
seems to be established upon a different principle from
that in France; it is practised with such prodigality that
there is frequently no room for the soil to be improved
afterwards. Whilst in France we give lime to the extent
of from one thousandth to one hundredth part of the ara-
ble bed, that is from 12 to 120 bushels per acre, in Eng-
land they give from 1-100 to 6-100, or from 120 to 720

98 THE FARMER’S MINE.

bushels per acre. The full success of our method causes
us to regard the English method as a piece of useless pro-
digality. A capital five, six or ten times larger, is sacri-
ficed without securing any better result. And, unless
manure be afterwards lavishly bestowed, the future pro-
ductiveness of the soil may be endangered in the hands of
a greedy cultivator. However, on very moist soils there
seems to have resulted little inconvenience, probably on
account of the nature of the soil; indeed such soils have
by this means been rendered healthful and kept so for a
long time.

5. Liming upon the surface——in Germany, where lim-
ing and marling, like most other agricultural improve-
ments, have lately taken a great development, besides
the ordinary modes we find the use of lime upon the sur-
face. It is sprinkled in spring upon rye with compost
containing from 10 to 12 bushels to the acre fifteen days
after having sown clover.

It is also applied directly to the clover of the preceding
year, in powder, and slacked in the water of the dung
heap, in a dose one half less. Its effect upon the clover
and the wheat which follows it is exceedingly good.

In the Netherlands where lime is employed mixed with
ashes, it is especially for mowing land natural or artificial,
and is of course used upon the surface.

Care to be taken in the use of lime.

Whatever may be the mode in which lime is applied, it is
essential that it, as well as all other calcareous amendments,
should be employed in the shape of powder and not of
paste, upon a soil that is not wet. We must altogether
avoid, before covering it, all rain which can wet it, and
reduce it to a porridge or paste, which essentially injures
its effect, even more than any reasoning can explain.

It should not be placed upon a soil whose surface is not
naturally drained. Upon a marshy soil, unless the vegeta-
ble bed is well dried, in a very moist soil where the water
of the surface does not easily run off, the properties of

LIME. 29

the lime remain chained as it were, and do not appear at
all till by new operations we have healed and dried the
vegetable bed.

On a clayey and very damp soil, mar], which is used in
large quantity, is preferable to lime, because it more pow-
erfully heals the productive bed. On a soil of this sort a
deep plowing is a preliminary condition essential to suc-
cess, because, while augmenting the depth of the vegetable
bed, we also augment the means of healing the surface.

Light, sandy or gravelly soil must not be overcharged ;
for the inconsiderate use of lime may become dangerous
on soils of this sort when they are too warm and not very
deep. There are cases of its having burned up the crops.

To have the lime produce its effect upon the first crop, it
should be mixed with the soil some time before the sowing ;
however, when it is used in compost it is sufficient that it
should have been made some time previously.

The lime or the compost spread dry upon a dry soil
should be buried by a shallow first plowing or half-plow-
ing preceded by a light harrowing, in order that the lime
in the succeeding cultivation may remain as much as pos-
sible in the middle of the vegetable bed. Indeed, the lime
reduced to particles, naturally sinks in the soil ; it slips
between the particles of clay and silex, and descending
below the sphere of the nutrition of plants, is arrested be-
neath the arable bed, and when it is abundant, then it
forms by its combinations a sort of floor which stops the
water and injures the crops very much; this is the mis-
chief of lime in a large dose buried by deep plowing.

Different qualities of lime.

It is necessary to know the quality of the lime which
we use; lime may be pure or may be mixed with silex,
clay or magnesia. Pure lime is the most economical, the
most active, and can produce the greatest effect with the
least volume.

Lime mixed with silex is used in larger quantities; it takes
the name of hot lime, like that which precedes, from which
it differs little in the application except it requires more.

30 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Lime mixed with clay is the same as the hydraulic of
water lime of the builders ; it appears that the two former
favor the growth of seed more, and the latter is more
favorable to forage, to the growth of the straw, or the
legumes ; it is more nourishing te the soil, but requires a
larger dose.

Magnesian lime is very active, but exhausts the soil if
given in too large a dose or not followed with abundant
manuring. It has exhausted some districts in England
and large tracts in America, and it is to it that most of the
reproaches against lime belong. The nature of the lime
used may be ascertained by very simple chemical pro-
cesses. (See the section which treats of the analysis of
soils at the end of the preceding chapter.)

Of second lemings.

When the field limed returns to the condition in -which
it was before the operation ; when the same weeds appear
and the crops are diminished, it is time to renew the lime.
The period of the second liming will depend upon the
dose of the first. When the dose has been small, it must
be renewed entire, as is done in the Netherlands and Nor-
mandy. When it has been large it may be reduced to
one half. Besides, we should in this case take counsel of
the state of the soil and experience, for there are some
soils which require and consume larger doses than others.

The doses of lime.

The doses of the first as well as the second limings
vary with the consistence of the soil; they should be small
in light and sandy soils, they can without inconvenience be
large in clay soils. The dose should also vary according
to the drainage ; weak doses on ground where the water
does not easily run off are little felt; but if the dose is
strong and the plowing deep, the lime facilitates the
draining and healing of the soil. It is supposed that the
dose ought also to increase with the annual amount of

LIME. 31

rain which falls in a country, because, as this amount
increases, the greater is the drainage to be effected.

However, the experiments of the department of Nord
and of Sarthe seem to have pointed out the average dose
which generally suits. Thus, the deep liming of du Nord
which gives the soil every ten or twelve years forty-eight
bushels per acre, a little more than four bushels per
annum, which agrees with that of Sarthe which gives
from ten to twelve bushels every three years; the first
gives at once what the other does by degrees. As both
are an average, we may conclude that the soil requires four
bushels per acre per annum to sustain its fertility. Still,
as neither the soil nor the plants consume this lime, it is
probable that after a period, longer or shorter, the soil
will have received so much as to need no more for a cer-
tain space of time.

- Management of limed soils.

Aiter having endued the soil with oreat fecundity, and
put it in condition to produce the most valuable crops,
which are often the most exhausting, the farmer must
take care to give a manures to compensate for the pro-
ducts obéained, to use in litter and not for food half the
straw raised, to cultivate forage on soil which henceforth
produces it to advantage, to modify, in short, in the gene-
ral and in the detail, his cultivation according to the new
forces of his soil, the prices of the market and the conve-
nience of the locality. However, there should be no haste
to change the rotation: such an operation is lone, diffi-
cult, very expensive, and should not be undertaken except
on thorough preparation.

The effects of lime upon the soil.

The effects of lime, although analogous, are not identi-
cal with those of marl, and the qualities of limed soils dif-
fer in some respects from those of calcareous soils; the
wheat of limed ground is sounder, fairer, gives less bran

ag THE FARMER’S MINE.

and more flour than that on soil not limed, on calcareous
soil or on marled soil; the berry on marled soil is greyer,
yields more bran and more resembles wheat upon clover,
though it is preferable to that ; the wheat upon limed soil
bears more analogy to that upon land amended with
leached ashes. The limed soil has less to fear from
drought to its springing grain than the calcareous or the
marled ; it is not liable to have its crop lodged, in the
spring, at the moment of blossoming, when the sowing
has been done upon a dry soil. Upon a limed soil the
weeds and insects disappear, the ground acquires consis-
tence when it is too light, and grows lighter when it is
too clayey. The surface of an argilo-siliceous soil, before
compact and whitish, grows mellow and turns reddish and
as it were rotten, it dries, hardens and cracks by the heat,
and dissolves and slacks by the rain which follows; this
spontaneous mellowing very much facilitates the labor of
the cultivator, the struggle and progress of the roots
through the soil and the mutual action of the atmosphere
and the soil which remains open to its influence.

Quantity of lime absorbed by vegetation.

The vegetables of calcareous soils or those which have
become such by amendment, contain in their ashes 30 per
cent of carbonate or phosphate of lime which has been
lost by the soil. But the products of a limed soil, of a
medium quality, are nearly, during two years of the rota-
tion, nine thousand weight of dry products per acre, which
contains about one bushel of lime ; vegetation has therefore
employed half a bushel of lime per year. We have seen
that on an average more than three. bushels are requirrd
per year ; vegetation therefore does not absorb in substance
more than one-sixth of the lime which can be profitably
administered to the soil ; the other five-sixths are lost, car-
ried by descending water to lower beds, or enter into dif-
ferent compounds ; a portion doubtless still remains in sub-
stance in the soil, and goes to form that reserve which at
length permits liming to be dispensed with for many
years.

LIME. - 33

Of the exhaustion of the soil by lime.

Lime, it is said, only enriches old men, or it enriches the
fathers and ruins the children ; this indeed has been clearly
proved by experience, when upon light soils, limed abund-
antly or without intermediate composts, grain crops have
been placed successively, without restoring manure to the
soil in due proportion, or when magnesia mixed with the
lime has exerted injurious influence upon the soil; but,
when the lime has been used in proper measure; when,
without overtasking the soil with exhausting crops, the
latter are alternated with grasses ; when manure has been
given back in proportion to the products obtained, the
prudent cultivator sees a continuance of the new fecundity
which the lime has brought without his soil showing any
sign of exhaustion.

Clay soils are nowhere spoken of as having to complain
of lime, and the fecundity is sustained in light soils
wherever the lime is used in compost and with moderation.

In America where the lime of oyster shells has taken
the place of magnesian lime, complaints of the exhausting
effect of lime have ceased.

After having presented the above article from the ‘ Farm
House,’ which, with what precedes it, must satisfy any rea-
sonable mind, of the advantages to be derived from the
judicious use of lime, we shall close what we have to say
on this subject with a communication taken from the
Farmer’s Cabinet, written by a scientific practical farmer,
and which presents additional inducements for the use of
this salt :

Some years since J purchased 2 horse, but he had the
appearance of laboring under disease; I commenced a
course of treatment which I had before pursued in cases
similar to appearance, but without effect ; I was therefore
induced to try the use of dime, as I was confident he was
filled with botts, for he had discharged several ; I therefore
commenced by giving him a table-spoonful of slacked lime
three times a week in bran mashes. After pursuing this

3

34 THE. FARMER’S MINE.

course near two weeks, the botts began to pass away in
quantities, varying from ten to twenty, which he would
expel from his intestines during the night; in the mean-
time his appetite began to improve, and in six weeks he
was one of the finest geldings lever saw. From that day
to this I have kept up the use of lime amongst my horses
with decided benefit; and as an evidence of its good ef-
fects, I have not lost a horse since I began to use it. And
lime is a certain preventive in keeping cattle from taking
the murrain. As an evidence of this fact, | have used it
among my cattle three times a week, mixed with salt, for
three or four years, and in that time I have not lost a sin-
ole animal by this disease; but in the mean time some of
my neighbors have lost nearly all the cattle they owned.
But I will give a stronger case than even the one above
mentioned. One of my neighbors, who lost all his cattle,
had a friend living within two hundred yards of him, who
had several cattle which ran daily with those that died,
and his cattle all escaped—he informed me that he made
it an invariable rule to give his cattle salt and lime every
morning. I have, therefore, no doubt but salt and lime
are a sure and infallible remedy for botts in horses and
murrain in cattle.”

And I am reminded of a circumstance by a friend, who
has often before mentioned it ; he had two fields of pasture
near his house—on one of these he spread lime upon the
turf to the amount of more than 200 bushels per acre, but
as the other fields lay immediately below his cattle-yard,
from whence he had formed drains to carry the water over
its surface in the most complete manner, he determined to
let that suffice fora dressing ; and the effects of the highly
impregnated water from the yard was a growth of grass
truly astonishing. Both fields were kept in pasture, and
when the stock had eaten one of them down, they were
removed to the other, and so changed regularly about ;
but the effect of the different crops on the appearance of
the stock, horses and cattle, is not to be expressed, for
while feeding on the limed land their coats were close,

LIME, 35

shining and healthy, and their spirits light and cheerful,
even when they were compelled to labor hard to obtain
a belly-full; but when turned into the watered grass, six
inches or more in height, a difference for the worse could
be perceived in 24 hours, and every day after they lost
condition amidst the greatest abundance, with coats rough
and staring, lax in the bowels and flaccid, with distended
paunches, dejected countenances, and sluggish in their
movements : they soon exhibited a depreciation im value
to the amount of about half their former worth. But the
transition to health and vigor and good looks was quite
as sudden and apparent on a return to the limed land, for
again in 24 hours, or by the time the food had passed
through the system, a change, particularly in their air and
carriage, was very perceptible. My friend adds, he never
had an instance of the murrain or botts while his stock fed
on these pastures, but is satisfied he should have had both,
but for the change to the limed land; for while feeding
on the watered pastures, the stock had always the appear-
ance of a predisposition to that state of derangement
of the digestive system, by which he has no doubt these
diseases are engendered.

In conclusion, I would ask, is it not quite fair to draw
the following deduction from what has been said, namely,
that all dairy pastures ought to be heavily limed, it bemg
the most natural thing in the world to suppose that a
proper secretion of milk, the best and most wholesome,
depends very much on the nature of the focd with which
the animals are fed? and must not butter from a cow that
is in health and spirits, be of better flavor, color and con-
sistence, than that from one that is lax, washy and weak,
from feeding on watery, acid, and soft herbage ? and will
not this account for much of the disgustingly rancid, ill-
flavored and ill-looking butter which we so often find in
the market? My friend above quoted, and who is now
at my elbow, answers, “ Yes; for while my cows fed on
the watered meadow, the butter was scarcely eatable—
white, soft, and ill-flavored; but it was sweet, firm, and

36 THE FARMER’S MINE.

flavored, when they were confined to the limed land.”
Ergo, lime your pastures, and allow your stock as much
salt as they will consume daily, for I am convinced that
lime and salt are a remedy for “ botts in horses,” as well
as the “ murrain in cattle.”

CHAPTER II}.
MARL.

' Maris, which exert so powerful an influence on
many soils, derive most of their value from the lime
they contain; and with few exceptions, their power as
fertilizers may be measured by the per centum of lime
shown on analysis. There are some marls, however,
which are an exception to this rule; their value appearing
to depend on other matters than mere lime. Of this kind
is the celebrated green sand marl of New Jersey, and
some other points of the Atlantic coast. In this forma-
tion, which acts so powerfully as a manure, there is from
6 to 10 per cent. of potash; an agent which, on light
soils, is scarcely equalled as a manure. In addition to
the lime which mar! contains, the influence of the propor-
tions of sand and clay, of which the balance usually con-
sists, must be taken into consideration in determining the
value of this substance for particular soils. Thus, on
heavy or clay lands, marls abounding in sand will be
found preferable to those the base of which is clay; and
on light or sandy soils, the latter will be much the most
useful, the per cent. of lime in both cases being alike.
Mar! should be spread over the surface, and pulverized by
the action of air and frost before it is plowed under.
When so treated, experience proves it is a most valuable
manure, and a single dressing exerts an influence for many
years.

MARL. 37

But here, as on the subject of lime, we shall draw largely
from the ‘ Farm House.’

Composition, discovery, and choice of marl.

Nature and composition of marl.—Marl is a compound
of carbonate of lime and clay more or less sandy ; it is
generally found on the skirts of alluvial plains, and under
the bed which forms them, at greater or less depth. Thus
Sologne, upon all its banks and in most of the basins —
which furrow it; Brosse, under its white soils ; the environs
of Toulouse, under their hillocks; Puisaye, beneath its
pale earths; and Normandy, upon its cold soils, find marl
as if placed by some benevolent hand to give to these soils
an activity and productiveness which nature had not im-
parted to them.

Mar! presents itself under different aspects and varieties
and of variable composition. It hardens in proportion to
the carbonate of lime, till the latter amounts to 70 per
cent. when it begins to be stony; beyond 80 per cent. it
ceases to be profitably employed upon the soil. Marls in
powder, are met with, which contain a very large propor-
tion of carbonate of lime. |

The difference of composition and change of appear-
ance have caused the divisions of marl into clayey, sandy,
and stony ; denominations rather vague, it is true, but still
useful in practice.

The discovery of marl.—The importance of marl in
agriculture warrants a search for it whenever it can be of
use. Coltsfoot, ononis, sage, yellow clover, briers, thistles
and melampyre, are ordinarily signs of marl at no great
depth; the digging of ditches and wells often brings it up ;
oftener still it is found in gullies upon the declivities ; sand
beds also indicate it, they almost always cover or sup-

ort it. |
If there are none of these signs it may be sought by
soundings ; but deep soundings involving much expense,
the extraction of the marl would cost too much, and we

38 THE FARMER’S MINE.

should often meet with water, which would prevent any
economical improvement. However, when the water 1s
not in the way, the extraction from considerable depths
may be less expensive than its transportation from distant
places. The extraction of marl from a great depth is not
new in France. Pliny speaks of marl raised in Gaul
from a depth of more than one hundred feet ; in Normandy
it is still extracted in this manner; the use of oxen or
horse power much diminishes the labor in this case.

In soil where water occurs at small depths, deep sound-
ings are useless, a small sound suffices. It consists of a
bar of iron of ten or twelve feet in length terminated by a
point of steel surmounted by a spoon ; it is worked by an
auger handle which traverses the bar, and is raised or
lowered at pleasure and fixed by a tightening screw.

The marl is nearer the surface in places where the soil
appears drier or the argilo-siliceous soil is reddish rather
than grey. When found, if not deep, it is better to
bring it up under the open air; in this case a few veins of
water will not hinder the work ; the bed so far as opened
is thrown up in one day; in the night the hole becomes
nearly full of water, and the next day it is cleared out or
an opening is made on one side, leaving a dike on the side
next to the water.

When we have found marl, or that which appears to
be such, for nothing more resembles the earthy marls than
some clays, we prove its nature by touching it with nitric
or muriatic acid, or even strong vinegar ; an effervescence
announces marl, but if the acid spreads without swelling
we have only clay. Again, if we throw into water a
piece of dry marl there is at once a slight boiling, its par-
ticles separate as if by a repulsion, and form a porridge at
the bottom of the vessel; this is itself one of the peculiar
properties which it communicates to the soil ina high degree.
These characteristics are not all found to the same extent
in stony or clayey marls: the stony marl has often need
of the aid of frosts upon the soil to bring it to slack.

Soils that are suited to marl.—Marl acts by the carbon-

MARL. 39

ate of lime which it adds to the soil, for clay alone pro-
duces only a mechanical effect; the smallest quantity of
the calcareous principle makes an impression upon soil
which does not contain it, but in calcareous soils its use is
oftenest injurious. The use of a few loads of marl before
sowing in winter or spring is the best experiment to decide
the question.

Modes of marling tn different countries.

There are more different modes of marling than of
liming. In most countries marlings are the result of acci-
dent. The earth from pits, ditches or wells, has been
thrown out upon the soil and produced unexpected fer-
tility; if the cultivator is active and enterprising, he
extends the operation to his other grounds, and if he
inspires confidence in his neighbors the marling is propa-
gated; but then the modes are regulated by chance, and
the doses are almost always .too large, because it is
thought that the soil cannot have too much of so good
a thing.

We do not find between the English and French use of
marl the same disparity as in the case of lime. What is
most worthy of imitation in the English method is the
association of manure with the marl; they unite them
often in compost ; their doses of marl are greater for the
first than for the succeeding marlings ; the first are four or
five lines in thickness on the surface, and the second one-
third as much or more, and they follow at intervals of
fifteen or twenty years. The doses vary afterwards
avcording to the consistence of the soil and quality of the
marl. In some districts they marl their pastures and mea-
dows that are not irrigated ; marl is employed to increase
the grasses and lime to increase the grains. Marling has
changed the face of some whole counties: Norfolk,
formerly covered with broom and heath, has become by
means of marling the model province in agriculture. The
strong marl under the name of calcareous gravel fertihzes
large portions. In Ireland a quantity of it has been placed

40 THE FAKMER’S MINE.

upon the soil sufficient to change its nature and to do away
the necessity of repeating the operation.

The use of marl in the Netherlands is as ancient as that
of lime. It has there become a regular agricultural opera-
tion, and consists of ten two-horse wagon loads to the
acre of a very rich strong marl; this dose is nearly equal
to five hundred cubic feet per hectare (about two hundred
and twenty cubic feet to the acre), covers the soil scarcely
two-thirds of a line in thickness, and forms perhaps one-
hundredth of the arable bed. The arrondissements of Ber-
gue and Hazebrouck use it upon two-thirds of their surface ;
and the other arrondissements use it less because they use
more lime. The stony marl is taken from the neighbor-
hood of St. Omer ; it costs from eighty cents to one dollar
per load, because they often go more than a league to
getit. The marling is renewed every twenty or thirty
years ; this marling costs three times as much as liming
upon farms exactly analogous, that is to say, from forty to
sixty cents per acre per annum on an average, while the
liming costs but from one and a half to two francs.

The marlings upon the argilo-siliceous table land of
Puisaye (Yonne) are done with a stony marl and very
copiously; they amount to fourteen hundred cubic feet
per acre, form a bed upon the soil of four lines in thickness
of amarl which contains eighty per cent. of carbonate of
lime. This abundance is explained by the fact that the marl
slackens with difficulty, and that a winter and often even
several years do not suffice to effect it completely. The
marling has been practised in some parts from time imme-
morial, so that there the doses are not more than one-third
or one-fourth as much; it only began to extend itself
about forty or fifty years ago ; now the surface is nearly
all marled, and the soil has tripled its value wherever it
has received this amelioration.

The marling in the vicinity of Montreuil in Picardy
covers the soil one line in thickness nearly, with a marl of
excellent quality, which is extracted from beneath the soil
itself by means of pits; this marling, which is renewed

MARL, Al

every twenty years, costs one dollar and seventy cents
per acre.

The marlings of Normandy and Upper Garonne would
teach us nothing of importance; those of Isére, on the
other hand, may give us a useful lesson. They are made
upon a soil of siliceous gravel with a gravelly marl which
belongs to the sub-soil ; this soil is a part of the great allu-
vion of reddish siliceous gravel which covers three-fourths
of the basin of the Rhone, and which is composed of the
rounded debris of the primitive Alps, cemented with a
reddish earth. These marlings, originating in chance and
made with marl close at hand, are very abundant; they
cover the soil with a bed of four to five lines in thickness,
with a gravelly marl which contains from thirty to sixty
per cent. of carbonate of lime. This quality of marl thrown
upon a dry soil at least doubles its products; the culti-
vator formerly had almost without manure every two years
a crop of rye which nearly tripled the seed; now he reaps
for eight or ten years after the marlings eight to one of
_wheat; the crop, however, has diminished gradually, and
is now, after forty years of marling, reduced to four to one ;
those who have not seen the crops before the marling
complain of the exhaustion of their soil, but the gross pro-
duct is still three-fold what it was before. Moreover, we
here find united all the circumstances which should lead
to exhaustion ; strong doses of very rich and sandy marl
upon a dry gravelly and loose soil; a cultivation void of
grass and a succession of the most exhausting crops.
Hence it results, that upon the driest parts of this soil, which
could not bear a tree and scarcely a shrub, the ground has
become still drier, and with winter grains of double the
value of the old ones, the spring grains, it is true, and
especially the clover, have more than ever to dread from
drought. The operation of marling, which could be
extended with so much advantage over ten times as much
of the same soil from Geneva to the sea, over Bugey, Val-
bonne, the plains of Valence, the heaths of Comtal and
the plain of Cran, is but just beginning to extend beyond

3*

42 HE FARMER’S MINE.

a few cantons of Isére: the successful trials in Ain and
Drome have been but little extended. |

The marls of the great argilo-siliceous table land cover-
ing a part of Ain, of Saone and Loire, and of Jura, are
clayey and contain thirty or forty per cent. of carbonate of
lime; their efficacy was brought to light by a cultivator
of Ain. The old practice, for forty years, of amending
the soil with large masses of earth carted, has induced
great abundance in the use of marl; they began with a
bed of fifteen or eighteen lines over the whole surface, as
in the ordinary use of earth. This dose was afterwards
reduced one-third, afterwards one-half, a quantity still
enormous, since in that country, where the plowings are
but three inches at most, the marlings form one-fourth or
one-third of the arable bed.

The cultivators of Saone and Loire have imitated these
marlings without their abuse; they give to a similar soil
not more than one-fourth of a marl which has frequently
not more than thirty per cent. of carbonate of lime, and
these marlings are doubtless less durable, but they are as
productive as those of Ain.

The strong doses of marl have done injury im some
places; in a very clayey soil, the tenacity has been in-
creased and the working rendered very difficult; buck-
wheat and potatoes have not succeeded so well; and on
light and sandy soils, without much improving the con-
sistence, it has rendered the soil too warm and multiplied
the wild poppies and rhymanthus.

We find in Sologne a striking instance of the ameliora-
tion of light and sandy soils by marls: the dose of clayey
marl, similar in composition and appearance to that of
Ain, is from seventy-five to one hundred cubic feet per
acre, and this dose of two-fifths of a line upon the surface
is Sufficient to enrich the soil for ten years.

Of the dose of marl to be given.

Among so many methods we can, however, for soils of
a medium consistence, arrive at the reasonable dose of

MARL. 43

marl which will afterwards be modified according to the
nature of the soil; this will be a great service to practical
agriculture, which needs precise information on this point.

The object of marling is to bring the soil to possess the
qualities and advantages of calcareous soils. Now, the
analysis of the better calcareous soils, the better soils of
the Netherlands among others ; the practice of the coun-
tries where marling is the oldest and best understood ; the
doses prescribed by THarr; the review of numerous mar!-
ines given by ArtHur Youne, have led us to conclude, in
our essay on marl, that the proportion of three per cent.
on an average of carbonate of lime in the arable bed
ought to be sufficient; but the marls are more or less
rich, and the plowings by greater or less depth give more
or less of the arable bed; with the fixed proportion of
carbonate of lime which we have assumed, the doses of
marl should vary according to the richness of the marl
and the depth of the plowmg.

To facilitate the application of this result of experience
and reason, we give a table which contains all the ele-
ments of marling and of which it will be easy to make
use; it is adapted to all the different compositions of marls
from ten to ninety per cent. of carbonate of lime, and for
all arable beds from three inches to eight; by taking the
intermediate terms we shall have for all depths of plow-
ing and for all qualities of marl the number of cubic feet
to be carried upon one hectare ;* the cubic feet will be
estimated from the capacity of the carts because the marl
in slacking upon the soil gains a bulk equal to that it
occupied in the cart at the time of estimation.

* The hectare is nearly equal to twe and one-quarter acres. —TRANS.

e@
44 THE FARMER’S MINE.

pane 2c ea =a Ee rs en ae See

When one
NUMBER OF CUBIC FEET OF MARL NECESSARY FOR \hundred parts
AN ARABLE BED OF A THICKNESS OF of mar] con-

tain in carbo-
3 inches. | 4 inches. | 5 inches. | 6 inches. | 7 inches. | 8 inches. |nate of lime.

—_—e

Cubic feet\Cubic feet|Cubic feet|Cubic feet|Cubic feet|Cubic feei Parts.
7.106 | 9.474 |11.842 |14.212 |16.580 |18.948 | 10
3.553) 4.737| 5.921! 7.101] 8.290| 9.424} 20
2.368| 3.188| 3.947] 4.737 | 5.527] 6.316} 30
1.776| 9.368 | 2.860] 3.552] 4.144] 4.736] 40
1.420] 1.880] 3.350] 2.820] 3.290] 3.720} 50
1.178! 1.570 | 1.962| 2.354} 2.748] 3.140] 60
1.020} 1.360] 1.700| 2.040] 2.280} 2.720| ‘70

888] 1.184] 1.480] 1.776 | 2.072} 2.368} 80
.775| 1.032). 1.292| 1.550] 1.809} 2.027] 90

But this average dose should be varied in many cases ;
if the marl is clayey on a very clayey soil, the dose should
be diminished. So especially should it in proportion as
the soil becomes light, and we think the dose ought then
to go as low as that in Sologne (two hundred and fifty
cubic feet to the hectare), which we consider a reasonable
dose and justified by experience as well as economy in
very light soils. The proportion ought, on the other hand,
to rise with the humidity of the soil; on a very moist soil
a small dose can by no means suffice; nevertheless, care
must be taken not to render the soil too clayey.

Caution to be used in marling.

The first condition for the success of marl is that the
surface of the soil be well drained of water; the mar]
itself without doubt aids much in drying the soil, but it is
not sufficient to recover a marshy one ; like lime it cannot
produce its effect upon the soil except when by nature or
art it is relieved of superabundant water.

The carting of the marl should be done in the right
weather, that the land may not be cut up and clodded by
the animals, men, and wheels; it requires either dry wea-
ther or frost; however, if one has good roads, he can in
any weather profit by the leisure of his teams; the marl is

»

MARL. 45

thrown upon some corner of the piece on which it can be
spread afterwards in fit weather with carts or wheelbar-
rows ; the exposure of the marl to the air before being
spread is always useful, without being indispensable.

Upon a moist soil it is best before marling to give a
deep plowing, for then there will be a thicker bed for
the water to penetrate, and less danger from the moisture,
and the bed improved and mellowed by the marl will be
thicker.

The marl should be disposed upon the soil in parallel
lines in small equal heaps, placed at twenty feet distance
between the heaps and between the lines.—(See figure 45.)
—The first opportunity -of fair weather is to be improved
. to spread it as evenly as possible; after some days and
some alternations of sunshine and rain, the soil is to be
passed over again to equalize the marl and make it as
nearly as possible cover the soil with its debris ; the excel-
lence and promptness of the results depend greatly upon
this cause; the marl is then left as long as possible to dry
upon the surface ; a mutual action is established by the
air and the atmospheric changes between the surface of
the soil and the marl which prepares and hastens its
effects. The marl should not be buried except in fair
weather, when it is well slacked and almost dry ;_ by bury-
ing it while wet, it recovers its adhesiveness and cannot be
mixed with the soil; the plowing, too, should not be
deep, so that the marl may be distributed more equally
through the thickness of the vegetable bed for the follow-
ing crops.

When the marling has been too strong, one can, by a
deep ploughing, bring to the surface some of the unmarled
earth, which will diminish the proportional quantity of
the marl; this operation, by increasing the thickness of
the mellow bed, diminishes the disadvantages of heavy
rains.

Marl is advantageously employed upon winter crops as
well as those of spring ; it is used very advantageously in
compost, either with dung, vegetable mould, or turf;

46 THE FARMER’S MINE.

however, it is rather more troublesome to transport and
mix them with the clayey than with the stony marl. The
English use marl in this way, especially when the marl
pit is distant, because, in the case of marl as well as
lime, composts are a means of multiplying the effects of
a small dose.

The effects of marl are not very apparent upon the first
crops. Its effects upon the soil very much resemble those
of lime. The soil becomes workable in all weathers, ab-
sorbs the rain, becomes more accessible, as well* as the
plants that grow on it, to all the atmospheric influences ;
the roots traverse it more easily ; being rendered thus per-
meable, the juices which form the sap can circulate and
consequently be more readily taken up by the roots ; it is
evident that these qualities improve the soil and its products.

Of second marlings.
o

Second marlings are not needed, and should be lone
deferred wherever the first has been very abundant. If
they have not succeeded in Ain, Isére and Yonne, it is
because doses were used in the first marlings which gave
the soil four, five, six, eight, or ten per cent. of carbonate
of lime, a proportion much above the need and often even
beyond the convenience of the soil, and because the soil
retains it for an indefinite time; but, when marling has
become a regular operation of agriculture, we can fix upon
some data which will throw light upon our course. In
analyzing the regular methods of marling cited by Arthur
Young, we find that the acre received per annum from
twelve to twenty-four bushels of carbonate of lime. In
the still more regular marlings of the department du Nord,
the soil received every twenty years two hundred bushels
of stony marl, which contained at least three-fourths of
carbonate of lime ; the soil therefore requires ten bushels
per annum to maintain its products with the same energy.

A quantity which would suffice for clayey soils becomes
too strong for light soils; we have seen that they give in
Sologne, every 10 years, from 75 to 100 cubie feet per

MARL. AT

acre of a marl which contains forty per cent. of carbonate
of lime, that is five bushels per annum of the calcareous ele-
ment ; our second marlings ought therefore to be given in
such a manner as to furnish the soil from five to ten bush-
els of carbonate of lime per annum according to its consis-
tence.

Exhaustion of the soil by marl.

When a strong dose of marl has been given to a light
or very dry soil, and animal manure has not been restored
in proportion to the products taken off, and exhausting
crops succeed each other, we see the harvests gradually
diminish, and the soil assumes the character of a calcareous
one of small fertility ; it still produces more than before the
marling, but it is said to be exhausted, and a fresh dose of
mar! does not restore it to its first fertility ; we have seen
this case happen in Is¢re, where all the unfavorable cir-
cumstances conspired. In a clayey soil this result would
be manifested with more difficulty and after a long
period. Marl therefore does not dispense with manure,
but it is far from exhausting the soil; we think, on the
other hand, that to sustain large products, a much smaller
dose of manure is necessary. Marl doubles the action of
manure, and on marled soils we have this great advan-
tage, the power of obtaining large crops with a moderate
quantity of manure.

However, we must say that the first marling as well as
the first liming produces a sort of first leap of fecundity,
the full force of which is not often afterwards preserved.
In order that it should be, the very first year of the marl-
ing the dung shoyld be applied as usual, or the
marl should be put on in compost without with-
holding the dung, as is done in many second
marlings in England. But this is rarely the case ; every-
body wishes to profit by the new power given to the soil
of producing without dung, and places the manure on
grounds which have not yet received amendments, How-
ever, Belgium, the department du Nord, Normandy,

48 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Sarthe, and a large part of England have carefully sus-
tained the first fecundity-given by the marl; and this is
owing both to the quantity of manure, and to the good
culture which they have bestowed upon their marled soil.

Cultivation of the soil after marling.

After what has been said, it will be perceived that the
cultivation of the soil after marling should be conducted
with discretion and prudence; the new fecundity of the
soil should be profited by with a due economy of those
artificial sources which have caused it; manure must be
bestowed in proportion to the products, grass and root
crops should be multiplied, and the fruitfulness of the soil
should be exercised as much in favor of the animals that
produce dung as of the granary ; this being done, marl is
an immense source of fertility, present and future. We
shall not, however, advise any abrupt changes in the rota-
tion; in all agricultural systems crops productive of ma-
nure can be introduced.

Purvfication produced by mart.

It is established by facts and reasoning that lime and its
compounds purify as well as fertilize the soil ; the calcareous
agents remove that stagnant water which is injurious to
vegetation; the soil becomes porous and permeable, the
water circulates through it and of course no longer stag-
nates and accumulates. All waters which stand upon or
run over marl or calcareous stone, remain clear and limpid,
carry fruitfulness with them, and purify the soil and its
products. Upon a marled soil all the vegetables of a
healthy soil grow and flourish ; the soil itself is therefore
purified as well as its waters and products. Marl, in im-
parting all the qualities of calcareous soils, gives that of
salubrity which especially distinguishes them; and it
should act in this point of view more powerfully than
lime, inasmuch as it is applied more abundantly. Marl,
therefore, as well as lime, and all other calcareous agents,
is a principle of salubrity as well as fertility.

CHAPTER IV.
GYPSUM.

Gyrsum is the third principal salt which exerts a pow-
erful influence on plants, and is one of the most valuable
of all our mineral fertilizers. It is composed of sulphuric
acid and lime, and is called sulphate of lime; but most
commonly known among farmers as plaster. It is found
in a great variety of forms; sometimes in regular crys-
tals, or in large crystalline plates and masses, which are
perfectly transparent, and as pure as the finest plate-glass.
It is sometimes found in snow-white flakes like foam or
snow, sometimes semi-transparent like horn ; and lastly, it
is met with most commonly in large, compact masses,
forming rocks, and constituting large and extensive strata.
In this form, it exhibits a great variety of colors—white,
red, brown, and blueish white. It is used to some extent
in the arts, but the most important use of gypsum is for
fertilizing the soil.

Much variety of opinion has been entertained respect-
ing the manner in which it exerts its influence or pro-
duces its effects on plants; and these opinions can scarcely
be said to be harmonized, even at the present time. Davy
was inclined to consider it a direct food for the plant, as it
is found, to some extent, in those plants on which it exerts
the most power. Chaptal referred its power to its stimu-
lating agency on plants, produced by its action when dis-
solved in water. Liebig ascribes its value to its giving
a fixed condition to the nitrogen or ammonia which is
brought into the soil, and which is indispensable for the
nutrition of plants. Dana, to the action of the lime and
acid of which the gypsum is composed, on the organic

50 THE FARMER’S MINE.

matter and silicates of the soil. He says—“It seems
almost incredible that so minute a portion of a mineral can
act at all; yet how beautifully is the result explained by the
principle that plants decompose first this salt; the lime,
for plaster is a sulphate of lime, then acts on geine, which
is thus rendered soluble ; while the acid, the oil of vitriol
or sulphuric acid, immediately acts on silicates.”’ It seems
very probable that no single one of these suppositions
will be found able to account in full for the action of plas-
ter. That of Dr. Dana appears to approach as nearly to
a solution as any of them, if we extend his term silicates
so as to embrace those combinations formed by the union
of the acid of gypsum with ammonia, after its separation
from the lime. If the action of plaster was due to its
fixing ammonia alone, then it ought to be equally efficient
at all times and places, which it certainly is not; or if it
acted directly as nutriment, then its action would be as
constant as that of rotted manure or compost, which farm-
ers well know is not the case. Plaster does not act as
usefully in the vicinity of the sea, as in the interior ; and
on heavy wet soils is scarcely felt at all. Light sandy
soils, or loamy ones, are those on which plaster acts the
most sensibly; and clover, lucerne, potatoes, cabbages,
and the lezuminous plants, such as peas, vetches, &c., are
the vegetables on which it exerts the most powerful influ-
ence. It is much valued as a dressing for wheat, not so
much, perhaps, for its direct action on that plant, although
that is not trifiing, as for its effect in securing and promot-
ing the growth of the clover and other grass seeds, usually,
in wheat countries, sown with this crop. So marked 1s
the influence it exerts in this respect, that plaster, clover
and wheat, are always associated in the mind of the most
successful wheat growers ; and its use is the most exten-
sive in the best wheat growing districts of our country.
When the soil and season are favorable, plaster often
doubles the preduct of forage crops ; the plants then take
an intense green and an extraordinary vigor, which makes
them contrast strongly with the portions not plastered.

GYPSUM. 51

When Frankuin wished to introduce the use of plaster
into America, to convince his countrymen he wrote upon
a field of clover in Washington, with powdered plaster,
the following phrase—“ THis HAS BEEN PLASTERED ;”’ the
effect of the plaster brought these words up in relief in
greener and more vigorous stalks ; everybody was con-
vinced, and plaster was rendered popular in America.

It is recommended to sow the plaster in spring upon
the vegetation already commenced, when the grass is five
or six inches in height. However, when sown in the
month of August, after harvest, upon clover of the year,
it makes it produce a good cutting in the month of Octo-
ber, and the crops of the succeeding year still experience
the whole of the good effect.

{t is spread by the hand, in the evening or morning upon
the dew, or in calm and cloudy weather before or after a
slight rain; heavy rains much injure the effect ; thus, to
avoid the heavy rains of the spring, in the neighborhood
of Marseilles, they prefer to use plaster only after the first
cutting.

The experiments of M. Soquet seemed to have proved
that plaster spread upon the soil without contact with the
plants produced no effect; still the practice of the whole
country establishes the fact that it succeeds very well upon
clover and lucern when they are scarcely out of the
ground; and the experiments of Messrs. Sageret and
D’Harcourt have proved that plaster sown at the same
time with the seed still produced a great effect.

Its ordinary dose is equal in bulk to the seed, or two or
three liundred weight to the acre; at this dose it makes
upon the soil a layer of less than ji) of a line, or qo of an
arable bed of five inches in thickness ; at a dose one-half
less its effect is still very sensible; of all amendments its
effects are produced with the smallest dose.

Plastering ought not to be too often repeated upon the
same soil, especially if it is moderately rich; the soil loves
to change its manure as well as its crops; and plaster,
like many other good things, requires to be used with
measure and moderation.

52 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Plaster used in compost of earth or dung very much
increases their activity ; the trials upon this subject have
not been pushed far enough to result in practical rules ;
this is much to be regretted, for the experiments made
promised the happiest results.

The plaster while producing upon the leaves and
branches of plants an increased growth, produces also a
very sensible effect upon the roots. The experiments of
M. Soquet have proved that the roots of plastered clover
weigh one-third more than the roots of clover not plas-
tered. It appears thence that longer, stronger, and more
branchy roots should draw more from the soil. However,
the wheat which follows plastered clover is ordinarily
better than that which succeeds clover not plastered ; this
must be attributed to the greater amount of vegetable
manure, the more vigorous clover which has left more
leaves upon the surface and more roots in the soil ; but
this vegetable manure lasts but one year, for the hoed crop
which succeeds the wheat must receive more manure after
plastered clover than after that which had not been so.

Plaster is sometimes used upon dry meadows, and increases
their yield; it makes the leguminous grasses predominate,
and consequently improves the forage ; but its use must
be alternated with animal manures, otherwise the fertility
which it produces is not sustained, and in a few years of
repeated plasterings the product would descend lower than
before.

The distinctive character of the lerumes is increased by
plastering ; their leaves, which are their organs of absorp-
tion from the atmosphere, become more vigorous and are
doubled or perhaps tripled in surface and consequently in
power, while the roots have increased only one-third, and
consequently, so to speak, borrowed but one-third more
from the soil; this want, however, must be supplied in
moderate soils, where it becomes sensible.

Plastering is therefore an excellent method, but to be
used with reserve and circumspection; for this reason in
some countries the doses of plaster have been reduced, in

ASHES. 53

others they have been divided to good purpose between
two seasons, one half after the harvesting of the grain
which covered the forage, and the other half in the suc-
ceeding spring.

CHAPTER V.

ASHES.

Asues, leached or otherwise, are of great value as a fer-
tilizer, especially when used on soils that are sandy cr
light . Unleached, the potash contained goes to form sili-
cate of potash, and gives the supply of silex necessary for
the stems of the grasses or corn; and leached, although
the potash is the greater part of it separated, the remaining
phosphates of lime and magnesia go far to restoring to the
fields on which such ashes are strewn, the necessary mat-
ters of which previous cropping has deprived them. 100
parts of the ashes of the wheat grain contain 32 parts of
soluble, and 44 parts of insoluble phosphates, in all 76
parts. The value of ashes abounding in the required
phosphates, when used on grain lands, may be seen at
once, as well as the folly of those farmers who waste or
sell the ashes produced in their dwellings.

They require to be spread when dry, in weather that is
not rainy, and upon ground that is not wet; they favor
the vegetation of all crops, both winter and spring, either
of grains or legumes.

They give a deep green color to the vegetables which
they nourish ; they favor the production of the seed even
more than that of the straw ; the seed produced resembles
that of limed land; it is perhaps even finer and thinner
skinned, and like that commands a better price in the mar-
ket. Ashes are used with great advantage upon meadows
and pastures, and their effects are especially remarkable

54 THE FARMER’S MINE.

upon buckwheat, rape, and hemp. The effect of a small
dose is not very durable ; at the end of two years it is
scarcely perceptible, yet in grounds which have been
repeatedly ashed, ten years after the practice has ceased
the amelioration is perceptible.

The use of ashes is very common upon the great argilo-
siliceous table land which belongs to the basins of the
Rhone and the Saone, and which extends from the gates
of Lyons to the departments of Ain, Saone and Loire,
Jura, and Upper Saone.

Lyons, after having furnished leached ashes to the agri-
culture of its vicinity, which employs them in great abun-
dance, sends them by its rivers to a great portion of their
banks and the neighboring countries, which pay for them
1 1-2 to 3 francs per hectolitre (from 10 to 20 cents per
bushel). The usual dose is not so large as in the neigh-
borhood of Lyons, yet it is from 60 to 80 bushels per acre.
It is sown upon the ground before the last plowing; the
earth and the ashes should be dry ; and they are left upon
the surface of the soil twenty-four hours, if the weather is
favorable ; the seed is then thrown on and the whole
covered by a light plowmg. They are also very often
used for the seeding of buckwheat upon fallow in the
month of June, and insure a crop of that as well as of the
wheat or rye which succeed. The effect of ashes is but
shehtly perceptible after two years; they are then alter-
nated with dung, because they are more profitable to the
soil if used only once in four years. In the neighborhood
of Lyons they are used with much advantage upon some
meadows, to the amount of fifty bushels to the acre; their
effect also is very durable; the doses upon plowed lands
are also very strong, and seem rather to be regulated by
the low price of the material, which on the spot is from
seven to ten cents per bushel, than by the necessities of
the soil.

In Sarthe they are very dear and much valued ; they are
used along with lime, to which they are preferred for light
soils ; the dose is twelve bushels to the acre, and the effect

ASHES. 55

is great upon buckwheat and the wheat which succeeds
it.

In Indre they are used, especially for rape, at the rate
of twenty bushels to the acre; and with no other manure
they gather from twenty to thirty bushels of seed.

Ashes are generally used alone without dung ; still, in
the country where their value and use are best known, it
is believed that as in the case of marl and lime, the mix-
ture with dung doubles the activity of both substances, and
very much increases the natural fecundity of the soil. In
a commune in the vicinity Louhans (Saone and Loire)
ashes are eagerly sought for, for wheat; they join to half
the ordinary dose of dung from eight to ten bushels of
ashes to the acre, and this half dose of each produces more
than the full dose of either by itself. In the commune of
St. Etienne, near Bonry, the use of dung is added to that
of ashes ; the dung gives the advantage of keeping a cold
and compact soil somewhat mellow and more accessible to
the atmospheric agents.

On moist soils the dose should be inereased in proportion
to the moisture ; but if the water is stagnant they produce
no effect till there has been a thorough draining ; hence
we see the effect must be small in wet seasons upon such
soils.

Ashes, as we have said, are employed in all the seasons
except winter. Early in spring they are used upon mea-
dows and pastures; afterwards with the seed of barley,
oats, and maize ; in the course of the summer they enrich
rape and buckwheat ; and finally, in autumn they are used
with the seed of wheat and rye.

The ashes are covered with a light plowing, or are
strewn without being covered upon crops in vegetation.
Thrown in spring upon wheat and barley, they improve
the crop sensibly, yet this practice is quite rare. Some
experiments upon the same crop in the same soil, of ashes
covered at sowing and spread upon the surface on the
plants in vegetation, have given me a better yield in the
soil than on the surface, showing that the practice of
covering is preferable.

56 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Practice also prefers leached to quick ashes; reasoning
does not bear this out, but in agriculture more than else-
where “ experientia rerum magistra’”—(Ezxperience is
mistress). 1 have convinced myself of this by comparative
trials. We shall not conclude, nevertheless, that this re-
sult must always take place; upon a soil which would be
enriched by saline substances, I think that quick ashes
would produce more effect ; but upon those for which the
phosphate of lime is sufficient, we see that leached ashes
which have lost their soluble parts, contain more of it, and
consequently produce more effect with the same bulk.

Ashes of peat and. coal.

These ashes are considered in Holland, in the depart-
ment du Nord, and Belgium, as one of the great agents of
vegetation. The ashes of peat are to be distinguished from
those of coal.

Helland ashes.

We give the name of Holland ashes particularly to ma-
rine ashes, or the ashes of our domestic peat ; the former
are much more valuable than the latter ; it requires four
times less of them to produce the same effect: they are
produced by the combustion of the peat of Holland. This
peat, which has been formed, or at least has remained a
long time beneath the waters of the sea, is a better com-
bustible, and especially gives white ashes of a_ better
quality ; these ashes undoubtedly contain a greater pro-
portion of saline and calcareous elements.

They are used, as well as the ashes of peat and coal,
upon artificial meadows, upon flax, upon spring grain, and
upon meadows that are not watered. They have become
indispensable to agriculture in the arrondissement of Lille,
where the calcareous amendments are but little used; in
the other arrondissements, and particularly in that of
Avesnes, they are often mixed with lime from one-half to
one-fourth of the whole bulk.

Composts of ashes and lime are particularly useful on
meadows and spring grains, at the same dose as of pure

ASHES. 57

lime, that is to say 50 bushels to the acre for every ten or
twelve years.

_ Marine ashes are much esteemed for the clovers, from
six to twelve bushels per acre are used, and the clover
gives a superb crop, and the wheat which succeeds par-
takes of the fruitfulness of the forage.

The high price at which the Flemish were obliged to
buy the marine ashes caused them to discover an amend-
ment not so dear; they get from Picardy and their own
soil a mineral which they call black or red ashes, which
takes the place of the marine ashes sold at too dear a rdte
by their neighbors the Dutch ; we shall speak of it in the
following section.

Coal ashes.

They are used in default of all the resources which pre-
cede ; still they are quite active, and compose in part the
street mud which is bought at a dear rate in all the cities
and large towns. We have to regret that this material
should be generally wasted in France: those who collect
the mud of Lyons accumulate large quantities of them,
and experience their good effects almost without knowing
to what they are due.

Peat ashes in general.

They are used in Picardy in great abundance; the val-
leys of the Somme and its branches contain great quanti-
ties of peat which are very profitably improved for the
manufacture of bricks, tiles, and for domestic fires; besides
which, a large quantity is burned to get the manure. Peat
ashes are there used for meadows, both natural and artifi-
cial, and for fall grains; fifty bushels are applied to the
acre. Their price is rather high, that is to say, three
cents per bushel taken upon the spot.

In England they also make much use of them, but their
rules and doses vary with each district. The composition
of these ashes is so variable, that precise directions can
scarcely be given; still we can say they should be spread

A

58 THE FARMER’S MINE.

dry upon soils that have been well drained. They are
used either as a top-dressing or to be plowed in; the dose
should be double in the latter case; united with dung
they make an excellent compost.

Twelve loads of peat furnish upon an average one load
of ashes.

To burn peat in Germany, they have a sort of gridiron,
under which wood is placed ; upon the gridiron they place
peat, and on the top of that some that is wet ; the combus-
tion is managed so as to make it last as long as possible,
because experience has shown that the ashes are better
when the peat is burned slowly.

Still we must say that it is much to be regretted that a
fuel fit for so many uses should spend its heat for nothing,
while everywhere the brickmakers, lime-burners, potters,
and kitchen fires, pay dearly for their fuel. “ Happy the
country which burns its mother!’ This proverb, born in
a country which has been enriched by the use of peat,
should be a strong lesson to those districts of France
where it is found in abundance, and such districts are
numerous. Wherever peat is found, therefore, easy of
access, without being used either in agriculture or the arts,
a treasure is left buried which might give prosperity and
riches to the country.

CHAPTER VI.
SALT.

Of marine salt, or hydro-chlorate of soda.

Tue great question here is of sea salt; the other salts
are only of secondary importance. Sea salt is one of the
substances which can be furnished by commerce at the
lowest price, when the impost which falls upon this article of
prime necessity shall have been abolished. On the sea-
shore and in the mines of rock salt the hundred weight

SALT. 59

would cost but ten cents. The mines which furnish it, of
which the veins appear to be of indefinite thickness, seem
almost inexhaustible; if, therefore, salt can be of great
utility in agriculture, with the new improvements in com-
munication in France, there ought to be more than half
the surface of our country where the price of salt should
be scarcely one franc (nineteen cents) per hundred
weight ; and, as its effects upon the soil are produced by
small doses, and nevertheless appear very great, the results
should be of great importance.

Let us look upon the facts which prove its great influ-
ence upon the fertility of the soil. The use of salt in
agriculture is very ancient: the Hindoos and Chinese,
from the remotest antiquity, have fertilized their fields and
gardens with it. The Assyrians, Piiny tells us, spread it at
some distance around the stems of their palm trees. How-
ever, it is known that in a considerable quantity it sterilizes
the soil; thus the Bible informs us that Abimelech, hay-
ing taken Shechem, destroyed that city from its founda-
tions and sowed with salt the place which it occupied.

In modern times the English have studied this question
much more than we. Lord Bacon proved by his experi-
ments that the use of salt water was profitable in agricul-
ture. More recently, Brownrice, Watson, and Cart-
WRIGHT, have confirmed by experiment the efficacy of salt
upon vegetation. The Agricultural Societies have offered
a prize, and Davy, Sinciair, JoHNson, and Daoreg, have
verified and advised the use of it. In the county of Corn-
wall, composts of the impure salt of the salt works with
sea sand, earth, mould, or the remains of fish, are fre-
quently employed, and the farmers of Cheshire, we are
told by Davy, attribute to them the abundance of their
harvests. In the Isle of Man, salt is used to destroy moss
in meadows. The usual composition of composts for
meadows is eight loads of earth and seventeen bushels of
salt per acre.

In many of the cider-making districts the apple trees
are rendered more robust and fruitful by burying around

60 THE FARMER’S MINE.

and at some distance from the trunk a small dose of sea
salt. The scions and slips which are sent to a distance,
being wet in salt water, sprout more easily on their arrival.

The British government, at the request of the agricul-
tural:interest, orders the salt which is required for the soil
to be mized with soot and sold at a lower price. In Ger-
many, where there is but little sea coast, and where salt
is scarcer and dearer, this question has been less consider-
ed; in Bavaria, however, the king has ordered all the salt
used in agriculture, either for cattle, or for the soil, to be
sold at a low price.

In France a multitude of facts confirm the efhicacy of
salt as an amendment upon certain soils. The great
fecundity produced by sea manure is often due to the salts
which it contains; and this is still more evident in regard
to the ashes of Pornic, into the composition of which are
put the scrapings of the salt heaps, and which are care-
fully watered during the whole summer with salt water.
The practice of Morbihan to water the dung with sea
water has doubtless been established upon the proof given
by experience of the efhcacy of salt united with dung.
Finally, the great effect of sea weeds and their ashes,
which contain perhaps half the weight of muriate of
soda, or soda, must be taken as additional proof. In some
districts of the coast soda (salsoda soda) is sowed at the
same time with the wheat, upon the salt lands formed by
deposits from the water of the sea. When the rains come
to diminish the quantity of the salt, the wheat grows
beautifully, and the soda remains feeble. When the rains
are scanty the soda flourishes at the expense of the wheat.

When the salt is not very abundant, it favors vegeta-
tion and gives products of an excellent quality. The salt
meadows are esteemed for the quantity and quality of their
forage, and the manure of their sheep. I have lived in
Picardy near the pastures that are often covered by the
high tides: when the rains come to wash the surface and
carry off the too great portion of salt, they furnish pastur-
age in abundance, and of excellent quality. |

SALT. 61

Experiments upon the action of salt upon vegetation.’

No treatise better demonstrates this action, nor better
defines the doses and the attending circumstances of the
application, than the experiments of M. Lecog of Cler-
mont. He has taken a great step in the question, both
general and particular, of the-use of the different saline
substances offered to agriculture by nature and art. We
shall proceed to give the results of his experiments, con-
fining ourselves, however, to the facts and instructions
which most interest the practical cultivator.

On a field of barley, upon good free soil, dunged the
preceding year, he divided a space of thirty-two rods into
eight equal portions ; upon the six first he spread, on the
last of April, progressive doses of salt, and upon Nos.
seven and eight he put nothing.

Table of operations and results.

Numbers. Digske: of salt. Erodacts ie grain
ee en 1 eS ae Oana
2 BNO nist ae Bye Sha
3 ; 9 ‘ 33
4 4 6 : : : Al
5 Gag Wigs sas
6 12 j : : 48
t : 00 ; : ; 28
8 : 00 : ‘ : 31

Number one, which received but one pound and a half,
differed but little from those which received none ; number
two had the straw longer and the barley more tufted ;
number three became still better ; number four, vegetation
very vigorous, the straw ten inches longer than that
which was not salted, and four inches longer than that
which was salted less or more. The ears besides were
larger, longer, and better filled than the others. Number
five, inferior to number four, resembling number two, but
higher than that ; number six, the strongest dose, seemed
diseased, notwithstanding its product in grain was quite

62 THE FARMER’S MINE.

large ; its straw was not longer than that of the numbers
not salted

It results from this that the most productive dose for
barley should be one and a half pound to the rod or two
hundred and forty pounds to the acre. The four rods
which received six pounds produced more than numbers
seven and eight, which received none,——eleven pounds of
grain or four hundred and forty pounds to the acre, or
more than three and a half times the seed, which is on an
average less than 100 pounds to the acre. |

This experiment with the same data was made at the
same time upon a field of wheat, upon a soil rather thin,
light, and high. The results were found nearly the same,
notwithstanding the difference of soil, position, and crops ;
still there was little difference between numbers three and
four, of which the former received four and a half pounds
to the four rods, and the latter six pounds.

The suitable dose for wheat should, therefore, be below
one and a half pounds to the rod, or two hundred and
forty pounds to the acre.

Upon a field of lucern divided in the same manner and
with the same doses upon the same surface, the following
results were obtained : |

Numbers. re of salt. Dry Lageen
Ih uae ee ONS © weet & San eak gs 87
2 3 ‘ 3 sule 131
3 5 : eum meron |
4 6 . : . 75
5 9 7 : : 62
6 12 ‘ : : 48
a 00 ; é A 85
8 00 p 3 3 85

We see that the effect, scarcely sensible in number one,
which received but one and a half pounds of salt, rises to
its maximum in number two, which had received three
pounds of it, and then goes on diminishing to number six
which received 12 pounds, the crop of which was reduced -
to forty-eight pounds or a little more than one-third of

SALT. 63

number two. At the second cutting the result was nearly
the same, although the rains had washed the numbers
where the salt was in excess, and they had somewhat
increased in product. .

The most suitable dose for leguminous forage would,
therefore, seem to be three pounds to four rods, or one
hundred and twenty pounds to the acre, or one half that
which suits ground sown in bread stuffs.

The proportion most productive for potatoes should be
as for grain one and a half pounds per rod; that is the
dose at any rate which gave the most vigor to the stalks.

For flax five pounds to the four rods, or two hundred —
pounds to the acre, appeared to be the best dose. How-
ever, the product in seed is not greater than of flax*not salt-
ed. A dose of eight pounds gave a product sensibly less
than one of five pounds.

In the use of salt, as of lime, except in strong doses, it
produces little effect upon a damp soil; one and a half
pounds to the rod spread upon cold meadows and upon
dry, doubled the product of the latter, while it only
changed the color of the former. Upon oats on damp
soil the effect was scarcely perceptible, while upon dry soil
the vigor was much increased. Finally, some lots taken
upon a damp peaty soil received six, twelve, and twenty-
four pounds of salt to the four rods; the two first numbers
had the advantage over the parts not salted, and the two
last produced much more than the others.

One hundred and thirty pounds of salt upon leguminous
forage produced the same effect upon the acre as two
thousand and two hundred pounds of plaster, whence it
results that sea salt can be substituted for plaster in coun-
tries where the latter is scarce and dear. But what is
especially remarkable, as in the case of calcareous ma-
nures, is the improvement of the quality of the hay upon
moist meadows; the cattle consumed it with as much
pleasure as they did with little before the experiment.

The general effect of salt upon crops of all sorts is doubt-
less to increase their taste, and to render them more agree-

—_

64 THE FARMER’S MINE.

able, and probably more nourishing to cattle. We think |
the same is true of products destined for men. It is pro-
bable also that the products which best suit the instincts
and appetites of animals, also give their flesh the best
quality and savor, which would also seem to be proved by
the high value which the gourmands attach to the mutton
of the salt pastures. The general effect of salt upon crops
is to increase all the products but the leaves in a greater
proportion than the rest. Hence the dose for grass crops
is but half that for grains.

Saline manures succeed almost as well in powder as in
solution ; as the former mode is much more convenient it
is consequently preferable, and the more so because in
using salt in solution, that it may not be injurious and may
cover the whole extent, it is necessary to use it dissolved
in a great deal of water.

Of the hydro-chlorate or muriate of lime. (Chloride of
calciun).

The effects of muriate of lime upon vegetation have
hitherto been much disputed ; it would be quite important,
however, that its favorable action upon the soil should be
established, because it is presented in large quantities as the
residuum of certain chemical manufactures. In the experi-
ments of M. Lecoa, its effects have been almost equal to
those of muriate of soda ; however, it seemed less energetic
upon lucerns, and its most fertilizing dose, instead of being
three pounds to the four rods as for common salt, was from
three to six.

Its use is more troublesome than that of marine salt, on
account of its deliquescence ; it 1s for the same reason more
difficult of transportation and cannot be spread in powder.

We are here confined to experiments on a small scale;
but those of M. Dusuc, of Rouen, are very favorable to it.
He thinks that leached ashes, charcoal, sawdust of wood,
or plaster, should serve as the medium for spreading it,
and that twenty-four pounds would be sufficient for the
amendment of one acre.

SALT. 66

Its effect was great upon maize, potatoes, trees, and
shrubs of different sorts. He thinks that it would suit
hemp, flax, and the oleaginous seeds. It doubled the size
of onions and poppies to which he applied it.

Of the sulphate of soda.
The sulphate of soda was employed upon a meadow
and a field sown in wheat, at the dose of three, six, and
twelve pounds.

Numbers. Doses. . Wheat. Dry Lucern.
1 3 ? Bde 3s ost thos
2 6 P 34.’ s 456
3 12 huis at SOB eee
4 OB 4546 POEs init 9D

From this it appears that for fields the most suitable
dose would be six pounds for four rods, rather above than
below, however; and that upon meadows, the advanta-
geous effect would increase up to twelve pounds, and per-
haps beyond. This salt can be procured at a low price
‘in the manufactories of soda.

Of the nitrate of potash, or saltpetre.

Its success upon the soil, disputed by some, has been
very great in numerous experiments made in England.
Trials comparing it with sea salt appear to have given it
the advantage. In England the price of saltpetre which
is brought from India, is so low that it can even be used
in agriculture with advantage.

The most useful dose of saltpetre is nearly the same as
that of sea salt; it varies from one hundred and twenty
to two hundred and forty pounds per acre. It has been
used with success upon the different bread stuffs ; still, its
most remarkable effect is upon natural meadows and upon
clovers. | |

CurLine mixed it advantageously with ashes by which

he was able to diminish the dose. Mr. Joun Lez, who
: a .

66 THE FARMER’S MINE.

used it for fifteen years, thinks that it causes the produc-
tion of more straw than grain in proportion, and that its
effect is prolonged to the second crop ; but other cultiva-
tors do not entertain this opinion. There is little agree-
ment as to the nature of the soils to which saltpetre is best
suited ; its action has been advantageous upon a great
many varieties, but it seems to have been most satisfactory
upon calcareous soils,

General remarks.

M. Lecog has moreover fixed many circumstances in
regard to the use of saline substances. For example, he
spread them in powder in the spring upon the plants in
vegetation. A part of the soil sown in wheat, upon
which in the month of October he spread a dose of salt,
was less productive than another contiguous lot salted in
the month of March.

The most favorable time for giving salt to potatoes
should be that which just precedes the hillmg; it should
doubtless be the same with Indian corn ; in this case it is
upon the soil and not upon the plants in vegetation that
the salt is spread.

The effect produced by saline substances is immediate,
but it is not very perceptible on moist soils and is of short
duration. They act in small doses. In all these circum-
stances they have the closest similarity to plaster. These
substances, therefore, act as stimulants, and there is no
reason to fear that they will exhaust the soil, provided a
quantity of dung proportioned to the product is joined
with them, as is done in the case of sea manure.

After all the developments just given, we have reason
to conclude that saline substances powerfully aid vegeta-
tion; but wnfortunately their effect 1s not uniform, it 1s
not general, and it is produced. only upon certain soils.
Since the Memoir of M. Lecog, M. de Dompaste has tried
salt upon his soil; but, like lime, it did not succeed with
him. We have ourselves made numerous experiments on
this subject. Last spring we used the doses that were

SALT. 67

most productive with M. Lecoq, with two varieties of salt»
the ordinary salt of commerce and the salt of pickled fish-
The latter variety was cheaper, and we thought it ought
to act with more energy from the animal particles which
it contained. This salt spread upon four portions of mea-
dow of various position and soil, produced no sensible
effect: employed upon portions of a wheat field, on gra
velly, argilo-siliceous, and calcareous soils, the effect was
the same ; buried in the first dressing of potatoes and the
hilline of corn, it gave no result ; it only seemed to excite
a little the vigor of winter vetches.

Sea manure, sand, sea mud or slime, ashes of sea-weed.

All these different amendments which the sea offers to
the people on its coasts, are both calcareous and saline.
Their effect is great, but is not produced upon all descrip-
tions of soil. These stimulating amendments do not act,
in our opinion, upon soils made by the sea, nor upon those
which owe to it their formation in modern times, but prin-
cipally upon argilo-siliceous soils.

When sea manure is sandy it is also active, but not so
profitable as when it is slimy and contains animal and
vegetable substances in decomposition. In this last case
itis a sort of compost of calcareous sand, shells, marine
plants, and salt. It is then one of the most fertilizing
manures known in agriculture. :

Sea manure is used in England as well as France. By
this name is denoted in many districts the fucus as well
as other marine plants. This is not the place to treat of
this vegetable manure, but the mud of the sea is almost as
often used as the marine plants ; its use, however, cannot
extend so far inland, because it costs more for transporta-
tion. A better state of the roads would much facilitate
and extend the use of this powerful means of amelioration,
and so much the more because in the interior the quantity
of soil which is adapted to it is relatively much greater.

In England it is much esteemed for top-dressing for
winter grains and spring grass; it is remarked that the

68 THE FARMER’S MINE.

wheat, oats and barley to which this amendment has been
given are less subject to rust. In Cheshire the sea mud
which is taken from the salt marshes is considered the best
of all manures; it is found to have the activity of marl
and the richness of dung. Composts are usually made of
it with dung, which are mixed over from time to time in
order to be used at the moment of sowing the wheat.

This amendment is much sought for on the coast of
Avranches, in Manche, where it is preferred to lime or
marl. With compost made with five or six wagon-loads
of sea mud to the acre, which is mixed with one-quarter
more of dung, or a proportionate quantity of loam, an
excellent manure is formed which produces its effect at
least during one whole course of the rotation. _In all this
country the use of lime is very common ; but the moment
you approach sufficiently near the sea, and the roads per-
mit the transportation of the sea mud, lime is no longer
used.

In Brittany the use of sea sand has also been general
for thirty years past, on the coast of Saint Brieuc and Ma-
tignon. It used to be unknown except at Hilion, where
it has been established for fifty years; but for some time
past the whole canton of Matignon, following the exam-
ple of M. Desmoland, has used it with great profit, and its
use would be much more extensive but for the state of the
roads ; sea sand is adapted to the cultivation of clover,
- Jucern, flax, hemp, and potatoes; upon the meadows it
destroys the rush, increases the quantity and improves the
quality of the grass, and finally is well adapted to clay
soils which it mellows and renders more penetrable by the
water. .

The mud taken from the mouths of creeks and rivers is
preferred, because there it contains more remains both
marine and fluviatile, which have been brought there from
land and sea by the ebb and flow; elsewhere the sand
contains little but its earthly elements, the remains of shells
and marine soil. 7

In countries where the .fucus (sea-weed) does not suit

SALT. 69

the soil, or is collected beyond the demand for it, it is
burned for its ashes. These can then be sold as contain-
ing a little soda of a bad quality ; but they are more profit-
able as a manure. Some trials of them have been made
in Scotland, and have succeeded very well for all sorts of
crops. Five hundred weight (250 kilog.) of kelp (the
name of sea-weed ashes) to the Scotch acre have given a
great increase of product. They have been used for a
long time in Brittany, and their use within a few years
past has been much extended.

On the island of Noirmoutier and some parts of the
neighboring coast, they burn the sea-weed of which they
make no use, mix it with earth, sand, the scrapings beneath
heaps of salt, fresh sea weed, stable dung, shells, and all
sorts of vegetable and animal remains; from time to time
during the year they wet the heap with salt water; they
work it over at five or six different times, and then the
mixture resembles ashes. Not many years ago, five or six
small vessels were sufficient to convey this manure to the
places where it is used; in 1832 there were discharged at
Pornic 1236 cargoes almost entirely of ashes, each cargo
containing ten cartloads of twenty-seven and a ‘half bushels
each.

One hundred and twenty bushels of these ashes are
used to the acre. They are applied to all crops, but par-
ticularly to buckwheat and summer leoumes, as well as to
hich grass. They are spread at the time of sowing. By
mixing them with a small quantity of dung we “should
diminish by one-third the quantity necessary, and should
have a manure as profitable at least.

Amelioration by sea manure ought not to be confined to
places near the seashore: the country roads are too bad to
permit its easy transportation to a distance; but the navi-
gation of rivers and even creeks at their mouths, by means
of the tide, permits the conveying of it at a sufficiently
small expense a long distance inland. The quantity
necessary to the acre, eighty or one hundred cubic feet or
more, is comparatively large; the duration of its effec

70 THE FARMER’S MINE.

upon the soil is prolonged, therefore, far beyond that of
the dung with which it is mixed; the ebb and flow of the
sea much facilitates the operation; the loading is effected
at low tide upon the uncovered mud, and the high tide
wafts away the vessel and its cargo.

UWiA PT Be Vy ia.
SALT AND LIME MIXED.

SaLT and lime, artificially mixed as a manure, promise.
to be a valuable aid to the farmer in those positions where
the soil abounds with insoluble silicates or geine, and
where other manures necessary to produce decomposition
or fermentation are not at hand. Prof. Johnston recom-
mends a mixture of two parts of lime and one part of salt,
the mixture to remain incorporated in a shady place, or
covered with sods two or three months before using. Salt
and lime should not be used immediately after mixing, as
bad results are apt to ensue; but after being well mixed
in a dry state and lying as directed, it: may be applied ut
the rate of from thirty to sixty bushels per acre, either
before or at the time of sowing. Mixed with soot, salt
acts with great power on roots. Mr. Sinclair mixed six
and a half bushels of soot with the same quantity of salt,
and used the mixture on lands sowed to carrots. The
result was, that unmanured land gave twenty-three tons
of roots per acre, and the manured yielded forty tons per
acre; and Mr. Cartwright found that where unmanured
soil gave 157 bushels of potatoes per acre, 30 bushels of
soot and six of salt made it produce 240 bushels per acre.
Dr. Dana furnishes so beautiful an explanation of the man-
ner in which this manure acts, that it deserves a place
entire: “By mixing quicklime with common salt, its
Soda is let loose, the acid combines with the lime, forming

SALT AND LIME MIXED. 71

a soluble salt of lime, and so long as the soda remains
caustic, it has no effect on the muriate of lime, but’as soon
as the soda becomes mild or carbonated, decomposition of
the muriate of lime is produced, and the common salt
regenerated. Commencing then with quicklime and salt,
we pass to a soluble salt of lime and caustic soda, and
from that to mild soda, and to carbonate of lime and the
original salt. If these various changes take place in the
midst of peat or geine, it is evident that the caustic soda
acts upon the geine, and also evolves ammonia from that
substance ; secondly, that the muriate of lime, in its finely
soluble state, insinuates itself among the particles of the
eeine; that the soda is also equally diffused, and that
when the soda becomes carbonated, it produces an almost
impalpable carbonate of lime throughout the whole mass,
which, by its equal diffusion through the soil with the
geine, acis upon the silicates, as has been heretofore ex-
plained.”” To produce these effects, Dr. D. directs to take
one bushel of salt and two bushels of hme; to make the
salt into strong brine, and with it slack the lime. Mix
both well together, and let them remain ten days; then
let them be well mixed with three cords of peat, shovelled
well over for about six weeks, when it may be used.
A quantity of salt sufficient to destroy all vegetation may
be applied to a soil with safety when a few months are
to elapse before the crop is to be put on; as the chemical
changes which take place, partially neutralize its effect
during this time. A small quantity mixed with the soil
in each hill of corn has been found to protect it from the
wire worm and the cut worm; indeed there is no sub-
stance that insects of all kinds more dread than salt. It
is probable, therefore, that further experiments will show
that not the least value of salt is to be found in its pre-
ventive properties against these depredators.

Having noticed the several articles usually classed un-
der the head of amendments, mineral manures or salts,
we now proceed to speak of other kinds. Here again we

shall be largely indebted to the Farm House.

CHAPTER VIII.
ACTION OF MANURES.

Tue various relics of vegetables and animals that have
been endowed with life, are destined to serve as aliment
for plants; it is while gradually suffering disorganization
that they furnish the soluble or volatile products that can
be assimilated. Thus, when plants are pulled up and
thrown into a heap, a fermentation takes place, warms the
mass, disengages vapor of water and gases which dis-
cover their odor more or less; some of the altered juice
no longer retained in the organic tissues, which are gra-
dually rent, runs out or is dissolved in the rain water ;
these disengaged gases with the vapor of water, and the
substances in solution, are what serve as manure.

The remains of dead animals present similar phenome-
na; the products of their decomposition, soluble or gaseous,
develope a stronger odor; they differ remarkably by a
much more abundant production of ammonia, and by a
more lively and effective action, for which reason much
less is required upon a given surface.

Finally, animal evacuations give directly liquid and
gaseous matters assimilable by plants, and which consti-
tute the most active part of all the dungs.

These spontaneous decompositions, which are favored
by the oxygen of the air and its temperature, exhale es-
pecially carbonic acid, free or combined, of which the
plants can extract the carbon, to increase their solid parts.

Many agricultural writers had said, without gaining the
concurrence of all, however, that in the fermentation of
manures the disengagement of a great part of the volatile
products is an important loss of elements useful to vegeta-

ACTION OF MANURES. 73

tion. Nevertheless, almost all agriculturists had observed
an unfavorable influence more or less marked, of dungs in
a raw state, and especially of the various animal matters,
such as flesh, blood, viscera, &c. Thus science indicated
all the useful elements, and practice seemed to have learn-
ed how much of them it was necessary to lose in order to
insure to the residue an indisputable efficacy.

The question was in this state, when the central Society
of Agriculture having offered prizes, the memoir which
obtained the first demonstrated that we could apply with-
out any loss all organic matters, even the most putresci-
ble, to fertilize the earth, and thus double, triple, and even
sometimes increase ten-fold their useful effects. I have
since observed also that in fertile soils, a slight alkaline
reaction, due either to lime or carbonate of soda or of pot-
ash which are found in ashes, &c., or to the carbonate of
ammonia disengaged by animal matters, gives great ac-
tivity to vegetation. That most of the acids or acid salts
are injurious to the germination and growth of plants,
but that, on the contrary, they can indirectly aid the pro-
cess, when without being in contact with the extremities
of the roots, they react upon the carbonate of lime, gradu-
ally decompose it, and liberate the carbonic acid, a verita-
ble aliment of vegetation.

There are other influences not less important, in which
practice is made to agree with theory, by a severe exa-
mination of all the facts lately often contradictory, and
which I have hastened to submit to the scientific as well
as to enlightened practical men.

I have already said that manures of organic matter act
the more usefully when their spontaneous decomposition
is slow and best proportioned to the growth of vegeta-
bles; the following results are not less constant.

The most active manures, as well as those which a
strong resistance to decomposition renders too slow to act
and almost inert, can be put into the favorable conditions
aforesaid.

By bringing to the most suitable condition the manures

74 THE FARMER’S MINE.

whose dissolution and spontaneous decomposition is the
most rapid, we can quadruple and even increase six-fold
their available effect.*

Muscular flesh, blood, and various animal substances,
as well as dungs which were heretofore permitted to
change so as to lose from 0.5 to 0.9 of their products, can
now be turned to account without experiencing any previous
loss. 3

The strong drying and disinfecting agency of carbona-
ceous substances, or dull and very porous eharcoal, can be
applied to the preservation,of very alterable manures, and
to the solution of problems of the highest interest to the
public health.

Various organic substances dissolved, or in suspension in
very small proportions in water, used in abundant irriga-
tion, can effect the most remarkable results of a beautiful
vegetation.

Manures, whose partial emanations are not easily mod-
erated, may pass in part without assimilation into plants,
so as to maintain there the strong odor which character-
izes them. By previous disinfection, this serious inconve-
mience can be prevented. A direct experiment demon-
strates besides, that certain odorous elements may be
secreted even in the flesh of animals, and especially of
fishes.

The most striking anomalies in the action of bones used
as manure are rationally explained, enter into the general
theory, and may be avoided in practice or reproduced at
pleasure.

Dull charcoals, in very light powder, impregnated with
minutely divided or soluble organic substances, act use-
fully. 1. By their peculiar faculty of retarding sponta-
neous decomposition, by which the assimilable emanations
are better proportioned to the absorbing power of the
plants (for the charcoal alone does not perceptibly yield

* Thus animal carbon, containing 0.15 of dry soluble blood, acts more

at an equal weight than soluble blood; that is to say, by retarding the
putrefaction the useful effect is rendered six-fold.

VEGETABLE MANURES. 75

any of its own substance to the action of the spongy ex-
tremities of the roots). 2. And moreover, as an interme-
diate agent capable of condensing the gases and yielding
them to plants under the influences of temperature, or
humidity, which alter its power of condensation. 3. By
absorbing the heat of the solar rays and transmitting them
to the soil, and during the night to the parts of plants
above ground, thus compensating for the causes which
would effect too sudden and great a cooling.

Of different manures.

After having summed up the general principles relative
to organic manures in different conditions, we proceed to
apply them to the treatment and use of substances parti-
cularly designed to serve as manures in agriculture.

CHAPTER TX,
VEGETABLE MANUBES.

Of land plants Manures produced by the green parts.

Tue use of vegetables as manures has doubtless always
been known. The Greeks, we are told by Turopurastus :
the Romans, according to Pury, CoLUMELLA, and almost
all the authors whose works remain, recurred frequently
to this means in cultivation upon a large scale. “ Some-
times,” says Varro, “ we sow various plants, not for their
own sake, but to improve the following crop, their leaves
imparting to a lean soil a greater fertility. Thus it is a
common practice to bury, instead of manure, lupines before
their pods begin to form, and sometimes beans before
they are ripe enough to be harvested.’? Columella recom-
mends in a still more explicit manner the use of the same
means. He advises, in sandy soils, to bury these vegeta-

76 THE FARMER’S MINE.

bles while they are yet tender, that they may rot more
promptly ; and in more tenacious soils to let them become
hard and woody, that they may the longer be able to keep
the clods in a state of division.

The practice of green manuring 1s also general in Italy.
Puirro Re and his excellent translator M. Dupont, give
us numerous proofs of it. Throughout Tuscany maize is
sown in August to be plowed in the beginning of October.
The Bressans employ a similar method upon the light
soils on which they propose to sow wheat. They sow
lupines upon a second plowing at the time before men-
tioned, in the proportion of one and one-fourth bushels to
the acre. Inthe Bolonais and the territory of Ceséne, after
harvest, they take advantage of the first rain to sow beans
upon the ridge of each furrow in the proportion of two
and a half bushels to the acre ; in autumn, when they are
in flower, they are buried with the spade to prepare the
soil to receive the following March a crop of hemp. In
Vicentin, they cut down the beans in January, and bury
them just before sowing the crop they are designed to
nourish. The Tuscans cut them the last of August or first
of September, and use them to ameliorate light soils in
which they bury them at the time of sowing. The rocket
(sysymbrium), although enlightened cultivators do not
consider it one of the plants most advantageous for this
purpose, is still employed in a pretty large way in the
Bolonese country, and in some parts of ancient Roma-
nia. Sown the last of August, at the rate of from four to
five pounds to the acre, it is ready to be buried from the
middle to the end of November. In the environs of Como
French beans (Aaricot) are preferred. In some parts ot
the Milanais from time immemorial turnips are turned in
green, notwithstanding their value as fodder. F'mally,
in the valley of the Arno, in the country of Reggia, in
Calabria, &c., &c., there are sown for the same purpose,
according to the different localities, galega or goats-rue,
lentiles, vetches, the common sainfoin, and that of Spain,
millet, and maize.. |

VEGETABLE MANURES. Te

The practice of buried crops is also quite general in
some of our southern departments. Lupines and buck-
wheat are commonly cultivated there for the sole purpose
of making up the deficiency of manure. These two plants
of rapid growth, not difficult in the choice of soils, rich in
foliaceous parts, and whose vegetation is proof against
drought, can be sown by the aid of a single plowing
upon a stubble turned over immediately after harvest and
buried at the moment of flowering so as not at all to retard
the fallsowing. Buckwheat, of which the seed can every-
where be procured at a low price, and about one bushel
and a quarterof which is sufficient for an acre for the
present purpose, especially offers great resources to a poor
country. It succeeds better than lupines in our northern
districts, as do clover, spurry, and radishes, which are cul-
tivated for the same purpose upon light and dry soils.
Beans, peas, and vetches, are preferred for clay soils.

It is a custom already quite ancient upon the banks of
the Rhone, and particularly in the environs of Bescany, to
sow vetches or buckwheat immediately after the harvest
of wheat, and to plow them under the last of September
to sow rye. After the rye is harvested the same culture
is renewed to prepare the ground to receive wheat in
October.

According to M. Sutieres, the bean is the best of the
green manures for wheat and grass. This plant will in
time fertilize the most moderate soils. It is mown in its
blossom or a little after, and a furrow is turned upon it
with the plow. .

The fine hemps of the Bolonais are due to the burying
of rye in the blossom, and the people of Turin use the
same ¢rain as a manure between the crops of maize and
of wheat.

We shall not cite more numerous examples because we
shall necessarily have to occupy ourselves yet with buried
crops in entering into the details of rotatzons.

In proportion as we proceed from the south to the north
the advantages of green manures are less; so, notwith-

18 THE FARMER’S MINE.

standing some successful experiments made in England
and Ireland, the cultivators of these countries have for the
most part given up this mode of manuring, considering it
much more profitable to convert the green crops into
dung, by having them consumed by cattle, than to bury
them.

Time is not always and everywhere found, or weather
favorable enough, between harvest and seeding, to obtain
a crop fit to be buried at the approach of the latter period.
In such a case the manure crops cannot be made availa-
ble except on a fallow. They take place by a spring
sowing, but they prepare an impoverished soil for that of
the autumn infinitely better than a summer fallowing,
should such be necessary, since they are equivalent to a
dunging, and that without any sensible increase of labor
or expense, inasmuch as the plowings are not much, if
any, more numerous, and with a little care it 1s always
easy to have the necessary seed upon the estate itself.

In some circumstances the burying of green crops pre-
cedes the spring sowing. This happens, quite rarely, when
upon bad soils we bury successively several crops, the last
of which cannot be commenced upon till the approach of
cold weather, and we have reason not to plow in till
spring an old piece of clover, or any other artificial
meadow. At other times after one or more cuttings
during the course of the summer, the last is renewed to be
buried in autumn. Most commonly only the roots are
buried; but this operation does not belong to the subject
with which we are at present occupied. 7

The herbaceous plants are not the only ones which are
used as green manures. Woody plants and shrubs are
also used. In clearing ground covered with broom, sedge,
and heath, instead of burning, or when burning a part of
these plants upon the ground, the tops are buried first
beneath the reach of the plow, thus obtaining from them
a durable manure, and an excellent amendment of strong
soils.

They are also collected in bundles and carried to the

VEGETABLE MANURES. 79

vineyards exhausted by long production, to restore their
fecundity without injuring the quality of their products.
In this case a trench is opened between the ranges of
props of eight or ten inches broad, without fear of cutting
a few fibres, and after having filled it with branches, it is
covered by means of the earth raised from the next trench.
The effect of this operation, particularly applicable to
rather strong soils, is perceivable for a great number of
years.

The manures taken from the vegetable kingdom, less
than those which come from the animal kingdom, having
the inconvenience of changing the savor of fruits, the
branches of yew, the clippings of box, &c., &c., are almost
everywhere esteemed to aid the vigor of fruit trees. Va-
rious cistes, the gnaphalium, and other plants which
abound in the most arid places in the south of Europe, are
carefully collected in Tuscany under the name of lignamiche,
and placed at the roots of the olive trees, after having lain in
a heap long enough to begin to ferment. Ihave seen this
method also practised in some parts of the heaths of the
department of Herault. In short, all the herbaceous or
sub-ligneous stalks and all the green parts of vegetables,
when no better use can be found forthem, can beimmediately
transformed inte manure. They ferment the more promptly
in proportion as they contain more parenchymatous sub-
stance and less of woody fibre, and as the decomposition
of their fibres is facilitated by the abundance of saccharine
and mucilaginous matters.

I have said that buried crops as manure are better suited
to warm climates than to others. For the same reason
they are better suited to dry soils than to moist. The
water which they gradually give up while decomposing
produces an equal and constant moisture, than which
nothing could be more favorable to the growth of plants,
when it is accompanied by heat, and when, as in the pre-
sent case, it is in contact with soluble matters. The richer
a plant is in soft and pulpy parts, the better it will serve
for a green manure, not only for the reason I have just

80 THE FARMER’S MINE.

mentioned, but because we may infer from the number and
thickness of its leaves that it must have derived from the
atmosphere a great part of its nutritive elements.

For clayey and moist localities it would be necessary, on
the contrary, to choose branchy and tough stalks of slow
decomposition, in order to obtain an amendment. This
truth is not new: we have seen that it was perfectly under-
stood by the Romans.

The best time to bury green crops is while in the blos-
som. Then, especially, they are distended with juice
without having taken hardly anything from the soil, for it
has been demonstrated that they do not generally begin to
exhaust the soil till from the time when the seed begins to
form to its ripening.

Green manures are far from being sufficiently valued in
all places where they might be employed to advantage.

To the above we may add the following cheap and easy
mode of enriching the soil by plowing in green crops.

Commence in the spring with sowing buckwheat on the
lot to be improved. When the buckwheat is in full bloom
and before the grain forms, turn it under. At the usual
time sow again with buckwheat, and at the same time
sow one bushel of rye to the acre. In the fall gather
your crop of buckwheat, while you let the rye remain.
The following season, when the rye is in full bloom, plow
it under, and in due time sow again with buckwheat and
rye. Continue this course until your land has attained a
desirable fertility. By this simple process the poorest
soil may be enriched at the small annual expense of one
bushel of rye to the acre.

Mr. John W. Sweet, of Tyrigham, Berkshire county,
informs us that he plants his corn in the following manner,
and has realized 110 bushels shelled corn to the acre.

He spreads what manure he intends for the field on the
surface of the green-sward; then he plows the land into
ridges about three feet apart in the fall—each ridge or row
being made of two back-furrows turned upon a narrow
strip of sward which is not disturbed. In the spring he

MANURES PRODUCED BY THE DEAD OR DRY PARTS. Sl

rolls and harrows these ridges, and on the top of each
ridge, 12 or 14 inches apart, he plants his hills of corn, three
or four kernels in the hill, and cultivates his corn through
the season with the hoe, cultivator and plow, as much as
he deems necessary. In this method, he remarked that he
was not troubled with weeds or drought.

In the fall, as soon as his corn is ripe, he gathers the
ears, then pulls up all the corn-stalks and lays them down
lengthways between the furrows, and then splits his
ridges with the plow and covers these stalks completely.
Thus are made his ridges for his second crop of corn, to be
planted the succeeding spring. The 110 bushels was the
second crop, planted over the buried stalks.

The above is sufficient to give the reader an idea of this
system. He contends after the first crop he wants no
manure for his corn except the stalks applied as we have
described.

CHAPTER. X.

MANURES PRODUCED BY THE DEAD OR DRY PARTS.

Piants in drying lose some of their nutritive quality.
Hence in this state they are scarcely employed for the im-
provement of the soil, except after having been trans-
formed into litter. They then usually form part of the
mixed manures of which we shall speak hereafter. The
stalks of maize and rye, the stubble and straw of grain,
and damaged hay, are particularly useful in this case.

The leaves, which derive a great part of their nourish-
ment from the atmosphere, in precess of time by their de-
posits fertilize the most ungrateful soil. While it is im-
possible to imitate with advantage in the large way, by
covering whole fields with leaves, the processes which
nature employs in the woods, it is at least quite common
to turn these valuable products to account in gardens.
They are in various ways transformed into light mould

5

82 THE FARMER’S MINE.

adapted to the vegetation of delicate plants. They are
also mixed with the manures to increase and improve the
mass, and I know some localities near immense plantations
of timber, where this practice is not one of the least ad-
vantages of such cultivation.

The ferns in lands where they abound—the leaves of
weeds destroyed in the fields or by the road sides before
the maturity of their seeds, which would hurt the soil by
being permitted to ripen—the mosses—the leaves which
can be procured in abundance at so little expense by em-
ploying children to gather in the coppices and. the forests,
yield in many places, and might in many others by the
same means, important resources.

Notwithstanding the fertility of the vegetable mould
which is found in the decayed trunks of trees, I only men-
tion it here because its use does not belong to agriculture.
The same is true of saw-dust, the slow decomposition of
which makes it particularly fit to enter into the composi-
tion of the soils for artificial heaths.

As to the bark from the vats of the tanners, where it
has lost at least a great part of its astringent principles, it
is known nevertheless that by itself in this state it is little
favorable to vegetation. It is sometimes mixed with pou-
drette, but it is a fraud doubly criminal, for while increas-
ing the quantity it deteriorates the quality. As the tan is
almost entirely composed of woody fibre, to induce fer-
none more speedily, Davy recommends the use of
ime.

The chaff from the threshing-floor, the shives from the
preparation of hemp cr flax, can also, though they con-
tain little nutritive substance, be converted into manures.
In almost all our country they are carelessly thrown upon —
the dung heap. People are not everywhere so careless.
In Frieul they are softened awhile in water before throw-
ing them into heaps. They thus ferment more readily.
In Bressan they are spread upon natural meadows at the
rate of from six to twelve cartloads to the acre. They
serve besides to manure vines and fruit trees.

CHAPTER XI.

MANURES PRODUCED BY SEEDS AND FRUITS.

Puitippo Re remarks that he has seen the seeds of the
lupine put into ovens to take away their germinative power
and then used as a manure at the roots of olive and orange
trees. The effect of this substance very speedily appears ;
and there is less reason to wonder at it, inasmuch as, after
animal matters, seeds are probably of all parts of vegeta-
bles those which have the greatest fattening property for
the same bulk. Deprived even of some of their elements,
they preserve this property in a high degree.

All the dregs of fruit, when no more profitable use can
be found for them, can therefore become manures. Those
of grapes, after having fermented for some time in a mass
covered, serve to fertilize the vineyards, orchards, mea-
dows, and even the grain crops, in the south of Europe.
Almost everywhere it is turned to account in gardening.

The pomace of apples and pears, though less active,
can be employed in part for the same purposes. First rot-
ted, then mixed with one-half earth and carried on to dry
and arid fields, it produces a good effect. In Normandy it
is thought especially to have the property of improving
meadows and young orchards.

The grains of malt, the use of which for fattening cat-
tle, and their scarcity in France, hardly permits them to
be classed among vegetable substances for fertilizing the
soil in our country, in the environs of London, where its
production is immense, is in as much demand, almost, as
the best of dungs, since the quantity spread on is from
twenty-eight to forty bushels to the acre. This effect is
explained by the proportion of azotized matter which
they retain.

84 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Finally, the dregs of oleaginous seeds or fruits make
specially good manures. The former deserve here a par-
ticular notice.

In the department du Nord, the oil cakes have become,
so to speak, one of the conditions of the good cultivation
of the country. They are employed upon light and free
soils, principally for the culture of grains and for the col-
zas and flax. It is not uncommon there to see farmers
spread upon less than forty-five acres, besides all other
manures, more than eight thousand cakes of colza or
cameline, which cost them in an ordinary year from two
hundred and seventy-five to three hundred dollars.

In England,where the oil cake of rape seed is coming more
and more into use, and where the price of them has been
raised, instead of using as formerly even halfa ton to the
acre, they now put not more than eight hundred pounds
or even less upon the same surface, and it seems the results
are still very good. According to Tayor, one ton is suf-
ficient to fertilize a field of three acres, sown with turnips
broad-cast, and of five acres when sown in drills.

In the south of France the cakes of colza are used in
very variable doses according to the fertility of the soil.
Upon very good ground they succeed with a dose that very
little exceeds what I have just mentioned ; in other cases it
has been extended from six to seven hundred pounds per
acre ; in other cases still, for soils of poorer quality, from
eight to nine hundred pounds, and even beyond one thou-
sand pounds. Finally, in the Bolonais, for the exhausting
crop of hemp, they have gone as high as sixteen or seven-
teen hundred pounds, next to the cakes of colza_prefer-
ring those of flax-seed and nuts.

The oleaginous dregs are not always used in the same
manner. In the Bolonais of which I have just spoken, in
almost all of England and some of our own departments,
after having pulverized them more or less, they sow them
by hand some days. before sowing, and cover them at the
same time with the seed. In other parts of Italy, in the
neighborhood of Lille, of Valenciennes, &c., &c., they

MANURES PRODUCED FROM THE HERBAGE OF FRESH WATER. 85

sprinkle it in the spring upon the young plants already
come up, as is done in other cases with the strongest ma-
nures and stimulants.

Some conclusive experiments have proved that the
maceration of oil cakes in water produces a liquid manure
of great energy. In the Netherlands, also, they are mixed
with the urime of the stables or other animal substances.

The dregs of olives, which contain the skin, the paren-
chyma, and the kernel, however well prepared, even in
the improved mills, contain some oil which is extracted by
rotting them in cisterns; the mud which is left at the bot-
toms of these cisterns is an excellent manure, which, how-
ever, Bosc affirms is scarcely used in the districts of
France where the olive is cultivated. I have seen it used
here and there in nurseries and at the roots of each tree in
olive yards.

For a few years past the attempt has been made to sub-
stitute oil itself for the oleaginous cakes. I do not believe
that such a practice is to be recommended; for if the
cakes produce so good effects upon the soil, it is doubtless
to be attributed more to the large quantities of azotized
albuminous substance which they contain, than to a cer-
tain portion of oil which they retain. Besides, no one
can doubt that the question of economy must entirely pro-
scribe the use of oils as manures.

CHAPTER XII.

MANURES PRODUCED FROM THE HERBAGE OF FRESH WATER.

Amone the grasses which grow in fresh water, we must
distinguish, regard being paid to their use as manures, be-
tween those which are decomposed under water and give
rise to peat, and those which are taken while green, to be
used for the benefit of the soil while in that state.

86 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Peat, in this respect, like all substances organic and
inorganic which have been used for a long time, with-
drawn from immediate contact with the atmospheric gases,
is at first completely unfit for vegetation. In proportion as
it experiences a second decomposition under the influence
of the oxygen of the air, it becomes a good manure; but
this decomposition is excessively slow; hence it is: gene-
rally preferred to burn it and spread the ashes, rather than
use it directly. In many circumstances, however, it may
be desirable to use it to increase the mass of manures.
This is effected in different ways.

In Ireland, after having simply dried and pulverised i,
it is used with the addition of a little lime for all the
small crops, and especially potatoes.

As this substance, from its chemical formation, has
scarcely any solubility, in order to hasten its fermentation,
Lord Meapvoweanx has judiciously recommended to mix it
with other substances Jess fixed, such as manures easily
putrescible and already in a state of decomposition, and
this advice has been generally followed with success. The
use of magnesian lime, common lime, calcareous marls,
and alkaline ashes, had produced similar effects whenever
it has been sought by this means either to render peat-bogs
cultivable, or to reduce peat to amanure. Wecan, there-
fore, reach the same results-in two ways. The English
writer whom I have just mentioned, proves in fact that one
part of warm dung is sufficient to bring three or four parts
of peat to a suitable state of fermentation. On the other
hand the German Kasteter has satisfied himself from nu-
merous direct experiments, that lime newly slacked and in
the state of a hydrate, that is to say, reduced to powder by
means of water, on its coming from the kiln, acts upon
the peat im such a manner as gradually to transform the
fibrous and resinous parts which it contains into humic acid,
which indirectly forms the humate of lime, a very durable
manure, which might thus be prepared for the wants of
agriculture with great facility. The most common prac-
tice, which consists in stratifying the stable dung and peat

ARIIFICIAL MANURES 87

dried and pulverized, and a little afterwards mixing them
all together, embraces all the advantages of both theories.
Most of the English cultivators often employ peat
mould as a top-dressing, that is to say, sowimg it in the
spring upon the plants already growing. In pursuing this
mode they find there is as much to be gained in the effect
produced, the economy of labor and that of the manure.
There are few countries where the aquatic plants of
marshes and pools are not collected to supply the defi-
ciency of manures or increase the mass. Sometimes these
plants are left spread upon the soil several days, after be-
ine gathered, and are then simply plowed in; sometimes
they are thrown in heaps to decompose, and are trans-
formed into composts, by mixing them with different pro-
portions of earth.

CHAPTER XIIT.
ARTIFICIAL MANURES.

In view of the great abundance of muck, or peat, in
every section of our country, and the little attention hitherto
paid to it as a manure, we present the following valuable
article, from Dana’s Muck Manuat, together with several
experiments testing its importance : :

Having considered the relative value of the two classes
of manure, those composed of salt, and of salt and geine,
that consisting chiefly of geine is now to be explained.

First and foremost in this class is swamp muck, mud or
peat. This class includes also dry leaves, dry vegetables
of all sorts, plowing in of green or dry crops, irrigation.
These are fruitful topics. The principles only of their
action can be pointed out. The application of the princi-
ple must be left to the farmer. The why of things has
been shown; the how must be deduced from the why by
practical men.

88 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Peat is too well known to render it necessary to say
that it is the result of that spontaneous change in vegetable
matter which ends in geine. Peat is, among manures
consisting chiefly of geine, what bone dust is among
manures consisting of animal matter. Peat is highly con-
centrated vegetable food. When the state in which this
food exists is examined, it is found not only partly cooked,
but seasoned.

Peat consists of soluble and insoluble geine and salts.
The proportion of these several ingredients must be known
before the value of peat can be compared with similar con-
stituents in cow dung. This proportion is exhibited in the
following table of constitution of Massachusetts peat per
100 parts.

Soluble Insoluble Total Salts and

Locality. Geine. Geine. Geine. Silicates.

1. Dracut, 14: L2° 86- 14:
2. Sunderland, 26° 56°60 85°60 14:40
3. Westborough, 48°80 43:60 92:40 7:60

| 4. Hadley, 34: 60: 94: 6°
5. Northampton, 30°30 44.15 82°45 17-5b
6. ~ 32° 54:90 86:90 13:10
T: “ . 12: 60°55. 72°85 . 2a-40
8. ee 10 49°45 59°45 40°55

2: a 33° 59: 92 8.
10. $c AG: 46°80 92:80 7-20

Average, 29:41. 55-03 84.44 15°55

11. Watertown, pondmud, 5°10 8:90 14: 86:
12. Danvers, pond mud, 8.10 6:50 1460 84:40

Under the general name of peat are comprised several
varieties, which may be distinguished as, Ist. Peat, the
compact substance generally known and used for fuel,
under this name. 2d. Turf, or swamp muck, by which is
to be understood, the paring which is removed before peat
as dug. Itis a less compact variety of peat. It is com-

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 89

mon in all meadows and swamps, and includes the
hassocks. Both these varieties are included in the above,
from No. 1 to No. 10. It includes, also, the mud of salt-
marshes. 3d. Pond mud, the slushy material, found at the
bottom of ponds when dry, or in low grounds, the wash of
higher lands. This seldom contains more than 20 per
cent. of geine. Nos. 11. and 12 are of this description.

These varieties comprise probably a fair sample of all
the peat and swamp muck and pond mud, which occur in
the various parts of the country. The results stated, are
those of the several varieties, when dried, at a temperature
of 240° F. The composition of peat ashes has been
alluded to. They contain, in fact, all the inorganic
principles of planis, which are insoluble, with occasional
traces of the soluble alkaline sulphates, and of free
alkali.

It is well known that all peat shrinks by drying, and
when perfectly dried, at 240° F. loses from 73 to 97 per
cent. of water. When allowed to drain as dry as it will,
it still contains about 2-3 of its weight of water. It
shrinks from 2-3 to 3-4 of its bulk. A cord wet becomes
1-4 to 1-3 of a cord when dry. To compare its value with
cow dung, equal bulks must be taken, and hence, to dry
peat, a bulk of water must be supposed to be added, in
proportion above stated, or still better, because easier done,
the pile of dry peat is to be estimated by the pit left after
digging. It will be found on the above data, that 100
parts of fresh dug peat, of average quality, contain—

Ss RRA Rs, GE ROR
ahts OF Wiig, ae So SM eer “50
Gilctiese ts ee ree ee. et Oe Se ee sates “50
ilo Vb ahaa prac eg Mill aS Moe Geenrrmmca ter eee 14-

100-

This does not differ much from fresh cow dung, so far as
salts, geine, and water are concerned. The salts of lime

are actually about the same, while the alumina, oxide of
5*

90 THE FARMER’S MINE.

iron, magnesia, in the silicates added to the salts of lime,
make the total amount of salts, in round numbers, equal
that of cow dung.

Ifthe bulks of these are compared, it will be found, that
at 90 lbs. per bushel, full measure, and 103 bushels being
allowed to a cord,—each contains and weighs as follows,
in pounds :

Weight Soluble Insoluble Total Salts of
Geine. Geine. Geine. Lime.

Dung, 9289 128 1288 1416 92
No. 9 peat of table, 9216 376 673 1049 91
NolOs8 20.7% 5. (9296 7. 19 529. 1048° sl

A cord of pond mud (No. 11) weighs when dug, 6117
Ibs. and contains solid matter, 3495 lbs., composed of geine,
495 lbs.; of silicates and salts, 3000 lbs. The salts of |
lime in pond mud, are 23 per cent.

The salts and geine of a cord of peat are equal to the
manure of one cow for three months. It is certainly a very
curious coincidence of results, that nature herself should
have prepared a substance, whose agricultural value ap-
proaches so near cow dung, the type of manures. This
subject may have been now sufficiently explained. De-
parting from cow dung and wandering through all the
varieties of animal and vegetable manures, we land in a
peat-bog. The substance under our feet is analyzed, and
found to be cow dung, without its musky breath of cow
odor, or the power of generating ammonia. ‘That pro-
cess is over—a part of the ammonia remains, still evident
to the senses by adding caustic potash. ‘It exists in part,
either as a component of crenic and apocrenic acid, or
combined with geine, or as phosphate of ammonia, and
when the presence of ammonia is added to the salts, whose
existence has already been pointed out, it may be said,
that peat approaches dung, moistened with the liquid
evacuation of the animal.

The power of producing alkaline action, on the insolu-
ble geine, is alone wanted to make peat good cow dung.
Reviewing the various matters, from whatever source de-

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 91

rived, solid or liquid, which are used as manure, all pos-
Sess one common property, that of generating ammonia,
The conclusion then of this whole matier, is this; the value
of all manures depends on salts, geine,and ammonia ; and it
is directly in proportion to the last; it follows, that any
substance affording these elements, may be substituted for
manure. ,

The great question comes, how is to be given to peat, a
substance which, in all its other characters, is so nearly
allied to cow dung, that lacking element ammonia? How
is that to be supplied? Without it, cow dung itself would
be no better than peat, nay, not so good; for in peat,
nearly one-half of the geine is already in a soluble state.
Passing by the fact, already alluded to, that peat contains
traces of ammonia, which, evolved when treated with
caustic potash, exerts its usual action; it may be added,
that possibly in the process of vegetation, when the
decomposing power of the living plant is exerted on peat
and the silicates, caustic potash is produced, and ammonia
evolved. Considering peat as a source of nitrogen only,
it is evident that the action of alkali is of the highest
practical importance.

In this part of the subject of manure, probabilities and
possibilities are no longer admissible. There are two facts
well established by experience, relating to the action of
ammonia in dung. First, it has been shown that dune
produces nitrates. Porous substances and alkali possess
the power of forming nitrates; these substances, alkali
and porous substances, act like sponey platina, they induce
a catalytic power, and the consequence is, that the ele-
ments of the air, oxygen and nitrogen, unite, and form
mitric acid; this combines with the alkali, and conse-
quently nitrates are produced. The other well established
fact, in relation to the action of ammonia in dune’, is the
power of dissolving and converting geine, which has been
previously explained. The most valuable of these two
properties is that of producing soluble geine. The form-
ation of nitrates may be quite, and ordinarily is, prevented,
It is the alkaline action which is sought.

92 THE FARMER’S MINE.

By, then, the addition of alkali to peat, it is put into the
state which ammonia gives to dung. The question then
arises, how much alkali is to be added to swamp muck
or peat, to convert that into cow dung? Recurring to the
doctrine of chemical proportions, whose value to the
farmer is thus made evident, it will be remembered that
the equivalent of potash and soda, that is, that portion of
one which can take the place of the other, is as 2 to 3;
that is, 2 parts of soda are equal to 3 of potash. If either
of these i$ compared with ammonia, it will be found that
one part of ammonia is nearly equal to two of soda.
When these substances are met with in commerce, it is in
the state of salts; as carbonate of ammonia of the shops,
or white ash or potash and pearlash. The equivalent of
these is deduced from determining the pure alkali of each,
adding the equivalent of carbonic acid, and to this the
usual impurity. It is found that

59 parts of ammonia, are equal to

58 © — soda, or white ash, or to

72 © — Ist quality pot or pearlash, or
86 “ 2d quality pot or pearlash.

For all agricultural purposes, it may be considered, that
salts of hartshorn, or carbonate of ammonia, and white or
soda ash, are equal, pound for pound, and that pots and
pearls may be taken at one-half more.

If all the nitrogen in dung becomes ammonia, then, as
has been shown, each 100 lbs. affords 2 lbs. 2 oz. Dis-
carding fractions, let it be called 2 Ibs. Hence, if to 100
Ibs. fresh dug peat, there are added 2 Ibs. soda ash, or 2
Ibs of pot or pearl ashes, all the good effects of real cow
dung will be produced. Peat or muck thus requires 2
per cent. of soda ash, or 3 per cent. of potash.

A cord of green peat weighs 9216 Ibs.; 2 per cent. are
184 lbs. Hence, a cord requires that amount of soda ash,
or 276 lbs. of potash. But if the peat is quite dry, so as
to have lost three-fourths of its bulk, then '736 Ibs. of soda
ash, or 1104 Ibs. of potash will be necessary. Two per

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 93

cent. of alkali seems enormous. It is stated, in the hope
that it may lead to experiments on the free use of alkali.
But as it will be hereafter shown, that this is to be reduced
by mixing with loam or other matter, this quantity,
even if applied to one acre, will probably produce very
good effects. It has repeatedly been proved for other pur-
poses, that a cord of fresh due peat neutralizes 100 lbs. of
soda ash, or 400 lbs. to a dry cord. Further, dry peat, by
boiling with, neutralizes 124 per cent. of its weight of
potash, and in actual practice, alkali to the amount of 6
per cent. of the weight of geine, in pond mud, has been
used. It would, therefore, appear to be safe to use the
theoretical proportion.

But the nitrogen in cow dung does not all tell. It is
impossible but that some portion of the elements of am-
monia enter into other combinations, and part also escapes
as gas. Besides, it is not all brought at once into action,
and hence, a less portion of alkali than above indicated,
_may be used. It is probable that not a third of the am-
monia acts. Let it be taken at that quantity. Then the
equivalents are 100 lbs. fresh peat, and 102 ounces soda,
or 1 lb. of potash, or 1 per cent. of the weight of the peat
in commercial potash.

This proportion will allow in round numbers, to every
cord of fresh dug peat, 92 lbs. pot or pearl ashes, or 61
Ibs. of scda, or 16 to 20 bushels of common house ashes.

Having no guide here, from experience, of the quantity
which may be used per acre, yet in order to arrive at con-
clusions which could be recommended safely, the alkali
has been calculated in the quantity of saltpetre which has
been used, with such signal success, by O. M. Whipple,
Esq., of Lowell, no less distinguished for the good sense
with which he undertakes an experiment, than for the
public spirit which urges him onward to its successful con-
clusion. On the principles which have been developed,
when saltpetre is used, the whole alkali is let loose by the
action of the growing plant. The experience of Mr.
Whipple is a guide to the quantity of alkali which may

94 THE FARMER’S MINE.

be safely used. He has used from 50 to 150 lbs. saltpetre
per acre. The real alkali in saltpetre, may be called half
of its weight ; or the real alkali used, has been from 25 to
75 Ibs.==363 lbs. and 1093 lbs. pure carbonate, or in round
numbers, an average of commercial Ist and 2d quality, of
49 to 149 lbs. per acre—giving an average of 99 lbs.,
which is nearly 1 per cent. of the weight of a cord of
ereen peat, which agrees with the estimate. If, then, this
is mixed with the usual proportion of geine, which the
dung used contains, equally good effects per acre ought to
be produced.

There are other practical facts, which may help to a
solution of the question, how much alkali is to be added to
acord of peat. According to the experience of Mr. Phin-
ney of Lexington, an authority which may not be ques-
tioned, a cord of green dung converts twice its bulk of
peat into a manure of equal value to itself—that is, a cord
of clear stable dung, composted with two of peat, forms a
manure of equal value to three cords of green dung. In-
deed, the permanent effects of this compost, according to
Mr. Phinney, exceed those of stable dung. On this fact,
2 lbs. of ammonia in 100 of cow dung, should convert 200
Ibs. of fresh dug peat into good cow dung. The equivalents
of these, as has been shown, are 2 lbs. of soda ash, or 3 Ibs.
of potash. Allowing the gaseous ammonia to be divided
equally among the 300 lbs. of dung and peat, this is in
proportion of 102 oz. of soda ash, or 1 lb. of potash to 100
lbs. of fresh peat. Now this calculation, deduced from
actual experiment, confirms the theoretical proportions,
supposing only one-third of the nitrogen acts, though that
was made before the author met with the statement of Mr.
Phinney.

There is a coincidence here of proportions, which makes
it quite certain that the quantity recommended is a per-
fectly safe basis for agricultural use. By theory, the propor-
tions are, 1 cord peat, 61 lbs. soda ash, 92 lbs. potash. As
deduced from the compounds of dung and peat, 61 Ibs.
soda ash, 92 lbs. potash. This proportion gives each cord

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 95

of peat a value equal to that of cow dune; if ene-third
of its nitrogen acts, it may be composted, as that is, with
loam, or still better, mixed up at once with its proportion
of peat. Ifthis is done, then the result will be, in round
numbers, 1 cord of fresh dug peat,—20 Ibs. of soda ash, 30
lbs. potash. In March, 1839, the author, in a letter ad-
dressed to the commissioner for the agricultural survey of
Massachusetts, threw out the followme hint, which was
published in the second report of Mr. Colman:

“Take 100 lbs. of peat as sold, or the fine part from the
bottom of a peat stack—at any rate bruise the peat fine,
put it into a potash kettle, and 24 lbs. of white ash, and
130 gallons of water; boil for a few hours: let it settle,
dip off the clear for use, add 100 lbs. more of peat, 24 Ibs.
white ash, fill wp with water, as much as you have dipped
off, boil awain, settle and dip off. This may be repeated
five times. How much oftener I know not; probably as
long as the vegetable part of peat remains. The clear
liquor is an alkaline solution of geine. The three first
boilings contain geine, alumine, iron, magnesia, and sul-
phate « or phosphate of alkali. The dark-colored solution
contains about half an ounce per gallon of vegetable
matter.

“Tt is to be applied by watering grass lands. The
‘dregs’ may be mixed up with the manure or spread as a
top- -dressing ; ; or put in the hill. Experience will teach —
I only suggest.”

The principle which should guide the farmer in the mak-
ing of artificial manure, has now been considered. The
author of these pages is not a practical farmer ; agricul-
ture is not his pursuit, and he has studied chemistry
only as a recreation from the daily duties of life. He has
thrown out suggestions, the result of researches under-
taken with reference to a totally different object, and these
suggestions have been acted upon by practical men, whose
results confirm his previous anticipations. He has no theory
on this subject to maintain ; his opinions, which must stand or
fall by practice, speak for ‘themselves. Yet he is not alto-

96 THE FARMER’S MINE.

gether indifferent to the practical results which may follow
his suggestions, and he should consider that he had in-
flicted a serious injury on agriculture by the publication of
erroneous opinions. When a man’s character is to be es-
tablished in a court of evidence, what is the rule? The
good old English rule; to call upon the bystanders, the
country present, taken indiscriminately from all who may
have known the person. Do not summon persons whose
interest may throw a shadow of suspicion on the testimony
of the witness. And so here, let it be proved, if it can be,
whether the principles here advanced are of practical
value, by calling upon the stand those gentlemen who
have tested his opinions, and of some of whose operations
and results he was ignorant, till he met with them in the
agricultural publications of the day, or in accidental con-
versation ; others have been requested to state by letter
their results, after these pages were prepared for the press.
The evidence on this point is contained in the Statement
of Dr. Nicots, beginning on p. 102 of this volume.
Attention might here be called to the extended use of
peat composted with lime and animal manure ;_ but it will
be observed, that it is wished to direct the thoughts, at this
time, to a compost or artificial manure, without lime or
animal manure. The author does not go for lime, but for
soluble alkali. Carbonate of lime alone is not expected
to produce immediate results, and seldom has, nor can be
expected to produce visible effects in the first year of its
application. The why and the wherefore of this has been
already explained, and it is merely adverted to now to
guard against any inference favorable to the action of lime
being deduced from the following facts. Mr. George Rob-
bins, of Watertown, is an extensive manufacturer of soap
and candles and starch, and _ still better, a man who em-
ploys the refuse of these trades in enriching and gladden-
ing his land. For four years, and it is believed his crops
will compare with any of the best cultivators around him,
he has not used a spoonful of manure made by any ani-
mal, walking either on two legs or on four. He keeps a

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. . O7

large number of horses and hogs, and several cows; he
uses not a shovelful of their manure, but selling that, he
uses peat and swamp muck, mixed with his spent barilla
ashes. The proportions are, one part of spent ashes to
three of peat,dug up in the fall, mixedin the spring. Af-
ter shovelling two or three times, it is spread and plowed
in. The effect is immediate, and so far, lasting. The
effects of this spent ashes alone on sandy loam, are excel-
lent ; it makes the whole quite “ salvy.”

The composition of spent ashes has already been alluded
to; a certain portion is carbonate of lime; it is well
known that, as such, it would produce no better effects
than so much chalk. A large part of silicate of soda ex-
ists in the spent ashes. This is decomposed by the carbo-
nic acid of the air, the alkali then acts on geine, but this
action is greatly assisted by the carbonate of lime. It is,
perhaps, the most powerful agent in the decomposition of
the silicate of soda. Here, then, the action of carbonates on
silicates tells. And it may be worth while to be reminded
here, that this action was explained in detail, in order that
it might be understood, how spent ashes could act so
rapidly on swamp muck.

Alkalies and peat, or swamp muck, are within the com-
mand of almost every farmer. Lime is not within reach,
and besides, requires no small skill in its management.
In the preparation of manure, price Is everything. Let
the cost be estimated per cord, of artificial manure, pre-
pared in the proportions stated. Peat or muck, may be
called worth fifty cents per cord, and the labor of digging,
say one dollar,

¢1 50

92 lbs. potash, 6 cts. $5 52
or, 61 lbs. soda ash, or
_white ash, 4 cts. 2 44
or, 24 bush. ashes, 123. cts.3 OO
3)10 96 $5.15

3 65

average of alkalies, 3 65

98 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Were they really good hard wood ashes, about 16 bush-
els would be sufficient, but an excess here is allowed, to
compensate for variation in quality. This may appear a
very high price, but it is to be remembered, that its value is
to be compared with that of a cord of clear cow dung.
What is the value of cow dung ? It appears from the barn
account of the Merrimack Manufacturmg Company, that
for 94 years, ending October, 1838, a bushel of clear cow
dung, costs 21} cents. During the same time dung of
inferior quality was delivered at the Print-works, by the
neighboring farmers, at 20 cents per bushel. Clear dung
is delivered at the Print-works in Dover at 123 cents per
bushel, and at several of the Print-works in Rhode
Island, at 16 cents per bushel, giving an average of 17-45
cents per bushel, and as a cord contains, in round numbers,

100 bushels, its price 1s $17 45
Deduct from this the price of an artificial cord, 5 15
$12 30

It is hence evident that an artificial cord is only about
one-third of the price of a natural cord, and if the last may
be mixed with two parts of loam or swamp muck, so may
the first, which will reduce the price of artificial manure
to $2 71. Now this is equal, according to all experience,
cord for cord, to stable manure; the value of that may be
estimated at $5, so that an artificial cord costs only about
one-half. The best plan for preparing the artificial ma-
nure, would be to dig the peat or swamp muck in the fall ;
in the spring of the year let this be mixed in the propor-
tion of 30 Ibs. of potash, or 20 Ibs. of soda ash, or 8
bushels of common house ashes, to every cord of fresh dug
peat, estimating this by the pit dug out, and allowing
nothing in the spring for shrinking. If ashes are used,
they may be mixed in at once with the muck; but if soda
ash or potashes are used, they must be dissolved in water
and the pile evenly wet with the solution. The pile is
then to be well shovelled over, and used as is other ma-
nure. But it has been found by experience, that the peat

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 99

may be dug in the spring, immediately mixed with the
alkali, and used forthwith. If spent ashes are used to pre-
pare this muck, add one cord of spent ashes to three cords
of peat or swamp muck.

But there are still other forms of cheap alkali, which
may be recommended, though it may appear inconsistent
with what has been advanced respecting hme ; but, in this
case, the lime is converted into a perfectly soluble salt.
The soda is eliminated caustic, acts on the geine, renders
it soluble. During the exposure to the volumes of carbo-
nic acid, evolved from the peat, the caustic soda becomes
carbonated. This carbonate of soda immediately decom-
poses the soluble salt of lime, and an insoluble salt of lime
with a soluble salt of soda, is the result. The effects of
these various actions, are, first, the geine is made soluble,
ammonia evolved, which is converted into a nitrate, car-
bonate of lime produced, which acts as that does in spent
ashes, and a soluble salt of soda or common salt remains
in the mass, producing still farther good effects, when its
alkali is let loose by the action of growing plants. Here
are rounds of changes taking place, which though the
farmer may not readily understand, he may easily produce,
with lime and common salt. It may be stated, in further
explanation of these changes, that common salt is a com-
pound of soda and muriatic acid, or muriate of soda, using
here the old language of chemistry, which is more intelli-
gible to the farmer, though not philosophically correct.
By mixing quicklime with common salt, its soda is let
loose, the acid combines with the lime, formine a soluble
salt of lime, and as long as the soda remains caustic it has
no effect on the muriate of lime, but as soon as the soda
becomes mild or carbonated, decomposition of the muriate
of lime is produced, and the common salt regenerated.
Commencing then with quicklime and salt, we pass on to
a soluble salt of lime and caustic soda, and from that, to
mild soda, and to carbonate of lime and the original com-
mon Salt.

If these various changes take place in the midst of peat,

100 THE FARMER’S MINE.

or geine, it is evident.that the caustic soda acts upon the
geine, and also evolves ammonia from that substance ;
_ secondly, that the muriate of lime in its finely soluble
state insinuates itself among all the particles of the gee;
that the soda also is equally diffused; and that when the
soda becomes carbonated, it produces an almost impalpa-
ble carbonate of lime throughout the whole mass, which,
by its equal diffusion through the soil with the geine, acts
upon the silicates, as has been heretofore explained. In
order to produce these effects, take,

1 bushel of salt,
1 cask of lime.

Slack the lime with the brine, made by dissolving the salt
in water sufficient to make a stiff paste with the lime,
which will be not quite sufficient to dissolve all the salt.
Mix all the materials then well together, and let them
remain together in a heap for ten days, and then be well
mixed with three cords of peat: shovel well over for about
6 weeks, and it will be fit for use. Here, then, are pro-
duced 3 cords of manure, for about the cost of $2 10 per
cord.

Salt, - - - - - $1 60
Lime, - - - - 1 60
Peat, - - - - - 4 50

3)$6 30($2 10

From experiments made in a small way, it is believed
that this will be found an effectual manure; the author
suggests it in the hope that it may lead to cautious experi-
ment. But there is still another form in which this artifi-
cial manure may be prepared—that is, by the addition of
ammonia, the real Simon Pure of cow dung. Take

3 cords of peat
61 lbs. sal ammoniac,
1-4 cask, or about 61 Ibs. lime.

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 101

Slack the lime, dissolve the sal ammoniac, and wet the
peat well with the solution through every part. Then
shovel over, mixing in the lime accurately. We have
here then, three cords of manure, at a price as follows:

3 cords of peat, = - - - $4 50
61 lbs. sal ammoniac, at |Is., - 10 17
61 lbs. lime, - ~ - - Qez7

3)$14 94($4 98

It will be observed that three cords are used in these
calculations, because the quantity of salts used is equiva-
lent to the ammonia in a cord of dung, and that is sup-
posed to be composted with 2 cords of loam, or meadow
mud. Whether the estimates are correct, each one will
determine by the value he may place on his peat and
manure, and can apply his own estimate. When a cord
of stable or barn-yard manure is usually estimated worth
$4, the price of a cord of clear pure cow dung will not be
thought high at $17. In fact, it probably, when mixed
with the usual proportion of litter, straw, stalks, and the
usual loss by waste of its value, would become worth only
about $5. But these questions do not affect the principle
—that from alkali and peat, as cheap a manure may be
prepared, and as good, as from stable dung; for let that

be called $5 00
then adding 2 cords of peat, 3 00
3)$8 00:

— ee

$2 66 per cord.

There are other sources of alkali for converting peat
into soluble manure. Of these the chief is animal matter.
Here we have ammonia produced. It has been actually
proved by experiment, that a dead horse can convert 20
tons of peat into a valuable manure, richer and more last-
ing than stable dung ; “ a barrel of alewives is equal toa

102 THE FARMER’S MINE.

wagon load of peat.” The next great and prolific source
of ammonia is urine. The urine of one cow for a winter,
mixed up as it is daily collected, with peat, is sufficient to
manure half an acre of land with 20 loads of manure of
the best quality, while her solid evacuations and litter, for
the same period, afford only 17 loads, whose value 1s only
about one-half that of the former.

It need only be added, in confirmation of all that has
been advanced, that those who have had the prudence to
fill their yards and hog-pens with meadow mud, which has
thus become saturated with ammonia, have in nowise lost
their reward. If they have been satisfied with their prac-
tice, perhaps they will be no. less firm in their belief of
success, when science offers them a reason for the faith
that is in them.

DR. NICHOLS’S STATEMENTS, FROM THE ESSEX COUNTY AGRICUL-
TURAL TRANSACTIONS, 1839-40.

To the Committee to whom was referred the communica~
tion of Andrew Nichols, on the subject of Compost
Manures, §c.

Gentlemen :—Persuaded of the importance of the dis-
coveries made by Dr. Samuel L. Dana, of , Lowell, and
given to the world through the medium of the reports of
Prof. Hitchcock and Rey. H. Colman, to the Legislature
of Massachusetts, concerning the food of vegetables, geine,
and the abundance of it in peat mud, in an insoluble state
to be sure, and in that state not readily absorbed and
digested by the roots of cultivated vegetables, but ren-
dered soluble and very easily digestible by such plants by
potash, wood ashes, or other alkalies, among which is
ammonia, one of the products of fermenting animal ma-
nures, I resolved last year to subject his theories to the
test of experiment the present season. Accordingly I
directed a quantity of black peat mud, procured by ditch-
ing for the purpose of draining and reclaiming an alder
Swamp, a part of which I had some years since brought

a

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 103

into a state highly productive of the cultivated grasses, to
be thrown in heaps. During the winter I also had col-
lected in Salem, 282 bushels of unleached wood ashes, at
the cost of 124 cents per bushel. These were sent up
to my farm, a part to spread on my black soil grass lands,
and a part to be mixed with mud for my tillage land.
Two hundred bushels of these were spread on about six
acres of such grass land, while it was covered with ice
and frozen hard enough to be carted over without cutting
it into ruts. These lands produced from one totwo tons of
good merchantable hay to the acre, nearly double the
crop produced by the same lands last year. And one fact
induces me to think, that being spread on the ice, as above
mentioned, a portion of these ashes was washed away by
the spring freshet. The fact from which I imfer this is,
that a run below, over which the water coming from the
meadow on which the largest part of these ashes were
spread flows, produced more than double the quantity of
hay, and that of a very superior quality to what had been
ever known to grow on the same land before.

Seventy bushels of these ashes, together with a quantity
not exceeding thirty bushels of mixed coal and wood ashes
made by my kitchen and parlor fires, were mixed with my
barn manure, derived from one horse kept in stable during
the winter months, one cow kept through the winter, and
one pair of oxen employed almost daily on the road and in
the woods, but fed in the barn one hundred days. This
manure was never measured, but knowing how it was
made, by the droppings and litter or bedding of these cat-
tle, farmers can estimate the quantity with a good degree
of correctness. These ashes and this manure were mixed
with a sufficient quantity of the mud above mentioned by
forking it over three times, to manure three acres of corn
and potatoes, in hills four feet by about three feet apart,
giving a good. shovelfull to the hill. More than two-
thirds of this was grass land, which produced last year
about half a ten of hay to the acre, broken up by the
plow in April. The remainder was cropped last year

104 THE FARMER’S MINE.

without being well manured, with corn and potatoes.
Gentlemen, you have seen the crop growing and matured,
and I leave it to you to say whether or not the crop on
this land would have been better had it been dressed with
an equal quantity of pure, well rotted barn manure. — For
my own part, I believe it would not, but that this experi-
ment proves that peat mud thus managed is equal if not
superior to the same quantity of any other substance in
common use as a manure among us; which, if it bea fact,
is a fact of immense value to the farmers of New England.
By the knowledge and use of it, our comparatively barren
soils may be made to equal or excel in productiveness the
virgin prairies of the West. There were many hills in
which the corn first planted was destroyed by worms.
A part of these were supplied with the small Canada corn,
a part with beans. The whole was several times cut
down by frost. The preduce was three hundred bushels
of ears of sound corn, two tons of pumpkins and squashes,
and some potatoes and beans. Dr. Dana, in his letter to
Mr. Colman, dated Lowell, March 6, 1839, suggests the
trial of a solution of geine as a manure. His directions
for preparing it are as follows: “ Boil one hundred pounds
of dry pulverized peat with two and a half pounds of
white ash (an article imported from England), containing
36 to 55 per cent. of pure soda, or its equivalent in pearl-
ash or potash, in a potash kettle, with 130 gallons of
water; boil for a few hours, let it settle, and dip off the
clear liquid for use. Add the same quantity of alkali and
water, boil and dip off as before. The dark-colored brown
solution contains about half an ounce per gallon of vege-
table matter. It is to be applied by watering grain crops,
grass lands, or any other way the farmer’s quick wit will
point out. ;

In the month of June, I prepared a solution of geine,
obtained not by boiling, but by steeping the mud as taken
from the meadow, in a weak ley in tubs. I did not weigh
the materials, being careful only to use no more mud
than the potash would render soluble. The proportion

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 105

was something like this: peat 100 Ibs., potash 11b., water
50 gallons—stirred occasionally for about a week, when
the dark brown solution described by Dr. Dana, was dip-
ped off and applied to some rows of corn, a portion of a
piece of starved barley, and a bed of onions sown on land
not well prepared for that crop. The corn was a portion
of a piece of manured as above mentioned. On this the
benefit was not so obvious. The crop of barley on the
portion watered, was more than double the quantity both
in straw and grain to that on other portions of the field,
the soil and treatment of which was otherwise precisely
similar.

The bed of onions which had been prepared by dressing
it with a mixture of mud and ashes previous to the sow-
ing of the seed, but which had not by harrowing been so
completely pulverized, mixed and kneaded with the soil,
as the cultivators of this crop deemed essential to success,
consisted of three and. a half square rods. The onions
came up well, were well weeded, and about two bushels
of fresh horse manure spread between the rows. In June,
four rows were first watered with the solution of geine
above described. In ten days the onions in these rows
were nearly double the size of the others. All but six
rows of the remainder were then watered. The growth
of these soon outstripped the unwatered remainder.

Mr. Henry Gould, who manages my farm on shares,
and who conducted all the foregoing experiments, with-
out thinking of the importance of leaving at least one row
unwatered that we might. better ascertain the true effect
of this management, seeing the benefit to the parts thus
watered, in about a week after, treated the remainder in
the same manner. The ends of some of the rows, how-
ever, which did not receive the watering, produced only
very small onions, such as are usually thrown away as
worthless by cultivators of this crop. This fact leads me
to believe that if the onions had not been watered with
the solution of geine, not a single bushel of a good size
would have been produced on the whole piece. At any

6

106 THE FARMER’S MINE.

rate, it was peat or geine rendered soluble by alkali, that
produced this large crop.

The crop proved greater than our most sanguine ex-
pectations. The onions were measured in the presence
of the chairman of your committee, and making ample
allowance for the tops which had not been stripped off,
were adjudged equal to four bushels to the acre. In these
experiments, 7 lbs. of potash which cost 7 cents a pound,
bought at the retail price, were used. Potash, although
dearer than wood ashes at 123 cents per bushel, is, I think,
cheaper than the whitewash mentioned by Dr. Dana, and
sufficiently cheap to make with meadow mud, a far
cheaper manure than such as is in general used among
our farmers. The experiment satisties me that nothing
better than potash and peat can be used for most if not all
our cultivated vegetables, and the economy of watering
with a solution of geine such as are cultivated in rows, I
think cannot be doubted. The reason why the corn was
not very obviously benefited, I think, must have been,
that the portion of the roots to which it was applied, was
already fully supplied with nutriment out of the same kind
from the peat ashes and manure put in the hill at planting.
For watering rows of onions or other vegetables, | should
recommend that a cask be mounted on light wheels, so
set that like the drill they may run each side of the row
and drop the liquid manure, through a small tap hole or
tub from the cask, directly upon the young plants. For
preparing the liquor, 1 should recommend a cistern about
three feet deep and as large as the object may require,
formed of plank and laid on a bed of clay and surrounded
by the same, in the manner that tan vats are constructed ;
this should occupy a warm place, exposed to the sun, near
the water, and as near as these requisites permit to the
tillage lands of the farm. In such a cistern in warm
weather, a solution of geine may be made in large quanti-
ties with little labor and without the expense of fuel, as
the heat of the sun is, I think, amply sufficient for the
purpose. If from further experiment it should be found

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 107

economical to water grass lands and grain crops, a large
cask or casks should be placed on wheels and drawn by oxen
or horse power, the liquor from the casks being at pleasure
let into a long narrow box perforated with numerous
small holes, which would spread the same over a strip of
ground, some 6,8, or 10 feet in breadth, as it is drawn
over the field in the same manner as the streets in cities are
watered in summer.
Anvrew NIcHOoLs.

T certify that I measured the piece of land mentioned in
the foregoing statement, as planted with corn, on the 21st
of September, 1839, and found the same to contain two
acres, three quarters, thirty-one rods.

Joun W. Proctor, Surveyor.

DR. ANDREW NICHOLS’S STATEMENT OF 1840.

Gentlemen—Having invited the attention of the
Trustees of the Essex Agricultural Society to our con-
tinued use of, and experiments on, fresh meadow or peat
mud, as 2 manure, it is of course expected that the re-
sult of these experiments should be laid before them.
The compost with which we planted most of our corn and
potatoes the present year, was composed of the same ma-
terials, and managed in the same manner as that which
we used last year for the same purpose.

Four acres of corn, on the same kind of soil, were ma-
nured in the hill with this compost, and one acre of corn
on a more meagre portion of the same field, was manured
in the same manner, with a compost consisting of the same
kind of mud, half a cord of manure taken from the
pigsty, and forty pounds of potash, second quality, dis-
solved in water, sprinkled over and worked into the heap,
with the fork, in the same manner that the dry ashes

108 THE FARMER’S MINE.

were into the other compost. Of both kinds the same
quantity, a common iron or steel shovel full to the hill,
was used, and no difference in the crop which could be
ascribed to the different manures, could be perceived.
The hills were four by three feet apart on an average.
In the borders and adjoining this piece of corn, one acre
was planted with potatoes. The compost used in some
portions of this consisted of rather a larger portion of
coarse barn manure composed of meadow hay, corn fod-
der, waste, &c., wet with urine and mixed with the drop-
pings of cattle, and less meadow mud. The whole six
acres was hoed twice only after the use of the cultivator.
The whole amount of labor after the ground was furrowed
and the compost prepared in heaps on the field, is stated
by the tiller of the ground, H. L. Gould, to have been
forty-nine days’ work of one man previous to the cutting
of the stalks. Pumpkins, squashes, and some beans were
planted among the corn. The produce was four hundred
and sixty bushel baskets of sound corn, eighty bushels of
potatoes, three.cords of pumpkins, one and a half bushels
of white beans. On one acre of the better part of the
soil, harvested separately, there were one hundred and
twenty baskets of corn ears, and a full proportion of the
pumpkins. On one-eighth of an acre of Thorburn’s tree
corn treated in the same manner as the rest, the produce
was nineteen baskets. A basket of this corn shells out
seventeen quarts, one quart more than a basket of the or-
dinary kinds of corn. The meal for bread and puddings
is of a superior quality. Could we depend upon. its
ripening, for, Thorburn’s assertions to the contrary not-
withstanding, it is a late veriety of corn, (though it
ripened perfectly with us last season, a rather unusually
warm and long one), farmers would do well to cultivate it
more extensively than any other kind.

The use of dry ashes on our black soil grass lands
showed an increased benefit from last year. But our ex-
periments with liquid manure disappointed us. Either
from its not being of the requisite strength, or from the

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 109

dryness of the season, or from our mistaking the effects
of it last year, or from all these causes combined, the re-
sults confidently anticipated, were not realized; and from
our experiments this year we have nothing to say in favor
of its use, although we think it worthy of further experi-
ments. On the first view of the subject, a dry season
or a dry time might seem more favorable to the manifest-
ations of benefit from watering plants with liquid manure,
than wet seasons or times. But when we consider that
when the surface of the earth is dry, the small quantity
of liquid used would be arrested by the absorbing earth
ere it reached the roots, and perhaps its fertilizing quali-
ties changed, evaporated, or otherwise destroyed, bythe
greater heat to which at such times it must be exposed—
it is. not, I think, improbable that the different effects no-
ticed in our experiments with this substance, the two
past years, might be owing to this cause. It is my inten-
tion, should sufficient leisure permit, to analyze the soil
‘cultivated and the mud used, and prepare a short essay
on the subject of peat mud, muck, sand, &c., as manure,
for publication in the next volume of the transactions of
the society. Yours, respectfully,
Anprew NIcHOoLs.
Danvers, December 20, 1840.

—=

EXTRACT FROM DR. NICHOLS’S LETTER.

Danvers, January 28, 1842.

Dear Sir—I am sorry to say that I have no new facts to
communicate. Nor have I anything that contradicts my
former views on the subject of peat, as manure. We used
it in compost on about nine acres of corn and potatoes
last summer, one-half of which was the same land on
which it was used the preceding season. _ Its effect seemed
not to be lessened by this second trial in the same soil.
The compost was, as formerly, composed by mixing the
mud, barn manure, ashes or potash together in the field, in
spring, two or three weeks before the corn was planted ;

110 THE FARMER’S MINE.

in a part of it, say, the manure for two acres, about 20
Ibs. of nitrate of potash were used. Wherever the nitre
was used, worms were absent; other parts of the field
were more or less injured by them. This was all the
good that we could positively ascribe to the nitre. Our crops
were in a most flourishing condition on the morning of
the 30th of June ; in the afternoon and evening of that day,
a violent tempest and two showers of hail, blew down my
barn, half my fruit trees, and prostrated and mangled the
corn. Ishould have bargained readily with any one who
would have insured me half the crop realized the preceding
year from the same land and management. But tlie healing
powers of nature and genial influences of summer suns and
showers, in a few days restored the field again to a flour-
ishing condition. A drought more severe than that of
the preceding season followed in August; and our crop
of corn per acre was about one-fourth less than the crop
of that year. My farmer, H. L. Gould, from his success
with the mud which you analyzed, was strongly impressed
with the belief that other peat mud would not prove as
good. I requested him to make an experiment, which he
accordingly did, with two cart loads of peat, such as.
makes good fuel, taken directly from the swamp, mixed
with ashes, and used in the same quantity by measure, as.
the other compost. He planted with this four rows of
corn through the piece. And, contrary to his expecta-
tions, if there was any difference, he acknowledged that
these rows were better than the adjoining ones. The mud
you analyzed, contained, you recollect, a large portion of
granitic sand; this peat much less sand but more water, it
being quite spongy. The same bulk, therefore, as taken
from the meadow and used in our experiment, would pro-
bably have weighed, when dry, not more than one-third
or one-fourth as much as the other. The quantity of
geine in the shovelful of the two kinds, varies not very
much after all. I regret that Mr. Gould did not repeat
his experiments with the solution of geine last season.
My farm is seven miles from my residence, and, like your-

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. lil

self, | turn no furrows with my own hand, nor can I over-
see in their various stages, experiments there. I suggest,
advise, and leave him to execute. He found himself too
much hurried with his work, to attend to this subject at
the proper time. In answer to your question I say—that
the solution the second year was not applied to the same
land, and although used in much larger quantities, it was
not as strong as ‘that used the past year.
Yours, respectfully,
é Anprew NicHo is.
To S. L.. Dana, M. D.

ft will be observed that about three cords of swamp
mud and 33 bushels of ashes, have been used per acre, in
1839, and 40 Ibs. of potash in 1840.

The number of hills is 3630 per acre. Then, calculating
the real potash, there were given to each hill of corn,
about half a pint of ashes, or 32 grains of alkali in 1839,
and 45 grains in 1840.

If three cords of swamp muck were used in 1840, about
6 oz. of dry geine have been applied per hill—the muck
being like pond mud. Now 45 grains of alkali and 6 oz.
of geine, and =, of a cord of pig manure per hill, have |
here produced effects equal to guano. No new source of
nitrogen has been opened to the corn. The effects are
due, then, to the alkaline action on geine, and of salts
upon silicates. The failure of the solution in the second
year is probably owing to the formation of sulphuretted
hydrogen.

LETTER FROM HON. WILLIAM CLARK, JR.

NortuampTon, 10th February, 1842.
Dear Sir—The results of the few trials I have made
with alkalies to neutralize the acidity of swamp muck,
have not been ascertained with that precision that is
necessary to determine conclusively which is best. Iwill,
however, give you the experiments (if they deserve the

112 THE FARMER’S MINE.

name), as they were made, with the apparent results.
The first was with fine well decomposed muck from the
swamp of which you had samples, numbered 5, 6, and 7.
In the spring of 1840, 16 lbs. of soda-ash or white ash,
dissolved in water, were carefully mixed with two esti-
mated tons of the muck, and the mixture applied as a top-
dressing for corn. Two other estimated tons of the muck
were served with eight bushels of dry wood ashes, all well
mixed together and spread on one side of the muck that
was served with the white ash, and further on, an equal
quantity of fresh barn-yard manure was spread, and still
further on, an equal quantity of compost, made of one
part barn manure, and two parts muck, mixed and fer-
mented before using.

The land was a light sandy loam, on the border of a
pine plain, and the whole field was treated alike in all
respects, except the different kinds of manure, all of which
were spread on the turned furrow, and harrowed in before
planting. The corn planted where the wood ashes and
muck were spread, early took precedence of all the other
parcels, and continued apparently much the best through
the season. Among the other parcels, no striking differ-
ence in growth or yield was manifest. The whole field
was harvested together, without separate weight or mea-
surement ; and the advantage which the ashes and muck
apparently gave over the others, rests (where no experi-
ment should rest) on the opinion of those whose attention
was called to it, while the corn was growing.

A similar trial of ashes and muck, and soda and muck,
was made the same season on grass land ; and the advan-
tage was decidedly in favor of the soda-ash and muck, as,
on the corn land, it was in favor of the ashes and muck.

Why the soda-ash should act, relatively, more favorably
upon the muck spread on grass land, than when spread
on corn land, Iam unable to determine, unless it be the
partial shade which the grass affords to protect it from the
direct rays of the sun, and measurably preserve its
moisture and softness. This inference is strengthened by

ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 113

the fact that muck, treated as in the above cases—with
‘soda-ash in solution (which makes it somewhat pasty), in
the only instance I have tried it—spread on the surface of
an old field without a protecting crop, or subsequent har-
rowings to cover it in the soil, became apparently sun-
baked so hard, as to defy, for a time at least, the softening
action of water. This hardening effect was not observed
to take place with the muck treated with the dry ashes, or
in the manure compost, and may have arisen from the
insufficient quantity of alkali used in the case mentioned.

In another case, one lb. of soda-ash, and one lb. of soft
soap, were mixed with four bushels of muck, and all put
in a fifty gallon tub, and the tub filled with water, and
left to stand five or six days, with an occasional stirring ;
at the end of that period, the dark-colored water was
dipped off and applied to various garden plants and vege-
tables, and the tub again filled with water, and the muck
stirred up, and after a day or two the water was again
dipped off and applied as before, and the tub again filled
with water. This process was continued for two or three
weeks in the early part of the season, and the muck,
though gradually wasting, without additional alkali, con-
tinued to ferment from time to time, and yield black liquor,
to appearance nearly as rich as at first. Rapid growth
of the plants followed in all cases when it was applied,
and its effect upon a lot of onions would have been ascer-
tained with considerable accuracy, had not a “ hired man’
took it into his lead that the few rows purposely left for
comparison, were suffering by unwitting neglect, and gave
them a “double dose,” thereby equalizing the growth, and
sacrificing the experiment to his honest notions of fair deal-
ing, which required that all should be'treated alike. In
another case, a muck compost dressing, formed by pre-
viously slacking quick lime with a strong brine of com-
mon salt, to disengage the acid of the salt, that its soda
might act on the muck when in contact, was applied as a
top-dressing for corn, without any perceptible effect, per-
haps for want of ‘skill in compounding.

6

114 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Facts abundantly testify to the fertilizmg properties of
swamp muck and peat, when brought to a right state, and
the subject of your inquiry perhaps yields to no other, at
the present time, in point of importance to our good old
Commonwealth. Taking your estimate of the weight of
fresh dug muck or peat, and Professor Hitchcock’s esti-
mate of the quantity in the state, and the saving of one
cent per ton, in the expense of neutralizing its acidity,
and fitting it for use m agriculture, when applied to all our
swamp muck and peat, will amount to an aggregate sav-
ing to the industry of the Commonwealth, of over five and
a half millions of dollars. Is there a reasonable doubt
that more than ten times this one per cent. per ton will be
saved over any present process, when chemistry has shed
its full light on the subject ? |

The magnitude and importance of a small saving in
this matter, must certainly have been overlooked by some
who have given advice on the subject of making muck
compost. Respectfully,

Your most ob’t serv’t,
WILLiAm C ark, Jr.

8. LE. Dana, M. D., Lowell, Mass.

CHAPTER ATTY:

MANURES PRODUCED BY MARINE PLANTS.

Turse plants, such as the fucuses, the algo, and the
conferves, are still more in request than the others
wherever they can be obtained without too great expense.
They contain in abundance a mucilaginous substance easi-
ly separable, and a quantity of sea salt which doubtless
increases their fertilizing properties.

_ In many cantons they are an important source of fer-
tility ; and when they are judiciously employed they never

MANURES PRODUCED BY MARINE PLANTS. 115

fail to enrich the districts upon the sea-coast, whether the
herbs are cut upon the rocks, or are washed up upon the
shore. However, the effects are far from being as dura-
ble as those of dung, for they are felt only upon one or
two crops.

Marine plants, applied to arable soils, cannot be spread
and ploughed in too soon after they are collected. If this
cannot be done immediately, on account of the season or
any other cause, they should be made into composts with
earth, long dung, or lime.

By spreading these plants upon old pastures not only
is the quantity of the grass increased but its quality 1s
improved. Horned cattle as well as sheep eat it with
more avidity, flourish better and fatten more readily. This
substance does not suit so well as dung for oats or tur-
nips; but it succeeds perfectly well with barley. When
it is applied to the young growth of clover after the mow-
ing it destroys it. It can be profitably mixed with the
dung of the farm-yard. We use to the acre one-third
more, in weight, of sea-weed than of dung.

This manure presents various special advantages: it
does not contain the seeds of weeds ; it is rapidly decom-
posed; it is immediately useful to plants without requiring
a long process of preparation. By its aid the cultivator
can sow more frequently grains or green crops, and thus
increase his quantity of dung. Its good effects cannot be
called in question, and no objection can be made to its
use except perhaps that the grain produced is of an infe-
rior quality— Agriculture, practical and theoretical, by
Sir Joun SINcLaIR.

In Normandy and Brittany marine plants have been
used from time immemorial; the wrack of the rocks is pre-
ferred, that is to say that which is pulled up at low tide,
to the stranded wrack, which, however, evidently contains
much more animal matter. The first buried immediately
on coming from the sea decomposes more rapidly than the
other. It is employed by itself, while the weeds which
are drifted upon the shore are ordinarily used only as
litter.

116 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Quite frequently sea-weed is mixed with other manures ;
sometimes it is left to rot by itself, or is stratified with
earth to be transformed into compost. In Italy these
methods appear to be preferred to an immediate burial,
which I believe is preferred, and I think justly, m other
places. In Ancona hardly any other manure is known
than the alge and the zostera reduced to a mould by
natural fermentation in a covered place. At other points
of the Adriatic coast the weeds are spread upon the roads,
and, when they have been partially triturated there,
mixed with the urine, the excrements of animals, and the
dust of the road, they are added to the common pile of
other manures.

The use of wrack or fucus upon the coasts of France
has been considered so important, that an ordinance has
fixed the time of their harvest between the full moon of
March and that of April, because at that period they have
shed their seed and are not covered with the spawn of

fish.

CHAPTER XV.
ANIMAL MANURES.

Anmats furnish the strongest manures: the muscular
flesh, the blood, the horn, the remains of skin and tendons,
the wool, the silk, the fecal matter, the bones, and some
preparations of these substances, matters of great produc-
tion in the arts, such as animal black, hold the first rank
in this respect. They can be sent to considerable distan-
ces, and are an indispensable complement to the vegetable
and stable manures. Hence we can say that animal
remains and excrements present the richest means of fer-
tilizing the soil. We shall therefore think it our duty to
dwell at some length upon this broad foundation upon

ANIMAL MANURES. 117

which repose the interests of agriculture, the prosperity of
nations, and even, as we shall soon see, the health of
great cities.

Of some substances little used.

No certain experiment authorizes us to consider the
fatty substances as susceptible of serving directly as
manures.
~ The tendons are generally too difficult ef division to
form powdered manures; they can only be cut in small
pieces.

Hoofs, spurs, nails, horns—These remains of animals
form one of the richest of azotized manures; but their
strong cohesion, and the difficulty of reducing them to
powder, as well as often their high price, exactly in pro-
portion to their size and want of color, cause the greater
part of them to be reserved for the use of the manufactu-
rer of toys. Those which are defective or too small are
sold to the manufacturers of Prussian blue; in short, the
horn raspings of the manufacturer are presented as a
manure in the most favorable condition. It is best to
cover them with earth near the plants, so that the wind
may not displace them. This manure, at a high price,
has been used with success, as well as those hereafter
mentioned, for olive and mulberry trees and vines.

Feathers, bristles, hair, wadding of wool and of sitk.—
Imperfect feathers and quills, and all such as cannot serve
either for beds or for writing or for pencil tubes, as well
as horse-hair, bristles, hair, wadding, of wool or of silk,
which cannot be turned to better account in saddlery,
upholstery, or weaving, &c., will be easily turned to an
excellent manure, by putting them in trenches dug near
the plants and covered with earth. All these substances,
as well as those comprised in the preceding paragraph,
however mechanically divided, still offer too great resist-
ance to decomposition to follow the progress of vegeta-
tion and realize their greatest effect ; we shall presently
see that it is the same with another substance, bones, while

118 THE FARMER'S MINE.

the flesh, the blood, and the fecal matter, which are per-
haps too readily decomposable, can be put into the con-
ditions the most favorable to realize their greatest use-
ful effect.

The flesh of dead animals, roasted and divided as is de-~
scribed in the book on the Agricultural /rts, and which
one might decide not to use for feeding animals, would
form one of the best of manures (and even better than
any of those prepared as we shall presently describe).
To wake use of it, mix it with about six times its weight
of field earth, as intimately as possible, in order to spread
it in a small quantity and very evenly upon the land
sowed with grain. This manure placed by hand at the
roots of most of the warden and. field vegetables, of vines,
potatoes, beets, &c., without being in immediate contact
with the stalk, stimulates the vegetation in a remarkable
manner. It can also be sown like seed, broad-cast, and
fertilizes the land in an extraordinary manner. Mixed
with twice its bulk of powdered earth, its application
becomes extremely easy, and fifteen hundred pounds of
this mixture suffice to manure an acre. We have satis-
fied ourselves by comparative trials that this substance is
sensibly preferable to dry blood in powder.

in the language of Mr. Gaylord, in his Prize Essay on
Manure—All animal products capable of putrefaction, can
be converted into manures ; fish, flesh, ¢ristle, sinews, skin,
horns, hair, wool, and indeed all animal solids or fluids are
of this character. The man who allows his dead animals
to putrefy, and waste away above ground, is guilty of
great improvidence ; and converts what might be made a
valuable manure into a decided nuisance. A dead horse,
covered with earth or vegetable mould, mixed with a little
lime or gypsum, will, when decayed and converted into
manure and spread on the soil, add to the value of the
wheat or corn grown, not enough perhaps to buy a valua-
ble new one, but not unfrequently more than the worth of
the original animal. A more discusting sight can scarcely
be imagined, than to see the fences and trees around a

ANIMAL MANURES. 119

farmer’s yard dressed out with dead lambs or other defunct
animals in the spring season. All such should be buried
at once, and thus made available in other forms.

Fish.

Of the substances named above, fish is the one most com~
monly used as a manure. In the vicinity of the sea,
large quantities of fish are annually used in enriching the
soil. This is particularly the case on Long Island and in
Rhode Island. They are sometimes spread broadcast on
the earth and plowed in; at other times deposited in the
hills of corn; sometimes spread over the meadows after
the crop is. mowed, and allowed to putrefy in the
open air. The stench, where the putrefaction goes on in
the open air, is intolerable; and can only be endured by
those whose olfactories have been accustomed to the nui-
sance. This is a most wasteful practice, and should long
ago have been abandoned. “Treated in this way, but a
small part of the actual value of the fish is realized; and
it is not to be wondered at, that where the methods of
using this manure are so different, widely different ideas of
its value should be entertained. Fish should never be
used fresh, or thrown at once upon the soil. The true
way of preparing them as manuré, is to make them into
compost, by placing them in layers with muck, rock weed,
peat, or even common loam, to putrefy. Where the soil
is heavy or inclining to clay, where the compost is to be
used, common shore sand, containing as it does large quan-
tities of particles of carbonate of lime, will be found use-
ful as a composting ingredient with the fish. When the
fish are decayed or putrefied, the mass should be dug over,
the parts thoroughly mixed, and if much ammonia or
offensive gas is liberated, a covering of earth should be
given, and the mass be allowed further to ferment before
using. In this way, fish never fail of being a valuable
manure. Rock weed, eel grass, or in short any of those
vegetable or animal matters that abound on the sea shore,
may be advantageously used in the preparation of these
composts.

4

120 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Refuse of factories.

There are many manvfactories, particularly those of
skins, furs and wool, where large quantities of manures of
the most powerful kind are annually suffered to go to
waste, though to a much less extent than formerly. The
refuse of such establishments, now frequently considered,
and justly as now treated, a nuisance, may, by simple ap-
plication to the soil, or still better by being made into
compost, be used as the best of fertilizers. One of the
best farmers and most successful breeders of our country
was driven into the business of agriculture in self-defence
as it were. He was an extensive manufacturer, and the
difficulty of disposing of the refuse and waste of the esta-
blishment, compelled him to purchase a farm in the vicinity
of the city, in enriching which, these matters have been
most successfully employed. Those farmers who formerly
could not be induced to receive such refuse materials as a
gift, would now, after the proof they have seen of their
value, be happy to purchase them at a liberal price. The
furrier, the tanner, the morocco manufacturer, combmaker,
&c., &c., are all dealing in materials of the utmost value,
when applied to the soil as manure ; and the farmer little
understands his true interests, who, living in the vicinity of
any of these, does not avail himself of these refuse mat-
ters to the utmost extent permitted.

Manure of wool.

Perhaps there is no substance more rich in matters valu-
able as manures, than the washings and refuse of woollen
factories. Chaptal was one of the first to call attention to
this matter, and the instances he gave of their fertilizing
power were of the most convincing kind. It is but very
lately, however, that any attempts have been made in this
country to render the refuse of our factories available. All
remember, when around every factory and every clothier’s
shop in the country, piles of refuse wool, clippings, pick-
ings of cards, and sweepings, accumulated in masses, never
thought of as of value, but considered as matter of which

ANIMAL MANURESs 121

the owners would most happily be quit. The method of
disposing of them, when they could no longer be tolerated,
was to throw them into the river; to apply them to the
garden or farm was not once thought of. Not long since,
in one of our villages, I noticed a garden, the vegetables
of which had a luxuriance forming a striking contrast to
others near them, and the cause of the difference was
asked. “ It is all owing to the refuse of that clothier’s and
carder’s shop,’ was the reply. “Isaw in the Cultivator
a notice of the value of such manures, and the owner of
the shops gladly availed himself of my offer to remove it
at my own expense. I gave my garden a good dressing,
and as this is the second year, you may judge of the value
of the material as a manure. It is probably the last I
shall obtain, however,” he added, “as the mill owners,
after seeing its effect on my garden, are now as anxious
‘o save this refuse matter as they were before to get rid
fit.’ The oily or sweaty matter on unwashed wool, is
2 soapy substance having a base of potash, with an
excess of oily matter, with slight traces of the carbonate
and muriate of potash, all valuable as manures; and as
all are easily soluble in water, such water should never be
lost. A wool merchant at Montpelier had his washing
house in the midst of a field, the greater part of which he
had, by the use of this wash, with which he watered his
plants, transformed into a fine garden. The experiments
made by Judge Buel and by Mr. Bement, with hog’s
bristles and horn shavings, were conclusive as to the
value of these substances for manures. In short, as all
substances of this nature are nearly pure gelatine, with a
shght addition of the phosphates of lime, it is evident
their decay must furnish an abundant supply of ammonia
to plants, and therefore render them valuable as a manure.

CHAPTER XVI.
ANIMAL OFFALS.

Of dried blood.

Blood.—This liquid, however, (especially when it has
been subjected to boiling, which, by coagulating it, retards
its decomposition in the ground), is found so useful to the
growth of sugar canes, that it has been lately sent from
Paris at a cost of two dollars the one hundred pounds to
the colonies, where it arrives, costing four dollars. Blood,
in whatever state it is found, and from whatever animal it
comes, offers, therefore, to the inhabitants of the country a
valuable resource for manure, and, already, in this view,
it has formed the base of an important speculation in
Paris.

The following is one of the simplest modes of employ-
ing it. Some earth free from clods is dried in the oven,
after baking bread, care being taken to stir it from time to
time with a rake; it requires about four or five times as
much as there is of liquid blood; the hot earth is brought
to the front of the oven, and is sprinkled with the blood
to be preserved, while turned over and over with the
shovel; the mixture is then baked over, and stirred with
the rake till the desiccation is complete. It can then be
put up in old barrels or boxes, sheltered from the rain, to
be used when needed. The earth in this preparation is
useful especially to present the blood in a suitable state of
division, and to render its decomposition slower and more
regular. We can know, moreover, what surface these
mixtures will cover as manure, by recollecting that three
thousand pounds of liquid blood give seven hundred and
fifty pounds of blood coagulated and dried, which is suffi-

ANIMAL OFFALS- 123

cient to manure an acre. One hundred pounds of blood
in this state equal as a manure three hundred pounds of
broken bones, or three loads of good horse-dung, weigh-
ing together seven thousand and two hundred pounds. It
is a manure by far superior to those known and desig-
nated by the names of poudrette, oil cakes, &c.; it is
inferior only to the dried and powdered flesh.

Of the entrails, &c.

All the internal parts of animals, such as the liver,
lungs, brain, heart, and the offal of the entrails, should be
cut or hashed as fine as possible and then mixed along
with the emptyings of the intestines, with earth thoroughly
dried, the latter in the proportion of six times the bulk
of the animal matters. When this composition has been
well worked over with the shovel it is spread at the rate
of five tons to the acre.

This manure gives excellent -results and is particularly
favorable to wheat crops. If it cannot be spread imme-
diately after its preparation, it must be preserved in a
trench or some other cool place, or at any rate in the
shade and covered with earth.

Bones: explanation of the various results of their use in
agriculture.

None of the hard substances, the remains of animal
pi eign: offers more remarkable examples of various
effects in its action asa manure, than the bones in differ-
ent states. We find in the numerous agricultural
memoirs on the subject the most singular problems which
practice could leave to be solved.

The bones which are found in masses of any considera-
ble importance at the disposal of agriculturists and specu-
lators, are presented in the following different forms :
Fresh, such as have been taken from animals recently
slaughtered, more or less broken, or whole : in each of these
three states, their decomposition is almost always too slow,
stimulated though it be by the well known influences of

124 THE FARMER’S MINE.

air, heat and moisture; but, all things being equal exter-
nally, enormous differences have been observed, and which
seemed inexplicable, in the duration of the decomposition,
and consequently in the useful effect produced in a given
time.

Some particular experiments have led me to discover
the cause of these apparent anomalies. Bones contain im
their cellular parts and in various cavities, a fat sub-
stance, secreted by itself, of more or less consistence.
This substance is free in the adipose tissue of all the
crevices which conceal it, for it suffices to open a passage
for it by cutting the bones and plunging them in hot
water, to bring it out and see it swimming upon the sur-
face of the liquid. The average proportion which can be
obtained from the various bones of the butcher is about °01,
although the very spongy parts which enclose the most,
contain even ‘05.

The proportion of fat matter extracted by this process
diminishes gradually as the bones are dried; it becomes
almost nothing when the desiccation takes place at a
high temperature, either in the sun or by a stove. It
appears, indeed, that as fast as the water which filled the
interstices of the bone has evaporated, the grease lique-
fied by the heat has taken its place. One of the effects of
this penetration has been to impregnate the net-work
which encloses the phosphate and the carbonate of lime.
This net-work already with difficulty decomposed on
account of its cohesion and insolubility, protected more-
over by inorganic substances interposed, becomes still
less alterable when the greasy matter not only impreg-
nates and defends it from the penetration of water, but,
becoming gradually acidified, forms with the lime a cal-
careous soap, which M. d’Arcet has shown to be unde-
composable under atmospheric influence. .

Bones in this nearly undecomposable state should, of
course, exert but an insensible action as a manure, at
least, unless very minutely divided. This also confirms
and explains the practical remark, that although spread

_ OF DRIED BLOOD, 125

upon the ground for four years these bones scarcely lost
0.08 of their weight, while, when recently taken from
animals and deprived of nearly all their grease by boiling
water, they readily permit the decomposition of their
organic net-work and lose in the same time from twenty~
five to thirty per cent of their weight.

Let us notice three other curious and apparently singu-
lar results of the use of bones treated with steam.

The broken. bones from which gelatine has been
obtained by the action of water and heat, in various pro-
cesses, form a residuum which has often been tried as a
manure. In some experiments a number of cultivators
have obtained from these residuums, the first year, more
beneficial effects than from bones themselves. In others,
an action almost equal to that of bones, but less durable,
was observed. More generally, however, little or no
favorable influence upon vegetation was obtained. A
great number of analyses, attentively examined, have ena-
bled me to perceive the different conditions under which
this residuum, apparently the same, produced three sets of
phenomena so distinct.

Bones treated by the process in question leave a varia-
ble residuum; I have sometimes met with it containing
from eighty to ninety-five per cent. of the azotic, organic,
decomposable matter of the bones, sometimes containing
from twenty-five to thirty-three, but more usually one or
two per cent. ; finally, it sometimes contains scarcely a
few thousandths. The following are the causes and
effects of these various proportions: The temperature is
almost always high in these operations, to the degree of
rendering the greatest part of the net-work soluble, and
consequently the bones are disaggregated and easily brok-
en. But, although soluble, the organic alterable matter
can still be held in the interstices, either because the wash-
ings proper to draw it out have been operated insuffi-
ciently, or ill-directed ; or further, because the steam may
have been chiefly condensed upon the sides of the digest-
ers. This matter soluble in the proportion of 0.8 or 0.9

126 THE FARMER’S MINE.

of the contents of the bones, will act more rapidly asa
manure, since its dissolution and decomposition will be
more rapid under the same influences; but, instead of be-
ing prolonged four or five years, its action will be almost
exhausted in one season—practice has always confirmed
this deduction of theory. A washing better conducted
but incomplete, easily accounts for the presence and solu-
bility of from 0.25 to 0.33 of gelatinous matter in the re-
siduum ; whence, also, we deduce the prompt action, but
less and less durable effect than in the preceding case. As
to the reduction of 0.01 or 0.02 at the most in the propor-
tion of the azotic decomposable substance,* it evidently
makes the residuum inefficacious as a manure. But this
state of the case results, as I have proved, from one of the
two following circumstances or their concurrence:

When the bones operated upon in the large way have
been cut only in the cellular parts and the grease extract-
ed, the division not being sufficiently thorough, the wash-
ing or maceration not being sufficient, only from thirteen
to fifteen per cent. of dry gelatine is obtained; there
should, therefore, remain about fifteen per cent. of fibrous
tissue, or the products of its decomposition; but these
dregs are scarcely thrown into a heap before a brisk fer-
mentation is developed and ammoniacal vapors are disen-
gaged; thus, the greatest part of the organic matter dis-
appears.

The second circumstance which equally produces a very
poor residuum is when a_ well-conducted treatment is
applied to bones sufficiently divided, and finally, when
they are exhausted by continued maceration, as in the
processes of the hospitals.

We must not therefure generally expect to find in the
manufactories of glue any but impoverished residuums and
valueless as manures.

Hence the use of them has been abandoned by those

* There always remains besides a variable proportion of from 0.03
to 0.08 of calcareous soap, but which is without influence upon vege-
tation.

rr

OF DRIED BLOOD. 127

cultivators even who at first obtained beneficial results ;
the differences, however, are now easily explained, and a
simple analysis, consisting in the exhaustion by boiling
water of a portion dried and powdered, will suffice to test
them, @ priori ; then drying and weighing anew the pow-
dered exhausted substance we shall find how much the
boiling water has diminished the total weight, and conse-
quently the proportion of soluble organic matter, all the
rest being almost entirely inert as a manure, and able to
act only as a calcareous amendment.

The application of bones to agriculture.—In their natura!
state bones reduced to powder are an excellent manure,
which is spread in the average proportion of fifteen hun-
dred pounds to the acre, and the influence of which is felt
in a diminishing degree from three to five successive years
according to the soil and the seasons; all sorts of bones
moreover are fit for this application, when the distance or
want of communications does not permit the better part to
be used for the arts which we shall speak of in a future
division of the work;* and when, moreover, a machine
can be procured to grind them, which is quite expensive
in its first cost and requires a large expenditure of motive
power.

However, in the absence of this machine, we shall often
employ with advantage, especially in the intervals of field
labor, the processes of breaking by hand, first cleaving
the bones with an axe and then powdering them with a
heavy mallet or sledge.

I have remarked that it is much easier to break bones
when thoroughly dried and heated than when fresh ; it
will be best therefore to put them in the oven immediately
after baking bread, and break them afterwards while they
are warm.

* The bones used for the manufacture of animal black are not lost
for agriculture, for we shall see that after having, in the state of pow-
dered charcoal, served to refine sugar, they conceal a portion of
coagulated blood, which conduces to render their effect as a manure
very remarkable.

128 THE FARMER’S MINE,

In France broken bones are used as a manure in the
department of Puy de Dome ; in Germany the practice is
very extensive. ‘Twelve bushels are there substituted for
thirty-five loads of dung for an acre. But the English
have applied this manure most in the large way. They
derive from Russia and India considerable quantities of
bones, besides a large part of those which result from their
own large consumption of meat. A bushel of coarsely
powdered bones costs the cultivators about one dollar and
thirty cents; they use from fifteen to forty-five bushels to
the acre; this manuring prolongs its effect during ten to
twenty-five years, and enormously increases all the crops,
especially those of grass and of turnips. It has been
observed that a mixture of wood ashes of equal bulk, or
two or three per cent of saltpetre, renders this manure still
more efficacious.

Bones in powder can be placed in the trenches with
potatoes, or sown upon seed before passing the harrow or
roller which covers it with earth.

It is sometimes preferred to mix them with the earth
previously plowed and harrowed by passing the harrow
and roller over them a second time. |

If the bones were in fine powder, they could with
advantage be placed upon the transplanted plants, and
be covered up in closing the hole of the planter.

CHAPTER XVII.
CHARCOAL AND SOOT.

Cuarcoat has of late attracted considerable attention
as a fertilizer. We find the following interesting experi-
ments and observations on the action of charcoal from
wood on vegetation, by Edward Lucas, as an appendix to
Liebig’s Agricultural Chemistry.

“ In a division of a low hothouse in the botanical garden
at Munich, a bed was set apart for young tropical plants;
but instead of being filled with tan, as is usually the case,
it was filled with the powder.of charcoal, (a material
which could be easily procured), the large pieces of char-
coal having been previously separated by means of a sieve.
The heat was conducted by means of a tube of white iron
into a hollow space in this bed, and distributed a gentle
warmth, such as tan communicates when in a state of fer-
mentation. The plants placed in this bed of charcoal
quickly vegetated, and acquired a healthy appearance.
Now, as 1s always the case in such beds, the roots of many
of the plants penetrated through the holes in the bottoms
of the pots, and then spread themselves out; but these
plants evidently surpassed in vigor and general luxuriance
plants grown in the common way—for example, in tan.
Several of them, of which I shall only specify the beauti-
ful Thunbergia alata, and the genus Peireskie, throve
quite astonishingly; the blossoms of the former were so
rich, that all who saw it affirmed, they had never before
seen such a specimen. It produced also a number of seeds
without any artificial aid, while, in most cases, it is neces-
sary to apply the pollen by the hand. The Peireskie
grew So vigorousys that the P. aculeata produced shoots

130 THE FARMER’S MINE.

several ells in length, and the P. grandifolia acquired
leaves of a foot in length. These facts, as well as the
quick germination of the seeds which had been scattered
spontaneously, and the abundant appearance of young
Filices, naturally attracted my attention, and I was gra-
dually led to a series of experiments, the results of which
may not be uninteresting; for, besides being of practical
use in the cultivation of most plants, they demonstrate also
several facts of importance to physiology. The first expe-
riment which naturally suggested itself was, to mix a cer-
tain proportion of charcoal with the earth in which differ-
ent plants grew, and to increase its quantity according as
the advantage of the method was perceived. An addition
of two-thirds charcoal, for example, to vegetable mould,
appeared to answer excellently for the Gesneria and Gloz-
ania, and also for the tropical Aro7dee with tuberous roots.
The first two soon excited the attention of connoisseurs, by
the great beauty of all their parts and their general appear-
ance. They surpassed very quickly those cultivated in the
common way, both in the thickness of their stems and dark
color of their leaves; their blossoms were beautiful, and
their vegetation lasted much longer than usual, so much
so, that, in the middle of November, when other plants of
the same kinds were dead, these were quite fresh, and
partly in bloom. Aroidew took root very rapidly, and
their leaves surpassed much in size the leaves of those not
so treated; the species which are reared as ornamental
plants, on account of the beautiful coloring of their leaves,
(I mean such as the Caladium bicolor, Pictum, Pecile,
&c.), were particularly remarked for the liveliness of their
tints; and it happened here also, that the period of their
vegetation was unusually long. A cactus, planted in a
mixture of equal parts of charcoal and earth, throve pro-
gressively, and attained double its former size in the space
of a few weeks. The use of the charcoal was very advan-
ageous with several of the Bromeliacee and Liliaceae,
with the Citrus and Begonia also, and even with the Pal-
me. The same advantage was found in the case of almost

a

CHARCOAL AND SOOT. 131

all those plants for which sand is used, in order to keep
the earth porous, when charcoal was mixed with the soil
instead of the sand; the vegetation was always rendered
stronger and more vigorous.

“At the same time that these experiments were per-
formed with mixtures of charcoal with different soils, the
charcoal was also used free from any addition, and in this
case the best results were obtained. Cuts of plants from
different genera took root in it well and quickly ; I men-
tion here only the Euphorbia fastuosa and fulgens, which
took root in ten days; Pandanus utidis in three months,
P. Amaryllifolius, Chamedorea elatior in four weeks, Pi-
per mgrum, Begonia, Ficus, Cecropia, Chiococca, Buddleya,
Hakea, Phyllanthus, Capparis, Laurus, Stifftia, Jacquinia,
Mimosa, Cactus, in from eight to ten days; and several
others, amounting to forty species, including Ilex and many
others. Leaves, and pieces of leaves, and even peduncult,
or petioles, took root and in part budded in pure charcoal.
Among others we may mention the folzola of several of
the Cycadee as having taken root, as also did parts of the
leaves of the Begonia Telfairie and Jacaranda brasilien-
sis ; leaves of the Euphorbia fastuosa, Oxalis Barriliert,
Ficus, Cyclamen, Polyanthes, Mesembryanthemum ; also
the delicate leaves of the Lophospermum and Martynia,
pieces of a leaf of the Agave Americana ; tufts of Pinus,
&c.; and all without the aid of a previously formed bud.

“Pure charcoal acts excellently as a means of curing
unhealthy plants. A Dorianthes excelsa, for example,
which had been drooping for three years, was rendered
completely healthy in a very short time by this means.
An orange tree, which had the very common disease, in
which the leaves become yellow, acquired, within four
weeks, its healthy green color, when the upper surface of
the earth was removed from the pot in which it was con-
tained, and a ring of charcoal, of an inch in thickness,
strewed in its place around the periphery of the pot. The
same was the case with the Gardenia.

“J should be led too far were I to state all the results

132 THE FARMER’S MINE.

of the experiments which I have made with charcoal. The
object of this paper is merely to show the general effect
exercised by this substance on vegetation; but the reader
who takes particular interest in the subject will find more
extensive observations in the ‘ l/gemeine Deutsche Garten
zeitung’ of Otto and Dietrich, in Berlin; or Loudon’s
Gardener’s Magazine for March, 1841.

“‘ The charcoal employed in these experiments was the
dust-like powder of charcoal from firs and pines, such as
is used in the forges of blacksmiths, and may be easily pro-
cured in any quantity. It was found to have most effect
when allowed to lie during the winter exposed to the ac-
tion of the air. In order to ascertain the effects of differ-
ent kinds of charcoal, experiments were also made upon
that obtained from the hard woods and peat, and also upon
animal charcoal, although I foresaw the probability that
none of these would answer so well as that of pine-wood,
both on account of its porosity and the ease with which it
is decomposed.*

It is superfluous to remark, that in treating plants in
the manner here described, they must be plentifully sup-
plied with water, since the air having such free access
penetrates and dries the roots, so that, unless this precau-
tion is taken, the failure of all such experiments is una-
voidable.

“‘ The action of charcoal consists primarily in its pre-
serving the parts of the plants with which it 1s m centact
—whether they be roots, branches, leaves, or pieces of
leaves—unchanged in their vital power for a long space
of time, so that the plant obtains time to develope the or-
gans which are necessary for its further support and pro-
pagation. There can scarcely be a doubt also that the
charcoal undergoes decomposition; for after being used
five to six years it becomes a coaly earth ; and if this is

* M. Lueas has recently repeated these experiments, and found that
the animal charcoal obtained by the calcination of bones possesses a
decided advantage over all other kinds of charcoal, which he subjected
to experiment.—Liebig’s Annalen, Band xxxix. Heft 1,8.127. .

CHARCOAL AND SOOT. 133

the case, it must yield carbon, or carbonic oxide, abun-
dantly to the plants growing init, and thus afford the prin-
cipal substance necessary for the nutrition of vegetables.*
In what other manner indeed can we explain the deep
green color and great luxuriance of the leaves and every
part of the plants, which can be obtained in no other kind
of soil, according to the opinion of men well qualified to
judge? It exercises likewise a favorable influence by de-
composing and absorbing the matters excreted by the
roots, So aS to keep the soil free from the putrefying sub-
stances which are often the cause of the death of the spon-
giole. Its porosity, as well as the power which it pos-
sesses of absorbing water with rapidity, and, after its sat-
uration, of allowing all other water to sink through it, are
causes also of its favorable effects. These experiments
show what a close affinity the component parts of charcoal
have to all plants, for every experiment was crowned with
success, although plants belonging to a great many differ-
ent families were subjected to trial.” (Buchner’s Reper-
torium, u. Rethe, xix. Bd. S. 38.)

~ ‘We make a further extract on this subject, from Vol. I.
of the American Agriculturist, by Dr. Raymond.

From an article on Dr. Liebig’s Organic Chemistry ap-
plied to Agriculture, in the April number of the North
American Review, it appears that the most valuable pro-
perty of a soil, is that of absorbing and giving off those
vapors and gases that constitute so considerable a portion
of the food of plants. Reflecting on this fact, it occurred
to me, that charcoal might prove a most valuable manure ;
from its well known capacity of absorbing vapors, gases,

* As some misconception has arisen regarding this explanation of
the action of charcoal upon vegetation, and an idea propagated that
the introduction of these opinions into this work incorporated them
with those of Liebig, it is necessary to state that they are merely in-
serted here as part of the papers of M. Lucas. The true explanation
#8, that charcoal possesses the power of absorbing carbonic acid and
ammonia from the atmosphere, which serve for the nourishment of
plants.—Eb.

134 THE FARMER’S MINE.

and saline solutions, and under certain circumstances giving
them out.

The ladies make use of charcoal in their flower-pots,
from an experience of these results. At this time I did
not know of its being used ona large scale. 1 communi-
cated the idea to Mr. Phineas Sargent, and he remarked
he did not know that it had been used as a manure; but
he had often observed the charcoal hearths were more pro-
ductive than the surrounding land. 1 made further inqui-
ries of Mr. A. B. Allen on the same point, and he had the
kindness to furnish me Mr. J. H. Hepburn’s valuable paper
“‘ Charcoal as a Manure,’’ published in the Trans. of the
Ag. Soc. of N. Y., p. 298, 1842. I was not a little
gratified to find my speculations sustained by so accurate
an observer.

As Mr. H. declined to enter into the chemical character
of charcoal, I propose to supply that portion of the sub-
ject compiled from such writers as are within my reach.

From Ure’s Dictionary of Chemistry, article Gas, we
extract: “Of all solid bodies, charcoal is the most re-
markable in its action on the gases. In M. De Saussure’s
experiment, the red hot charcoal was plunged under mer-
cury, and introduced after it had become cool into the gas
to be absorbed without ever coming into contact with the
atmospherical air.

“One volume of charcoal made from boxwood

absorbed of ammonia, - - 90 volumes.
Muriatic acid gas, - - - 85 «
Sulphurous acid - - - - 55 é
Sulphuretted hydrogen, ~ - 55 ‘5
Nitrous oxide, - - - - 40 cp
Carbonic acid, - - - - 35 “¢
Olefiant, - - “ E ~ 35 “
Carbonic oxide, - = K = hee ee
Oxygen, - ~ te PR! Ly 5 ee)
Nitrogen, - - e ai a iit eee
Gas from moist charcoal, - - 50 “
Hydrogen, an ees - Sal ay 22 eo

CHARCOAL AND SOOT. 135

“The absorption was not increased by allowing the
charcoal to remain in contact with the gases after 24 hours,
with the exception of oxygen, which goes on condensing
for years in consequence of the slow formation and absorp-
tion of carbonic acid gas. If the charcoal be moistened,
the absorption of all those gases that have not a strong
affinity for water is diminished. Thus boxwood charcoal,
cooled under mercury, and drenched in water, is capable
of absorbing only fifteen volumes of carbonic acid gas;
although before being moistened, it could absorb thirty-
five volumes of the same gas.

“Dry charcoal saturated with any gas, gives out, on
immersion in water, a quantity corresponding to the dimi-
nution of its absorbing power. When a piece of charcoal
which is saturated with either oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen,
or carbonic acid gas, is put into another gas, it allows a
portion of the first to escape, in order to absorb into its
pores a portion of the second gas.”

Charcoal, when reduced to powder, will absorb but half
the quantity of gas that it would when in the lump.

The advantage of this article over every other that has
been used as a manure is, that what is not actually con-
sumed or washed away, is retained on the soil, and will
continue to absorb and give off the vapors, gases, and sa-
line solutions for an unlimited period. It would therefore
be an experiment worthy of trial by our western agricul-
turists, to make their wood into charcoal and spread it on
the soil, rather than reduce it to ashes, which at most will
last but a few years. C. H. Raymonp.

Buffalo, August 6th, 1842.

Soot is a valuable manure, peculiarly rich in humus as
well as salts, and in its composition more nearly allied to
the solid substance of animals, than anything else. It
contains of humus or geine 30°70, of nitrogen 20°, and of
salts of lime 25°31 parts in 100. It also abounds in salts
of soda, potash and ammonia. According to the analysis
of Dr. Dana, 100 lbs. of soot contain as many of the

136 THE FARMER’S MINE.

valuable salts as a ton of cow dung, and its nitrogen, com-
pared with that manure, is as 40 to 1. The ordinary
farmer can make but little use of soot, as it is not to
be had in the country in any considerable quantities ; but
those in the vicinity of cities may avail themselves of this
manure with much profit. For the gardener or the flori-
culturist, soot is an excellent manure; but care must be
taken not to use it too freely, as we have known tender
garden plants at once destroyed by too liberal applications
of it, particularly ina dry state. Mixed with water, in
the proportion of six quarts of soot to one hogshead of
water, it has been found a most efficacious liquid for
watering plants, particularly those grown in green
houses.

CHAPTER XVIII.
EXCREMENTS OF BIRDS.

Pigeon dung.—This sort of dung, almost free from
straw, presents the excrement almost pure or mixed with
remains of feathers, themselves rich in azotic substance,
in a state of convenient division. Preserved and dried,
also, under shelter, this manure is without question the
richest of what are called dungs; but it has far less
energy than the powdered manure obtained from animal
remains.

Intelligent cultivators well know the excellent effects
of pigeon dung, and go far to seek it. On the large farms
of Pas-de-Calais, the pigeonries are numerous and very
populous ; they are let by the year, or leased for several
years, ata rent of $20 for the dung collected annually
from 500 or 600 pigeons. A pigeonry of this size yields
a large wagon load of dung, which thus costs $20. A

EXCREMENTS OF BIRDS. 137

load of this dung serves to fertilize two acres ; consequent-
ly the manuring costs $10 an acre, not including the trans-
portation. This manure is used chiefly for crops for the
arts, such as flax, tobacco, colza, &c.

Dung of aquatic birds—On the islands of the Pacific
ocean, enormous. banks of dung have been discovered,
accumulated during centuries by the aquatic birds which
frequent them. These residuums, rich in organic, azotic
putrescible matters, contain also much wric acid. There
is an important trade in this manure between the south-
ern part of America and Peru, to which it is sent.

It is probable that this manure, exported under the
name of guano, has a strong similarity in its use and
effects to the pigeon dung of which we have just spoken.
The following is the account of it given by Messrs. Hum-
BOLDT and BonpLANp.

“ The guano is found in great abundance in the South-
ern ocean upon the islands of Chincha, near Pisco; but
it exists also upon the coasts and islands further south, at
Ilo, Iza and Arica. The people of Chancay who carry
on the trade in guano, go and return from the islands of
Chincha in 20 days; each boat is loaded with from 1500
to 2000 cubic feet. The substance forms a bed of from
50 to 60 feet in thickness which is worked like bog iron
ore. The same islets are inhabited by a multitude of birds,
especially the crane and the flamingoes, which spend the
night there; but their excrements for three centuries have
not formed a bed of more than 4 or 5 lines in thickness.
The fertility of the sterile coast of Peru is founded upon
the guano, which is a great object of commerce. Fifty
small vessels, named guaneros, are going constantly to
transport this manure to the coast, and it is scented at a
quarter of a leacue’s distance. The sailors accustomed to
this ammoniacal odor do not suffer: we sneezed constant-
ly on approaching it. For maize particularly the guano
is an excellent manure. The Indians taught the Span-
iards the use of it. If too much of the guano is put upon
the maize the roots are burned and destroyed.” M. de

*

138 THE FARMER’S MINE. —

Humsotpt sent a quantity of the guano to Messrs. Four-
croy and VANGUELIN to be analyzed and to determine the
uric acid. From their.analysis it may be concluded that
this manure is nothing else than the excrements of birds.

Similar deposites of dung are met with in several caves
formed by the bats. We may mention, for example, the
caves of Arcis upon Aube, near Auxerre. All these depo-
sites form a rather warm manure, and which, in regard to
their cost, the quantity to be used, and the effects, may be
compared to the dung of pigeons, of which we have just
spoken.

In the districts where silk-worms are largely reared,
the excrements, and the larve themselves which remain
after the reeling of the cocoons, form also an excellent
manure.

CHAPTER XIX.
NIGHT SOIL.—POUDRETTE.

Nicut soil, or the contents of privies, is one of the most
powerful and valuable of manures ; but prejudices, com-
bined with the difficulties formerly attending its use, have
prevented much attention to it in England or the United
States, until within a few years. In consequence, a sub-
stance of the greatest importance to the farmer has been
regarded as a nuisance, and, in the vicinity of large cities,
has been truly so. Now, since science has taught the
mode of preparing it for use, its use is becoming general,
and its value fully appreciated. According to the analy-
sis of manures, made by Boussingault and by Dr. Dana,
there is no manure ordinarily accessible to the farmer so
rich in the carbonates or salts of ammonia as this. This
will be seen by comparing it with horse dung, the value
of which is well understood.

NIGHT SOIL. 139

Horse manure. Night soil «

(eI 26k: Fs ache wp a ce ksearen nea ar

Bete wich dan aupt Reman Gs cpt ewyy avr eae

Carbonate of ammonia,. 3:24 . . 15°32

The dung of the fattening hog approaches night soil in

value, more nearly than any other; indeed Dr. Dana sup-
poses that for all the purposes of analysis, these may be
arranged under one head. In practical use, Von Thaer, on
the Prussian government farm, determined by experiment
its comparative value as follows: If a soil without manure
would yield three bushels of produce for one sown, manured
with different substances the result was,

Without manure, . . . . 3 for 1 sown.
Witiwow dune ige gr tee Pes
With horse-dungy? 2 WO
With night soil, OPM Woks tape <u sseear ide

Comparative value of night soil.
In some experiments made by Arthur Young, and de-
tailed in the Annals of Agriculture, the effect of this ma-
nure on wheat was as follows:

Simple soil, per acre, »- - + - 124 bushels.
Bushels of night soil, . . . . 320 37% “
« ape SEAT OSes Bag. Me
« ght STG ORE ge are ey
Cubic yards of farm yard compost, 60-205
4 “cc 3 30 233 «
30 do. and 1 cubic yard of chalk, . i ae

Applied to potatoes, the results were not less decisive :
Simple soil produced per acre,. . - - 120 bushels.
Night soil, 10 wagon loads, . . - - 600 “
Bones, 10 - sree seis GOO 7/1
Hog dung, 60 one horse cart loads, . . 480 “
Yard compost, 60 one horse cart loads . 300 “

Poudretie.
The most common method of using night soil, or at least

140 THE FARMER’S MINE.

that in which it is most portable and least offensive, is to
convert it into poudrette. This is done to the best advan-
tage in large manufactories ; and hence they are usually
established in the vicinity of large cities, where the ori- ~
ginal article is easily obtained. Different processes are
adopted, but the most common is to dry the night soil
slowly in pans, having previously mixed it with plaster or
ground peat. The object in adding plaster or peat, is to
prevent the escape of ammonia, on which the value of the
manure is mainly depending. The dried mass is then pul-
verized—is perfectly inodorous, resembles a dry brownish
powder, and may be used broad cast or in drills. In
Paris, a powerful manure is made, also called poudrette,
by boiling the offals of the slaughter-houses into a thick
soup, making this into a stiff paste by stirring in coal ashes,
then drying and grinding.

The following communication on this subject, we find
in Vol. II. of the American Agriculturist.

The use of this valuable manure is every year becoming
more general. The highly concentrated vegetable nutri-
tion contained in it, and the large and rapid growth it
affords when properly applied, is fast acquirimg for it a
high rank among modern manures. There is no addition
made to the value of the original material from which it
is made, by the manufacturer ; and it is therefore in the
power of any farmer or gardener to apply what is within
his reach, without adding to it the expense of transporta-
tion, packages, and the profit of preparing it. By adding
dry peat, refuse tanner’s bark, or even turf, with charcoal
or ground gypsum, all the offensive effluvia is prevented,
and the article can be removed without annoyance.

An excellent plan for effecting this, is given by Mr.
Woodfin in the Southern Planter. He says: “I collect
the stercoraceous matters separately in large vessels. Af-
ter the urine has become putrid, which will require but
2 or 3 days in warm weather, and 10 or 15 in cold, add
sulphuric -acid (oil of vitriol) slowly to the urine. If the
urine is putrid, a powerful effervescence will immediately

NIGHT SOIL. 141

take place. The acid must be added till effervescence
ceases. By this process the carbonic acid is driven off,
and the sulphate of ammonia is formed, which has no vol-
atility, except at a high temperature. Thus is secured the
ammonia formed by putrefaction, which would otherwise
escape. I then add the liquid to the solid excrement,
incorporating them well together, until a very thin batter
is formed. Into this mass I stir my finely pulverised char-
coal, according to my judgment, without regard to any
precise quantity, which is then spread on tight boards in
the open air. Stir frequently till the whole is dried, then
pulverise and put it up in barrels for crops.”

Now, here is the wholes tory of preparing it nicely for
sale. The oil of vitriol is a cheap article, and within any
one’s reach; but the same object is attained by using
gypsum, which is a combination of sulphuric acid and
lime. When this is used, a double salt is formed. The
acid of the gypsum leaves the lime to unite with the
ammonia of the urine, and the carbonic acid of the manure
unites with the lime, making a double compound, sulphate
of ammonia and carbonate of lime, or common lime, and
the object is accomplished at less expense. Dry pulverised
peat is a substitute for charcoal, even if it is desired to put
up in packages ; and, being with many a cheaper material,
may be properly substituted for it. Or if required for use
on the premises, waste, tan, or common turf, well filled
with decayed vegetable matter, may be used.

CHAPTER XxX.
LIQUID MANURES.

Tue blood and the urine of various animals, the gelatine
in a viscous solution, the oleates, stearates, and other fat
salts, dissolved or accompanied with organic matter in
solution or emulsive suspension, the matters extracted from
the intestines more or less liquid, and in general all liquids
charged with organic substances and put in the atmos-
pheric circumstances where their decomposition is effected
rapidly and in contact with young plants, overtask at first
or decompose their feeble organs, then very soon being
. almost completely dissipated, can no longer contribute to
the growth of the vegetables that have outlived the
excessive energy of their first action.

However, all these liquids without exception, even those
charged with the substances most rapidly alterable, may in
certain circumstances be excellent manure; we shall
proceed to quote some striking examples.

Diluted with water so as to contain four or five thou-
sandths of the total weight of the dry organic matter, and
then used in abundant irrigations, they are all able to
produce extraordinary effects upon the progress of vege-
tation; but in the absence of economical means of
irrigation, they would often require labor in watering which
would be too expensive.

Thus the suds and wash of kitchens, mingled with the
liquids which flow from several butcheries, from numerous
stables, and the ley from a multitude of laundries in two
populous villages near Paris, carried off at first by a small
spring into the ditches of a vast marsh-garden, cause crops
there more than double of those usually obtained in this

LIQUID MANURES. 143

small culture; directed afterwards upon a natural meadow,
all parts of which are covered by turns at pleasure, they
occasion five abundant cuttings, upon a soil which hereto-
fore gave but one.

I-will add that most of the natural waters containing
considerable proportions of organic matter, as that which
Ihave met with in analyzing the water of a bored well in
the Rue de la Roquette, and as appears from the composition
of the waters of the bored wells of Tours, analyzed by M.
Chevreul ; these waters, I say, used in irrigation would
themselves present an aliment for the growth of plants.

If, indeed, we call to mind that different plants may
exhale each day into the atmosphere, several times their
weight of water, retaining in their tissues, either assimilat-
ed, or interposed, almost all the non-volatile matters which
were dissolved, we shall understand the remarkable influ-
ence of some ten thousandths of these soluble substances
upon their weight after a vegetation of several months.

The rich cultivations of Flanders and Belgium demon-
strate the profit which may be derived from fluid azotic
manures more or less diluted with water.* They are
obtained and employed in that country as follows:

Cisterns of mason work are constructed as conveniently
as possible to receive the urine of the stables and the
drainings of the privies, and, at the same time, near the
roads which lead to the cultivated fields. These mixed
matters collected, into this sort of close vessels, buried
beneath the ground, are protected from the greatest causes
of fermentation, that is to say the access of the air and the
elevation of the temperature.

When the liquid is to be used for watering, a portion of
it is drawn out and divided with five or six times its bulk of
water; the mixture is then put in casks and spread upon
the land either by letting it run, when clear, through a

* In the excellent work, L’ Agriculture de la Flandre, by M.
CorpieR, may be found all the details of these nice agricultural
processes.

144 THE FARMER’S MINE.

tube perforated with holes, or upon a plank, when very
turbid.

Sown fields and meadows just mown are thus watered.
The vegetative force imparted by this watery manure,
although of short duration, may have a great influence ;
for, once covered with green young plants, the ground is
defended from an accidental drought; and moreover the
plants themselves thus rapidly acquire the necessary
strength to resist various adverse influences, and to draw
from the atmosphere and the soil their ulterior aliment.

The second mode of spreading the Flemish manure is to
take it from the cistern without diluting, carry it in casks
and pour it out by means of tubs. The handcart employed
in Germany may also be used for this purpose.

As the manure 1s now too active or too easily decom-
posable to be put in contact with the plants or their roots,
it is dipped out by the spoonful and deposited at the foot
of each tuft, or again it is made to run in furrows between
the plants sowed in rows or drills.

Watering either with ure or water from the privies,
or with the pasty matters mixed with these liquids, or
finally with powdered oil cakes (dregs of oleaginous seeds)
added, requires the following precautions: If these ma-
nures are spread upon land already plowed and harrowed
before sowing, a moist or slightly rainy time should be
chosen, and the harrow should be used before sowing, so
as to mix the manure with as much earth as possible, and
avoid its immediate contact with the seed.

For the same purpose when we would water after hav-
ing harrowed and sowed, we should previously cover the
grain and beat it down somewhat with two passages of
the roller: the greater number of seeds are thus protected
by a compressed layer of earth from the contact of a too
active manure, which would destroy the radicals and plu-
mules, or even prevent germination. |

For drill plants the Flemish manure is also insulated
from the stalks, leaves and roots of the plants, by pouring
it into holes of the dibble between the roots of the colza,

LIQUID MANURES. 145

pinks, tobacco, &c., in the- same line with them. This
plan permits harrowing or hoeing between the rows with-
out deranging the manuring; besides, the mornings are
selected, and moist weather, in order to avoid burning the
leaves by a too rapid decomposition during the heat of
the day.

In the neighborhood of Lille one cask of Flemish ma-
nure costs about six cents for purchase, six more for trans-
portation, and twelve for spreading ; it contains two hun-
dred and fifty pounds of matter and covers (spread by the
ladle or watering cask) a circle of twenty-one feet radius.
An ordinary vault in this country costs thirty dollars to fill,
and contains eight hundred and sixty-four cubic feet, or
two hundred and fifty-six casks.

When the Flemish manure has just been spread in either
of the ways above mentioned, a strong putrid odor is ex-
haled in the vicinity. This phenomenon indicates a rapid
disengagement of gas, out of proportion with the absorb-
ing faculty of the plants. It causes a disagreeable taste
to the edible products, and sometimes temporarily injures
the growth.

In Switzerland a liquid manure is prepared with great
care, under the name of lizier. The following is the de-
scription of this manure by M. de Candolle, in his notice
of the manures of that country: There is made in the sta-
bles, behind the place occupied by the animals, a deep
trough which receives their urine; their excrements are
mixed with it, and the trough may also receive the water
from a reservoir ; several times a day, after having stirred
it up carefully, the trough is emptied into the lizier pit, a
trench with which at communicates, and which should have
capacity enough to hold the manure which is produced in
a week. This manure should then remain at rest in the
trench for a month. Consequently five pits are required,
which are successively filled each week till the first is
emptied, then the second, and so on. M. Bella, at the
model farm of Grignon, has had trenches prepared on a
similar plan.

146 THE FARMER’S MINE.

But liquid manures, or those much diluted, cannot in
many localities be employed with economy, in waterings
sufficiently frequent or in irrigation. They have besides
some real inconveniences which modern improvements
enable us to avoid, as we shall see by and by.

Instead of diluting with water, we can sometimes profi-
tably reduce the weight of the manure by evaporation.
Thus for the blood of animals several processes of desic-
cation can be employed, presenting for eyual weights
remarkable differences in the properties of the products ob-
tained.

The cohesion and insolubility acquired, have evidently
the effect of retarding the decomposition of the dried blood
thus obtained, and to assimilate it almost, in this respect,
to the muscular flesh cooked at 212° and then dried and
powdered. 3

Blood and muscular flesh brought to a dry state in this
manner, follow better and more gradually, in their sponta-
neous decomposition, the progress of vegetation, and are
preferable as manures to blood which, being dried at a
lower temperature, has retained its solubility in water.
The latter mode of drying should therefore be rejected,
though sometimes more economical, at least when the
dried blood is not designed for the clarification of beet or
cane syrup, or fecula, &c.

Experience, indeed, has shown that to manure an acre
of ground in cultivation, where we employ eight hundred
and fifty pounds of soluble dried blood, that is to say, dried
in the air at a low temperature, seven hundred and fifty
pounds of coagulated insoluble blood or only six hundred
and fifty pounds of muscular flesh will also suffice; the
two latter agents will furnish the most aid to the latter
growth of plants, which it is most important to favor, that
is to say, at the periods of flowering and fructification, and
will enable us to obtain the greatest proportion of the
products which have the most value.

Another means of retarding the decomposition of ani-
mal substances, soft or liquid, and thus considerably in-

LIQUID MANURES. 147

creasing their availability as manures, is the intermixture
of porous charcoal in powder.

To impress as deeply on the mind as possible the value
of this manure, we take the following from Dana.

The more exact analysis of cattle urine, by Sprengel,’
who has devoted particular care to the subject, gives, as
the average of many trials, the following, in 1000 Ibs.

Water, . : ‘ 5 ; ‘ » he S264
Urea, : ‘ : ; ; é . 40-00

Albumen, . : ‘ ; : : 10
Mucus or slime, . ‘ ‘ ; ; : 1:90
Hippuric acid, ) combined with _ potash, -90
Lactic acid, soda and ammonia, form- 5:16
Carbonic acid, } ing salts, 2°56
Ammonia, . ; ; : ’ ‘ ‘ 2:05
Potash, . ; i ; 4 : ioe 6°64
Soda, . : ‘ panies ; : 5:54
Sulphuric acid, ) combined with soda, lime 4:05
Phosphoric acid, ¢ and magnesia, rig | 20
Chlorine, ' salts, 2°72
Lime, ; ; : ‘ ; 3 ; 65
Magnesia, . : : ; ‘ . "36
Alumina, . , ; ; c ; : 02
Oxide of iron, . ; j : g 04
Oxide of manganese, . : : ‘ : ‘01
Silica, ; ‘ : d : : : 36

1000-00

Let this now be compared with the standard of value,
cow dung. 100 lbs. of that afford 2 Ibs. of carbonate of
ammonia; while this evacuation gives 4 lbs. of ammonia
in its urea, besides that in its other ammoniacal salts.

The quantity of liquid manure produced by one cow
annually, is equal to fertilizing 1 1-4 acres of ground,
producing: effects as durable as do the solid evacuations.
A cord of loam, saturated with urine, is equal to a cord of

148 THE FARMER’S MINE.

the best rotted dung. If the liquid and the solid evacua-
tions, including the litter, are kept separate, and soaking
up the liquid by loam, it has been found they will manure
land in proportion by bulk of 7 liquid to 6 solid, while
their actual value is as 2 to 1.

One hundred pounds of cow’s urine afford about 8 Ibs.
of the most powerful salts which have ever been used by
farmers. The simple statement then, in figures, of dif-
ference in value of the solid and liquid evacuations of a
cow, should impress upon all the importance of saving the
last in preference to the first. Let both he saved. If the
liquids contained, naturally, geine, they might be applied
alone. It is the want of that guiding principle which
teaches that salts and geine should go hand in hand, which
has sometimes led to results in the application of the
liquor, which has given this substance a bad name.

It has been proved that the ammoniacal salts of urine
have a forcing power on vegetation. The value of am-
monia was long ago understood by Davy, and its carbonate
was his favorite application. Plants watered with a sim-
ple solution of sulphate of ammonia, an abundant salt in
cow’s urine, are fifteen days earlier than those watered
with pure water. Grass land watered with urine only,
yields nearly double to that not somanured. In a garden
on land of very poor quality, near Glasgow, urine diluted
with water, nearly doubled the grass. But upon wheat,
sown upon clay land, it did no good; it injured barley,
potatoes grew rank and watery, and on turnips the effects
were only half as good as mere unfermented dung. The
circumstance of the soil, in this last case, was probably a
deficiency of geine. }

The liquid evacuation of the horse is composed of

Water, ; : . : ; : 94:

Urea, : “ é : : “h
Chalk, ; ‘ : ‘ : : 1]
Carbonate of soda, _.. ; ; y ‘9

Hippurate of soda, : : : 2:4
Muriate of potash, : ; : oO

LIQUID. MANURES. 149

The een acid is not peculiar to the horse. The
urine of most herbivorous animals contains hippurate, for-
merly called benzoate of soda, its acid having the fragrance
of gum benzoin. If man takes benzoic acid, hippuric re-
places uric acid in the urine. According to the composi-
tion, horse stale, pound for pound, is equal to the value of
cow dung. Sprengel found the urine of sheep to afford,
in 1000 lbs.,

Water, ‘ ‘ : 980
Urea, with some albumen, : : : 28
Salts of potash, soda, lime, magnesia, with
traces of silica, alumina, iron, and
manganese, . : : : : 12

1000

No animal affords more urine than the hog. Owing to
a peculiar volatile and unexamined substance, it gives
plants and roots a disagreeable taste. Fed on grains and
bran, the urine in 1000 Ibs. affords,

Water, . : ; 926:
Urea, with a little slime and albuinen, 56°40
Salts, common salt, muriate of potash,

gypsum, chalk, Glauber’s salpay oo ¢ 17:60

1000:

But rich as are the liquid evacuations of the stable and
cow-yard, they are surpassed by those of the farmer’s own
dwelling, especially when it is considered with what ease
these last may be saved. According to Dr. Thomson,
1000 parts of this substance, the human liquid evacuation,
contain 423 lbs. nearly of salts, which are,

Sal ammoniac, ‘ ‘ ; “459
Sulphate of potash, . : : : ‘ 2-112
Muriate of potash, . re ‘ 3°674

150 THE FARMER’S MINE.

Common salt, . : Ns : > 5°060
Phosphate of soda, . ; : : 4:267
Bone dust (phosphate of lime), . . “209
Acetate of soda, ; : d : 2°770
Urate of ammonia, . : ; ‘ 298

Urea, with coloring matter, . : 23-640

42-489
Water, . ; 3 : ’ .: -SaThee

There is scarcely a single element in this liquid which
is not essentially an ingredient in all plants.

Tn every 100 lbs. of cow urine, are,
Urea, . : : : : : 4: lbs.

Of horse urine, . : é ; or? Bas
Of human urine, . : : P 2°36.
Of sheep urine, : . : 250-2

Of hog urine, . } ‘ ; 64 «2%

It is at once seen, how valuable are swine as manufactur-.
ers of manure.

The urea being called equal to ammonia, it is seen that
the ammoniacal salts in human urine are very nearly the
same as those in cow dung, but its effects in actual prac-
tice are found to be nearly double those in cow dung. The
actual amount of salts in 100 parts of human, cow, and
horse dung, is, in round numbers, 1 per cent., while in the
liquids it averages 5°88, being in the cow 7:4, and in the
human 4°24 per cent., horse 6.

All urine of course varies with the food of the animal,
the season, and its age. White turnips give a weaker
liquor than Swedish. Green grass is still worse. Distil-
lers’ grains are said to be better than either of these. The
more water the animal drinks, the poorer the urine.
Doubtless the liquids of fattening kine are richer in ammo-
nia during this period, for it contains a part of that nitro-
gen not carried away in milk. In winter, urine contains
much less urea than in summer, sometimes only one

LIQUID MANURES. 151

half. Putrefaction changes urea to ammonia. The time
required for this varies. Urine putrefying for a month,
contains double the ammonia of fresh urine. It does not
wholly decompose in a month; but during all this time
gives off ammonia. Unless then mixed with loam, or peat,
or swamp muck, or where kept in tanks with its bulk of
water, it loses ammonia. Urine is fully ripe, when it
contains neither caustic ammonia nor urea. Whatever
may be the food, it is evident, from the above statements,
that rivers of riches run away from farms, from want of
attention to saving that which ordinarily is allowed to be
wasted.

Each man evacuates annually enough salts to manure
an acre of land. Some form of geine only is to be
added to keep the land in heart, if the farmer has but the
heart to collect and use that which many allow, like the
flower unseen, “to waste its sweetness on the desert
air.”

Think one moment how much is now lost. If every
human being voids urine sufficient to enrich an acre of
ground, then a family of ten persons, if so minded, could
save enough to enrich ten acres; and the three hundred
and fifty thousand inhabitants of the city of New York, if
means were provided to collect and convert into manure
their liquid evacuations, would fertilize three hundred and
fifty thousand acres of land. Urine is sometimes mixed
with plaster, or other absorbents, and thus formed into an
article called Urate.

CHAPTER XXII.
ANIMAL AND ANIMALIZED BLACK.

I opservep in 1820 and published in 1822, in a Memoir
upon charcoals, which received the prize of the Society of
Pharmacy of Paris, the remarkable effects of a mixture
(a residuum of the refineries) in which coagulated blood
formed at most from ten to fifteen per cent of the total
weight. Whilst putrefaction had not previously taken
anything from this product, of which I made trial as a
manure, the presence also of eighty-five or ninety per cent
of carbonized inorganic substances still retarded the
decomposition of the azotic substance with energy.

In consequence of the publication of this new fact, all
the residuums of the refineries, which had till then been
thrown away into the public sewers, came gradually into
use ; soon after, taken from all our own manufactories and
imported even from various European countries, they have
added annually the enormous mass of forty-five thousand
pounds of new manure to the means of fertilizing our soils.
It constitutes at present, with the animalized black, the main
bulk of transportable manures. The departments of the
west, supplied from Nantes by sea, and along the course of
the Loire, needing the most manure by the way, have con-
sumed the largest quantity of the charcoal or animal black.
Soils lately fallowed one year in two or even two years
in three, by its use are sown every year, and have doubled
and tripled the value of their net products.

A measure of the power of this mixture gives at once
the following astonishing result, which has been experi-
mentally confirmed on a large scale; the fifteen parts of
dried blood which it contains act in a more useful manner,

ANIMAL AND ANIMALIZED BLACK. 153

as a manure, than four hundred liquid parts, representing
about one hundred parts in a dry state.

Hence, the organic matter united with charcoal is six
times more powerful than alone; this fact explains the
enormous consumption of the residuums of the refineries,
and the much higher price than of their equal weight in
dried blood. They are also spread with the greatest
facility, and a remarkable economy of labor; for it is
sufficient to sow them after the grain and cover them
along with it.

The fertilizing action is constant under the ordinary
conditions.

Still, I soon discovered that the charcoal loses none of its
weight, subjected during three months to the same atmos-
pheric influences, to the action of distilled water and the
roots of plants, even when the growth of the latter is
purposely favored by gaseous emanations from azotic sub-
stances in putrefaction.

Another curious apparent anomaly was soon offered to
our meditations; we shall presently see that it adds a new
proof to the support of the general theory which we have
advanced. Some residuums of the refineries containing
variable proportions between five and fifteen per cent. of
dried blood had several times had an unfavorable influence
upon the vegetation, and still without further addition of
manure, increased the yield of the succeeding crop. This
phenomenon determined some cultivators to permit the
first fermentation to take place in these residuums before
spreading them upon the land. In mquiring what could
be the effects of this primary reaction in the case of the
residuums which are termed too warm, I discovered the
presence of from five to ten per cent. of altered sugar,
which gave rise to an abundant production of alcohol and
carbonic acid, and subsequently of acetic and hydro-
sulphuric acid ; to these primary products succeed, much
more slowly disengaged, carbonate and acetate of ammonia
and all the results of the decomposition of azotic substan-
ces: from this date the influence of the manure has been

8

154 THE FARMER’S MINE.

constantly and evidently very favorable to vegetation.
From that it appeared probable to me that the decom-
position of the sugar alone could exert the unfavorable
influence observed. Indeed in a series of special experi-
ments all the mixtures, in different proportions, of alcohol
and acetic acid with charcoal, were uniformly injurious to
the progress of vegetation, and the more so the stronger
the proportion of the acid. Wishing to know whether
these phenomena were independent of the influence of
charcoal, and if they would take place in presence of
liquid azotic products, as from the solid remains of animals,
I left in a close vessel and in open vessels mixtures of
sugar: I1st,’in beaten albumen to saturation; 2d, in
albumen diluted with equal parts of water; 3d, in eggs
beaten without being separated, such as are used in clari-
fication; 4th, m the juice expressed from muscular flesh,
and finally, in the same liquid containing morsels of flesh.
All these mixtures during two years experienced more or
less slowly the reactions which produce alcohol and
carbonic acid, and afterwards acetic acid, and traces of
sulphuretted hydrogen. The pieces of flesh when well
washed had not sensibly lost any of their constituent
principles nor of their properties. It was therefore evident
that the presence of sugar in the residuums employed had
occasioned unfavorable reactions; that these must needs
take place in whatever state the azotic matter may be,
and that it is useful to remove the sugar either by washing
or by a slight fermentation, thus leaving to the coagulated
blood interposed in the carbonaceous matter only its own
useful action; that finally,a very easy preliminary trial,
simply washing some of the black upon a small filter, will
enable us to discover the presence of the sugar, and con-
sequently the utility of the aforesaid precautions, or the
uselessness of them when the washings have been properly
conducted at the refineries.*

* M. DurrocueT has observed that the sugar itself dissolved fin
water, put in contact with the spongy extremities of the roots, very
soon destroys the plants.

MANUFACTURE OF DISINFECTED MANURES. 155

Other experiments show that charcoal may be useful
not only to prolong and thus increase the effect of the
blood, but, besides, that it may serve as an intermediate
agent in absorbing gases and heat, and afterwards
transmitting them to the plants. If several plants are
made to vegetate comparatively, in two vessels containing
pure charcoal, and watered daily with pure water, to one
of which is daily added one per cent. of such charcoal, and
to the other as much of the same charcoal impregnated
with the gases which are disengaged by the spontaneous
fermentation of animal matters, in the latter vessel the
vegetation will be very beautiful, while in the other it will
remain feeble and languishing.

CHAPTER XXIT.
MANUFACTURE OF DISINFECTED MANURES.

One of the most important discoveries in the annals of
industry, presenting new facts to be enrolled in the science
of agriculture and public health, comes to confirm the sys-
tem of undecomposed manures, and to add a direct demon-
stration to the utility of dismfection instead of previous
putrefaction.

The carbonaceous residuum from the refineries was al-
ready insufficient for the demands of agriculture, when M.
SaLMon invented the manufacturing for its own sake, of a
similar manure, still more efficacious, and especially more
constant in its effects. He succeeded, by mixing azotic
organic remains, in a state of minute division, with earth
rendered exceedingly porous, carbonaceous and absorbent,
by calcination in a close vessel.

To show the immense advantage of preserving by this
short process all the decomposable parts of the organic
substances used as manures, without previously leaving

156 THE FARMER’S MINE.

the greatest part to be dissipated in the atmosphere ; it 1s
sufficient to remark that the new manure, known by the
name of animalized black, produces a useful effect at least
ten-fold that which is obtained from an equal quantity of
fecal matter, for example, slowly dried according to: the
usual processes. The ascertained results of a daily ma-
nufacture of about eight hundred pounds near Paris, and
the facts collected by our most distinguished agronomes,
from vast extents of land under cultivation, can leave no
doubt upon this subject ; already treaties concluded in some
of the populous cities insure the extended production of
these unconsumed manures.

We have remarked that the desiccation of fecal matter
gave rise long ago to large establishments near the cities ;
and that this desiccation is effected at irregular intervals
between the rainy or moist seasons. The poudrette finally
obtained is therefore the residuum of a decomposition of
several years, during which the greatest part of the as-
similable principles being exhaled into the atmosphere,
have left in excess all the earthy and inert matters and
those which are least decomposable.

To this process, which is in general use even yet, and
which diffuses a fetid odor to a great distance, is gradually
succeeding the much more rational mode above mentioned.
This important application promises to purify by degrees
all the great centres of population; applicable also to the
immediate conversion into manures of all the liquids suffi-
ciently charged with organic and azotic matter and all the
parts of animals that are sufficiently divisible, it constitutes
the most general process for the fertilization of the soil,
and must gradually everywhere supply the deficiency of
dung.

Effects and mode of using the animalized black
The manufacture of the new manure, the animalized black,
is therefore complete ; it unites all the useful conditions
of a minute division anda slow decomposition. It can be im-
mediately applied to use, put in contact with the seed

MANUFACTURE OF DISINFECTED MANURES. 157

sown, with the radicles, plumules, stalks, and most delicate
leaves. It is also evident—lIst, that we need never fear in
the use of this agent the trouble of the myriads of parasi-
tic insects imported with the dung, the vegetable manures
and the ordinary mould.- 2d, that the presence and inti-
mate intermixture of charcoal presents an obstacle, more-
over, to the attacks of the small animals which have some-
times devastated lands manured with blood and muscular
flesh.

Among other curious examples of the latter kind of
danger in the use of unmixed animal substances, we will
mention what happened upon the first trial of dried blood
in the colonies ; a field of sugar cane had just received at
the roots of each tuft, a small handful of the powdered
manure, deposited near the surface of the ground; thou-
sands of rats came from all parts, and rummaging among
the roots, destroyed all hope of a crop for that time.

One of the means of extending the benefits of the car-
bonaceous powder, the base of the animalized black,
would be, to send it to be employed wherever offal rich in
animal matter 1s to be had, and of which the greater part
is lost by a too quick decomposition, at the same time that
if injures the taste of the products and poisons the air of
the vicinity. In this way a simple mixture, in a sufficient
proportion to disinfect these matters (and which would
vary between one tenth and one fourth of their bulk),
would triple at least and often multiply stx-fold their use-
ful effect, at the same time banishing all the inconveniences
inseparable from putridity. Finally, it could not but pre-
vent the manures of muscular flesh and dried blood from
being carried off by rats and other small animals ; it would
be best also, for these last rich manures, to have recourse
to a mixture with from ten to fifteen per cent, of the car~
bonaceous powder,

CHAPTER XXIII
YARD MANURE.

AFTER all the various kinds of manure already noticed,
one—and that by no means small, compared with the rest,
still remains—the great mass of matter collected in the
farm yard.

Animal manures.

A late British writer on agriculture says :—“ The chief
use of cattle on an arable farm, besides those necessary
for the operations of husbandry, is to produce manure for
the land. If the cattle repay their food, and the expense
and risk attending their keep, the manure is sufficient pro-
fit. Even with a moderate loss, they must be kept, when
manure cannot be purchased. The loss, if any, on the
cattle, must be repaid by the increase of the corn crops.
Manure is to a farm what daily food is to an animal; it
must be procured at any sacrifice.” Common barn-yard
or stable manure is the kind to which most farmers must
look for the fertility of their farms. This consists of the
droppings of the cattle, mixed with the straw used for lit-
tering in stables or thrown into the yards for the animal
to feed or lie upon, the coarser hay and weeds refused by
the stock, and the urine of the animals kept in the stables
or yards.

In the language of a distinguished English writer, this
mixed mass is collected during the period of feeding, when
it undergoes a certain degree of fermentation. When trod-
den by the feet of the animals kept in the yards, the effect
is to exclude the external air, and to prevent the ferment-
ative process from proceeding with that rapidity which
would take place were the mass not compressed.

YARD MANURE. 159

The principal animal substances which are mixed with
the ligneous fibre of the litter, and which cause it to under-
go decomposition, are the dung and urine of the animals.

The properties of this dung, to a certain extent, depend
upon the kind of animals and the nature of their food. The
dung of horses is easily fermented, and is more readily de-
composable, in proportion to the succulence and nutritive
qualities of the food consumed. This also holds with re-
spect to the dung of oxen. When the animals are fed on
straw and the dried stems of plants, the dung is less rich
and decomposable than when they are fed on turnips,
oil cake, and other nourishing food; and the same thing
holds with respect to the dung of the hog and other ani-
mals. The dung of the different feeding animals is mixed,
in greater or less proportion, with their litter, and the
greater the proportion of the animal to the vegetable
matter, the more readily will the latter ferment and de-
compose.

The urine of the animals, again, is in itself a very rich
manure, and contains, in certain states of combination, all
the elements which enter into. the composition of plants.
It is necessarily mixed with, and partly absorbed by, the
litter and other substances in the yards, and it hastens, in
a material degree, the fermentation of these substances.

The urine, however, is apt either to make its escape by
flowing out of the yards, or to be imperfectly mingled
with the litter. It becomes, therefore, a part of the man-
agement of the farm-yard, to provide against either of
these contingencies.

The farm-yard should be made level at bottom, and
even paved, if the subsoil be very loose and sandy, and
the bottom should be sunk somewhat below the surface of
the ground. As a portion of the liquid will flow from the
stables and feeding-houses, gutters of stone should be made
to convey the liquid from these into tanks or other reser-
voirs adjacent to the yards. The same means are to be
taken for conveying away any excess of liquid from the
yards themselves. This is not done for the purpose of

160 THE FARMER’S MINE.

draining the yards of moisture, which would be an error,
but for the purpose of preventing any excess of liquid from
being lost. The principal cause which produces a great
fluw of liquid from the yards, is an excess of rain, which,
falling upon the heap faster than it can be absorbed,
washes away the urine.

Three methods may be adopted for the management of
the liquid which is obtained from the feeding-houses, or
which oozes or is washed off from the mass in the yards. ©

1. It may be pumped from the tank or reservoir into
which it had flowed, conveyed back to the farm-yard, and
spread over the surface of the heap. In this manner it
will be imbibed by the litter, and. tend to hasten the de-
composition of the mass; or, if there be a compost heap
upon the farm, the liquid may be upon it so as to be im-
bibed by it.

2. It may be pumped up when convenient, and convey-
ed in barrels to the field, and spread over the surface; a
species of manuring which, under certain circumstances, is
exceedingly efficacious.

3. In the bottom of the tank or reservoir to which the
liquid is conveyed, may be placed absorbent earths, stems
of plants, and other matters. These being saturated, will
become very rich manure, and may either be carried from
the tank to the field, and applied to the ground, or put into
heaps or composts, until the period of using them shall
arrive.

Of these methods of applying the excess of liquid from
feeding-houses and yards, the most generally applicable to
the common practice of farms in this country, is the con-
veying of the liquid back to the yards, or the spreading of
it over the surface of compost heaps, or other collections
of absorbent substances. In Flanders, where extreme
care is bestowed in the collection and preparation of liquid
manures, there is a smaller proportion of straw and hay
produced on farms, than in the mixed system of agriculture
of Britain. There is not, therefore, so great a proportion
of ligneous fibre to be decomposed. The Flemings.

YARD MANURE. 161

accordingly, pursue the mode of managing their manure,
which the circumstances peculiar to their agriculture render
expedient. They can always ferment sufficiently the
fibrous matter of the heap of their farm-yards, and there-
fore they have always a spare supply of liquid in a separate
state. But in this country, where we aim at producing a
large quantity of hay and the cereal grasses, we require
nearly all the liquid of the feeding animals, to moisten and
ferment the general mass of the farm-yard.

When the animals of the farm are fed on tolerably rich

and succulent food, and where the proportion of straw is
not too large, there is no difficulty in fermenting the mass
of the farm-yard to the degree required; but when the
quantity of straw is very large in proportion to the more
moist and succulent food consumed, as sometimes occurs
in the case of clay-land farms in certain districts, then
there may be considerable difficulty in getting the straw
sufficiently fermented and decomposed for use. This may
arise from the want of moisture, as well as from a deficiency
of animal matter; and as we may not at the time have a
power of supplying the latter, we must endeavor to keep
the heap moist by soaking it, in the absence of rain, with
water. But the permanent remedy for this evil is to
increase the quantity of such nourishing food as the farm
will produce—namely, cabbages, tares, clovers, and other
succulent and nutritive plants.
_ Sometimes, even when there is no extraordinary excess
of dry litter, the fermentation of the heap in the yard, after
proceeding to a certain degree, suddenly stops, by which
the manure is much injured. This arises from the want of
moisture; and when it happens it is often very difficult to
renew the fermentation. The best remedy is to turn over
the heap, soak it with water, and mix it with horse-dung,
or any animal offal that can be obtained.

With these exceptions, the management of the farm-
yard is not attended with any difficulty. We have seen
that the mass consists of a collection of the excrements
of the animals kept upon the farm, of the straw and other

8*

162 THE FARMER’S MINE.

substances employed for litter, and generally of any refuse
or offal produced at the homestead; and that this mixed
substance is accumulated chiefly during the months of
winter, undergoing during this period a certain degree
of fermentation and decomposition in the yards where it
lies.

The substance thus collected and partially fermented, is
to be applied to the grounds during the months of spring,
summer or autumn, immediately following the winter in
which it has been prepared. It should be always apphed
as soon after it is prepared as possible, there being a waste
either in retaining it too long, or in causing it to undergo
a greater degree of fermentation than is required.

In the process of the putrefactive fermentation, the
elements of the body fermented, in assuming their new
forms of combination, partly make their escape in the
gaseous state. In the fermentation of manures, the
decomposition may proceed so far that the great mass of
the substance shall be exhaled, leaving behind only the
earthy and alkaline, and a portion of the carbonaceous,
matter of which it was composed. In the treatment of
this class of substances, therefore, the putrefactive fer-
mentation should neither be continued longer, nor carried
to a greater degree, than is necessary for the purpose in-
tended.

In practice, our purpose is to produce certain kinds of
crops; and certain kinds of plants, it is found, require a
greater action of manures at particular stages of their
growth than others. Thus, the turnip, the carrot, and the
beet, which are sown, as will afterwards be seen, in the
early part of summer, require that the manure applied shall
be in such a state of decomposition as to act upon and
nourish them in the first stages of their growth; and if
this be not so, the crop may entirely fail. In these and
similar cases, accordingly, a complete preparation of the
farm-yard dung is an essential point of practice.

Certain plants, again, do not require the same state of
decomposition of the dung. - Thus the potato requires less

YARD MANURE. 163

in the first stages of its growth than the turnip, and hence
it is not necessary to subject the manure to be applied to
the same degree of fermentation.

In some cases, too, as in the process of the summer
fallow, to be afterwards described, the manure is mixed
with the soil some time before the seeds of the plants to be
cultivated are sown. In sucha case the manure undergoes
the necessary fermentation in the soil itself, and does not
require that previous preparation which, in the case of the
turnip and some other plants, is required.

But while no necessity exists for fermenting the matter
of the farm-yard beyond the degree requisite for the special
purpose intended, it is always a point of good practice to
ferment it to that degree. In order to know when dung
is sufficiently fermented for the particular use required, a
very little practice and observation will suffice. When it
is fully fermented, the long stems of straw which formerly
matted it together, are in such a state of decomposition,
that the parts can be readily separated by a fork. It is
not necessary in any case that it be in that extreme state
of decay in which we. often see it used by gardeners, and
when it can be cut by a spade like soft earth. Whenever
farm-yard dung has been fermented to this degree, it has
been kept beyond the proper time, and the management
has been bad.

The mass, we have seen, is collected chiefly during the
months of winter, and will always be ready to be applied
to the ground in the spring, summer, or autumn immediately
ensuing ; and there is no case in which it is advisable to
keep it beyond the year in which it has been collected.

A common and convenient practice, is to carry it out
from the yards where it has been collected to the field
where it is to be used, and there to pile it up in one or
more large heaps, so that it may undergo the further
decomposition required, before being applied to the land.
Doubtless there is a certain waste of the volatile matter
of the dung by this process, but it is frequently con-
venient in practice, that the dung be thus carried to the

164 THE FARMER’S MINE.

field where it is to be used, so as to economize time at the
season of more active labor.

When, accordingly, after the dead of winter, as towards
the end of December, and during hard frosts and snows,
the men and working cattle upon the farm cannot be
otherwise employed, we may begin te carry out the dung
to the fields where it is to be used. It is carried out in
the carriages of the farm, into which it is lifted by large
forks to be afterwards described. This partial carrying
out of the dung from the yards proceeds when occasion
offers, or when the state of the weather prevents the other
labors of the farm from being carried on. And when the
feeding cattle are finally removed from the houses and
yards, and turned out to pasture, which, in the north of
England, is generally by the middle of May, the whole
remaining dung may either be carried to the fields, or
remain in the yards till required for use.

The dung, as it is carried out to the fields, is to be laid
in large heaps, which may be about four and a half or five
feet high, and of such other dimensions as may be
convenient. When the dung is placed in these heaps, it
is in a state very favorable to further fermentation ; for it
is to be observed, that in all cases the turning over of the
dung, so as to give access to the air, causes an increase of
fermentation, and this is the method adopted by farmers
and gardeners, when they wish to give a greater degree of
fermentation to any heap. Should the dung in these large
heaps not ferment to the degree required, they are to be
turned over, and formed into new heaps, the upper part
being placed below, and what was before below at the
top. By this means the fermentative process will be
renewed, and should this turning not be found sufficient, the
heaps must be again turned over, so that they may be
brought to the degree of decomposition required. The
large heaps of this kind should not be placed in a very
exposed situation, so as to be too much acted upon by
winds; and it is a good precaution, and a necessary one
in very warm countries, to face up the sides with a little

YARD MANURE. 165

earth or turf, and to strew some earth upon the top, so as
to prevent the escape of decomposing matter. When it is
wished to hasten the putrefactive process in these heaps,
it is better that they be not compressed by the carriages
going upon them to unload ; but where there is no peculiar
necessity for hastening the putrefactive process, the car-
riages and beasts of draught can go upon the heap with-
out injury. When peculiar care is required, as when the
dung has been imperfectly fermented in the yards, it should
be spread over the heap in layers, so that one layer may
undergo a slight fermentation, before it is compressed by
that which is to be placed above it.

The mass may be also turned over in the yards where
it hes, and allewed to ferment before it is carried out to
the fields for use. In this case the workmen begin at one
side of the heap, and with large forks turn it over, laying
that which was before uppermost underneath, so that the
whole may be reversed. If, after this process of turning,
no treading of cattle is allowed, the fermentation of the
mass will proceed with rapidity, and then the whole may
be carried out at once from the yards to the fields for use.
This method will not only in certain cases be the most
convenient, but will save some of that waste of volatile
matter of the heap, which takes place under the other
system.

Where the dung produced is very rich and well decom-
posed, as where catile have been feeding in stalls on juicy
and nutritive food, it may not appear to require this turn-
ing over to fit it for use: yet even in such a case it is
generally beneficial that it be turned over at least once be-
fore being used, the effect being to ferment the mass not
only sufficiently but equally, and to mix its different parts
together. It may be observed also, that when the mass of
vegetable and animal substances is thrown into a common
yard, some care should be bestowed in spreading it equally,
so that one part of the yard may not be filled with rich
dung, and another with poor. The dung of horses, for
example, 1s more susceptible of quick fermentation than

166 THE FARMER’S MINE.

that of oxen. When the stable, therefore, opens upon a
common yard, the horse-dung should not be suffered to ac-
cumulate in'a mass about the stable, but spread abroad
upon the general heap. [Horse-dung is not suitable for
dry sandy “soils; ; it 1s generally kept by itself, and applied
to low and cold soils. ]

Farm-yard dung is chiefly applied to the soil by being
spread upon the land when in tillage, and covered by the
plow. Being covered by the earth, the dung soon
passes through its course of fermentation, and becomes
decomposed and mixed with the matter of the soil.

This valuable substance must be economized in the
manner of applying it. The soil must be kept as rich as
the means at the farmer’ s command will allow; but it is
an error in practice to saturate it at one time with manures,
and to withhold them at another. They ought rather to
be applied in limited quantity and fr equently, so as to
maintain a uniform or increasing fertility in the soil.

Mr. Gaylord recommends, in removing the mass from
the yard, to cover the successive deposits of manure with
earth from ditches or ponds, peat or muck from swamps,
or turf from bogs or plowed lands, as such layers, con-
sistine mostly of vegetable or animal matters, will, by
absorbing the drainings of the manure, or by the absorp-
tion of the gases, be converted into one of the most efh-
cient of fertilizers.

The question of long or rotted manure the writer just
mentioned disposes of in the following judicious manner :

It is a question of considerable importance to the farm-
er, and one which has been much discussed, whether it
was better to apply manure in its long state always, or
always allow its full decomposition before using. From
his own experience, the writer has been led to doubt the.
correctness of either of these positions. It seems to be
universally admitted that matter, to be efficient as a
manure, must be soluble, and it is clear that the more
solid parts of farm-yard manure require to be softened by
putrefactive fermentation before they can be considered in

YARD MANURE. 167

this state. Where, then, the influence of manure is
required to be felt at once, as on the turnip, beet and
carrot crops, in order to push them forward at the first
start beyond the reach of insects, my experience is, that
the manure should be in a state reducible to powder, in
which condition a large portion of it may be expected to
be soluble, and of course at once available by the plant.
Where, during the fermentative process, the mass has
been reduced to a black carbonaceous matter, it may be
inferred that the heat was too great, and the manure seri-
ously damaged; on the contrary, if the mass, while per-
fectly fine, dry and friable, still retains its dark brown
color, it will usually be found that none of the good quali-
ties have been lost by over-fermentation.

But where the manure is to be applied to crops which
do not require forcing forward in the early part of their
erowth, but demand as much or perhaps more nutriment
at a late period of their vegetation to perfect their seeds
or roots, then experience has shown that it is best to
apply the manure without any considerable fermentation
to the soil. Indian corn, potatoes, and the grain crops
generally, are of this class; the two first particularly.
The time when corn and potatoes require the most nutri-
ment, is at the time when the ears and tubers are form-
ing ; and when manures but partially fermented, or used
fresh from the yard or stable, are applied, the decomposi-
tion is comparatively gradual, and the supply greatest
when most needed. I cannot recommend the application
of manures of any kind directly to grain crops, as it has a
tendency to give straw at the expense of the grain, and
wheat so manured is far more apt to suffer from mildew
or rust, than when the manure, by application to other
and previous crops, has become perfectly incorporated
with the soil. In this state, that rapid growth, which is
the result of first fermentation, is avoided by the wheat
plant; and the substances necessary to perfect the berry
are already prepared and within reach of the growing or
maturing plant.

168 THE FARMER’S MINR.

Where the unfermented dung of the yard or stable is
applied to the soil, it should be covered at once by the
plow, that the gases liberated in fermentation may not be
lost, and that the moisture necessary for fermentation may
be secured. When rotted or fermented, the covering is
not of so much consequence, and it may, without loss, be
scattered on the surface and mixed with it. If used with-
out fermenting, it should be applied to hoed or summer
crops, such as corn or roots, as these are in that state while
the manure is at the height of its fermentation, when fore-
ing manures are the most useful; but if applied to the
smaller grains, they are most active when matter for the
perfection of the seed, not the enlargement of the straw,
is most needed, and the last is increased at the expense of
the first.

CHAPTER ’XATY:
COMPOSTS AND LIQUIDS.

Mr. Gaytorp says, there can be little question that the
most economical way of making and using manures, is to
convert the stable and barn-yard manure into compost, by
the addition of peat, swamp muck, cleansing of ditches,
wash of roads, leached ashes, or even common loam or
earth, taking care, when the manure is wanted for heavy
soils, that the earth used in the compost should be as light
or sandy as may be; and where the soil is light, that the
compost earth should be marly clay. Into such a com-
post .heap, all weeds, straw, litter, animal matter of all
kinds, night soil, &c., &c., may be thrown, and upon it all
the wash of the yards and urine of the stables may be pour-
ed; and if the animal and vegetable matters, as they ac-
cumulate, are kept covered and moist, the fermentation
will go on successfully ; the alkalies and salts of the ani-

COMPOSTS AND LIQUIDS. 169

mal matters will act on the vegetable part and saturate
the earths used, and the whole will be converted into ma-
nure of the most valuable quality. The labor of preparing
compost, it is true, is much greater than merely drawing
it from the yard, but the quantity is so much increased, and
the quality so much improved, that it is the most econo-
mical in the end. The only method that can compare with
it is, to place these matiers over the yard, and let them be
composted or fermented in that place; but there will
always be great waste in this way; and where turf or vege-
table mould is used for composting with the animal manure,
the compost heaps can frequently be made where they are
to be used, and the labor of drawing materials greatly
lessened. Bommer’s patent manure is only compost made
in a scientific and accurate manner, every part of the pro-
cess so managed as to produce a perfect fermentation,
without the loss of any of the valuable parts of the con-
stituents used. From a knowledge of the processes em-
ployed by him, we are able to say, that where his direc-
tions are followed, a powerful and valuable manure cannot
fail to be produced. The fundamental principle upon
which composts have been made, is that of impregnating
the earths used in the process with the soluble salts and
the gases, which, in the ordinary methods of rotting, are
wholly or partially lost to the farmer.

That well known farmer, W. A. Seeley, of Staten
Island, gives the following as his practice:

In the spring and in the fall, immediately after carry-
ing out the supply of manure from my cattle-yards and
hogsties, I bottom them anew with turf to the depth of at
least a foot, covering it with six inches of sea-weed or
drift. To the accumulation of the place during the win-
ter, when little is to be lost in fermentative manures by
solar heat or evaporation, | cart around the yard and
spread on its upper edges some eight, ten, or more feet
wide, the emptyings of my stables and yard-sheds. with
the littered surface occasionally of my hog-pens (which
are placed in the centre of my barn-yard). The feeding-

i170 THE FARMER’S MINE.

racks and moveable pens are from time to time shifted, that
the turf and sea-weed may, by the tread and droppings of
the cattle, and the occasional moisture of the yard, be
worked together, and the turf saturated with them as
much as practicable. The main part of the manure, being
placed on the upper sides of the yard, and settling down
to the centre and towards the barn-drain, passes necessarily
among the bottoms of the turf and sea-weed, which thus be-
comes imbued with the substances necessary to prepare for
the fermentative decay, which the acid of the one, and the
saline impregnation of the other, require for them. In the
spring, aS soon as solar heat may induce a tendency to
fermentation, and consequent evaporation and loss, the
yards are turned over with a plow or shovel, that the
whole may be so commingled that the turf may attract
and absorb the waste which may otherwise ensue. At
the lowest part of the barn-yard, and that to which
everything from the farm-house, kitchens, farming yards,
and stables tends, I have a cemented cistern or tank, ca-
pable of containing 250 hogsheads. The windmill and
horse-power of the yard is connected with this tank by
pulleys, straps, and chain buckets, so that if during the
winter, spring, or summer, 1 think best to wet my com-
post heaps, hogsties, or any of the yards with those drain-
ings, the power is conveniently applied, and by leaders
the draining is thrown back to settle again through the
mass and return to the tank. The compost yard adjoins
the barn-yard, and is so graded, that if the drainings
from the tank be thrown on to the heaps, after settling
through, they return by box under-drains mto the yards
and tank. Ifa surplusis still on hand, a cart with a hogs-
head and sprinkler is used, with which, in a four to one
diluted state, I irrigate such grass lands as I think may be
benefited by it, or my grain crops in such parts of a field
as I apprehend may want it; an excellent method of
readily adding to the manure, and of forcing those parts
of a field which in the spring are perceived to want ma-
nuring ; or my garden is fertilized and forced by it to any

COMPOSTS AND LIQUIDS. 171

state of productiveness which can be effected by such an
application of the most stringent and prompt in its. influ-
ence, of all manures. The last spring, in spots where my
wheat did not thrive comparatively, applying it with a
watering-pot, the grain advanced and outstripped the sur-
rounding parts of the crop, which before had afforded bet-
ter promise of thrift. Pouring a pint of it into a lull of
corn, of potatoes, or of vines of any kind, will be found to
give an astonishing impulse to them.

The filling and driving of the cart, sprinkling it on
the field, or applying it to the hill or garden, is the work
of the barn yard power, a boy, horse, cart, sprinkler, and
watering-pot. The cart and its sprinkler, in its form and
uses, is in all respects like those employed in cities for
sprinkling the streets. To irrigate and manure drilled
crops, the sprinkler should be taken from the rear of the
cart, and two of them should be hung parallel with the
shafts and over the drills. .

During the heavy rains of the fall and spring, should
the drainings of the yard accumulate and fill the tank, and
not be otherwise wanted, the surplus is let off into a muck
road, embanked on the sides, and filled to the depth of ten
to fifteen inches with seaweed, turf, turf-ashes, and a small
supply of manure, and made gradually to percolate and
settle downward through a distance of from four to six
hundred feet in length, and twenty in breadth ; and through
which muck-road, cattle, carts, and vehicles of every kind,
when it is not too wet, are forced to find their way, to
break up and mix its contents with the drainings of the
yard. Until the drainings of the yard have reached the
farthest extent of this road, they should not be applied to
agricultural uses. Before driving my cattle from my
yards, if it becomes necessary to do so, and always two or
three times a day when its surface is moist, a boy, as a
standing rule, drives them for exercise several times round
the yards, the better to bring the manure in contact with
the bottomings. Within the last year I have lost none,
absolutely none—of the leachings of my yards and stables.

172 THE FARMER’S MINE.

To this it will be said by some, 7 2s Jaborious and ex-
pensive. Not so much so as may be apprehended, or as
would be the case with others, not assisted with mechanical
powers and underdrains as Iam; but what I have thus
done at some expense may be done, in a great degree, for
a mere trifle.

I assume, as a standard, the fact that farmers with us
pay one dollar per load for manure, and that this is a cri-
terion by which to form an estimate of the labor or capital
which may profitably be bestowed in obtaining it as I do.
If this be the true criterion for judging, every day’s labor
I expend in producing it, is worth twenty-fold the sum I
pay my hands to effect it.

Turf affords an znvaluable medium for saving the waste
of manure and for increasing its amount and ‘usefulness ; 3
and it is better than rich mould, earths, or the parings
and bottoms of ditches, inasmuch as it is all vegetable, and
in itself, strictly speaking, a manure, when properly pre-
pared.

The contents of stables, barn-yards, and cattle and hog-
pens, should never be exposed to the solar heat or to fer-
mentative evaporations, or their drainings lost, when turf,
or any inert vegetable substance or surplus farm materials
of a vegetable or animal nature abound ; nor should ani-
mal substances, fish or any other, be suffered to waste
their effluvia in the air when such materials can be had.
For all useful purposes, enough of the agricultural influence
or effect of manure is produced, as soon as vegetable or
animal decay is sure to progress. From that moment a
compost should be resorted to, and the heat and action of
the manure (which is sure and irresistibly powerful) be
thus brought to operate on substances to which this pro-
pensity has not been sufficiently imparted. In this state,
all that is ordmarily wasted, tends to a useful result in
augmenting the mass.

it is a common practice to bury fish, preparatory to
their use as a manure, in common raw earth The most
soluble of ordinary manures, it is soon dissipated by atmos-

VEGETABLE MANURE. 173

pheric action, and leaves on the soil to which it has been
applied, a raw earth, in its then condition injurious to it... I
find it more beneficial to bury the fish in turf or turf ashes,
seven loads to one of fish (in Loudon it is said of turf
alone, even twenty to one), which the decay of the fish
will make an excellent and very powerful manure, and one
which will endure long after the fish will have done their
office in the soil and disappeared.

For a complete account of the management of the
admirable estate of Mr. Seeley, see an editorial notice of
“Wheat Sheaf Farm,” Vol. I. of American “ Agricul-

turist.”’

CHAPTER XXV.

DIFFERENT METHODS FOR THE PREPARATION OR MANUFAC=
TURE OF VEGETABLE MANURE.

Ir has been lately announced that an excellent manure
can be prepared in 24 hours, by making a bed of green
weeds, upon which is spread a thin bed of pulverized quick
lime: these beds are continued one upon the other: it is
essential to prevent the spontaneous inflammation which
would result from the heating of the mass, by covering it
with earth and turf.

The following process for the preparation and preser-
vation of manures is according to the method of M. Da
Ormi. In some suitable and convenient place a square
cistern is constructed sufficiently capacious to contain the
quantity of dung it is desired to preserve. On one of the
sides an easy entrance is made with an opening sufficient
to admit a cart; this opening is kept habitually closed by
a door or gate. In the neighborhood of the cistern is
constructed a pit eight feet deep and three feet wide; a
ley is prepared in this pit by putting into it, when filled
with water, air-slacked lime and fresh ashes, taking care

174 THE FARMER’S MINE.

daily to agitate the mixture with a long pole. When the
liquid is sufficiently charged with saline principles, which
may be known from its greyish milky color and the dimi-
nution of its fluidity, the dung is carried into the cistern,
making a heap of five or six feet in thickness, which is
watered upon its surface by means of an ordinary water-
ing-pot, with the liquid drawn from the reservoir; this
done, the whole is covered with a pretty thick coat of
earth. Successive heaps of dung will be added, seasoned
and covered with earth in the same manner as the last,
upon which will be placed the most compact earth that
can be found, giving it a thickness of five or six inches at
least. When the dung is taken from the cistern, planks
are placed upon each load on the cart, in order to hinder
as much as possible the dissipation of the gaseous princi-
ples; and when it reaches the field the plowman buries it
without delay.

The most approved method, as combining the principles
already established, will be found in the following pages.

Improved method for manufacturing vegetable manure.

1, Form your barn-yard with a gradual descent to one
side, so that the liquid formed by the rains will flow
gently to that side. Make the bottom as hard and smooth
as possible, that there may be little orno waste by soak-
ing into the earth. Arrange your stables, hog-pen, &c.,
in such order as to throw all the litter and manure into
the yard.

2. Sink a vat or reservoir at the lower side of the yard
of sufficient capacity to contain the juice of the yard.
The most common form of the vat is six feet wide, by
three feet deep, and twelve feet or more in length, accord-
ing to the size of the yard and the amount of liquor flow-
ing from it. When the vat is more than twelve in length,
it will be best to divide it by partitions into two or three
parts, so that if at any time you want to use only part of
the liquor, you can do so without any inconvenience. It

VEGETABLE MANURE. 175

will be farther desirable to have the vat so connected with
the yard, that when once full, and you have commenced
your manufacture, if additional rains come before you shall
have completed your heap, of which we will soon speak,
you can prevent the liquid so formed from running into
your vat, either by keeping it back in the yard, or by
turning it m another direction.

3. In this vat mix the following ingredients as nearly
as you can without actual measurement or weight: To
every barrel of Jiquid add 4lb. of stone lime just slacked,
Alb. wood ashes of good quality and dry, or an equivalent
of leached ashes, or 1-41b of potash, 1-4]b. of salt, or
its equivalent of old brine; 2o0z. of saltpetre, 20 lbs. of
plaster of Paris, or mud, or muck; 10 lbs. of excrements
from the privy, or 20lbs. of horse manure. Mix these
ingredients thoroughly with the liquid in the vat; and if
the vat contains one hundred barrels, increase the above
ingredients an hundred fold. It will be well to mix these
ingredients a few days before you lay up your heap, and
stir them every day, but this 1s not essential.

4, On the upper side of the vat lay the foundation for
the heap, by placing poles or rails with one end to the vat
and the other extending from it, about two feet apart; on
these lay other poles crosswise (precisely as we do the
foundation for a stack of hay or grain), to keep the straw
from the ground, and that the liquid may flow freely be-
neath

5. Having everything prepared, commence laying up
the heap by placing a layer of straw, weeds, stalks, or
whatever you have at hand, on the foundation of poles, to
the thickness of a foot. You will find great advantage
from throwing the materials, as you collect them, in the
yard, and letting the cattle tread on them, until they are
thoroughly broken and wet. When the layer is a foot
thick, stir up the ingredients in the vat, and with a pail or
other vessel thoroughly wet the layer on the poles. Place
another layer on the first, and of the same thickness, wet
as before; and thus continue until you have raised the heap

176 THE FARMER’S MINE.

as high as you wish; say, from six to ten feet. Be care- >
ful, at every wetting, to stir up the ingredients from the
bottom of the vat. The easiest and quickest way to wet
the several layers, will be to use a pump or elevaters, with
a hose attached, to spread the liyuor over the heap. In
such case, let one stu, another pump, and a third man-
age the hose. Only be careful, whatever method you
pursue, to wet the several layers thoroughly in all their
parts. When finished, cover the heap with the settlings
in the bottom of the vat, or with anything else at hand—
common earth will answer.

6. If the heap consist of straw, weeds, and the like, it
will require wetting every fourth day. If you have used
much peat, muck, or earth with the straw, water once a
week. To water the heap, make holes with an iron bar,
or other instrument, in the top of it, from eight to twelve
inches apart, and extending downward about to the mid-
dle; then stir the liquid in the vat, and pour it into the
holes until the whole mass is saturated ; finally, close the
holes. At every watering make new holes.

7. Give the heap three waterings when made of straw,
and it will be fit for use in fifteen days from the time of
laying it up; when much mud or muck has been added,
in thirty days.

5. When it is desired to manufacture this kind of ma-
nure in places where barn-yard liquid cannot be readily
obtained, river, spring, or pond water will answer the
Same purpose for wetting the heaps as the barn-yard
liquid, by increasing, in a small proportion, the ingredi-
ents for the mixture, as given in section 3, and adding
them to it.

Aldvaniages of this mode of manufacturing Manure.

1. One great advantage is, the saving of the liquor of
the yard by means of the vat or reservoir. With proper
arrangement it can all be saved, and used to the best ad-
vantage. This juice of the yard is by some called the
cooked food of the plants. It certainly must be regarded

VEGETABLE MANURE. 177

as the essence of the manure; yet this most fertilizing
part of the farm-yard:is suffered by thousands to be wash-
ed away by the rains and lost forever. Since the writer’s
attention has been directed to this subject, he has been
often surprised and pained to witness the want of economy
in this respect. There are very few barn-yards but, after
a storm, you may see quite a stream flowing from them,
thick and dark, loaded with the most fertilizing properties
—in some instances running into the road—in others,
mingling with the waters of an adjoming brook or swamp.
Even on Long Island, where nothing can be raised with-
out manure, and where hundreds of thousands of dollars
are annually expended in the procurement of this indis-
pensable requisite, this shameful waste is still witnessed.
The writer has often pointed the farmers to their yards,
thus sending forth their fertilizing streams, and addressed
them in words like the following :—You will go and ex-
pend your money and labor to-bring manure from New
York, when, at the very time, you are suffering a large
quantity already at hand to run to waste. Again and
again have they pleaded guilty to the charge; until, at
length, some at least show the reproof has not been en-
tirely lost. Some are beginning to sink their reservoms,
and save that which has been too long lost. One gentle-
man (Garret Kowwenhoven, Esq., of Flatlands) has sunk
a vat, 60 feet long by 6 feet wide, and 3 deep, formed
with the best white pme plank, by the side of one of his
yards ; and he is fully satisfied that the saving of the liquor
of his yard alone will tenfold pay him for his labor and
expense. Turn back to liquid manures, and you will be
fully satisfied of the vast saving to be effected.

2. The reservoir will prove a convenient and profitable
receptacle for various things which would otherwise be
wasted, or worse than wasted—remaining complete nul-
sances before the disgusted senses. All spoiled meats,
fish, dead animals of the smaller kinds, &c., and even large
ones cut in pieces, wash from the kitchen, soap suds, and
all collected from the sleeping apartments. It will also

9

178 THE FARMER’S MINE.

enable the farmer to use the excrements from the privy in
the least offensive manner, and, at the same time, in the
most advantageous form. Let him make a box of solid
plank and suitable size, with side ‘plank a few inches
wider. Let the extra width sink below the bottom of
the box—form the ends like a sleigh-runner—fasten straps
of iron on the sides, and joined together at the ends with
aring. Place this box under the privy; and as often as
full, hook a chain in the ring, and with horse or oxen draw
it alongside the reservoir and empty it. If this is care-
fully attended to it will bring many dollars into the pocket.
You need not be afraid of any noxious vapors arising from
the reservoir, so long as you keep a proper portion of lime,
peat, refuse tanners’ bark, charcoal, gypsum, or even turf,
mixed in it. With such a reservoir you need let nothing
be lost, but save everything.

3. All thistles, mullems, weeds of every kind, flags,
sedge, &c., now a nuisance, may be converted into a
rich and valuable manure. Let them all be gathered and
laid up in the heap. Another advantage is the quantity
of manure. Every thousand pounds of dry straw will
give at least 4000 Ibs. of manure, if used as soon as tho-
roughly fermented. Mr. Kowwenhoven (the gentleman
mentioned on a preceding page) laid up what was judged
to be about one large load of straw; the fifteenth day
thereafter it was opened, and on that and the succeeding
days his men drew out eleven loads of manure.

The bulk may be very greatly increased by the addition
of peat, swamp-muck, or even common soil. The best
mode would be, to gather your peat or muck at such
times as the ordinary labor of the farm is least urgent ;
let it he in heaps of moderate size, or in one continued
bed until wanted to lay up in the manufacture. If
it lies a year, all the better. In fact, after the first
year, the farmer can with al] ease collect it one year in
advance. In laying up the heap for manure, place equal
layers of straw weeds, &c., and peat or muck; and if
necessity require, you can use two parts of peat to one of

VEGETABLE MANURE. 179

straw which has lain in the yard and mixed with the
droppings of the cattle, &c.

4. You will not fill your land with foul seed from
manure made after this plan. The fermentation destroys
all seeds in the body of the heap.

5. You have a perfect control over your manure heap.
If the fermentation rises too high, so that there is danger
of burning or fire-fanging as it is frequently called, water-
ing the heap will prevent it. So long as the heap is
sufficiently wet it cannot injure. You have coarse or fine
manure at your pleasure. It is fit to use in fifteen days
where the heap has been made of straw, weeds, &c., with
but little muck. It is then thoroughly fermented but not
decomposed, the best state for plowing in. If you want
it fine, let the heap he, or turn it over, and wet it again.

You can make your manure at such times and in such
quantities as you please.

6. And last though not least, the quality of the manure.
You can make it by the increase of the ingredients as
you please. At the prescribed rate you will have a
manure at least as rich as good horse stable dung.

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PRODUCTIVE FARMING:

OR A
FAMILIAR DIGEs Tf

Or THE

RECENT DISCOVERIES

OF

LIEBIG, DAVY, AND OTHER CELEBRATED WRITERS ON VEGETABLE
CHEMISTRY 5 SHOWING HOW THE RESULTS OF
TILLAGE MIGHT BE GREATLY AUGMENTED.

BY JOSEPH A. SMITH.

RevlewD BY A. B. ALORN,

EDITOR OF THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST.

PPP

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NEW YORK:

1843.

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PREFACE.

CLE mnieens

Tus book isa compilation. The object of its compiler
has been the simplification of the more strictly scientific
and technical writings of the principal agricultural writers
of the present age. Practical farmers require the sim-
plest and most elementary statements. The position of
the agricultural interest renders it desirable that the recent
views of Professor Liebig, the distinguished chemist, who
has effected a complete revolution in the physiology of
vegetation, should be presented in a style free from diffi-
culty, condensed and separated from such portions of his
work as would only bewilder ordinary readers. How far
the attempt may be successful, the world must judge.
The published lectures of the late Sir Humphrey Davy
have been freely cited, and such portions selected, as,
while they de not clash with later discovery, may prove
a useful addition. The writings of Mr. Johnson, whose
little elementary book is well known, have been laid under
contribution, as well as the lectures of Dr. Mason Good,
and such useful statements as have appeared at various

10

PREFACE.

periods in periodicals devoted to the furtherance of agri-
cultural science. It is to be hoped, that without tortur-
ing the sense of previous writers, nothing will be found
in these pages inconsistent with the doctrines of the
learned German professor, whose writings, though admir-
ably adapted for the perusal of those who are familiar
with chemistry and physiology, are susceptible of being
abridged and presented to the industrious farmer in a form
less repulsive, because less learned, and, consequently,

more generally intelligible.

MODERN AGRICULTURE.

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS.

AcricuTuraL science has for its objects all those
changes in the arrangements of matter connected with the
growth and nourishment of plants, the constitution of
soils, the manner in which lands are enriched by manure,
or rendered fertile by the different processes of cultivation ;
and no rational system of farming can be formed without
the practical application of well-understood scientific prin=
ciples. Such a system must be based on an exact
acquaintance with the means of nutrition in vegetables,
with the influence of soils, and the action of fertilizing
materials upon them. The object of the farmer 1s, to raise
from a given extent of land the largest quantity of the
most valuable produce at the least cost, with the least
permanent injury to the soil ; and the sciences of chemistry
or geology throw light on every step he takes, or ought
to take, in order to effect this main object. Whoever rea-
sons upon agriculture is obliged continually to recur to
these sciences. ee feels that, without such knowledge, it
is scarcely possible to advance one step; and, if he be
satisfied with insufficient views, it is not because he pre-
fers them to accurate knowlege, but generally because
they are more current. It has been said, and undoubtedly
with great truth, that a philosopher would most probably
make a very unprofitable business of farming; and this,
certainly, would be the case if he were a mere philosopher.

188 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

But there is good reason to believe, that he would be a
more successful agriculturist than a person equally igno-
rant of farming but ignorant of chemistry altogether : his
science, as far as it went, would be useful to him. The
great purpose of chemical investigation in agriculture
ought, undoubtedly, to be the discovery of improved
methods of cultivation ; but to this end, not only practical
knowledge but general scientific principles are alike
necessary : nor is industry ever so efficacious as when
directed by science ; as he who, journeying in the night,
aided by the most intelligible directions as to the way, is
more certain of his footsteps if he carry a lamp to explore
his path. Science cannot long be despised by any per-
sons as the mere speculation of theorists, but must soon be
considered, by all ranks of men, in its true point of view,
—as the refinement of common sense, guided by experience,
gradually substituting sound and rational principles for
vague popular prejudices. If land be comparatively un-
productive, the sure method of determining the cause, is,
first to ascertain the exact nature and relative quantities of
the ingredients which form the soil (which can only be
done by chemical analysis), and then to supply such soil
with the deficient materials requisite for the growth of
such vegetables as it is best fitted to raise. The prepara-
tion of compost will only be of real use when materials,
which do not afford singly an efficient or convenient ma-~
nure, are made to do so by their mixture. Every farmer
has it in his power so to compound the best from his store
of manuring materials, that the defects of his soil may not
only be remedied, but that the crops may receive those
substances in sufficient quantity which are required for
their vigorous growth. To do this, however, it is requisite
to know not only the component parts of the soil, but also
those of the crops. If these are not taken into accouut,
no clear idea either of the composition, much less of the
action of manure, will ever be obtained; and many sub-
stances of real value will be tried, and, from misapplica-
tion, tend to useless, if not injurious results. Perhaps iron -

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 189

may be found in injurious excess, which may be rendered
harmless by the addition of lime; or an excess of sand
may be neutralized by the addition of clay. Is there a
deficiency of lime? The remedy is obvious; or an excess
of undecomposed vegetable matter may be removed by the
judicious use of lime, by paring and burning.

With the aid of chemistry, the precise value of any
variety of limestone may be determined in a few minutes ;
and so its fitness or unfitness, as one among many substan-
ces intended to fertilize the soil, may be determined by a
less expensive experiment than waiting to observe its
action upon the land. In the same way, peat earth of a
certain consistence and composition is an excellent manure 5
but there are some varieties of peat which contain so large
a quantity of iron as to be absolutely injurious, if not
destructive to corn and grasses.° Now, nothing can be
more necessary, more useful, and fortunately more simple,
than the mode of determining whether a metallic substance
be present. More especially, it is solely by a reference to
the elementary principles of chemistry and the ascertained
constitution of manures, vegetables, and the air and soil in
which they live and thrive, that we can determine whether
it is wiser to plow that manure into the land, to apply it
in a fresh, or in a fermented and decomposing state. We
know, that as soon as dung begins to decompose, it throws
off its volatile or gaseous parts. It is necessary that what
is thus lost should be examined. It may be (which is the
fact) that such evaporation is not only the escape, but the
actual loss of that which forms a most material ingredient
in the food of plants: and so, whether this shall be sup-
plied gradually to the growing vegetable, or suddenly,
is a question in the mind of an intelligent agriculturist
tantamount to the inquiry often agitated among practical
farmers, and determined only by individual caprice or fancy,
as to whether the produce of the stable or the farm-yard
is best, when spread upon the soil in a fresh or in a putrid
state. When, for instance, it is considered, that with every
pound of the strongly-pungent smelling ammonia lost in

190 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.-

the air, a loss of at least sixty pounds of grain must cor=-
respondingly be sustained,—and that with every pound of
urine a pound of wheat might be produced,—not only
must we feel surprise at the ignorance which prevails
as to the fact, but equally so at the indifference mani-
fested by those who are aware of the value of such
manure as to the best mode of applymg it. On some
soils a plant will thrive, on others it will sicken; and
the same knowledge which will enable us to correct
a faulty or weak vegetation, will enable us also to pro-
duce far more abundant results than occur under the most
favourable ordinary and natural circumstances. Agricul-
ture has hitherto never fairly sought aid from that science
which is based on the knowledge of those substances
which plants extract from the soil, and of those restored
to the soil on which they grow by means of manure.
The application of such principles will be the task of a
future generation; for what can be expected from the
present, which recoils with seeming distrust and aversion
from all means of assistance offered by chemical investiga-
tion? A future generation will derive incalculable ad-
vantage from these means of help, and make a rational
use of philosophical discoveries. A marked and wide
difference exists between the progress of manufactures
and the history of agricultural operations. We see the
steam-engine multiply indefinitely the labor of the human
hand—supersede and almost infinitely exceed the united
power of brute exertion; invention has lacked no mechan-
ism to produce myriads upon myriads of the same fabric ;
thousands of piles of manufactured silks and cottons are
produced annually, one factory supplying daily as many
yards as would encircle the globe—strange advancement
on the ancient spinning-wheel ; while the sons of the soil
still toil on through the long summer months, and brave
the winter’s cold, to reap the same quantity of produce
from the soil as their forefathers of a thousand years ago.
We do not say that there is no limit to the capabilities of
the earth’s surface, but fearlessly maintain, that such limit

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 192

. is yet far from realization; and that not until prejudice
be silent, and intelligence more universal, can it be hoped
that the broad acres of our country will yield to science
and skill all the treasures they contain.

Half a century sufficed to Europeans, not only to equal,
but to surpass the Chinese in the arts and manufactures ;
and this was owing merely to the application of correct
principles deduced from the study of chemistry, But how
infinitely inferior is the agriculture of Europe, even of
boasted England, to that of China! The Chinese are the
most admirable gardeners and trainers of plants, for each
of which they understand how to prepare and apply the
best adapted manure. Their agriculture is the most per-
fect in the world; and there, where the climate in the
most fertile districts differs little from the European, very
little value is attached to the excrements of animals.*
Patient observation of results, and a ready adoption of
really useful plans; steady persistance, not in antiquated
methods and notions, but in all that has been found by
experience to be beneficial,—has raised the agriculture of
that country, long ago, to a position which would rapidly,
nay, instantly, be ours, if science were permitted to achieve
for us that which, with them, has been the slow growth of
centuries of experiment.

The soil of England offers inexhaustible resources,
which, when properly appreciated and employed, must in-
crease our wealth, our population, and our physical
strength. The same energy of character, the same extent
of resources which have always distinguished Englishmen,
and made them excel in arms, commerce, and learning,
only require to be strongly directed to agriculture, to insure
the happiest effects. We possess advantages inthe use of
machinery and the division of labor, peculiar to ourselves ;

* This is an error, for no nation equals the Chinese, in not only
saving the excremnts of animals, but those also from the privies and
every particle of vegetable and other manures within their reach.—
AMER. Eb.

192 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

and these having been mainly instrumental in aiding one »
great division of human industry, we are justified in the
assertion, that the steam-engine and machinery has not
done more for trade, than science and skill, in various ways,
may do for land.

Besides chemistry, there is another science which has
many relations to practical farming—the science of geo-
logy, or that which embodies all ascertained facts in regard
to the nature and internal structure, both physical and
chemical, of the solid surface of our globe. Though the
substances of which soils chiefly consist are so few in
number, yet every practical man knows how very diversi-
fied they are in character, how very different in value.
Thus, in some of the southern English counties, we have a
white soil, consisting, apparently, of little more than chalk ;
in the central parts of the country, a wide plain of dark-
red land; in the border counties of Wales, and on many
of our coal fields, tracts of country almost perfectly black ;
while yellow, white, and brown lands give the prevailing
character to the soils of other districts. These differences
arise from the varying proportions in which the sand, lime,
clay, and iron, which color the soils, have been mixed toge-
ther. Now, geology explains the cause why they have
been so mixed in different parts of the country—by what
natural agency, and for what end; and by its aid we can
predict the general quality of the surface-soil, and, more
than this, of the unseen swb-soi/, in the several parts of
entire kingdoms. We may learn, if the soil be of inferior
quality, and yet susceptible of improvement, whether the
means of improving it are likely, in any given locality, to
be attainable at a reasonable cost.

Whether we attempt to investigate the composition of
natural bodies, or, confining our attention to the review of
those general diversities so remarkable on the earth’s sur-
face, the division of them all into two grand classes, as
simple or compound, is an essential preliminary to a cor-
reet comprehension of the subject. Those substances are
simple, which cannot, by any known method, be separated,

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 193

decomposed, or divided, in such a manner as to produce
particles different in their properties from one another. On
the other hand, those substances are compound which, by
experiment, may be resolved into particles of an unlike
nature. Thus, marble is a compound body ; for by astrong
heat it is converted into lime—an elastic fluid, which is
carbonic acid gas (itself also a compound), being disen-
gaged during the process. Vegetable substances, whether
in their living or dead state, are mostly of a very com-
pound nature, and consist of a great number of elements.
For a period of many centuries, and even till a very late
date, there were four substances held to be elementary, or
simple. These were Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. No-
body could prove them so; and yet, of these four bodies,
all others in nature were supposed to be constituted. This
system continued to be orthodox till very lately, when
three of these imaginary elements, namely, Air, Water,
and Earth, were proved to be compounds; and, as we
shall see in the progress of this work, a correct understand-
ing of the properties of the atmosphere, and of its relative
agency over vegetation, is indispensable to the adoption of
such plans as are intended to increase the fertility of the
soil. As to fire, it is still unknown whether it be simple
or compound, in what its essence consists, or by what
causes its effects are produced. The study of temper-
ature, of the relative dryness or moisture of the air, of the
action of the sun’s heat over soils and vegetation, is closely
identified with the science of agriculture. The influence
of the changes of seasons and of the position of the sun
on the phenomena of vegetation, demonstrates the effects
of heat on the functions of plants. The matter absorbed
from the soil can only enter the roots in a fluid state; and
when the surface is frozen, this mode of communication is
suspended. The activity of chemical changes in living
vegetables is likewise increased by a certain increase of
temperature, as is evident if a stalk of henbane be partially
immersed in hot water: its leaves will, for a time, become
erect, and quickly forego their drooping arrangement, evi-
10*

194 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

dently referable to the increased rapidity with which fluids,
under such circumstances, rise in the minute vessels of the
vegetable. Heat, then, is rather to be regarded as an
agency by which both compound and simple substances
are alike affected. What the ancients considered to be
simple bodies, are no longer considered to be such ; but, in
place of these four assumed substances, the chemists of
modern times have elevated to the dignity of elements, or
sinvple bodies, a far more numerous race. No one, how-
ever, asserts now-a-days, that even these are all absolutely
simple. The term “ element,” intimates no more than that
the body to which it is applied has never, in the opinion
of modern chemists, been subject to further division or
decomposition: that it has never been divided into parti-
cles, different from one another, or from the original sub-
stance. The number of simple, or elementary substances,
at present known, and constituting visible Nature around
us, is fifty-four. |
Now, if these elementary, or simple substances, are
placed either artificially or, as they are presented in the
universe, naturally in contaet with each other, they combine,
or refuse to combine; and by such combination, when it
occurs, a great variety of compound substances are pro-
duced. Some combinations are effected instantly, some
more slowly and with difficulty, and there are certain ele-
ments which can scarcely, by any means, be made to com-
bine. The compounds produced by such combinations
possess properties very different from those of the sepa-
rate elements of which they are composed. Thus, carbo-
nic acid, or the gas which sparkles in fermented liquors,
combines very readily with pure caustic lime, and the pro-
duct of the union is common chalk. So, if the proportions
be varied, the same two elements produce the common air
we breathe and the strongest aquafortis or nitric acid. The
power, in virtue of which simple bodies can combine and
produce compounds, is one of which the nature is totally
unknown. Chemists have learned no more than that sim-
ple bodies, or bodies supposed to be simple, do combine ;

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 195

but wuy they combine, or what that is which makes them
combine, they “have not discovered. To the illustrious
Dalton belongs the discovery that they do not unite at ran-
dom, but always in definite proportions of each; so that,
if the elements be represented by numbers, the proportions
in which they unite may be expressed either by thuse num-
bers, or by some simple multiples of them. Thus, sugar
and Indian rubber are compounds resolvable into precisely
the same udtimate elements, only in different proportions ;
and, as the following table will illustrate, nearly one-half
the weight of all vegetable productions which are gathered
for food for man or beast, in their dry state, are but vary-
ing compounds of the same elementary or simple bodies,
the names of which are appended over the annexed num-
bers. What the properties of these elements in_ their
separate state may be, is not our immediate purpose.

Carbon. Hyrdogen. Oxygen. Nitrogen. Ash.

Hay, - - - 458 50 387 15 90
Potatoes, - - 441 58 439 12 50
Wheat straw, - 485 52 389 4 70
Oats,- - - - 507 64 367 pd 40

parts by weight in 1000 pounds of each of the above
vegetable substances.

If we take the ash left by a known weight of wheat
straw, or of hay, and mix it with the proper quantities of
the four elementary substances named in the foregoing
table, we shall certainly be unable, by this process, to
form either the one or the other. The elements, therefore,
into which all vegetable compounds are ultimately resolv-
able, are not merely mized together; they are united in
some Closer and more intimate manner. To this more inti-
mate state of union the term chemical combination is cor-
rectly apphed. Again, woody fibre, gum, sap, and the
various fluids and substances which form a plant, are them-
selves mostly resolvable into varying proportions of the
same ultimate elements, which, taken together, form the
entire vegetable. hus, sugar forms one of the proximate

log PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

principles of the sugar cane, and Indian-rubber is one of
the proximate principles of a South American tree, which
contains no sugar; yet sugar and Indian-rubber are essen-
tially composed of the same materials. So, if charcoal be
burned in the open air, it slowly disappears, and forms a
kind of air or gas, known by the name of carbonic acid,
an elastic fluid precisely identical with that which forms
the froth in ginger beer or common yeast. Now, this car-
bonic acid is formed by the union of the charcoal or car-
bon, while burning, with one of the elements composing com-
mon air, named oxygen ; and inthis new form, the elements,
carbon and oxygen, are said to be chemically combined.
Again, if certain vegetable and animal materials are mixed
together, and left tothe agency of the atmosphere, they react
upon each other—perhaps become heated, as happens in a
heap of stable dung, and are said to become decomposed. New
compounds are formed from the union of previously exist-
ing elements; perhaps ammonia is one of the most common
and obvious, as indicated by its effect upon our eyes and
nostrils. This, then, is as purely a chemical process as
the conversion of wood into vinegar, or into charcoal, or
the change that occurs when the flour of grain is converted
by the distiller into ardent spirits; and in all well-directed
attempts to fertilize the soil, a knowledge of these changes
is absolutely necessary: at least, he who proceeds without
it has disappointment in prospect, and gropes in the dark,
with uncertainty for his guide.

Now, chemical affinity is not only evident in the changes
which masses of dead inorganic matter produce upon each
other: it is found to be actively at work in the phenomena
of vegetation ; thus proving that the growth of plants is
more completely a chemical process than might have been
imagined: and, as our further illustrations will tend to
prove, the same law of affinity is equally operative upon
animal structure, which, like that of plants, is not more
truly alive than they. The sap consists of a number of in-
gredients dissolved in water by chemical attraction; and
it appears to be in consequence of the operation of this

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 197

power that certain principles derived from the sap are united
to the vegetable organs. By the laws of chemical attrac-
tion, different products of vegetation are changed and
formed during the process of growth: vegetable and ani-
mal remains are decomposed by the action of air and water,
or exert upon those fluids a mutual agency essential to the
change ; rocks are broken down and converted into soils,
and soils are more finely divided and fitted as receptacles
for the roots of plants. The repulsive energy of solar
heat, or of that generated during chemical changes of con-
stant occurrence, serves as the only counterbalance to that
attraction which pervades the particles of all living or dead
matter; and thus the harmonious circle of growth and
decay is produced by their mutual operations. The differ-
ent influence of the different solar rays on vegetation is but
partially understood. There are rays transmitted from the
sun which do not impart light, and which yet produce more
heat than the visible rays. The effect of these invisible
rays is purely chemical and independent of the heat they
produce. Thus, potatoes, which sprout in a comparatively
dark cellar, send out nearly colorless shoots. Plants kept
in the dark in a hot-house grow luxuriantly, but never
acquire their natural colors; their leaves are white or pale,
and their juices watery and sweet. So the upper surface
of mest leaves is darker than the lower, upon the same
principle that the belly of a fish is whiter than its back.
The most obvious instance of Electrical Agency in ex-
terna] nature occurs in thunder and lightning. Electrical
changes are of constant occurrence; but as yet the effects
of this power, not as accidental but as essential to healthy
vegetation, have not been correctly estimated. No doubt
the germination of seeds, as well as the growth of plants,
is materially modified by the peculiar electrical condition
of the earth and the atmosphere, and by the varying state
of each. It is known that grain will sprout more rapidly
and readily in water positively electrified—that is, charged
with electricity in excess or beyond its natural quantity ;
and that if, by artificial means, water be deprived of its

198 PRODUCTIVE FARMING:

natural amount of electricity, its power of stimulating the
growth of seeds is thereby diminished. Experiments made
upon the atmosphere show that clouds are usually defi-
cient in electricity ; and as when a cloud isin one state of
electricity, the surface of the earth beneath that cloud is
brought into the opposite state, it is probable that, in com-
mon cases, the surface of the earth is charged with the
electric fluid in excess.

We have spoken of Chemical .4finity : it is sometimes
well named Elecfive or Chemical Attraction, inasmuch as
it is but an exemplification of one form of that law which
maintains the order of the universe. It is the expression
of the fact, that certain elements of unlike nature combine
with each other when placed in contact, or (figuratively
speaking) refuse to combine with any other, electing even
the proportions in which only such combinations can occur.
This affinity is but one division of the great law of attrac-
tion. In this aspect, there are five formsin which the rela-
tions of all bodies to each other may be arranged. We be-
gin with that which compels the heavenly bodies to rotate
round the sun; or a stone when thrown upwards to fall to
the ground-~in other words, to gravitate towards the earth’s
centre. Next, there is the attraction of cohesion: thus,
particles of oil will rise through water, and having reached
the range of each other’s attraction, will unite into one
common and separate bo:ly. It is this form of attraction
which gives roundness to the drops of dew, or of the rain
as it falls, and is the sole cause of the arched form of the
rainbow. Inthe same way, drops of water or of quicksilver
placed upon a dry plate have a tendency to unite, not only
when they touch, but to run together when placed near
each other. So, perfectly smooth and polished plates of
glass or metal have a strong tendency to cohere. It is by
the same means that the great number of rocks seem to be
produced that enter into the substance of the earth’s solid
crust. The lowermost rocks are united by an intimate
‘crystallization which is the most perfect form of cohesive or
aggregate attraction that can exist among the particles of

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 199

solid bodies. The next form of aftraction is observed as
occurring between bodies unlike in their nature, solids
and fluids, capillary attraction, as when sap rises in the
minute vessels forming the stem of a tree against its own
weight, or, in other language, overcoming the attraction of
gravitation downwards. The Latin word which signifies a
hair, is used in this instance to form the word denoting the
extreme tenuity and delicacy of these narrow vessels, as
only in such could fluids rise: hence the reason and the
wisdom of this arrangement.

Electrical and Magnetic attraction are important sub-
jects for study, to which, in a practical work, it is not
necessary very minutely to allude. It is well ascertained
that the thorns, spines, or prickles that exist on a variety
of plants serve not merely for their defence: they have a
relation to the electrical condition of the atmosphere ;
cases having been recorded in which spines have grown
more than an inch during a thunder-storm. Some of the
acacia tribe are fretted over with formidable spines which
will take off a charge of electricity from a prime conductor
as rapidly as a brass point—doubtlessly from the presence
of a metal in those spines, probably the metallic base of
flint. Now it is very unlikely that only the prickly plants
require the electric stimulus. We know that, though the
torpedo and electrical eel have power to benumb and kill,
yet human beings, who have no such powers in health and
in disease, are always charged with varying quantities of
the electric fluid. So also of all vegetables: oat and wheat
straw contain silica, which is metallic; and the firmness
of the stem may not be, and is not, the only reason for its
presence. Lastly, we have chemical aftraction or affinity.
A few instances of its operation have been already noted;
but some affinities are more powerful] than others. Pure
lime has a strong affinity for carbonic acid gas, and this is
a wise ordination; and it is equally a proof of design that
it should form one of the ingredients of the atmosphere.
Under this arrangement of things, whole mountains of lime
have been crumbled during successive ages into fertile beds

200 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

of chalk. But lime has a still greater affinity for sulphuric.
acid or oil of vitriol than it has for carbonic acid; and so,

if natural or artificial chalk be subjected to the action of
vitriol, another decomposition ensues: the carbonic acid

flies off, leaving the lime to combine with the acid for

which it has a more powerful affinity, the result of the new

union being sulphate of lime, better known as alabaster or

common gypsum. These transformations may not only be

produced artificially, but are of constant occurrence, though

of slow operation, in the great laboratory of Nature. To

understand them is essential to the slightest knowledge of
those chemical changes which are identical with the pro-

cesses of growth in the vegetable world, and indeed in all

living organized bodies,—and there are sufficient motives

connected both with pleasure and profit to encourage

ingenious men to pursue this new path of investigation.

CHAPTER II.

Some Account of the Simple or Elementary Bodies found (combined or
uncombined) in Animals, Plants, and Soils.

Ir is absolutely necessary, in order to a right apprehen-
sion of the changes that occur during vegetable growth,
and of course to a correct estimation of the most rational
methods of forcing or favoring healthy vegetation, that we
should become familiar with some of the most common
properties of those simple bodies or elements, of which -
all nature around us is compounded. :

Four of them, by combining with other simple bodies
that will burn, form acids ; eight of them are inflammable;
and there are upwards of forty metals.

First, let us speak of Oxygen. Oxygen, in union with
latent heat, forms oxygen gas, constituting about one-fifth
of the air of our atmosphere. It is an elastic fluid at all

ELEMENTARY BOLIES, 201

known temperatures. It is heavier than the air, and sup-
ports combustion with much more vividness than common
air; so that if a small steel wire, or a watch spring, hav-
ing a bit of burning wood attached to it,—or, better still, a
bit of phosphorus or brimstone, be introduced into a bottle
filled with this gas, it burns with surprising splendor.
Oxygen is a substance very extensively diffused throughout
the material world: it forms with nitrogen the air we
breathe ; united with another element, named hydrogen, 3t
forms water. It exists as a constituent of all animal and
vegetable matter; and is found also naturally in combina-
tion with most mineral productions; from some of which,
for experimental purposes, it may with great ease be pre-
pared. Oxygen gas, when suddenly compressed, evolves
both light and heat; is sparingly dissolved by water, 100
cubic inches taking up only three or four of the gas. Ifa
mouse, or a bird, were confined under a large bell-glass,
filled with common air, it would live until it had consumed
all the oxygen contained in that portion of air, and no
longer. If, instead of the bird, a bit of burning brimstone,
or a candle, were placed there, it would burn until it had
absorbed all the oxygen, and then become extinguished.
2. Hydrogen——Hydrogen, or inflammable air, is the
lightest known substance, being about sixteen times
lighter than common air. For this reason it is used in
filling balloons. The common gas in thestreets and shops
ismostly used for this purpose, instead of pure hydrogen,
—the carbon it contains not materially destroying its light-
ness. Not only is pure hydrogen the lightest of gases, but
it is highly inflammable ; it will neither support combus-
tion nor respiration ;—in other words, if a lighted taper or
a living animal be immersed in pure hydrogen gas, it
would cease to burn, or die. Hydrogen and oxygen are
the two elements which form pure water, of which we
must say more in another place. When these gases are
mixed in certain proportions, they unite and explode with
great violence if a lighted candle be brought in contact
with them; for experiment’s sake, one part of hydrogen,

202 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

and six of oxygen or even atmospheric air, will form a
very powerfully explosive mixture. When a stream of
hydrogen gas issuing from one vessel, and a jet of oxygen
from another, are made to inflame as they unite, a most
intense heat will be generated, sufficient to melt the clay
of a common tobacco-pipe, and render lime perfectly fluid.
Neither hydrogea nor oxygen are known to occur any-
where in nature in any sensible separate quantity. They
are abundant enough in combination with other matters.

3. Nitrogen, sometimes called Azote, is another elemen-
tary substance, entering most largely into the constitution
of universal nature. United with the matter of heat, it
may be artificially produced and presented as a transparent,
colorless, insipid, incombustible gas, incapable of support-
ing flame or breathing. It may be made to unite with
oxygen (but of course only in certain definite proportions)
by the agency of electrical fire. It may easily be pro-
cured by burning a bit of phosphorus in a confined portion
of air over water. The inflamed phosphorus rapidly unites
with the oxygen unti! it has exhausted all that the air
contains, then combustion stops, and the remaining gas is
nearly pure nitrogen. Small creatures soon die in it for
want of oxygen. It combines in five different proportions
with oxygen, forming, in one instance, nitric acid oraqua-
fortis ; and mized, rather than chemically combined, with
one-fifth its bulk of oxygen, it forms the air we breathe.
Though ammonia is not a simple body, and, therefore, not
to be classed with the present list, it may not be inappro-
priate, after the mention of hydrogen and nitrogen, to say
that it results from the union of the two. Ammonia ex-
ists in rain water, and, as we shall subsequently show, is
an important auxiliary to vegetable growth; it becomes
developed in putrid urine or stable compost ; it is a color-
less gas, with a strong pungent odor. It dissolves easily
in water, and is then called hartshorn. Jt is very volatile;
has all the common properties of soda and potash, combin-
ing readily with acids. Sulphate of ammonia exists

ELEMENTARY BODIES. 203

largely in the soot from coals. From this source the “ sal
ammoniac”’ of commerce is procured.

~ Carbon.—Charcoal is the most usual and best known
variety of carbon. It is black, soils the fingers, and is
more or less porous according to the kind of wood from
which it has been formed. Coke, obtained by charring, or
distilling coal, is another variety. It is generally heavier
or denser than the former, though less pure. Black-lead,
or carburet of iron, there being in reality no lead in its
composition, is a third variety still heavier and more im-
pure. The diamond is the only form in which carbon oc-
curs in nature in astate of perfect purity. That the dia-
mond is essentially the same substance with pure lamp-
black is a very remarkable circumstance. Charcoal, the
diamond, lamp-black, and all the other forms of carbon,
burn away more or less slowly when heated in the air;
and, combining with the oxygen of the atmosphere, form
carbonic acid. .

Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, form the ulti-
mate elements into which all the organized part of all vege-
table and animal substances is resolvable. We say organ-
ized: bones contain lime, and vegetables contain earthy
and saline matters; but these are not organized, they are
deposited in cells or in a structure so arranged as to con-
tain them.

Chlorine, or Oxymuriatic gas, 1s, like oxygen gas, a
permanently elastic fluid. When pure it has a greenish
yellow color, and a very disagreeable odor and acid taste.
It may not be breathed, and burning bodies are extin-
guished by it. It destroys all vegetable and animal color-
ing substances, as also the effluvium arising from the pu-
trefaction of dead animal matter. It does not exist sepa-
rasely in nature, but is one of the components of common
Salt.

Fluorine.—This substance has such strong tendencies to
combination, that as yet no vessels have been found capa-
ble of containing it in its pure form. It is one of the ele-
ments composing the Derbyshire fluor spar or blue john.

204 PRODUCTIVE FARMING,

This mineral is a fluate of lime, in other words, a com-
pound of fluoric acid and lime. Now, fluoric acid is itself
a compound of fluorine and hydrogen; and lime is not a
simple body, but in reality the oxide or rust of a metal
named Calcium, from the Latin word “ Calx,” signifying
lime. Fluoric acid may be obtained from the Derbyshire
spar by the action of sulphuric acid, which combines with
the lime in consequence of the greater affinity of the two
than exists between lime and fluoric acid, which by such
process may be separated.

Having disposed of these, we proceed to notice (not the
whole range) but a few other simple substances found in
nature, and chiefly in the animal, vegetable and mineral
world.

Sulphur.—This is a solid substance of a light yellow
color, brittle and tasteless, and when rubbed emitting a
peculiar odor. Melted and poured into cylindrical moulds
it forms the roll brimstone of commerce. It burns with a
pale blue flame in the open air, during which process it
combines with the oxygen of the atmosphere, and forms
sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol. Sulphur is found native in
Sicily, Italy, and Iceland, and in combination with metals
and earths in greater or less quantity throughout the mine-
ral kingdom. Itis a constituent of many vegetable and
nearly all animal structures.

Phosphorus.—Phosphorus is most easily obtained by
burning bones to whiteness in an open fire. In this way
the animal matter is driven off and nearly pure phosphate
of lime (or a salt composed of phosphoric acid and lime)
remains. This phosphate of lime, reduced to powder, is
next mixed with oil of vitriol and water; decomposition
ensues in consequence of the greater affinity which oil of
vitriol or sulphuric acid has for lime than the phosphoric
acid already in combination with it. Next, by evapora-
tion, the addition of powdered charcoal, and exposure of
the mixed mass to distillation, the liberated phosphorus is
separated into its two elements (phosphorus and oxygen),
the former of which distils over, and at a low temperature

ELEMENTARY BODIES. 205

becomes solid. Phosphorus may also be prepared from
urine. It takes fire at a heat considerably lower than that
of boiling water. Phosphorus has a waxy consistence;
when burned in oxygen gas, a very dazzling light is pro-
duced; and the result of the combination is phosphoric
acid, just as sulphur or brimstone, burnt in oxygen gas,
produces sulphuric acid. Phosphoric acid combined with
lime, forms phosphate of lime, the solid inorganic consti-
tuent of bones. Phosphate of lime is easily obtained by
exposing bones to a red heat in an open fire. Its first ac-
tion is to blacken the bones, converting its animal carbo-
naceous matter into charcoal: if the heat be continued, the
charcoal or carbon unites with the oxygen of the atmos-
phere in the form of carbonic acid gas, and the phosphate
of lime remains beautifully white, left in the shape and
arrangement of the organized cells it lately filled. Phos-
phate of lime is found as a native mineral production in
some parts of Ireland and elsewhere. Phosphorus will
dissolve in spirit of wine or in oil, but is insoluble in
water, under which fluid it is always preserved.

Iodine.—This simple substance is found existing as an_
undecompounded element in the ashes of marine plants
after the extraction of the soda they contain. Sea-weed
is largely used on the coasts of England and Scotland as
amanure. Iodine is a dark-colored solid, having some-
what the appearance of black-lead. It unites with all the
metals upon which its action has been examined, and com-
bines with oxygen, forming an acid.

Next, let us allude to earths and metals, orsuch forms of
them as fall within the range of simple elementary bodies.
We have already said that lime, ordinarily considered as
an earth, is in reality a metallic oxide; pure soda, pure
potash, calcined magnesia, pipe-clay, the base of flint, and
some other similar substances, are, in truth, metals, united
to oxygen in the same way as rust of iron is a compound
of iron and oxygen. Lime, then, or, inchemical language,
“ oxide of calcium,’ combined with various acids, isa .
very abundant natural production, found widely diffused

206 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

over every part of the habitable globe, as limestone, mar-
ble, chalk, fluor spar, plaster of Paris, gypsum, or alabas-
ter; these, under various names, being all of them com-
pounds of lime with the carbonic, fluoric, or sulphuric.
acid. Besides these, lime, in combination with phosphoric
acid, enters very largely into the composition of the solid
skeleton or shell of animals. Pure lime is more soluble in
cold than in hot water, a fact not without its interest nor
intention. If chalk be exposed to a red heat, the carbo-
nic acid, one of its constituents, is expelled, and pure lime
remains. Pure, or caustic quick-lime, corrodes animal and
vegetable substances, and is never found in them in an un-
mixed state. Lime is one of the most infusible bodies
known, but may be made to melt by the joint action of the
combustion of oxygen and hydrogen gases. Lime has a
powerful affinity for water, and the combination is attend-
ed with the extrication of great heat, as when lime is
slacked for the builder. Jn this process the water becomes
solid, wnites, not mixes, with the lime, and in passing from
the fluid to the solid state, gives out the latent heat neces-
sary to maintain fluidity. This heat becoming suddenly
sensible, is sufficient to carry off a portion of the water in
vapor, the union of the lime and the water producing a
dry solid. The same chemical union occurs when plaster
of Paris, or dry sulphate of lime, is mixed in certain pro-
portions with water: the fluid solidifies, and unites with
the lime into the hard substance which forms the common
plaster images or casts hawked about the streets by the
Italians. Lime combines freely with many acids, existing
in this form as‘ muriate of lime’’ in the water of the ocean.
Of the application of earthy minerals to the land, we will
speak in its proper place. |
Sodium.—This is the metallic base of common table or
rock salt, which is acompound of two elements, chlorine,
already alluded to, and sodium, with water. The metal
sodium has a lustre and color very similar to silver, and is
so soft as to be pressed into leaves between the fingers. It
may be obtained through the agency of the galvanic appa-

ELEMENTARY BODIES. 207

ratus. When thrown upon water, it decomposes that
fluid, it soon becomes oxidized, or robs the water of oxy-
gen, setting its other constituent, hydrogen, at liberty, the
action being accompanied with a hissing noise. Chloride
of sodium, or common salt, is abundantly diffused over the
world, both as a solid mineral production, and as the prin-
cipal ingredient in sea-water ; it 1s essential to healthy ac-
tion, as well in animal as in vegetable nutrition. If thrown
upon hot coals, salt crackles, because the water it contains
is not chemically combined but merely mixed or interposed
between its particles, and so expanding by heat causes the
Separation of those particles and the resulting sound. So-
dium united to oxygen, forms pure soda; pure soda united
to sulphuric acid, forms the Glauber salt, so commonly
given to cattle; pure soda united to carbonic acid, forms
the substance sold in the shops as “ soda,’’ and bought for
the purposes of the washerwoman.

Potassium.—This is the metallic base of common pearl
ashes. If the pure metal be thrown upon water, like
sodium it swims on the surface, and darts violently hither
and thither, with the sudden extrication of flame. This
flame is burning hydrogen, and the phenomenon arises
from the great affinity of potassium for oxygen, abstract-
ing it from water, or all bodies that containit. If the
metal potassium be united with oxygen, it forms pure, or
caustic potash, or oxide of potassium; if pure potash be
united with carbonic acid, the result is carbonate of pot-
ash, of which pearl ashes is an impure variety. United
with nitric acid, potash forms saltpetre, which is found
very abundantly as a natural product. Potash, combined
with oxalic acid, is found in sorrel and other sour plants.
Impure carbonate of potash remains in the ashes of most
vegetables, and so largely in some of them, as to yield the
immense supply for trade. Potash, united with fatty or
oily substances, forms the various kinds of soap.

Silicon is another metal which, in union with oxygen,
forms silica, or siliceous earth, existing native in great
abundance, and forming the chief ingredient in flint, quartz,

208 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

and rock-crystal. From these substances silica may easily
be obtained, by first heating them to redness, and then
throwing them into water. For all common purposes,
sand from the glass-house will answer. It unites with
potash and forms glass, andis insoluble in all acids, except
the fluoric acid, for which reason this acid is kept in leaden
bottles. Silica exists very largely in the hard coating of
the sugar-cane. In the stem of wheat straw, silica 1s
essential to the firm, erect position of the plant; conse-
quently, if the soil be deficient of silica (a fact which is
easily determined), the ear of corn will droop, upon a
slender, short, and lanky straw.

Aluminiwm.—This metal, in combination with oxygen,
forms pure alumina. Alumina, more or less pure, exists as
a most abundant natural production, being found as a chief
constituent of clay, for pottery and bricks. Crystallized,
it forms those precious gems, the ruby and sapphire; so
that the difference between a bit of charcoal and a dia-
mond, is a similar difference to that which exists between
a bit of clay and a precious jewel—merely a diversity in
the arrangement of particles of the same matter.

Barium.—A metal forming the base of the earth baryta,
and of the various acids in combination with that earth.
Carbonate of baryta is found native in Derbyshire. Pure
baryta, like lime, slacks when in contact with water ; for.
which it has so strong an affinity, that the heat of a forge
will not drive ‘it off.

Magnesium.—The metallic base of the earth magnesia,
the calcined magnesia of the shops. In combination with
muriatic acid, it exists largely in sea-water. With sul-
phuric acid, magnesia forms the common Epsom salt, and
is found as a native magnesian limestone in combination
with lime and carbonic acid.

Iron.—lIron is found native in many parts of the world,
and is also very abundant in combination with sulphur, and.
many other substances, such as oxygen, forming oxides;
also in further union with acids, forming carbonates, sul-
phates, and phosphates. Green copperas is a sulphate of

ELEMENTARY BODIES. 209

iron. Rust of iron, produced by the action of the atmos-
phere, arises from the combination of the iron with oxy-
gen, derived from the air, and also with a portion of car-
bonic acid from the same source, and so may be correctly
named carbonate of iron.

Lead.—Metallic lead is rarely found native, but is ob-
tained in large quantities by smelting the sulphuret, a
mineral known by the name of galena. Lead is found
also in combination with oxygen and acids.

Copper.—This metal occurs very commonly native ina
state of perfect purity, sometimes in large masses, at other
times in a crystalline form. It is commonly found in com-
bination with sulphur, from which it is generally obtained.
Blue stone, used by the farrier, is a sulphate of copper.

Zinc.—Metallic zinc, sometimes named spelter, is ob-
tained either from the impure carbonate, a native produc-
tion called “ calamine,”’ or from another natural compound,
the “sulphuret,”’ or zinc blende. White vitriol, used in
veterinary medicine, is asulphate of zinc. The ores from
which it is smelted, exist largely in some districts—Tin,
bismuth, antimony, arsenic, nickel, cobalt, and many other
metallic substances, might similarly be enumerated ; but
these, existing in comparatively minute quantities, may be
safely passed over. The elements found in vegetables are
but few. Oxygen, hydrogen and carbon, form the great-
est part of their organized matter. Nitrogen, phosphorus,
sulphur, manganesum, iron, silicum, calcium,aluminum, and
magnesium, enter into their composition, or are found in
the agents to which they are exposed; and these twelve,
out of nearly sixty wundecompounded elements, require to be
familiarly understood by the agricultural chemist. Life
gives a peculiar character to all its productions : the power
of attraction and repulsion, combination and decomposi-
tion, are subservient to it. A few elements, by the diver-
sity of their arrangement, are made to form the most differ-
ent substances; and similar substances are produced from
compounds which, when superficially examined, appear
entirely different.

11

CHAPTER [Iii.

Plants and Animals are both alike endowed with Life; the Elemen-
tary Materials and many of the Proximate Principles of Animal and
Vegetable matter are precisely identical—they have similar Organs
essential to their growth and reproduction, and are nourished or
destroyed by the same agencies.

Ir Idig up astone, and remove it from one place to
another, the stone will suffer no alteration by the change
of place; but if I dig up a plant, and remove it, strip its
leaves, and leave the stem standing, or mutilate an
animal,—that plant or anima] will instantly sicken, and
perhaps die. What is the reason of this? Both have
been perfected in connection with the same common soil.
If I break the stone to pieces, though chemically, it may
consist of several elements, yet every individual fragment
will be found possessed of the original character of the
whole mass; it is only altered in shape and magnitude:
but if I tear off a branch from a plant, it will -wither and
lose the properties of its parent stock. The mineral can
only be destroyed or changed by mechanical or chemical
force; while the plant, like all animals. has been pro-
duced by generation, has grown by nutrition, and been
destroyed by death,—in fact, it has been actuated by an
internal power.

In what this internal power consists, we know not.
Differently modified, we meet with it in both plants and
animals. Wherever we find it, we denominate it the
“ PRINCIPLE OF LIFE;” its presence forming a clear dis-
tinction and boundary between the two great families of
animals and plants, and all else besides in the universe.
A cabbage is not less truly alive than the ox which feeds
upon it. The superiority of the animal over the plant

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. 211

consists chiefly in this—the existence of mind or intellect,
and correspondingly, a brain and nerves, of which the
plant is deficient. Now, all living things are said to be
organized,—that is, made up of various structures, evi-
dently destined to answer certain ends ; and these, taken
together, compose the entire plant or animal: as the root,
sap vessels, bark, leaves, and other organs of a tree; and,
correspondingly, the bones, muscles, blood-vessels, skin,
and lungs of a horse, a man, or a sheep, But this de-
scription is not true of a piece of limestone, or a lump of
clay, and, therefore, it is said to be tnorganized. Hence,
all the various bodies in nature arrange themselves natu-
rally under the two great divisions of organized and
vital, or inorganized and dead, without a single excep-
tion.

In their more perfect forms, the distinctions between
animal and vegetable life are obvious enough. Thereisa
wide distinction between a horse chestnut and a chestnut
horse ; but as we approach the contiguous extremities of
the animal and vegetable kingdoms, the distinction is not
so easy. There are some natural productions which have
been originally considered as minerals, afterwards as vege-
tables, and have at last been regarded as belonging to the
animal kingdom—less on account of any other property
they possess than their similarity of chemical and elemen-
tary constitution to the well-known ingredients of animal
matter. Sponges, and many fungous growths, are of this
character.

In what part of a plant the living principle chiefly
exists, or to what quarter it retires during the winter, we
know not; but we are just as ignorant in relation to animal
life. In both, it operates towards every point: it consists
in the whole, and resides in the whole; and its proof of
existence is drawn from its resisting those putrefactive or
chemical agencies which instantly begin to operate as soon
as the plant or animal is dead. While life exists, a vege-
table or animal thrives and increases in its bulk; a tree
puts forth annually a new progeny of buds, and becomes

12 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

clothed with a beautiful foliage of lungs, (every leaf being
in itself a distinct lung), for the respiration of the rising
brood, and with an harmonious circle of action, that can
never be too much admired, a perpetual supply of nour-
ishment is furnished first for its own growth, next for the
growth and perfection of animal life; while, from its own
decay, as well as from the death of animal matter, there is
formed, in rich abundance, the means of new births, new
buds, and new harvests. In fact, everything is formed for
everything, and subsists (if we may speak figuratively) by
the kind intercourse of giving and receiving benefits.
Such is the simple, but beautiful, circle of nature. That
which lives, flourishes, decays, and dies, is not lost; the
great principle of life only changes its form; and the
destruction of one generation of plants or animals is but
the necessary requisite to the support or existence of the
next.

Carponic acip, Ammonta, and Water, yield elements
out of which are built up all the organized parts of plants ;
and it is no less true that these elements form the entire
organized structure of animals. This being the fact, we
should naturally suppose the conditions essential to the
growth of each are the same—in fact, that the food con-
sumed by vegetables and animals would prove essentially
similar: and such is actually the case. The process of
digestion in an animal is precisely identical with the pro-
cess of appropriation or nourishment in a plant. Certain
inorganic substances, salts and metallic oxides, serve pecu-
liar uses—as lime to give solidity to the bones of an ox;
and silica, or the earth of flints, to serve the same end in
wheat straw.

We have already spoken of the elementary or ultimate
constituents of vegetables. Out of these are formed the
various zmmediate compounds which are found in them.
The compound substances found in vegetables are,—1.
Albumen; 2. Gum; 3. Sugar; 4. Gluten; 5. Woody
fibre; 6. Starch; 7. Extractive; 8. Tannin; 9. Resin;
10. Wax; 11. Fixed and volatile oils; 12. Bitter prin-

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. 213

ciple; 13. Free acids; and a few others; to which must
be added the mineral, saline, or metallic substances they
contain.

Out of the same elementary constituents of vegetable
and animal structure are formed the materials composing
the blood and all the secretions—fibrin, gelatin, mucus,
albumen; all the animal acids—spermaceti, hog’s lard,
train oil, and other fatty substances; ozmazome, urea,
sugar of milk; together with many other matters enu-
merated by chemists, only some of which are peculiar to
the animal kingdom;—so that there is no difference be-
tween albumen obtained from a vegetable and that which
forms, in nearly a pure state, the white of an egg. Albu-
men, in a solid form, constitutes the principal part of the
almond, and of the kernels of nuts. The juice of a West
Indian plant (Hibiscus escudentus) contains liquid albumen
in such quantities, that it is employed in Dominica as a
substitute for the white of eggs’ in clarifying the juice of
the sugar-cane. Albumen is common to the vegetable as
well as the animal kingdom, and may be easily distin-
guished from other substances by its property of coagulat-
ing or becoming hard and permanently solid by the action
of moderate heat, or of acids. It forms a constituent of
the serum of blood, of several of the animal secretions, and
in a solid form of some of the organized structures of the
body. Its composition, from whatever source it may be
obtained, is Carbon, 52; Hydrogen, 7; Oxygen, 23; and
Nitrogen 15 parts, (rejecting fractions), in every 100.

Let us trace a few more of these comparisons, bearing
in mind that nitrogen, as one of the elements into which
both vegetable and animal compounds are ultimately resolv-
able, exists always in greater proportion in flesh, than in
grasses. All animal matters do not contain nitrogen; nor
are all vegetable substances devoid of it.

Vecetable gum is analogous to animal mucus. Guim is
a substance which exudes from certain trees ; it appears in
the form of a thick fluid, but soon hardens in the air, and
becomes solid, when it appears white, or yellowish white,

214 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

and somewhat brittle. The characteristic properties of
gum are its easy solubility in water, and its insolubility in
spirit of wine. All the varieties of gum are nutritious as
food. Gum is composed of 43 carbon, 51 oxygen, and 6
hydrogen, in 100 parts, or nearly. Mucus, a secretion
found on the surfaces of the lining membrane of the intes-
tines, possesses the same characters; and its composition
is nearly the same. It may be obtained by evaporating
the saliva to dryness; and is then similar to gum-arabic in
its general appearance, but rather more opaque. It may
-be procured also by evaporating to dryness the fluid found
in the shell of the oyster, or water in which that animal
has been macerated.

Sugar is essentially the same, whether derived from the
maple-tree, the sugar-cane, the milk of animals, or even
from the urine in the disease known by the name diabetes.
Its composition is 28 carbon, 8 hydrogen, and 64 oxygen,
in 100 parts, differing not very widely from gum. Sugar
exists, naturally formed, in many plants and fruits, espe-
cially the sugar-cane. During the Peninsular war, it was
largely manufactured from the juice of the beet-root, both
in France and Germany. It has also been obtained from
grapes, from manna, from carrots, and from honey.

Let us compare vegetable gluten with animal gelatin.
First, of gluten. It may readily be prepared from wheat,
or from flour, by the agency. of cold water, and pressing
out the starch. It has a grey color; is elastic, ductile,
and tenacious; soon decomposing when kept Jong in con-
tact with the air, emitting an offensive odor similar to that
of putrid animal matter. Gluten, when burnt, affords
similar products to albumen, or white of egg, and differs
little from it in composition. It is found ina great number
of plants: in acorns, chestnuts, apples, rye, barley, wheat,
peas, and beans ; in the berries of the elder, and in grapes.
Gluten appears to be one of the most nutritive of the vege-
table substances ; and wheat seems to owe its superiority
to other grain, from the circumstance of containing it in
larger quantities. Animal gelatin, its counterpart from

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. 215

the animal kingdom, enters largely into the composition of
many of the animal solids; such as horns, hoofs, and skin,
the organized structure of bone, cartilage, and tendon.
Isinglass and common joiner’s-glue are forms of gelatin, it
being readily distinguished from all animal principles by
its easy solubility in boiling water. Gluten and albumen,
derived from vegetables, differ from other vegetable pro-
ducts, principally in containing nitrogen, and thus assimi-
lating very closely to the chemical character of animal
matter. Its composition is 47 parts of carbon, 8 of
hydrogen, 27 of oxygen, and 18 nitrogen, in 100 parts, or
pounds.

Woody fibre is a substance remaining after the plant sub-
jected to analysis has been exhausted of all its soluble
raaterials by repeated boiling in water and spirit of wine.
It forms the bulk of vegetables. Its composition 1s 52
parts of carbon, and 48 of hydrogen and oxygen, in such
proportions as form water, in 100 parts. Animal fibrin is
a principal constituent of the muscular, red or fleshy parts
of animals, and of the blood. It may conveniently be
procured by stirring blood recently abstracted, during its
coagulation; then washing the fibres till they become
colorless, or by digesting small pieces of lean meat in
repeated portions of water. As vegetable charcoal is
made largely from woody fibre subjected to the action of
a close fire, so animal charcoal may be similarly prepared
from the muscular parts of animals by the same agency ;
or, indeed, from any organized structure containing carbon.
In animal fibrin, as it exists in muscle or in blood, one-
half the weight is carbon. Fibrin is white, inodorous, and
insipid ; when dry, it is hard, brittle, and slightly transpa-
rent. Strong sulphuric acid blackens it, converting it into
charcoal precisely as it does wood. In the roots of plants,
in the trunk and branches of trees, the bark and heart-
wood, the leaves and flowers, the great basis of the sohd
parts Is woody fibre. it forms by far the greatest part of
the heart-wood and bark; there is less in the alburnum,
still less in the leaves and flowers. Fibrin holds a similar

216 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

relation to animal bodies. In 100 parts of fibrin there are
53 1-2 of carbon, hydrogen 7, oxygen 19, and 19 of nitro-
gen; the presence of nitrogen, or its addition, constituting
the peculiarity which distinguishes fibrin from woody fibre.

We have run the parallel far enough for ordinary pur-
poses. Of course, there are some proximate compounds in
animals and vegetables which are not common to both,
though, with the usual addition of another element, nitro-
gen, the most varying and unlike substances derivable
from the animal and vegetable world are compounded
from the same ultimate elements. Let us next briefly

lance at a few of these.

Starch.—Starch is procured from different vegetables,
but particularly from wheat, or from potatoes. To make
starch from wheat, the grain is steeped in cold water till
it becomes soft, and yields a milky juice by pressure ; it is
then put into sacks of linen, and pressed in a vat filled
with water; as long as any milky juice exudes, the press-
ure is continued, the fluid becomes gradually clear, and a
white powder subsides, which is starch. .Arrow-root,
tapioca, and sago, are nearly pure starch. Starch, or, in
its absence, coagulated mucilage, forms the greatest part
of the seeds and grains used for food ; and they are gener-
ally combined with gluten, oil, or albumen ; in corn with
gluten, in peas and beans with albumen, and in rape-
seed, hemp-seed, linseed, and the kernels of most nuts,
with oils. Its characteristic property is its easy solubility
in boiling-water, and its insolubility in that fluid when cold.
The ultimate composition of starch is, carbon 43 1-2, oxy-
gen 50, hydrogen 6 1-2; or,in other words, carbon 43 1-2,
and oxygen and hydrogen in such proportions as form
water ; differing, chemically, from gum, only in a very
slight variation in these quantities.

Extract, or the Extractive principle, exists in almost all
plants. It may be procured in a state of tolerable purity
from saffron, by merely infusing it in water, and evaporat-
ing the solution. It may likewise be obtained from
catechu, or ¢erra Japonica, a substance now imported in
immense quantities from India, and used in calico-printing.

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. 217

This substance consists principally of astringent matter
and extract. By the action of water upon it, the astrin-
gent matter is first dissolved, and may be separated from
the extract. There are almost as many varieties of ex-
tract as there are species of plants. It is not, nor can. it
be, used singly as an article of food ; but is probably nutri-
tive when united to starch, mucilage, or sugar. Its com-
position is carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and a little nitrogen.

Tannin, or the tanning principle, may be procured by
the action of cold water on bruised grape-seeds, or pounded
gall-nuts, and by the evaporation of the solution to dryness.
It is a yellow, highly-astringent substance. If tannin be
distilled in close vessels, the principal products are char-
coal, carbonic acid, and inflammable gases, with a minute
quantity of volatile alkali. Hence its ultimate elements
seem the same as those of extract, but probably in dif-
ferent proportions., Tannin is not a nutritive substance,
but is of great importance in its application to the art of
tanning. When skins (which are composed almost
entirely of gelatin or jelly) are exposed to solutions con-
taining tannin, they slowly combine with that principle ;
their fibrous texture and coherence are preserved ; they
are insoluble in water, and no longer liable to putrefac-
tion; and, by subsequent processes of rolling and drying,
form leather. In general, in this country, the requisite
tannin is made from the bark of the oak; but the barks of
other trees, and the wood and leaves of many shrubs, yield
it abundantly.

Resin is very common in the vegetable kingdom. One
of the most usual species is that afforded by the different
kinds of fir. When a portion of the bark is removed from
a fir-tree in spring, a matter exudes, which is called
turpentine. By heating this turpentine gently, a volatile
oil rises from it, known familiarly as“ spirit of turpentine.”
A more fixed substance remains, which is common yellow
resin. Resins are insoluble in water, but very soluble in
spirit of wine; in this respect reversing the character of
gum. Sandarac, copal, mastic, elemi, are resins obtained

i

218 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

from various trees; and the list is very numerous. Tar
and pitch principally consist of resin in a partially decom-
posed state. Tar is made by slowly burning the fir ; and
pitch, by the evaporation of the more volatile parts of tar.
One hundred parts of common resin contain 76 of carbon,
13 3-10ths of oxygen, and 10 7-10ths of hydrogen.

Waz is found in. a number of vegetables, from their
berries and the surfaces of their leaves. Its combustible
property, like that of resins, is well known. The wax of
the vegetable kingdom seems to be precisely of the same
nature as that afforded by the bee. Its constituents are,
carbon 81 '7-10ths, oxygen 5 1-2, hydrogen 12 6-10ths,
in 100 parts.

Fized oil is obtained by expression from seeds and fruits.
The olive, the almond, linseed, and rape-seed, afford the
most common vegetable fixed oils. Their common prop-
erties are well known. They are lighter than water ;
and many of them congeal at a lower temperature than
that at which water freezes. They all require, for their
evaporation, a higher temperature than that at which
water boils. The products of the combustion of oil are,
water and carbonic acid gas. The fixed oils are very
nutritive substances: they are of great importance in their
applications to the purposes of life. Fixed oil, in combi-
nation with soda, forms the finest kind of hard soap. Let
us compare the ultimate analysis of olive or vegetable
oil with that of spermaceti oil whichis of anvmal origin ;—

Oxtve O1L. SPERMACETI OIL.
Carbon ° A 77.2-10ths | Carbon : ‘ : 50
Oxygen ; : 9.4-10ths | Oxygen ‘ : ‘ 5
Hydrogen . 4 13.4-10ths | Hydrogen . with: 28 45

100 100

The greater proportion of hydrogen in spermaceti oil
renders it a fitter fluid for combustion in lamps than vege-
table fixed oils; but the ultimate composition of the two,
as far as the list of ingredients is concerned, is evidently
the same. |

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. 219

Hog’s lard, butter, spermaceti, may be regarded as
animal fixed oils.

Volatile, or essential otls, differ from fixed oils, in being
capable of evaporation by a much lower degree of heat.
Volatile oils give the peculiarity of odour to the pepper-
mint plant, to camomile, and numberless other shrubs and
trees ; existing in the flowers of some of them, and in the
leaves and inner bark of others. Thousands of minute
insects may usually be seen in the stalk and leaves of the
rose; but none of them are ever observed on the flower.
One reason for the existence of fragrant volatile oil in
plants may be, the preservation of the parts destined to
the propagation of the species from the destructive ravages
of insects and animalcule which feed on the bodies of
plants. So, those woods that contain aromatic oils are
remarkable for their indestructibility, as cedar, rose- wood,
and cypress. The volatile oils inflame with more facility
than fixed oils; and afford, by their combustion, different
proportions of the same substances—namely, water, car-
bonic acid, and charcoal or carbon. Volatile oils consist
of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen ; but, as yet,no accurate
experiments have decided their relative proportions.

The biééer principle is very extensively diffused in the
vegetable kingdom. It is found abundantly in the hop, in
the common broom, in camomile, and in quassia. The
natural bitter principle is of great importance in the art of
brewing. It checks fermentation, and preserves fermented
liquors, and doubtlessly plays an important part in the
healthy nutrition of the living vegetable. An intensively-
bitter substance is found in bile, or the fluid secreted by
the liver of animals. The gastric juice, or fluid secreted
by the stomach, is not only the principal solvent in
digestion, but has the same antiseptic property, or resists
putrefaction as strongly as the vegetable bitter. principle.

Systematic writers on chemistry have enumerated a long
list of proximate constituents, both of animal and vegetable
structure. Many of them, as we have seen, are but the
counterparts of each other. It is needless to specify them all.

220 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

The earths found in plants are four, all of them, as
previously related, of metallic origin. These are, 1st,
Silica, or the earth of flints, the base of which is the metal
silicon; 2d, Alumina, or pure clay, the base of which is
the metal aluminum; 3d, Lime, the metallic base of
which is calcium ; and, 4thly, Magnesia, the metallic base
of which is magnesium. All of these are similarly found
in animals ; among them, lime, most largely in their bones
and shells. Some insects are almost entirely composed of
silica : iron, existing in peat-mosses and in many vegeta-
bles, gives the red color to the blood. None of these
exist In a free or uncombined state, in either the vegetable
or animal world; most commonly in combination with
acids, of which we may observe, that some plants contain
free vegetable acids in large proportion, as the common
sorrel or sour-leaf. The applications of the vegetable
acids are well known. The agreeable taste and whole-
someness of various vegetable substances used as food,
materially depend upon the vegetable acid they contain.
Phosphoric acid (united to lime in bones) is found free in
the onion; and the sulphuric, muriatic, and nitric acids,
though they cannot with propriety be considered as
vegetable products, exist in many saline compounds, as
part of the inorganic constituents of plants as well as
animals. They are all variously compounded of carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen. Then, too, the saline compounds
found in plants correspond with many similar compounds
found in animals. Potash and soda, blended with acids,
are found in blood, in the various animal secretions, in the
leaves and stalks of vegetables ; sparingly in animal mat-
ter, very largely in sea-weed yielding soda, and in the
ashes of burnt wood yielding potash.

Plants, hike animals, are produced by ordinary genera-
tion ; and though we meet with various instances of pre-
duction by the generation of buds, and bulbs, or of slips
and offsets, the similarity, instead of being hereby dimin-
ished, is only drawn the closer ; for we meet with just as
many instances of the same variety of propagation among

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. 221

animals. Many species of worms are capable of increase
by buds, bulbs, or offsets ; and some of these animals, like
the house-leek and various grasses, by spontaneous
separation. A twig of myrtle will live and grow, if placed
in the ground, because it contains in itself all the parts of
a perfect plant; but that is independent of the provision
nature has made for the propagation of the plant naturally,
from the seed buried in the earth. Something approaching
very closely to the character of a sexual, or reproductive
system of organs, is visible in the flowers of plants. The
pistil is the organ which contains the rudiments of the
seed ; but the seed is never formed, asa reproductive germ,
without the influence of the pollen, or dust on the anthers.
This mysterious impression is necessary to the continued
succession of the different vegetable tribes. It is a
feature which extends the resemblances of animal and
vegetable existence, and establishes, on a great scale, the
beautiful analogy of nature. Seeds which are shed devoid
of this fructifying dust, are precisely analogous to eggs
over which the influence of the male bird has neverbeen
exerted. Vitality is therefore essential to the germina-
tion of seeds: life will remain dormant, inert for an
indefinite period,—and then change its form into that of
active vitality, if that seed be placed under the action of
moisture, heat, and air. So that the scriptural inquiry,
“ How can a seed quicken, unless it die?’ is not to be
taken as the enunciation of a scientific truth, but as an
illustration drawn from the ordinary apprehensions of man-
kind.

The utmost period of time to which seeds may be kept,
and be enabled to retain their life, and, consequently, their
power of growth, has not been accurately determined ; but
we have proofs enough to show that the duration may be
very long. A paper of melon seeds, found in the year
1762 in a cabinet of Lord Mortimer, and apparently
collected in 1660, were then sown, and produced excellent
fruit; and, more latterly, seeds buried in the ruins of
Herculaneum, and others brought from Egypt,—found in

222 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

the tombs that are more ancient than the time of Moses,
—have been proved to retain their vitality. Animal seeds,
or, more properly, Eccs, when perfectly impregnated,
appear capable of preservation quite as long. This inert
condition of seeds is not unlike what occurs in the hollows
of our waste lands, in reference to animal matter. When
those have been for some time filled with stagnant water,
we not unfrequently find minute eels, minnows, and water-
insects there, and wonder how they could get into such a
situation. But the mud which has been emptied out of a
fish-pond has been, perhaps, thrown into these very
hollows; or the eggs of the animals or insects have been
carried, mixed with other materials, into the same_place,
and then waiting, it may be, year after year, the acciden-
tal, yet necessary, circumstances of warmth, water, light,
and air, they have been stimulated to active life. One
species of locust appears, 7 numbers, only once in seven-
teen years: and the palmer-worm once only, in similar
numbers, in thirty years. Something analogous to this
occurs in reference to various species of grub and fly,
as observed by practical farmers; and the reason of it
is, that the integument, or outer covering, of many minute
ova, ensures their protection and their vitality dyring long
periods. The eggs of the gad-fly could never be hatched
on the horse’s back: their covering preserves them entire
aud vital, till, by the itching sensation their presence
excites, the animal is tempted to lick the spot, and so
convey them to his stomach, the only place where it is
destined they should come to maturity. Numberless small
fish are seen in the salt-pans at a village in Hesse
Darmstadt: the ova of these fish have been conveyed there
by birds, and, it so happens, are deposited in a place where
the necessary conditions exist for their development. _
The essential difference between the egg of a barndoor
fowl, and the ovum, or egg, which ultimately becomes a
calf, a foal, or a human being, is, that the one, after the
stimulus of impregnation has been applied to it by the male,
comes to maturity within the body of its parent; in the

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. 223

other instance, it is hatched after its expulsion. In fish and
in frogs, the spawn, or ova, is first expelled, then the male
passes over it. The seeds of plants are exactly analogous
to eggs; in ordinary instances the germs and the fecun-
dating material which ensures reproduction, being both
found in the same flower, and, of course, attached to the
same stalk. The various species of fruzé are but contri-
vances for the shelter and preservation of seeds, as the
pippins of the apple, or of the orange and lemon; these,
when fully ripe, left to themselves, would fall, become
rotten, or, in other words, subjected to common chemical
agencies and exposing the seed within, form, in the first
instance, a manuring material for the perpetuation of the
plant or tree which had yielded it.

Plants derive all their sustenance from the spot on which
they are placed; and, solely for this reason, are not
provided with a peculiarity which distinguishes animals,
namely, a set of moveable levers or bones, destined to carry
them about from place to place in quest of food, and of
muscles, or red, fleshy, contractile organs, intended to act
upon those passive levers: and yet there are some plants
that seem fairly entitled to the character of locomotive or
migratory. A familiar instance of this occurs in the
strawberry genus: such plants grow from a new bulb, or
knob, or radicle, while the old root dies away; in con-
sequence of which, we can only conclude, that the living
principle of the plant has quitted an old, decayed, and
ruinous mansion, to take possession of a new one; so
much so, that were a person to plant the orchis, or the
devil’s-bit, in his garden, and to search for it in the same
spot, after an interval of seven years, he would find it
several hundred yards from the spot where he had plant-
ed it.

There are some creatures that throw off their outer
covering annually: so the shrubby cinquefoil, indigenous
to Yorkshire; and other plants and trees, which, sending
forth, every spring, new colonies, by means of runners
(as we call them), shortly obtain a settlement for

224 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

themselves, and break off all connection with the parent
stock. “4

The blood of plants, like that of animals, is of an
extremely compound character. If blood be allowed to
stand in a vessel, it soon separates into a clot, and a fluid
in which that clot floats. Each of these is, again, divisible
into several other matters. So with the fluid that circu-
lates in the vessels of a tree. And, as from blood the
various dissimilar solid and fluid secretions and excretions
are formed, building up the animal fabric,—as bone,
muscle, bile, urine, jelly,—so, from this common current
of vitality, the sap, plants, like animals, secrete a variety
of substances of different, and frequently of opposite powers
and qualities—substances nutritive, medicinal, or destruc-
tive. The flesh of the viper is healthful, his poison is
deadly ; the root of the Indian cassava is poisonous, its
leaves are eaten as ordinary food. Every one is familiar
with the fact, that some of our domesticated animals will
eat with impunity vegetables that would be poisonous to
others. Then, too, how closeis the analogy between the tor-
pidity of the squirrel, or the dormouse, or the swallow, * du-
ring the winter, and that of deciduous plants during the same
season: we know, that if proper care be exercised, they
may be removed in, that state without endangering their
vitality. Many animals are amphibious—they can live
equally well on land or in the water; and the vegetable
world is not without illustrations of a similar power.
Indeed, the instances of resemblance between animal and
vegetable life are innumerable. Some vegetables, like a
few birds, more insects, and most of our forest beasts,
appear to sleep through the day, and become active at
night ; while the greater number of them, like the great

* Tt is a mere fable that the squirrel and swallow become torpid
during the winter. We have seen the former, hundreds of times
frolicking in the liveliest manner in the forests, in the coldest weather
in winter, as high up as the latitude of 43°; and as to the latter, it
migrates tothe south in the autumn like our other summer birds.—
Amer. Ep. :

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. 225

majority of animals, fold or hang their leaves at sunset,
and appear invigorated with the return of morning. Like
animals, the duration of their existence is equally various.

We have already observed, that plants and animals
convert the materials of nutriment they receive into their
own substance precisely by the same agency, and that
there is no essential difference between the ultemate
composition of the requisite materials in either instance.
If this be so, as in the further progress of this inquiry we
shall unquestionably prove, it would be fair to expect that
the digestive organs of animals,—in fact, all that is con-
nected with reproduction and growth,—have their coun-
terpart in plants; and such is actually the case. Let us
briefly review the anatomy, or organized structure, of a
plant, and compare that structure with the anatomy of a
horse.

Every plant, examined as to external structure, dis-
plays, at least, four systems of organs, or some analogous
part. First, the Root ; Secondly, the Trunk and Branches,
or Stem; Thirdly, the Leaves ; and, Fourthly, the
Flowers or Seeds.

The stem of any tree consists of the pith in the centre,
the wood surrounding the pith, and the bark which covers
the whole. A tree completely divested of bark, is precisely
in the predicament of an animal deprived of its hide. The
pith consists of bundles of minute hollow tubes, or vessels
arranged horizontally; the wood and inner bark, of long
tubes or vessels bound together in a vertical position, so as
to be capable of carrying vegetable blood up and down
between the roots and leaves. When a piece of wood is
sawn across, the cut ends of these tubes are as distinctly
perceptible as the divided arteries and veins in the stump of
an amputated limb. Branches are only prolongations of
the stem, and have the same character.

The bark of the stem and root 1s divisible, like the
covering of animals, into epidermis (analogous to the
scarf skin which rises over a blister), and true skin, or
inner bark, which alone is vascular and vital. In forest

226 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

trees, and in the larger shrubs, the bodies of which are
firm, the outer bark, epidermis, or scarf skin, is a part of
little importance ; but in reeds, grasses, and plants having
hollow stalks, as wheat and oats, it is of great use, and is
exceedingly strong, from the provision of its containing
siliceous earth, or ‘the oxide ofa metal, as already stated.
The analogy between this contrivance and the shell of the
lobster, or the covering of insects, is very obvious.

As the root tapers away, the pith gradually disappears,
the bark thins out, the wood softens, till the white ten-
drils, of which its extremities are composed, consist only
of a colorless, spongy mass, in which the vessels or tubes
that carry on the circulation lose themselves.

The leaf is an expansion of the twig. Each separate
leaf is precisely analogous in its action to the gills of a
fish, or the lungs of an ox, or of a human being. The
fibres which are seen to branch out from the base over the
inner surface of the leaf, are prolongations of the vessels
of the wood, precisely as the lung of an animal is but an
outspread division of blood-vessels. A powerful sucking
and forcing pump called the heart, is essential to drive
human blood along Jarge vessels to its ultimate division ;
but the vessels of “plants are capillary, that is, hair-like,
exceedingly minute, and therefore a central power or heart
is not necessary. So there are capillary vessels in animals,
and there the action of the heart is not so sensibly felt.
Their minuter blood-vessels are believed by some to be
contractile. The green exterior portion of the leaf is a
continuation of the inner bark, and communicates directly
with its vessels. Most of the vessels of the living plant
are full of sap or vegetable blood in almost continual
motion. In spring and autumn the motion is more rapid ;
in winter it is sometimes scarcely perceptible. From the
spongy part of the root the sap ascends through the vessels
of the wood in virtue of that capillary attraction already
adverted to, until it is diffused over the inner surface of the
leaf. By the vessels in the green of the leaf it is returned
to the bark, and through the vessels of the inner bark it is

i

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. 227

returned to the root. In man and four-footed animals the
blood is driven from the heart along the arteries, and
returns back by the veins; but previously to being sent
along the circulation a second time, it is driven into the
lungs, is there subjected to the action of the air, (whence
the necessity for breathing), and then, returned to the
other side of the heart, is again fitted to recommence its
journey. Animals derive a considerable: portion of their
nutriment from the change effected on the air by the
action of the lungs: something is absorbed as well as
given out. The leaves of plants perform the same office.
In the sunshine, the leaves are continually absorbing car-
bonic acid as well as other matters from the air, and giv-
ing out oxygen gas. In breathing, carbonic acid is given
off, and not triflingly. The air becomes instantly poison-
ous, if that gas accumulate as rapidly as it did when some
hundreds of our brave countrymen were pent up in the
confined space of the ‘ black-hole”’ at Calcutta. The
leaves, then, are continually appropriating carbon, the
basis of charcoal, from the atmosphere. When night
comes, this process ceases, and they begin to absorb oxygen
and give off carbonic acid. Hence the mischief of placing
large plants, in great numbers, in bedrooms. It would
result from the above arrangement, that plants grow very
little, perhaps not at all, during the night. Now, during
the summer months when they are provided with leaves,
the days are long, the nights short : in winter, when plants
are torpid or stationary, the nights are long, and the day
comparatively brief. Sunshine is necessary, in order to
enable plants to decompose carbonic acid and appropriate
the carbon. It is owing to this law, that in the cold nor-
thern regions where, in their highest latitudes, the sun
once risen never sets again during the whole of their short
summer, vegetation almost rushes up from the soil ; almost
literally, plants may be seen to grow. The green leaves
are continually gaining from the air and never losing ;
ever taking in and never giving off carbon, since no dark-
ness interrupts or suspends their labors.

298 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

Every child is led to regard the root of a plant as the
organ from which the vegetable grows ; not merely as
attaching it in the erect position to the spot, but as forming
the medium of communication between all that is above
ground, and the food the soil is supposed to yield. But it
is not so obvious to us, who, in many senses, are but chil-
dren of a larger growth, that the leaves of an oak or an
ash spread their broad leaves into the air for the very same
purpose as the roots diffuse their fibres through the soil.
The only difference is, that while the roots absorb chiefly
liquid, the leaves inhale almost solely gaseous food. The
human lungs expose the blood to air just as, in the leaf,
the sap is submitted to the same agency; and in each in-
stance there is a double use to which these organs are des-
tined: they not only change the character of the circulat-
ing fluid, but permit, by the decomposition of air, the
absorption of some of its elements as food for the animal
or plant. So that, in truth, we live and are nourished
partly upon the air we breathe, and so is a cabbage upon
the atmosphere it decomposes. If the experiment be
—repeated—it has often succeeded—that of burying the
branches of certain trees in the soil and elevating the roots
in the atmosphere, turning the vegetable upside down—
there is as it were an inversion of its functions—the roots
will produce buds and leaves, and the branches shoot out
into root-like fibres and tubes. The experiment succeeds
well with the willow.

Though plants give out in the night carbonic acid, this
process does not go on so rapidly, or to such an extent, as
to destroy the balance in their favor of what has been.
absorbed during the day. The quantity absorbed through
the leaves varies with the season, the climate, and the
kind of tree; it is also modified by the nature of the soil.
It has been ascertained, however, that in our climate, on
an average not less than from one-third to three-fourths of
the entire quantity of carbon contained in the crops ‘we
reap from land of average fertility, or (pretty nearly) the

-
ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. 229

amount of charcoal a burnt hay-stack would yield, 1s
really obtained from the air.

The varied and equally important uses of a leaf appear,
to the contemplative mind, singularly beautiful.

‘‘In human works, though labored on with pain,
A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain;
In God’s, one, single, can its ends produce,
Yet serves to second, too, some other use.”

Then, too, the contrivance of so many expanded leaves!
The air contains only one gallon of carbonic acid in every
2500 ; and this fortunately, rather we ought to say design-
edly, only in a state of mixture, not of combination, with
the elements of the atmosphere, and therefore more easily
separable; were the proportion larger, it would prove
poisonous to the animals that live in it, deriving also a
portion of their nourishment from another element of the
atmosphere equally essential to plants. Now, in order to
catch this minute quantity of carbonic acid, the tree hangs
out thousands of square feet of leaf, in perpetual motion
through the ever-moving air; and thus by the conjoined
labors of millions of pores, the substance of whole forests
of solid wood is slowly extracted from the fleeting winds.
Is not this wonderful! Green stems, and stalks of grasses,
absorb carbonic acid as the leaf does; and thus a larger
supply is afforded when the growth is most rapid, or when
the short life of the annual plant demands much nourish-
ment in a limited time. The slender and comparatively
dry leaves of the pine and the cedar perform the same
functions as the large and juicy leaves of the fig-tree, the
cabbage, the walnut, or the rhubarb plant. That plants
derive so large a proportion of their nutriment not from
the soil, but from the air, is evident from observing the
habitudes of many found in hot climates, which refuse to
vegetate except in a soil so dusty that no moisture can be
extracted from it, and perish if water be ignorantly supplied
to them. A well-known Jamaica shrub was long propa-
gated in our own stoves by cuttings, which though freely
watered, could never be made to produce any signs of

230 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

flowers or fruit, notwithstanding that the cuttings were
several feet in length every season. By accident, a pot
with young cuttings was mislaid and forgotten in the royal
garden, and having no water given it, it was thereby
reduced to its healthy dryness, and then every extremity
was seen to produce a flower. It is an opinion common
to many able men of the present day, that many plants
derive the whole of their support from the surrounding
atmosphere ; if this be true of some, it is partially true of
all, and must very materially modify all our plans intended
to increase the product of the soil. There are, we say,
some plants which have no root whatever, as in the prick-
ly-pear or Indian fig ; many are attached only to the hard
surface of a stone, and propagate their kinds by off-sets,
without any other vegetable organs. Now, there are some
quadrupeds that appear to derive nourishment in the same
way. The sloth never drinks: it imbibes moisture by its
skin, it trembles at the feeling of rain; so the olive cavy,
and the ostrich, are noted by the Arabs as avoiding water,
and yet these creatures are as juicy and well supplied with
fluids as any with which we are acquainted.

If leaves are necessary for the existence of the indivi-
dual tree, the FLOWERS are necessary as generative organs
for the continuation of the species. Even in that class of.
plants where no flowers are distinct, still there is every
reason to believe that the production of the seed is effected
in the same way as in other plants. Mosses and lichens,
which belong to this family, have no distinct roots, but
they are furnished with filaments which perform the same
functions ; and even in mushrooms there is a system for
the absorption and exposure of the sap to the air. Of all
parts of plants the flowers are most refined, the most beau-
tiful in their structure, and appear as the master-work of
nature in the vegetable kingdom. The elegance of their
tints, the variety of their forms, the delicacy of their orga-
nization, and the adaptation of their parts, are all caleu-
lated to awaken our curiosity and excite our admiration.
The ancients had observed, that different date-trees bore

‘

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. Zae

different flowers ; and that those trees producing flowers,
containing in their centre organs termed by botanists
“ mistils,”’ bore no fruit unless in the immediate neighbor-
hood of such trees as produced flowers differently arranged
in their central structure, and containing “ stamens.”’? The
great naturalist, Linnzus, has arranged the whole Vege-
table Kingdom into twenty-four classes, as deducible from
the nwmbers of these sexual organs in each flower. The
numbers of the stamens and piséils in each, their arrange-
ments, or their division, are the circumstances which guided
him, and enabled him to forma system of botany admira-
bly adapted to assist the memory, and denoting well the
analogies of all the essential parts of plants.

The Seep, the last production of vigorous vegetation, is
wonderfully diversified in form. Being that part which is
of the highest, importance, it 1s found defended above all
other parts of the plant; sometimes by soft pulpy sub-
stances, in addition to a hard shell, as in apricots and
plums; by thick membranes, as in common garden peas
and beans; by hard shells, or a thick coating, as in corn
and grasses. So, similarly, the eges of the ostrich, which
are destined to be hatched by the sun in the sand where
they are deposited, are invested with a strong shell, not
firmer, comparatively, than the encasement surrounding
every one of the myriads of ova or eggs in the roe of a
codfish or herring. If we were to pursue the analogy
more closely still, between the structure of a grain of
wheat and that of the egg of a bird or the ovum of a
quadruped, we should find the parallelism singularly mi-
nute and exact; but this is the province of the physiolo-
gist: it is enough for our purpose to cite a familiar illus-
tration. When potatoes are cut in pieces for seed, every
gardener knows that, if each separate piece have not an
*‘eye”’ upon it, the fragment will not grow. If it vegetate,
it will be from that living spot or “ eye’:’”’ the remainder
will serve to minister nutriment to the infant plant before
it can pierce the soil; it will strike upwards and down-
wards; the original bit of potato will be absorbed, or

232 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

perish. So, a common garden bean is divisible into two
equal halves or lobes, which form the organ of nourish-
ment; but the young plant springs not from these, but
from the plume or small white point between their upper
parts, and the young root is found like a small curved cone
at the other end of the seed. In wheat, and many grasses,
the organ of nourishment is not divisible as in a bean;
but the same principle holds true not only of all seeds, but
of bird eggs, and the rudimentary ova of all animals.

CHAPTER IV.

Of the Elementary Composition of WATER; of the Composition of the
ATMOSPHERE; and of the artificial Application of Water to Grass
Lands.

WE have already traced some of the more prominent
analogies obviously existing between vegetables regarded
as alive, and animals. We have shown that the ultimate,
and many of the proximate, elements of both are the same.
—that they are nourished or destroyed by the same agen-
cies. Before we describe minutely the nature of the pro-
cess of nutrition and growth, it is necessary to understand
the chemical composition of the ATMosPHERE, which is re-
lated similarly to lungs as to leaves; and of waTER, neces-
sary alike to plants as to animals.

If one measure of hydrogen gas, and half as much oxy-
gen gas, or, by weight, eight grains of oxygen gas, and
one grain of hydrogen, be mixed in a dry glass over mer-
cury, and the mixture set on fire, the result will be the
formation of pure water. So water is formed, and is some-
times seen collected, from the burning of the common car-
buretted hydrogen, in the street or shop gas-lamps: the
effect being nothing more nor less than the combination of
the oxygen of the air with the burning hydrogen. Water

COMPOSITION OF AIR AND WATER. 933

is the result of their union, and combustion, or burning,
EFFECTS that union. The gas in the pipes would not,
could not, burn, if a free supply of air, or rather of oxygen,
contained in that air, were cut off; and water is the pro-
puct of their union. So that perfectly pure water is,
chemically speaking, not a simple undecompounded ele-
ment, but a compound of two elements—orygen and hy-
drogen ; both of which, as elements, enter largely into the
composition of both animal and vegetable matter. Oil and
fat owe their utility in yielding light in lamps to the pre-
sence of hydrogen. Its presence causes turpentine and
resin to blaze and burn readily; while oxygen is equally
an ultimate ingredient in all vegetable and animal sub-
stances. These details may appear scientific; but the
action of manure is not to be understood without them, or
rather, the nature of vegetable and animal growth, and all
that favors or retards it.

The purest NaTURAL water we can obtain is procured by
melting snow, or collecting rain-water, in stations distant
from the smoke of a town. If pure water be requisite for
the experiments of a chemist, it is generally obtained by
distilling rain-water in glass vessels,—that is, raising it
into steam by heat, then allowing that steam to condense,
by passing it through cold pipes. The characters of abso-
lutely pure water are—that it is perfectly transparent and
colorless, limpid, not sparkling, insipid, unpleasant, and
sickly to the taste, and is lighter than common river or
spring water. One hundred cubic inches of water weigh
2521 erains; it is 828 times heavier than air; and when
expanded into steam, occupies 1700 times its previous
space. Steam is not nearly so heavy as the air. Water
readily absorbs many gases: what is called soda-water,
is water impregnated with fixed air, or carbonic acid gas.
It absorbs ammoniacal gas readily in large quantities,
forming what is sold in the shops as spirit of hartshorn.

Of the constitution of Sea Warer, the proportions and
nature of its saline ingredients, one of their final uses in
vegetation, and especially the relatively large proportion

12

234 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

of carbonic acid it contains, we will speak, when adverling
to the necessity and wisdom of such arrangement.

Neither is the arMosPHERE animals breathe and decom-
pose, and in which living plants carry on analogous ope-
rations, a simple element. ir is a compound of two
gases, oxygen and nitrogen, in the proportion of two parts
of nitrogen to one of oxygen. 100 cubic inches of. air
weigh 30 grains. The atmospheric pressure of the air
upon the earth’s surface, at the level of the sea, is equal
to a weight of 15 pounds upon every square inch, and is
capable of supporting a column of water 34 feet hgh, or
of mercury, 30 inches. For this reason, a pump will not
work if the depth of the shaft be greater than 34 feet ; and
the height to which the quicksilver will rise in the weather-
glass, always corresponds to the pressure of the atmos-
phere; that is to say, the weight of the mercury in the
tube is exactly equal to the weight of a column of air the
same thickness, only the height of the atmosphere. The
air receives its heat entirely from the earth: hence the
phenomena of cold which we perceive the higher we as-
cend from the earth’s surface.

If water be passed through a red-hot gun-barrel, it will
be decomposed ; its oxygen will unite with the metal, its
hydrogen will escape, and may be collected in the form of
a gas, and preserved in a bladder. Many similar experi-
ments demonstrate the composition of water. It may be
made, in fact 7s made, in almost every instance where a
combustible body unites with the oxygen of the air: it
may be separated into its elements,—uwnmade, so to speak,
by a variety of processes. Synthesis is the term chemists
apply to the former, analysis, to the latter mode of de-
monstrating its composition.

Now, it 1s most materially important, in connection with
our future inquiries, to observe, that there are other matters,
not essential to the composition either of air or water, that
IN NATURE are always found mechanically mixed up or as-
sociated with each, and this as an express provision for the
sustenance of animals and plants.

COMPOS?TION OF AIR AND WATER. 235

The atmosphere is not compounded purely of oxygen
and nitrogen: it contains carbonic acid and watery vapor.

The proportion of carbonic acid in the atmosphere may
be regarded as equal nearly to one part in a thousand, es-
timated by weight. The quantity varies according to the
seasons, but the yearly average remains continually the
same.

And the rain that descends from the clouds contains
ammonia, one of the elements of which, as previously
stated, is nitrogen. Experiments confirm the theory upon
which the presence of ammonia in rain-water might rea-
sonably be expected. If a few hundred pounds of rain-
water be carefully subjected to distillation, and the first
two or. three pounds evaporated, with the addition of a
little muriatic acid, a very distinct crystallization of mu-
riate of ammonia, or sal ammoniac, may be obtained,
which crystals have a brownish-yellow color. Ifa little
sulphuric or muriatic acid be added to a quantity of rain-
water, and the mixture boiled to dryness, the ammonia
remains as the residue, in combination with the acid em-
ployed; and it may be detected by the addition of a little
powdered lime, which, combining with the acid, sets the
ammonia free, and is recognized by its pungent smell. The
sensation which is perceived upon moistening the hand
with rain-water, so different from that produced by wash-
ing it in pure distilled water, and to which the term soft-
ness is applied, is owing to the presence of carbonate of
ammonia 1n rain water.

How this ammonia is generated in rain-water, the im-
portance and utility of the fact, and the uses of carbonic
acid in the atmosphere, are matters so closely identified
with living processes in animals and plants, that we must
here simply confine ourselves to the statement. We have
now the preliminary materials for the examination of nu-
tritive actions. When these, as they exist naturally, are
understood, we shall be able to say what are those sub-
stances called rertTiLizine, which may be useful in given
instances as manure, whether their application may be

236 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

suitable or injurious; just as a knowledge of anatomy and
physiology is necessary to the physician who would amend
the diseased conditions of the body. He must know what
is the nature of healthy and ordinary action in the living
frame, before he can understand and alter diseased action.

The artificial application of water in large quantities to
the land, is a subject well understood, and its effects accu-
rately marked and recognized in many parts of the world
that have been regarded as strictly agricultural localities
during a long succession of ages. Irrigation is, in truth,
a mode of applying the weakest of liquid manures, on a
very bold scale, to grass-lands. Almost every farmer has
a mode of accounting for the highly-fertilizing effects of
irrigation. Davy added another to the list of explanations.
He thought that a winter-flooding protected the grass from
the injurious effects of the frost. He examined, with a
thermometer, and with his usual address, the water-mea-
dows near Hungerford, in Berkshire, and ascertained that
the temperature of the soil was ten degrees higher than the
surface of the water, and that, too, on a frosty March morn-
ing. He remarked, also, a fact that most farmers will con-
firm, that those waters which breed the best fish are ever
the best fitted for watering meadows. He appears, how-
ever, never to have steadily investigated the chemical com-
position of river-water with regard to its uses in irrigation ;
and in consequence, he knew little of the value of some of
its impurities to vegetation. Thus, if the river-water con-
tains gypsum (sulphate of lime), which it certainly does
if the water is hard, it must, under ordinary circumstances,
on this account alone, be highly fertilizing to meadows,
since the grasses contain this salt in very sensible propor- .
tions. Calculating that one part of sulphate of lime is
contained in every two thousand parts of the river-water,
and that every square yard of dry meadow-soil absorbs
only eight gallons of water, then it will be found, that by
every flooding, more than one hundred weight and a half
of gypsum per acre is diffused through the soil in the water;
a quantity equal to that generally adopted by those who
spread gypsum on their clover, lucern, and sainfoin crops

COMPOSITION OF AIR AND WATER. 237

as a manure, either in a state of powder, or as it exists in
peat-ashes.

And, if we apply the same calculation to the organic
substances ever more or less contained in flood waters, and
if we allow only 25 parts of animal and vegetable remains
to be present in a thousand parts of river-water, then we
shall find, taking the same data, that every soaking with
such water will add to the meadow nearly two tons per
acre of animal and vegetable matters; which, allowing in
the case of water meadows five floodings per annum, is
equal to a yearly application of ten tons of organic matter.
The quantity of foreign substances present in river-water,
although commonly less, yet very often exceeds the pro-
portion we have calculated to exist.*

* As the introduction of water meadows would be of inestimable
value to our country, we here give an extract from Vol. I. of the Ame-
rican Agriculturist on this subject :— ~

«¢ All who have ever heard of the overflowings of the Nile, or passed
up the magnificent valley of the Connecticut, along the banks of the
Genesee, and the wide-spread delta of the Mississippi, and hundreds of
others of our rivers, cannot but have noticed the surprising fertility
given to the land, in consequence of the annual rise of their waters,
and the deposite from the enriching sediment; it is to avail themselves
of something like the advantages of these great overflowings, on a
small scale, from their own little rivers, that the English landholders
have constructed their water meadows, and in some instances have
gone to a very great expense in so doing. It is computed that there
are at least 70,000 acres of water meadows in Gloucestershire, Berks,
Wilts and Hants, which have been made at an expense of from 51. to
451. per acre, the average not being less perhaps than 15/. or say $75
per acre. Johnson asserts, that in 1821 forty acres of the Freegate
Whins, ten of which were made from a poor sandy soil, thrown up by
the sea in the vicinity of Edinburgh, cost 1000/., and let for about 6001.
per annum, and are in a constant state of improvement. The Craig-
intinny meadows, near the same place, let for 201. to 30/. per acre per
annum, while “in 1826, part of the Earl of Moray’s meadow fetched
571. ($275) per acre per annum.” But it must be recollected that
these are in the vicinity of a large town, where the grass is cut daily,
and carried in fresh, and retailed at high prices for soiling. In no
other way could these meadows command such exorbitant rents. They
yield four to five crops of grass every season, which, if dried, it is esti-
mated would nearly equal two tons in weight at each cutting. But the
water used here for overflowing is unusually rich, it receiving the wash
of all the sewers of this large town, and hence their greatly increased
fertilizing effects.”—-Am. Ep.

238 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

There is no stream more celebrated for its prolific water
meadows than the Itchen in Hampshire; and in no part of
England is the system of irrigation better understood and
more zealously followed. The water of this river, taken
from above the city of Winchester, contains in 10,000
parts, after all its mechanically suspended matters have
subsided, about 2.2-3d parts, namely—

Organic matter . . . . . . 0.02 parts
Carbonate of lime (chalk) . . 1.89
Sulphate of lime (gypsum) . . 0.72
Muriate of soda (common salt) . 0.01

The water of lakes is usually still more surcharged with
foreign substances than those of rivers; and, from the use
of such waters, especially if an occasional or winter stream
of water passes through them, we have witnessed great
fertilizing effects produced on meadow land.

CHAPTER V.

Of the Nature of Vegetable Growth; the true use of Vegetable Mould
or Humus; and of the Sources of the Elementary Constituents of
Plants.

From the facts detailed in the foregoing chapters, the
development or nutrition and growth of a plant requires
the presence, first, of substances yielding carbon and nitro-
gen as elements to the growing structure; secondly, of
water, furnishing in itself two very important elements,
namely, orygen and hydrogen, besides adventitious matters ;
and lastly, a soil, to yield the saline, earthy, metallic, or
other inorganic materials essential to vegetable life.

The fertility of every soil is generally supposed to depend
on the presence in it of a peculiar substance, named “ hu-
mus.’ This substance, incorrectly supposed to form the
principal nutriment of plants, and to be extracted from
them by the soil in which they grow, is nothing more than
vegetable mould, the product of the decay of other plants.

NATURE OF VEGETABLE GROWTH. 239

Adherence to the above incorrect opinion, has hitherto
rendered it impossible for the true theory of the nutritive
process in vegetables to become known, and has thus de-
prived us of our best guide to a rational practice in agri-
culture. Any great improvement in that most important
of all arts, is inconceivable without a deeper and more per-
fect acquaintance with the substances which really nourish
plants, and with the sources whence they are derived. It
was supposed that by the aid of water “ humus’’ is ren-
dered capable of being absorbed by the roots of plants. If
it be, it must be in some altered form; for if a portion of
good mould be long subjected to the action of water, that
fluid will not dissolve more than a hundred-thousandth part
of its weight, and contain only soluble organic matters, and
the salts which are contained in the rain-water which has
fallen upon it. Decayed oak wood, beech, and fir, yield
the same results.

Let us inquire whence the grass in a meadow, or the
wood in a forest, receives the carbon essential to the for-
mation of that woopy Fire constituting the principal
weight and solid bulk of the tree or plant. Whole tracts
of open country in the green wilds of America, immense
woods and forests in all parts of the world, receive no
carbon in the form of manure; how does it happen that
the soil, instead of being exhausted through the annual
production of vegetation for ages, becomes every year
richer in carbon? In other words, a certain quantity of
carbon is taken every year from an unmanured forest or
meadow, in the form of growing wood or grasses ; and in
spite of this, the quantity of carbon in the soil augments ;
it becomes richer in vegetable mould, in humus—so much
so, that in process of time it will not support the trees
which stood upon it: they fall, and the surface becomes a
peat moss, burying huge trunks in its bosom.* Plants

* This isa great mistake on the part of the author in regard to
American forests. We scarcely know of a single instance of their
becoming a peat moss; on the contrary, they almost universally retain
their original character.—AmeER. Ep.

240 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

give back more carbon to the soil than they take from it ;
it is evident, then, that their growth must depend on the
reception of carbon as food from another quarter. It is
not denied that manure, rightly chosen and applied, exerts
an influence upon the growth of plants; but it neither
serves for the production of the carbonaceous woody fibre,
nor has any influence upon it, because we find that the
quantity of carbon produced by manured land is not greater
than that yielded by lands which are not manured. The
discussion as to what manure really produces, has nothing
to do with the present question, which is, the origin of the
carbon as the principal element of the woody fibre. It
must be derived from other sources; and as the soil does
not yield it, we are driven to look for it in the atmosphere.

Now, we have already stated that the air contains car-
bonic acid; and if the reason of its presence there be not,
that it may yield carbon to plants, what other use can be
assigned to it? Animals do not derive their chief suste-
nance from the air: to them pure and unmixed carbonic
acid is poisonous; though taken into the stomach it is
grateful. Besides, we know it to be a fact, that during
the sunshine of day the leaves of plants are continually
absorbing this very gas, and giving out oxygen; and if
not for their nutrition and growth, for what other purpose ?
Carbonic acid being a compound of carbon and oxygen,
they retain the carbon and give out the oxygen. This has
been long known; but it is only a recent discovery, that
the sole source of woody fibre is the atmosphere.

Mould, or humus, can only arise from the decay of
plants. No primitive mould can have existed ; for plants
must have preceded the mould, which this theory assumes
as necessary to their existence. Whence, then, did the
first vegetables derive their carbon, if not, as now, from
the surrounding air? We shall arrive at satisfactory con-
clusions respecting the mode in which animal, as well as
vegetable, life and nutrition are maintained, by observing
how the uninterrupted uniformity of proportion is secured
in the quantities of the elements composing the atmosphere.

NATURE OF VEGETABLE GROWTH. 241

How does it happen that, with such an immense expendi-
ture of oxygen as occurs in the combustion of countless
millions of tons of coal, and in the consumption of that gas
in the lungs of the myriads of creatures that live on the
earth’s surface, still the composition of the atmosphere is
invariably the same ?

The answer to this question depends upon another.
What becomes of the carbonic acid which is produced by
the breathing of animals, and in every instance where a
combustible body is burnt? There is no change of
volume; for the oxygen extracted from the atmosphere
by a coal fire is replaced by the same bulk of carbonic
acid, and similarly in every breath we draw. The immense
masses of carbonic acid which flow into the atmosphere
from so many causes ought perceptibly, after 6000 years,
to increase its quantity.

A cause must exist which prevents the increase of car-
bonic acid, by removing that which is continually forming ;
and there must be some means of replacing the oxygen
which is removed from the air by combustion, breathing,
and putrefaction.

Both these causes are united and displayed in the pro-
cess of vegetable as well as of animal life. The facts we
have already stated prove that the woody fibre, or carbon
of plants, must be derived exclusively from the atmosphere.
Now carbon exists in the air only in the form of carbonic
acid, and, therefore, in a state of combination with oxygen.

Besides, as. already stated, carbon and the elements of
water form the principal constituents of vegetables. Now,
the proportion of oxygen in the whole mass of a plant is
less than in carbonic acid. It is, therefore, certain that
plants must possess the power of decomposing carbonic
acid, since they appropriate the carbon for their own use.
The formation of woody fibre, gum, starch, and the various
substances containing carbon—that taken together com-
pose a plant—must necessarily be attended with the sepa-
ration of the carbon of the carbonic acid in the air from
the oxygen of that acid. This oxygen is returned to the

12

942 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

atmosphere, as experiment and observation prove, though
its source is only just understood. And the carbon enters
into composition with water, or its elements in the plant.
The atmosphere must thus receive a volume of oxygen for
every volume of carbonic acid which has been abstracted
from it and decomposed. The leaves and green parts of
a plant emit an equal quantity of oxygen in exchange for
the carbonic acid they absorb, and they will do this even
when torn from the stem on which they were just growing.
Each acre of land which produces eight hundred weight
of carbon (say woody fibre) gives annually to the atmo-
sphere about two thousand six hundred pounds of free
oxygen gas; so that an acre of meadow, wood, or culti-
vated land, replaces, therefore, in the atmosphere as much
oxygen as 1s exhausted by eight hundred weight of carbon,
either in its ordinary destruction by burning, or in the
action of the lungs of animals.

Plants not only separate all noxious matters from the
air,—they form, by this arrangement, an inexhaustible
source of pure oxygen to supply that loss the air is con-
stantly sustaining. Animals, on the other hand, throw off
carbon from their lungs, which plants take in by their
leaves; and thus the composition, or the relative propor-
tions of the elements forming that medium in which they
both exist, is maintained constantly unchanged.

Many conditions are necessary for the life and growth
of plants. Each kind requires special conditions; and
should but one of these be wanting, although all the rest
be supplied, the plants will not be brought to maturity.
It is in vegetable as in animal life: a mother crams her
child exclusively with arrow-root; it becomes fat, it is
true; but alas! it is ricketty, and gets its teeth very
slowly and with difficulty. Mamma is ignorant, or never
thinks that her offspring cannot make bone, or what is the
same thing, phosphate of lime, the principal bulk of bone,
out of starch. It does its best; and were it not for a little
milk and bread, perhaps now and then a little meat and
soup, it would have no bones and no teeth at all. Farmers

NATURE OF VEGETABLE GROWTH. 243

keep poultry ; and what is true of fowls, is true of a cab-
bage, a turnip, or an ear of wheat. If we mix with the
food of fowls a sufficient quantity of egg-shells, or chalk,
which they eat greedily, they will Jay many more eggs
than before. A well-fed fowl is disposed to lay a vast
number of eggs; but cannot do so without the materials
for the shells, however nourishing in other respects her
food may be. A fowl, with the best will in the world,
not finding any lime in the soil, nor mortar from walls, nor
calcareous matter in her food, is incapacitated from laying
any eggs at all. Let farmers lay such facts as these,
which are matter of common observation, to heart, and
transfer the analogy, as they justly may do, to the habits
of plants, which are as truly alive, and answer as closely
to evil or judicious treatment as their own horses. The
organs of plants, like those of animals, contain substances
of the most different kinds. Some are formed solely of
carbon and the elements of water : as, for instance, woody
fibre, resin, gum, and starch ; some contain nitrogen: as,
for instance, the gluten of wheat; and in all plants we
find metals in a state of combination with oxygen. The
food which can serve for the production or increase of
any, or of all the organs of a plant, must necessarily con-
tain the elements of that part, or set of parts. Dogs die
although fed with jelly, which contains nitrogen in abun-
dance: they cannot live upon white bread, sugar, or starch,
if these are given as food to the exclusion of other sub-
stances. Can it be concluded from this, that these things
contain no elements suited for nutrition? Certainly not.
Because a vegetable is alive, it has the power of con-
stantly reproducing itself; for this it requires a supply of
substances which contain the constituent elements of its
own substance, and which are susceptible of undergoing
the necessary transformation. Al] the organs together,
whether of animal or vegetable life, have not the power
to generate, that is, to produce out of nothing a single ele-
ment. A dog would die in the vacuum of an air-pump,
even though supplied with a superabundance of food 5 it

244. PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

will die in the air if no food be given to it; it will die in
oxygen gas, however freely it may be supplied with nou-
rishment. But it is not hence to be concluded, that neither
flesh, nor air, nor oxygen, is fitted to support life. They
are all admirably calculated to do so; so it is just as rea-
sonable to expect to bring a plant to perfection,—wheat,
for instance,—which, in its healthy and natural state, con-
tains silica or potash, if it be planted in a soil destitute of
such inorganic materials, or to which they have not been
added. When we are acquainted with the nature of a
single cubic inch of that soil, and know the composition
of air and rain-water, we are in possession of all the con-
ditions necessary to their life. The source of the different
elements entering into the composition of plants, cannot
possibly escape us, if we know in what form they take up
their nourishment, and compare its composition with that
of the vegetable substances which compose their structure.

Vegetables undergo, after death, two processes of decom-
position: one of these is fermentation, the other is putre-
faction. Decaying leaves, stalks, or roots, are, in fact,
undergoing a slow process, analogous to combustion ; inas-
much as it is the combination of the combustible parts of a
plant (structures that will burn) with the oxygen of the
atmosphere. |

The decay of woody fibre (the principal constituent of
all plants) is accompanied by appearances of a peculiar
kind. This substance, in contact with air or oxygen gas,
and no longer preserved from chemical decomposition by
the living principle which has now left it, unites with that
gas, and the product is an equal volume of carbonic acid.
The property which woody fibre in a state of decay has to
form carbonic acid with the surrounding oxygen of the
atmosphere, diminishes as the decay advances, till it is
complete, and ceases. Mould constitutes the principal
part of brown coal and peat. An atmosphere of carbonic
acid, formed at the expense of the oxygen of the air,
Surrounds every particle of decaying vegetable matter ;
hence the value of plowing, digging, and otherwise loos-

NATURE OF VEGETABLE GROWTH. 245

ening the soil: it permits the access of air. An atmo-
sphere of carbonic acid is therefore contained in every fer-
tile soil, and is the first and most important food for the
young plants before they reach the surface. The leaves
of trees which fall in the forest in autumn, and old roots
of grass in a meadow, are converted into what is termed
humus by the same agency; but humus does not nourish
plants direcily, by being taken up in its unaltered state,
but by presenting a slow and lasting source of carbonic
acid, which is absorbed by the roots of plants, and forms
their principal nutriment at a time when, being destitute
of leaves, they cannot, as yet, extract food from the atino-
sphere: hence one reason of the value of plowing, dig-
ging, and otherwise lightening the soil, by permitting the
access of air, and, consequently, of carbonic acid to the
seeds and roots. Seeds should always be sown, so as to
be fully exposed to the influence of the air; and one cause
of the unproductiveness of cold, clayey, adhesive soils is,
that the seed is coated with matter which the air cannot
get at. In sandy soils, the earth is mostly sufficiently
penetrable by the atmosphere; but in clayey soils, there
can scarcely be too great a mechanical tearing up and
division, in the process of tillage, Many plowmen know
the fact, without knowing the reason of it: however, any
seed not fully supplied with air, always produces a weak
and diseased plant. In this way, then, we see the true
uses of the vegetable decaying mould, when well torn up
by the plow. The roots perform the after-functions of
the leaves: they extract from the soil the carbonic acid
generated from the humus, or vegetable mould: they
_ decompose that acid, and absorb the carbon. When a
plant is quite matured, and when the’ organs by which it
obtains food from the air are fully formed, the carbonic
acid of the soil is no longer required.

If turnips be sown in a soil capable of yielding as much
nourishment as they will take up, they will attain a much
larger size than under the reverse circumstances. The
size of a plant is always proportioned to the suRFACE of

246 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

the organs which are destined to convey food to it. A
plant gains another mouth and stomach with every new
fibre of root, and every new leaf. }

Let us suppase a plant fully grown. All the necessary
amount of woody fibre has been formed by the leaves.
But the action of the leaf does not cease. Carbon is still
absorbed ; the expenditure of nutriment, the supply of
which continues the same, takes a new direction. The
leaves now produce sugar, starch, gum, or acids, which
were previously formed by the roots when these substances
were necessary for the development of the stem, buds,
leaves, and branches of the rising plant. The direction of
the nutriment again changes, and blossoms are produced.
The functions of most plants cease upon the ripening of
their fruit, because the products of their action are no
longer needed. They now yield to the chemical influence
of the oxygen of the air: their feeble vitality weakly opposes
the decomposition which awaits all dead matter; they
change color, fall off, and become converted into the mould
of which we have been speaking.

A cubic inch of sulphuretted hydrogen gas introduced
into the human lungs would cause insiant death; but it
is often formed, under a variety of circumstances, in the
bowels without injurious effects. Each organ, whether of
an animal or a vegetable, extracts from the food presented
to it what it requires for its own action and sustenance ;
while the remaining absorbed matters, which are not
nutritive, combine together, and are separated as excre-
ment. The excrementitious matters of one organ come in
contact with another during their passage through the
plant or animal, and, in consequence, suffer new transfor-
mations : the useless matters rejected by one organ contain
the elements for the nourishment of another, till what is
utterly useless is expelled from the system, by contrivances
for that purpose. So the kidneys, liver, and lungs, are
organs of excretion: the first separate from the body sub-
stances in which a large proportion of nitrogen is con-
tained ; the second, those with an excess of carbon ; and

NATURE OF VEGETABLE GROWTH. 247

the third, such as are composed, principally, of more oxygen
and hydrogen than is wanted. All superabundant nitro-
gen is thrown out from the body as a Liquip excrement
through the urinary passages : all solid substances, inca-
pable of further useful transformation, pass out by the
intestinal canal ; and all gaseous matters by the lungs.

The presence of life prevents common chemical decom-
position or putrefaction: the power to effect the trans-
formations essential to nutrition and growth does not
belong to it. Each such transformation 1s owing to a dis-
turbance in the attraction of the elements of a given com-
pound, and is, consequently, a purely chemical process.
Similar changes of existing compounds are in constant
progress during the whole life of a plant; in consequence
of which there are produced gaseous matters, thrown off
by the leaves and blossoms, solid excrements deposited in
the bark, and fluid soluble substances which are excreted
by the roots. Through the expulsion of these matters
unfitted for nutrition, the soil receives back again the
oreatest part of the carbon, which it had at first yielded to
the young plants as food in the shape of carbonic acid,
from the decaying mould.

Having disposed of the question as to the origin of
carbon in plants, and examined the relation between vege-
table mould and the springing vegetable, we must next
trace the source of the hydrogen and nitrogen they con-
tain.

All the hydrogen necessary for the formation of a plant
or animal is supplied by the decomposition of water.
From their generating wax, fats, and volatile oils, con-
taining hydrogen in large quantity, and no oxygen, we
may be certain that plants possess the property of decom-
posing water; because from no other body, with which
they are placed in contact, could they obtain the hydrogen
which exists as an element in those matters. The process
of vegetable growth, in its simplest form, consists in the
extraction of hydrogen from water, and carbon from car-
bonic acid. The green resinous principle of the leaf

248 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

diminishes in quantity while oxygen is absorbed. We
can explain in a similar manner, the formation of all the
component substances of plants which contain no nitrogen.
During the progress of growth, plants appropriate carbon
from the carbonic acid found in the air, and hydrogen from
the decomposition of water; the oxygen of which fluid is
set at liberty, together with a part, or all of that contained
in the carbonic acid. Decay, then, or vegetable putrefac-
tion, is that great operation of Nature by which that
oxygen which was consumed by plants during life is again
returned to the atmosphere; for water is essential to such
putrefaction.

As to the origin of nitrogen in plants, we may observe,
that it exists in every part of the vegetable structure. No
plant would attain maturity, even in the richest vegetable
mould, unless nzérogen were supplied to it. How, it may
be asked then, and in what form,does Nature furnish nitro-
gen to assist in the formation of vegetable albumen and
gluten, to fruits and seeds ?

This question is susceptible of a very simple solution.
Plants, as we know, grow perfectly well in pure charcoal,
if supplied at the same time—not with river or spring, or
perfectly pure water, but with rain-water. Now, rain-
water can contain nitrogen only in two forms—either as
dissolved atmospheric air (which, of course, contains
nitrogen), or as AmMMonrIA, of which nitrogen is one element.
We have observed, in speaking of the composition ef
water, that vain-water is found to contain ammonia; and
this is the practical application of the fact. Pure air may,
for our present purpose, be considered as oxygen and
nitrogen in certain unalterable proportions, in a state of
mixture; the carbonic acid and ammonia which float in
the atmosphere may be regarded as accidental ingredients.
If we were to suppose that plants derived their nitrogen
directly from the atmosphere,—that is, by depriving the
air of a portion of that nitrogen which is essential to its
constitution—we are met by many difficulties. Rain-wa-
ter does not yield nitrogen from pure air, which it may

NATURE OF VEGETABLE GROWTH: 249

e
,

hold in solution or suspension, but from ammonia, which,
rising from putrefied animal remains, becomes readily
dissolved in the first mass of watery vapor that may pre-
sent itself. We have no reason to believe that the nitro-
gen of the air takes part in the processes of nutrition in
plants and animals; on the contrary, we know that many
vegetables emit, or give off the nitrogen which is absorbed
by their roots. But, on the other hand, there are numer-
ous facts, showing that the formation in plants of sub-
stances containing nitrogen, as gluten, for instance, in corn,
takes place in proportion to the quantity of this element,
which is conveyed To THEIR RooTs in the state of soluble
salts of ammonia, derived from the putrefaction of animal
matter.

All animal bodies, during their decay, yield the nitrogen,
which they abundantly contain, to the atmosphere in the
form of ammonia. A generation of a thousand millions of
human beings is renewed every thirty years: countless
millions of animals have, during that period, ceased to
live. Where, but floating in the atmosphere, is the
nitrogen their bodies contained during life? Without
the occurrence of putridity and the generation of ammona,
and its diffusion in the air, the wheels of nature would soon
stop—vegetable and animal life could go on no longer.
Ammonia is the simplest of all the compounds of nitrogen :
the reader will remember our previous statement, that
hydrogen and nitrogen combine to form ammonia.
Hydrogen is that element for which nitrogen possesses
the most powerful affinity.

The nitrogen, then, of putrefied animals is contained in
the atmosphere (combined with hydrogen) as ammonia, in
the form of a gas which is capable of entering into com-
bination with carbonic acid, and of forming a volatile salt
very soluble in water. Ammonia, therefore, cannot remain
long in the air, as every shower of rain must dissolve it
and convey it to the earth’s surface, to be absorbed and
decomposed by the roots of plants. We ought to expect,
and such is the fact, that rain-water must at all times

250 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

contain ammonia, though not always in equal quantity. If
a pint of rain-water contain only a quarter of a grain of am-
monia, then a field of forty thousand square feet must
receive yearly upwards of eighty pounds of ammonia, or
sixty-five pounds of nitrogen ; for it is ascertained that the
annual fall of rain water over this extent of surface is at
least 2,500,000 pounds. This is much more nitrogen than
is contained in the form of vegetable albumen and eluten in
2650 pounds of wood, 2800 pounds of hay, or 200 cwt. of
beet-root, which would be the yearly produce of such a
field ; but itis dess than the straw, roots, and grain of corn
which might grow on the same surface would contain.
Animal manure, as we shall presently show, acts only by
the formation of ammonia. Its employment in the culti-
vation of grain, and of fodder for cattle, furnishes convin-
cing proof that the nitrogen of vegetables is derived from
ammonia. The quantity of gluten in wheat, rye, and
barley, is very different ; and they contain nitrogen in
varying proportions. Even in samples of the same seed
the quantity varies; and why? Evidently because one
variety has been better fed with its own appropriate
fertilizer, than another which has been reared on a soil less
accurately adapted by artificial means for its growth.
French wheat contains 12 per cent. of gluten; Bavarian,
24 per cent. Sir H. Davy obtained 19 per cent. from
winter, and 24 from summer wheat; from Sicilian 21,
from Barbary wheat 19 percent. SucH GREAT DIFFERENCES
MUST BE OWING TO SOME CAUSE, AND THIS WE FIND IN THE
DIFFERENT METHODS OF CULTIVATION. An increase of anl-
mal manure gives rise not only to an increase in the
number of seeds, but also to a remarkable difference in the
proportion of gluten which those seeds contain. Among
manures of animal origin there is great diversity. Cow
dung contains but a small proportion of nitrogen. One
hundred parts of wheat, grown on a soil to which. this
material was applied, afforded only 11 parts of gluten, and
64 of starch ; while the same quantity of wheat, grown on
a soil fertilized with human urine, yielded 35 per cent. of

NATURE OF VEGETABLE GROWTH. 251

gluten, and of course a smaller proportion of less valuable
ingredients. During the putrefaction of urine, ammoniacal
salts are formed in large quantity, it may be said, exclu-
sively; for under the influence of warmth and moisture,
urea, the most prominent ingredient of urine, is converted
into carbonate of ammonia. Putrid urine is employed in
Flanders as a manure with the best results. The barren
soil on the coast of Peru is rendered fertile by means of a
manure called guano, which is collected from several
islands in the South Sea. It forms a layer several feet in
thickness upon the surface of these islands, and consists of
the putrid excrements of innumerable sea-fow! that remain
on them during the breeding season. This substance has
recently been mmported in large quantities into England ;
and its fertilizing powers are very extraordinary. Its price,
about £18 ($90) per ton, isa serious objection ; and since
the nitrogen it contains forms its principal recommendation,
doubtlessly other matters nearer home will not be wasted,
or their value unknown and disregarded, as to a great
extent they have been. As to the practical results of the
application of guano, an intelligent agriculturist in the
neighborhood of Hamburg has forwarded the annexed
remarks to the Editor of the Gardener’s Chronicle. He
observes that “Most of the experiments with guano in the
vicinity of this city have been made on meadows and lawns.
On these it has produced the best possible effects; so that,
for instance, at Flottbeck, the patches manured with guano
presented not only a finer and darker green, but the grass
was closer and more rich; so that, comparing it with
patches not guanised, the produce of the former may, with-
out exaggeration, be stated to be double. To give an idea
of the extraordinary forcing qualities of guano, we may
mention that at Flottbeck, on a plot of grass managed after
the English fashion, the second cutting of the grass was
necessarily five days after the first, while the grass growing
close by (which had not been guanised), although healthy
and vigorous, required double the time to arrive at the
same state of progress. It deserves to be stated as some-

252 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

thing remarkable, that jon the guanised spot, the dew
appeared in the morning much stronger on the tops of the
leaves, than on the part unguanised. In an experiment
made by M. Staudinger ona barren hill, composed of
granite or quartz, the guanised spot exhibited a dark bluish
green sward, while round about nothing but barrenness
was to be seen. If, therefore, a land-owner. wishes to
cover bleak hungry pasture in a short time with nutritious
grass for cattle or sheep, the guano certainly is the thing
to do it. It would not only produce a plentiful fodder in
the autumn, where cattle can be well nourished and pre-
pared for the winter, but such guanised pasture will bring a
heavy crop early in the spring. Guano has also been
used advantageously ona sour meadow, overgrown with
horsetails; and it produced, instead of reeds and bull-
rushes, a dense turf of sweet grass, and the horsetail
almost disappeared. Thus, in the first place, more grass
is obtained, which may be put down as double the former
crops; and then the grass is very much improved in quality.
Of course good drainage must be attended to on each
meadow, if the result is expected to be complete. Jn using
guano we must be careful to pulverise it well; because,
on account of its tenacity, it will form into lumps, and on
places where it lies too thick, it will burn the grass,
although, subsequently, even on such places a luxuriant
herbage will spring up. Experiments with guano on
spring crops have been as successful at Flottbeck, with
both wheat and rye, as on the above meadow. The wheat
manured in the spring with guano is much superior to that
manured in the ordinary way, both in grain and straw. The
following experiment was tried on a spot of almost blowing
sand :—‘ On the 18th March, several square rods in the
above locality, planted with winter rye, were strewed with
guano. The spot thus manured was in a short time not
only conspicuous for its dark green color, but the tiller
became so luxuriant as to cover the whole surface. Not-
withstanding a drought of two months, the guanised crops
remained in the same flourishing condition; whilst the

NATURE OF VEGETABLE GROWTH. 253

other rye standing close by had a weak and sickly ap-
pearance. Subsequently the former attained the height of
five or six feet, with ears five inches long, with strong
plump grain; whilst the latter were scarcely half that
height in straw, and their ears were barren and empty.’
This experiment speaks in favor of guano in preference to
other manure in another respect. If a light sandy soil like
the above is manured too much with common dung, and if
there follows a luxuriant vegetation, with dark green
foliage, we may be sure that, if there be subsequently any
long drought, or sudden change of temperature from great
heat to intense cold, rust will follow as a matter of course ;
whilst in the above experiment, notwithstanding a nine-
weeks’ drought, and some intervening night frosts, the
growth of the guanised rye was uniformly good up to
the ripening of grain—a sufficient proof that the guano
must possess the property of attracting and retaining the
fine vapor contained in the air. Hence the fact is to be
explained why dew was more apparent on the guanised
turf than on that not subjected to that process. As we
know that in general, during long drought, the action of
dung—in fact of every manure—ceases ; and as it is light
sandy soil which first suffers from drought, it must be
evident what valuable manure guano is, not only on
pastures, but for winter rye, our chief crop on light land.
If an acre of land is dressed with 125 lbs. of guano, an
abundant crop of grain and straw will fully repay the
expenses incurred. If such a rye-field is laid down in
spring with meadow catstail grass (Phleum pratense) and
white clover, a heavy grass crop in the autumn would still
increase the advantages already mentioned. As rape can
by no means be too luxuriant, guano would produce an
extraordinary result on it.”

If a soil consist only of sand and clay, and be deficient
of organic matter or the decaying remnants of animal or
vegetable life, it is sufficient, and chemically correct, to
add to it guano, in order to ensure a plentiful crop. Guano
consists of ammonia in separate combination with uric,

254 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

phosphoric, oxalic, and carbonic acids, together with a
few earthy salts and some impurities. If guano be the
fertilizer employed, it is valuable, chiefly from the ammonia
it contains, and ammonia is valuable because one of its
elements is nitrogen, which is yielded to the plants. Am-
monia assists not only in the formation of ¢luten in wheat,
but also in the production of vegetable albumen, one of the
principal constituents of plants, and it is ammonia which
forms the red and blue coloring of flowers. Nitrates,
that is, earthy or metallic substances, combined with nitric
acid (which nitric acid is itself a compound of nitrogen
and oxygen), are necessary constituents of several plants
which thrive only when ammonia is present,—hence the
‘value of nitrate of soda. The influence of the rays
of the sun is to effect the disengagement of oxygen from
the stem and leaves of plants (as previously stated), which
oxygen, seizing upon the nitrogen contained in ammoni-
acal - matters, forms nitric acid, found in union with certain
bases in many vegetables, In this way ammonia, by its
transformation, furnishes nitric acid to the tobacco plant,
that is, if it be found growing in a soil completely free
from nitre or saltpetre, which is not nitrate of soda, but, in
chemical language, nitrate of potass. The urine of man
and of animals living upon flesh contains a large quantity
of nitrogen, partly in the form of phosphates, partly as
urea, a substance naturally peculiar to urme. Urea is
transformed by the putrefactive process into carbonate of
ammonia; that is to say, it takes the form of the identical
salt which is always present in rain-water. Human urine
as the most powerful manure for all vegetables which
contain nitrogen ; that of horses and horned cattle contains
less of this “element, but infinitely more than the solid
excrements of these animals.

In the face of such facts as these, is it not pitiable to
observe how the urine of the stable or cow-shed is often
permitted to run off, to sink uselessly into the earth, or to
form a pool in the ‘middle of a farm-yard, from which, as
it putrefies, the ammonia formed in it 1s rapidly and com-

NATURE OF VEGETABLE. GROWTH. 255

pletely escaping into the atmosphere, to be of as great
utility in that volatile form to a neighbor’s acres as to those
nearer home ?

It should be the care of the farmer so to employ all the
substances containing nitrogen which his farm affords in
the shape of animal excrements, that they shall serve as
nutriment to his own fields. This will not be the case,
unless they are properly preserved and distributed over
the soil. A heap of manure lying unemployed would serve
him no more than other people, if the nitrogen it contains
be allowed to form ammonia, by combining with hydro-
gen. All animal matters emit carbonic acid and ammo-
nia as long as any nitrogen remains in them. The residue
is a nearly worthless carbonaceous mass. All animal ex-
crements emit carbonic acid and ammonia as long as nitro-
gen exists in them. In every stage of their putrefaction
an escape of ammonia from them may be induced by mois-
tenine them with pearl-ashes disSolved in water, the am-
monia being apparent to the senses by its pungent effect
on the nostrils. This ammonia, evolved from manure, is
imbibed by the soil either in solution in water, or in the
form of gas; and thus it is that plants may artificially be
made to receive a larger supply of nitrogen than is natu-
rally afforded to them by the surrounding atmosphere.
Cultivated plants receive, of course, the same quantity of
nitrogen from the air as trees, shrubs, and wild plants ;
but this, of course, is not enough for the purposes of agri-
culture; cabbages, wheat, potatoes, and apples being very
different things in their wild, or, more properly, their na-
tural state. The object of forest culture is, the production
of carbon or woody fibre ; of garden or field culture, chiefly
the addition of as much nitrogen as the plant can ke
made to take up.

The solid excrements of animals do not contain as much
nitrogen as those which are voided in a liquid form ; and,
for this reason, do not constitute so powerful a fertilizing
material. This could not be otherwise. The quantity of
focd which animals take diminishes or increases in pro-

256 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

portion as it contains more or less of the substances con-
taining nitrogen. The bowels of the cow are relatively
much longer than those of the tiger ; the bulk of food con-
sumed by the former animal is greater, and it requires to
be retained longer, to traverse a greater extent of surface,
before it can yield all its nutriment, than occurs in animals
feeding on flesh which contains so much nitrogen. A.
horse may be kept alive upon potatoes, which contain very
little nitrogen; but life thus supported is gradual starva-
tion. So the quantity of rice which an inhabitant of the
East Indies will eat astonishes an Englishman; but the
fact that rice contains Jess nitrogen than any other kind of
grain, at once explains the circumstance. In hot countries
human beings live sparingly on vegetables which contain
little of this principle; in very cold countries, human be-
ings require very fat substances, in order to support exist-
ence, and to enable them to generate as much animal heat
as is necessary. The Esquimaux will devour amazing
quantities of whale’s blubber, and would speedily die (in
that climate) without a free supply of food containing
large quantities of nitrogen. Hence vegetation is scanty
-—for food it is scarcely necessary : they live upon fish, or
animals caught in the chase. In tropical climates, on the
contrary, where animal food is not so necessary, a luxuri-
ant vegetation is provided to satisfy the natural wants of
man.

By means of manure an addition only is made to the
nourishment supplied from the air; for the excrements of
all animals contain less nitrogen than their food, and con-
sequently a smaller quantity of matter containing nitrogen
is given to the soil than has been abstracted in the form of
erass, hay, or seeds.

Another reason why liquid excrements containing am-
monia (or that which, by further spontaneous chemical
action, yields ammonia, and consequently nitrogen) are
more useful than solid excrements, is to be found in the
fact, that the former contain the greatest part of their
ammonia in the state of salts: in a form, therefore, in

NATURE OF VEGETABLE GROWTH. 257

which i has lost tts volatility when presented in this con-
dition, not the smallest quantity of ammonia, in such a
shape, zs lost to the plants—it is all dissolved by water and
imbibed by their roots. Practical farmers see the results :
they know that plaster of Paris or gypsum, the insoluble
sulphate of lime, strikingly increases the luxuriance of
meadow-grass upon which it is strewed. But why? Be-
cause it fixes in the soil all the ammonia of the atmos-
phere, which would otherwise be partially volatilized with
the water that constantly evaporates from the surface of
the soil. The sulphuric acid of the sulphate of lime has a
stronger affinity for ammonia than it has for lime; so swl-
phate of ammonia is formed, which is not volatile, does
not escape into a neighbor’s pastures. In such an instance,
the carbonate of ammonia naturally contained in rain-
water is decomposed by the gypsum, in precisely the same
manner aS occurs in the manufacture of sal-ammoniac.
Soluble (but not volatile) sulphate of ammonia, and car-
bonate of lime or chalk, are formed by double decomposi-
tion ; so that the beneficial effects of gypsum as a manure
are not direct, but indirect, by fixing the ammonia either
of rain-water or of manure with which it may have been
mixed, and thus presenting that ammonia, or its valuable
element nitrogen, to the roots of plants in a form suscepti-
ble of absorption. All the gypsum gradually disappears,
but its action upon the carbonate of ammonia continues as
long as a trace of it exists.

It is quite evident, therefore, that science alone can truly
explain the mode in which certain matters exert their
beneficial agency; and, consequently, science alone can
rationally direct the practical farmer. All else beside is
mere experiment—hazardous, expensive, and conjectural.

In order to form an idea of the effect of gypsum, it may
be sufficient to remark, that 100 pounds of burnt gypsum
fix as much ammonia in the soil as 6,250 pounds of
horse’s urine would yield to it. The decomposition of
gypsum does not take place instantageously; it proceeds
very Gren soe this explains why the action of gyp-

958 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

sum lasts for several years; the supply of ammonia from
the air, of course, remaining steady and unfailing.

All rust of iron (or iron in combination with oxygen)
contains a certain quantity of ammonia: the advantage of
manuring fields with burned clay depends upon the pre-
sence of oxide of iron. Now, all minerals containing alu-
mina, or oxide of iron, possess, in a remarkable degree,
the property of attracting ammonia from the atmosphere,
and of retaining it in the soil. Pipe-clay (which is alu-
minous earth), when moistened with a solution of caustic
potash, emits ammonia, which it has absorbed from the
atmosphere. Soils, therefore, containing oxides of iron
and burnt clay, must absorb ammonia, which 1s separated
by every shower of rain, and conveyed, in a dissolved state,
to the roots of vegetables. Charcoal possesses a sumilar
action ; it will absorb ninety times its volume of ammoni-
acal gas, which may again be separated simply by moist-
ening it with water, in which ammonia is extremely solu-
ble. This explains why plants will grow in pure charcoal
moistened with rain-water. We have here another easy
and satisfactory method of explaining still further the pro-
perties of humus, or of wood in a decaying state. Decay-
ed oak wood absorbs 72 times its weight of ammonia ;
humus, then, is not only a slow and constant source of
carbonic acid, (repairing the loss of that which is con-
stantly decomposed and absorbed by the leaves of vegeta-
bles, as before stated), but it isa means by which the ne-
cessary nitrogen is mechanically conveyed to plants.

No conclusion can have a better foundation than this,
that it is the ammonia of the atmosphere which furnishes
all the nitrogen to plants they receive while uncultivated.
All the mnumerable products of vitality resume, after
death, the original form from which they sprung; and
thus death, the complete dissolution of an existing genera-
tion of animals and plants, becomes the source of life for
a new one, and of that artificial and forced amount of nu-
triment which plats may be compelled to receive, if judi-
ciously fed, or, in other words, manured.

CHAPTER VI.

Of the Sources of the Saline, Earthy, and other Unorganized Constitu-
ents of Vegetables.

A FURTHER question arises: Are the conditions already
considered all that is necessary for the life and growth of
plants? It will now be shown that they are not.

Carbonic acid, water, and ammonia, are necessary for
the existence of vegetation, because they contain the
elements from which their organs are formed; but other
substances are requisite (as silica in straw) for the forma-
tion of certain organs destined for special functions peculiar
to each family of plants. Plants obtain these substances
from inorganic nature. In the ashes of burnt vegetables
the same substances are found, although in an altered
condition. Many of these inorganic constituents vary
according to the soil in which the plants grow; but
without a certain number of them, according to the nature
of such plant, they never arrive at maturity. All sub-
stances that water will dissolve in a soil are absorbed by
the roots of plants exactly as a sponge imbibes a liquid
indiscriminately. The substances thus conveyed to plants,
are either retained in greater or less quantity, or are
entirely separated when not suited for nutritive purposes.

Phosphate of magnesia, in combination with ammonia,
is an invariable constituent of the seeds of all kinds of
grasses. It is contained in the outer husk, and is intro-
duced into bread, along with the flour, as part of the bran.
When ammonia is mixed with beer, this salt is precipi-
tated. |

Most plants contain acins of very different composition
and properties, all of which are in combination with bases,
such as potash, soda, lime, or magnesia. These bases

260 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

evidently regulate the formation of the acids ; for example,
the quantity of potash contained in the juice of the grape
is less when it is ripe than when unripe; and the acids,
under the same circumstances, are found to vary in a
similar manner. We glanced, in a former chapter, at the
existence of inorganic acids and bases in vegetables: we
have now to investigate their source.

The acids found in the different families of plants are
very various. It cannot be supposed their presence and
peculiarities are the result of chance or accident. They
must serve some end in vegetable life, independently of
their utility to the animals for whose healthful use some,
if not all, of them are ultimately destined. Acids con-
stantly exist in vegetables ; and it 1s incontestable that they
are necessary to their life. And it is equally certain, that
some alkaline, earthy, or metallic base, is also indispen-
sable, in order to enter into combination with such acids
which are always found in the state of salts, as oxalate of
potash in the sour-leaf or sorrel.

The nature of a soil exercises a decided influence on the
quantity of the different metallic oxides contained in the
plants which grow onit. It is not known tn what form
Silica, manganese, and oxide of iron, are contained in
vegetables ; but we know that potash, soda, and magnesia,
can be extracted from al/ parts of their structure, in the
form of salts of organic acids. As these acids and bases
are never absent from plants, and as even the form in
which they present themselves is subject to no deviation, it
may be affirmed that they are necessary, as exercising an
important influence over the development of fruits and
seeds, and also on many other functions, of the nature of
which we are at present ignorant. The perfect develop-
ment of a plant is dependent, then, on the presence of
alkalies, or alkaline earths; when these substances are
totally wanting, its growth will be stopped ; when they are
only deficient, it must be correspondingly impeded. ~ Firs
and pines find a sufficient quantity of alkalies in barren,
Sandy soil; and wheat thrives in another kind of soil:

CONSTITUENS OF VEGETABLES. 261

because the bases necessary to bring each to maturity
exist there in sufficient quantity. The proportion of
silicate of potash (necessary for the firmness of wheat
straw) does not vary perceptibly in the soil of corn-fields,
because what is removed by the reaper, is again replaced
in putrefying straw. But this is not the case with mea-
dow-land. Hence we never find a luxuriant crop of grass
on sandy and limestone soils which contain little potash,
evidently because one of the constituents indispensable to
the growth of the plants is wanting. if a meadow be
well manured, we remove, with the increased crop of
grass, a greater quantity of potash than can, by a repeti-
tion of the same manure, be restored to it. So, grass-land
manured with gypsum soon ceases to feel its agency. But
if the meadow be strewed from time to time with wood
ashes, or soap-boilers’ ley made from wood ashes, then the
grass thrives as luxuriantly as before. And why? The
ashes are only a means of restoring the necessary potash
for the grass stalks. So oats, barley, and rye, may be
made for once to grow upon a sandy heath, by mixing
with the scanty soil the ashes of the heath-plants that
grow upon it. Those ashes contain soda and potash,
conveyed to the growing furze or gorse by rain-water.
The soil of one district consists of sandstone; certain trees
find in it a quantity of alkaline earths sufficient for their
own sustenance. When felled, and burnt, and sprinkled
upon the soil, oats grow and thrive that without such aid
would not vegetate.

The most decisive proof of the absurdity of the indis-
criminate use of any strong manure was obtained at
Bingen, a town en the Rhine, where the produce and
development of vines were highly increased by manuring
them with animal matters, such as shavings of horn. After
some years, the formation of the wood and leaves decreas-
ed perceptibly.* Such manure had too much hastened

*It is said that this would be obviated, by burying the cuttings
round the roots of the vines when pruned.—Amer. Ep.

262 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

the growth of the vines: in two or three years they had
exhausted the potash in the formation of their fruit leaves
and wood ; so that none remained for the future crops, as
shavings of horn contain no potash. Cow-dung would
have been better, and is known to be better. A know-
ledge of chemistry furnished the reason which is found in
the fact, that it contains a large proportion of potash,
though very little nitrogen. Hence, if nitrogen be the
element in demand, cow-dung is nof the material that will
yield it. All the potash contained in the food consumed
by a cow, is again immediately discharged in its excre-
ments.

A landed proprietor, in order to obtain more potash for
his soil, planted it with wormwood, the ashes of which are
well known to contain a large quantity of that alkali.
The consequence was, that he rendered his land quite
incapable of bearing grain for many years. He had
entirely deprived the soil of its potash. Had he sown
wheat upon it instead of wormwood, he would have found
the soil contained as much potash as was necessary for
the nutrition of that vegetable. The supposition that
alkalies, metallic oxides, or inorganic matter in general,
are produced by plants, is refuted by such facts as these :
they are absorbed by plants, not generated.

Those grasses, the seeds of which furnish food for man,
follow him like the domestic animals. Saline plants re-
quire common salt, and seek the sea-shore. The plants
which grow on dung-hills need ammonia and the nitrates,
and are attracted’ whither these can be found just as the
dung-fly is to animal excrements. So, likewise, none of
our grain plants can bear plump seeds, yielding good and
plentiful flour, without a large supply of phosphate of
magnesia and ammonia, substances which they require for
their maturity. No soil is richer in them than those where
men and animals dwell together. Where the urine and
excrements of these are found, grain plants appear ;
because their seeds cannot attain maturity unless supplied
with the constituents of these matters.

CONSTITUENTS OF VEGETABLES. 263

During the boiling or evaporation of saltpetre ley, the
salt volatilizes with the water, causing a loss which other-
wise could not be explained. Insea storms, leaves, in the
direction of the wind, are covered with crystals of salt,
twenty or thirty miles from the sea. The great storm
which occurred in England a few winters ago, verifies this
statement. But it does not require a storm to cause the
volatilization of the salt: every breeze must carry it away.
The sea-air is always sufficient to make a solution of
nitrate of silver turbid and milky. Now, as millions of
tons of sea-water annually evaporate into the atmosphere,
a corresponding quantity of the saline matters dissolved in
it, common salt, muriate of potash, muriate of magnesia,
and other matters, will be conveyed by the wind to the
land. This volatilization is a source of considerable loss
in salt-works where the quantity of salt in the liquor is not
large.

According to Marcel, sea-water contains in every 1000
parts 26 of common salt, 4 of sulphate of soda or glauber
salt, 1} of muriate of potash, 54 muriate of magnesia, and

+ of sulphate of lime or gypsum. If it be asked, whether
there be any peculiarities in the mode of existence of sea-
plants and fish, we know that ammonia is found in sea
water; and that, while air contains only from four to six
ten-thousandth parts of its volume of carbonic acid, sea-
water contains 100 times more, or 620 parts in every ten
thousand; so that the same conditions which sustain
living beings on the land, are combined in the ocean,
in which a separate world of other plants and animals
exists. |

By the continual evaporation of the sea, its salts are
spread over the whole surface of the earth, subsequently
to be carried down by the rain, and furnishing to vege-
tables, through the medium of the soil, those saline
matters essential to their existence. The salts of po-
tash, magnesia, and soda, are not peculiar to the ocean:
they are found naturally existing on the land as in the
water ; but the above explanation accounts for the orl-

264 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

gin of alkalies in the ashes of plants in those cases
where the soil could not have yielded them. Nor must
we overlook the fact, that whatever be the nature of
the soil, or however impoverished by successive crops
of alkaline vegetables, upon that surface the distant
ocean is for ever, unchangingly and silently, pouring
the saline treasures of the great deep. Were the pro-
portions of land and ocean reversed as to their extent,
it is easy to predict the effect upon vegetation ; as it is,
the existing quantity of saline material in the ocean
(which could not be increased without detriment to its
inhabitants) is amply sufficient for the more than single
purpose that wise arrangement was destined to answer.
The atmosphere contains only a thousandth part of its
weight of carbonic acid ; and yet small as this proportion
appears, it is quite sufficient to supply the whole of the
present generation of living beings with carbon for a thou-
sand years, even if it were not renewed. Navigators
have sailed for hundreds of miles along the unbroken
edge of a coral reef: the clustering islands of the Pacitic
are many of them exclusively of coraline origin. Sea-
water contains one twelve-thousandth part of its weight
of lime; and yet, from this apparently minute quantity,
insect agency has raised those very reefs upon which
many a huge ship has been dashed into shapeless frag-
ments.

CHAPTER VIi.

Of the necessary Relation between the Composition of a Soil and the
Vegetables it is fitted te raise. Fallowing and Green Crops consi-
dered as Vegetable Manure.

Tue methods employed in the cultivation of land are
different in every country ; and when we inquire the cause
of these differences, we are told that they “depend upon
circumstances.”? Now, as few people have endeavored to
ascertain these circumstances, to reason correctly, and act
from rational principle, no answer could show ignorance
more plainly. Se, when we inquire how manure acts, we
are either met with a reply that is figurative and incorrect,
or, with the admission that the résult is all that is known
or cared about. We are told that the excrements of man
and animals, or that certain mineral matters, are supposed
to contain an incomprehensible something, which assists in
the nourishment of plants, and increases their size. No
attempt 1s made to ascertain the component parts of the
different species of manure, much less to ascertain whether
it be precisely fitted to supply a known deficiency in the
soil. |

Besides heat, light, moisture, and the component ele-
ments of the atmosphere, which are necessary for the
mere existence of all plants, certain fertilizing substances
are seen to exercise a peculiar influence over the develop-
ment either of whole plants, or of particular parts of them.
Such substances are either already contained in soil, or
may be artificially supplied in the form of manure.

The rules of a rational system of agriculture should
enable us, therefore, to give to each plant that which it
requires for the atlainment of the speczal object in view—
namely, an arizficial increase of certain parts which are
employed as food for man and animals.

13*

266 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

The means employed for the production of fine pliable
straw for hats and bonnets is the very opposite to the mode
which must be adopted, in order to produce the largest
possible quantity of corn from the same plant. Peculiar
methods must be used for the production of nitrogen in
the seeds; others for giving strength to the straw; and
others again, when we wish to give such qualities to the
straw as will enable it to bear the weight of the ears.

We must proceed in the artificial rearing and forcing of
plants precisely as we do in the fattening of animals. The
flesh of wild animals is devoid of fat, or nearly so. The
production of flesh and fat may be artificially increased :
all domesticated animals are easily fattened. To do this,
we add to the quantity of food, and lessen (as in the stall-
fed ox) the waste occasioned by the increased action of
the lungs, (as consequent upon motion), together with the
waste which such muscular exertion would produce by in-
creased action of the skin.

Arable land is originally formed by the crumbling of
rocks ; and its properties depend on the nature of its com-
ponent parts.

Sand, clay, and lime, are the names given to the princi-
pal constituents of the different kinds of soil.

Pure sand, and pure limestone, in which there are no
other unorganized substances except the earth of flint,
chalk, or silicic acid combined with lime, form absolutely
barren soils. But clay always forms a part of fertile soils.
Whence is the origin of clay earths in arable land?
What are their constituents ?, and what part do they play
in favoring vegetation? They are produced by the break-
ing down of aluminous minerals by the action of the
weather. These minerals are found, mixed with other
substances, in granite, mica-slate, porphyry, clay-slate, the
volcanic rocks, and others.. Mountain limestone is remark-
able for the quantity of clayey earths which it contains.
In grauwacke we find pure quartz, clay slate, and lime;
in the sandstones, quartz and loam; and in the transition

SOILS. 267

limestone there is an intermixture of clay, felspar, and
clay slate. These examples may be sufficient.

{tis known that aluminous minerals (that is to say,
minerals containing the metal “ alwminium,’’? which com-
bined with oxygen, forms “ alumina,” or the pure earth
of clay) are the most widely diffused on the surface of the
earth ; and all feréide soils, cr soils capable of culture, in-
variably contain alumina.

There must, therefore, be something in aluminous earth
which causes it to exercise an influence on the life of
plants, and to assist in their growth. The property on
which this depends is, that clay invariably contains potash
and soda. Besides which, alumina attracts and retains
water and ammonia from the atmosphere. Alumina is
itself very rarely found in the ashes of plants; but silica
(or the earth of flints) is always present, having, in most
places, entered the plants by means of alkalies. Among
aluminous minerals, felspar, which is one of them, con-
tains 17 per cent. of potash; mica from 3 to 5 per cent.
of soda; clay slate contains from 2 to 3 per. cent. of
potash ; and loam from 1} to 4 per cent. of the same
alkali.

So that, in a layer of soil formed by the breaking
down of 40,000 square feet of one of these rocks, to the
depth of twenty inches, we should find that so much fel-
spar would contain more than a million pounds of potash ;
if the soil were formed by the disintegration of clay slate,
about 200,000; if loam were the material, from 87,000
to 300,000 ; and similarly of other rocks of partially alu-
minous character.

Potash is present in all clays, and in marl; it has been
found in all aluminous earths in which it has been sought.
Alum (which is a sulphate of alumina, combined with
sulphate of potash) may be procured by digesting clay
in sulphuric acid, which takes up both the alumina and
the potash.

A thousandth part of loam mixed with the quartz in
red sandstone, or with the lime in the different limestone

268 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

formations, affords as much potash to a soil 20 inches in
depth, as is sufficient to supply a forest of pines growing
upon it with potash for a hundred years.

Water, impregnated with the carbonic acid of the at-
mosphere, decomposes. rocks which contain alkalies, and
then dissolves a part of the alkaline carbonates formed in
the process. Plants, also, by producing carbonic acid
during their decay, and by means of the acids emitted by
their living roots, contribute no less powerfully to destroy
the coherence of solid minerals. Air, water, and changing
temperature prepare the different species of rocks for
yielding to plants the potash or soda they contain. Mrs.
Ellis relates, that among the mountains which divide
France from Spain, the rocks actually smoke after rain,
under the influence of the summer sun, and become so hot
that it is uncomfortable to sit down upon them. Chang-
ing temperature is a most important agent in nature. It
not only assists in the original formation of soils, but
exerts a most powerful influence over those already in
existence. In wet soils the temperature rises slowly, and
never attains the same height as in one that is sandy and
dry. When the heat of the atmosphere rises no higher in
the shade than 60 or 70 degrees, a dry soil may become
so warm as to raise the thermometer to 90 or 100.
Hence, though the expression be used figuratively, it
is in this instance strictly c .rrect to say that wet soils are
cold. |

The exhaustion of alkalie. in a soil by successive crops
is the true reason why practical farmers suppose themselves
compelled to suffer land to lie in fallow. It is the greatest
possible mistake to think that the temporary diminution
of fertility in a field is chiefly owing to the loss of the
decaying vegetable matter it previously contained: it is
principally the consequence of the exhaustion of potash
and soda, which are restored by the slow process of the
more complete disintegration of the materials of the soil.
It is evident that the careful tillmg of fallow land must
accelerate and increase this further breaking up of its

SOILS. 269

mineral ingredients. Nor is this repose of the soil always
necessary. A field, which has become unfitted for a cer-
tain kind of produce, may not, on that account, be unsuit~
able for another; and upon this observation, a system of
agriculture has been gradually formed, the principal ob-
ject of which is to obtain the greatest possible produce in
a succession of years, with the least outlay for manure.
Because plants require for their growth different constitu-
ents of soil, changing the crop from year to year will
maintain the fertility of that soil (provided it be done
with judgment) quite as well as leaving it at rest or fal-

low." In this we but imitate nature. The oak, after thriv-
ing for long generations on a particular spot, gradually
sickens ; its entire race dies out; other trees and shrubs
succeed it, till, at length, the surface becomes so charged
with an excess of dead vegetable matter, that the forest
becomes a peat moss,* or a ” surface upon ‘which. no large
tree will grow. Generally long before this can occur,
the operation of natural causes has gradually removed
from the soil substances essential to the growth of oak,
leaving others favorable and necessary to ‘the crowth of
beech or pine. So, in practical farming, one crop in arti-
ficial rotation with others, extracts from ‘the soil a certain
quantity of necessary inorganic matters; a second carries
off, in preference, those w which the former had left, and
neither could nor would take up.

Experience proves that wheat should not be attempted
to be raised after wheat on the same soil; for, like tobacco,
it exhausts the soil. But, if “ humus,” decaying vegcta-
ble matter, gives it the power of producing corn, how
happens it that, in soils formed in large proportion of
mouldered wood, the corn-stalk attains no strength, and
droops permanently ? The cause is this: the strength of
the stalk is due to silicate of potash, and the corn requires
phosphate of magnesia ; neither of which substances a soil

* This does not happen in American forests, but when oak and other
deciduous trees are cut off, they will be succeeded frequently by a
growth of pine, and so vice versa.—AmeEr. Ep,

i@-

270 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

of decaying vegetable matter can afford, since it does not
contain them: the plant may, indeed, under such circum-
stances, become a herb, but will bear no seeds. We
say phosphate of magnesia is necessary ;—the small quan-
tities of the phosphates found in peas and beans is the
cause of their comparatively small value as articles of nou-
rishment, since they surpass all other vegetable food in the
quantity of nitrogen they contain. But as the component
parts of bone, namely, phosphate of lime and magnesia,
are absent in beans and peas, they satisfy appetite without
increasing the strength.

Again, how does it happen that wheat does not flourish
on a sandy soil, and that a limestone soil is also unsuit-
able, unless mixed with a considerable quantity of clay ?
Evidently because these soils do not contain potash and
soda (always found in clay); the growth of wheat being
arrested by this circumstance, even ‘should all other requi-
site substances be presented in abundance. It is because
they are mutually prejudicial by appropriating the alkalies
of the soil, that wormwood will not thrive where wheat
has grown, nor wheat where wormwood has been.

One hundred parts of wheat straw yield 153 of ashes;
the same quantity of barley straw, $45; of oat straw, only
4: the ashes of the three are, chemically, of the same
composition. Upon the same field which will yield only
one harvest of wheat, two successive crops of barley may
be raised, and three of oats. We have, in these facts, a
clear proof of what is abstracted from the soil, and, con-
sequently, what plants require for their growth—a key to
the rational mode of supplying the deficiency.

Potash is not the only substance requisite for the exist-
ence of most plants; indeed it may be replaced, in some
cases, by soda, magnesia, or lime; but other substances
are required also.

Plants obtain phosphoric acid (found in combination
with lime or magnesia) from the soil, and they, in their
turn, yield it to animals, to assist in the formation of their
bones. Creatures that feed upon flesh, bread, fruit, and

.

SOILS. OTT

husks of grain, take in much more phosphorus than is re-
quired for the building up of the animal fabric; and _ this
excess is again usefully thrown out by them, chiefly in
their liquid excrements. Some plants, however, extract
other matters from the soil besides silica, potash, and phos-
phoric acid, which are essential constituents of the plants
ordinarily cultivated.

English farming presents us with varied instances of
plants sown, and growing together in the same field. Two
such vegetables will mutually injure each other, if they
withdraw the same food from the soil. Plants will thrive
beside each other, either when the substances necessary
for their growth, extracted from the soil, are of different
kinds, or when they themselves are not both im the same
stage of growth at the same time. On a soil containing
potash, wheat and tobacco may be reared in succession,
because the latter plant does not require the phosphates
which the wheat has appropriated to itself. Now, to-
bacco requires only alkalies, and food containing nitrogen.
When we grow different plants in the same soil, for seve-
ral years in succession, the first of which leaves behind
that which the second, and the second that which the third
may require, the soil will be a fruitful one for all the three
kinds of produce. Ifthe first plant, for example, be wheat,
which consumes the greatest part of the silicate of potash
in the soil, the plants which succeed it should be such as
require little potash, as turnips or potatoes. The wheat
lands may be sown again with wheat, advantageously,
after the fourth year. The reason of this is, that during
the interval of three years, the soil will, by the action of
ihe atmosphere, be rendered capable of again yielding sili-
cate of potash in sufficient yuantity for wheat. Whether
this process can be artificially anticipated, by supplying
the exhausted ingredient to the soil, is a further and most
interesting inquiry.

In a four-years’ course of cropping, the crops gathered
amounted, per acre, to—

AT bp PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

Ist year, Turnips, 25 tons of bulbs, and 7 tons of tops.
2d year, Barley, 38 bushels, and a ton of straw.

3d year, Clover and Rye Grass, 1 ton of each in hay.
4th year, Wheat, 25 bushels, and 2 tons of straw.

Supposing none of the crops to be eaten upon the land,
the quantity of zorganic matter contained in the above
would be as follows :—

lbs. lbs.
Potash 281 Silica, 318
Soda, 130 Sulphuric acid, 111 ) in combination
Lime, 242 Phosphoric acid, 61 > with the earths
Magnesia, 42 Chlorine, 39 ) and alkalies ;

Alumina, il

making a gross weight of 1,240 pounds, or about eleven
hundred weight.

A still clearer idea of the importance and quantities of
these inorganic matters may be obtained by a considera-
tion of the fact, that if we were to carry off the entire of
the above produce, and return none of it again in the
shape of manure, (supposing also that we could stop the
beneficial agency of the atmosphere during that period),
we must, or ought, instead of that produce—if the land 1s
to be restored to its original condition— add to each
acre, every four years, 300 pounds of pearl ashes, or pot-
ash ; 440 of carbonate of soda; 65 of common salt; 240
of quick lime; 250 of sulphate of magnesia, that is, Ep-
som salts; 84 of alum; and 260 of bone dust: making
1,729 pounds of solid saline matter, at an expense of
nearly £9. The fertility of a soil cannot remain long un-
impaired, unless we replace in it all those substances of
which it has been deprived. We could keep our fields in
a constant state of fertility, by replacing, every year, as
much as we remove from them in the form of produce;
and, be it remembered, that our cultivated corn plants
and bulbous roots are not like forest plants and trees:
the quantity of nutriment they require, and take up, to
bring them to perfection and perpetuate the race, is far
more than the unaided elements around them could sup-
ply. Wheat, for instance, as a natural production of the

SOILS. 273

soil, appears to have been a very small grass: and the
ease is still more remarkable with the apple and the plum.
The common crab seems to have been the parent of all
our apples. Potatoes and turnips, in their wild or natural
state, are unfit for food; and two fruits can scarcely be
conceived more different in color, size, and appearance.
than the wild plum and the rich magnum bonum. We
have to contend, then, with two important differences :
First, That wheat or turnips are not natural productions ;
and, secondly, That because they are not, they drain or
exhaust unassisted soil faster than the wild plants of the
forest ; nor will they thrive long, if denied that assistance
from artificial nutriment, which nature cannot supply in
sufficient quantity.

It is evident, then, that an increase of fertility, and con-
sequent increase of crop, can only he expected when we
add more to the soil of the proper material (and no other),
than we take away. Any soil will partially regain itself
by lying fallow : this is owing to atmospheric action, and
the conversion of the roots and stalks into humus. But
though the quantity of decaying vegetable humus in a
soil may be increased to a certain degree by cultivation
and alternate cropping, still, there cannot be the smallest
doubt, that a soil must (without help) ultimately lose
those of its constituents, which are removed in the seeds,
roots, and leaves of the plants raised upon it.

To prevent this loss, and, as a further object, to enable
us to raise increased quantities of productions, demanding
more sustenance than land will naturally yield, is the
object of the application of the various substances used as
MANURES. They will prove useless, injurious, or valuable,
precisely as they are accurately or inaccurately adapted
to meet the deficiency.

Land, when not employed in raising food for animals or
man, should at least be applied to the purpose of raising
manure for itself; and this, to a certain extent, may be
effected by means of GREEN crops, which, by their decom-
position, not only add to the amount of vegetable mould

974 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

contained in the soil, but supply the alkalies that would be
found in their ashes. That the soil should become richer
by this burial of a crop, than it was before the seed of that
crop was sown, will be understood, by recollecting that
three-fourths of the whole organic matter we bury has
been derived from the air : that by this process of plowing
in, the vegetable matter is more equally diffused through
the whole soil, and therefore more easily and rapidly
decomposed; and that by its gradual decomposition,
ammonia and nitric acid are certainly generated, though
not so largely as when animal matters are employed.
He who neglects the green sods, and crops of weeds that
flourish by his hedgerows and ditches, overlooks an import-
ant natural means of wealth. Left to themselves, they
ripen their seeds, exhausting the soil, and sowing them
annually in his fields: collected in compost heaps, they
add materially to his yearly crops of corn. We have
said that absolute repose of the soil is not frequently
needed; and, with some practical illustrations of the sys~
tem of alternate cropping, we will close this section.

In Flanders, two crops of clover are cut, and the third
is plowed in. In Sussex, turnip seed has been sown at
the end of harvest, and, after two months, again plowed in
with great benefit to the land. So tumip leaves and
potato tops decay rapidly, and are more enriching when
buried in the green state. In the Earl of Leicester’s
course of cropping, the land is never idle. The turnip is
the first in the order of succession. This crop is manured
with recent dung, which immediately affords sufhcient
matter for its nourishment; the heat produced in its decom-
position assisting in the extrication of ammonia, the libe-
ration of nitrogen, and the consequent germination of the
seed, and growth of the plant. Next after turnips, barley,
with grass seeds, is sown; and the land having been
little exhausted by the previous crop of turnips, affords the
soluble parts of the decomposing tops and manure to the
barley. The barley is gathered; the grasses, rye-grass
and clover, remain, which derive a small part only of

SOILS. 275

their organized matter from the soil, and probably consume
the gypsum which would be useless to previous and suc-
ceedme crops. These grasses, by their large system of
leaves, absorb mainly their nutriment from the atmos-
phere ; and, when PLowep IN at the end of two years, their
decomposed roots and leaves are useful to the wheat crop,
which is next, and last in succession. At this period of
the course, the woody fibre of the farm-yard manure, con-
taining phosphate of lime, is sufficiently decomposed ; and
as soon as the most exhausting crop is taken off the land,
recent animal manure is again applied. Peas and _ beans,
in all instances, seem well adapted to prepare the ground
for wheat; and in some parts of the country they are
raised, alternately with wheat, for years together. Mr.
Gregg,—whose ingenious system of cultivation has been
published by the Board of Agriculture, and who adopts,
upon strong clays, a plan similar to that of the Earl of
Leicester (better known as Mr. Coke of Holkham),—
suffers the ground, after barley, to remain at rest for two
years in grass ; sows peas and beans on the leys ; plows in
the pea or bean stubble for wheat ; and, in some instances,
follows his wheat crops by acourse of winter tares and
winter barley, which is eaten off in the spring, before the
land is sown for turnips.

It is a great advantage, in the convertible system of cul-
tivation, that the whole of the manure is employed, as
well as the entire resources of the land, in their proper
order ; those materials which are not fitted for one crop,
remaining as nutriment, or essential requisites for the next,
or for another.

CHAPTER VII.

Of the Nature and correct Use of the Excrements of Animals coii-
sidered as Manure; the Mode of its Action and Preservation.—
Bone Dust, and dead Animal Maiter.

Carico printers for a long time have used the solid
excrements of the cow in order to brighten and fasten
colors on cotten cloth. This material appeared quite
necessary, and its action was ascribed to some latent prin-
ciple or material derivable from the living animal. But
since the action of cow-dunge was known to depend on the
phosphates contained in it, it has been completely replaced
by a more cleanly mixture of certain salts, of which the
most prominent is phosphate of soda.

So, similarly, in medicine, for many centuries the mode
of action, or the active principle of all remedies, was veiled
in obscurity. But now these principles have been pre=
sented to the world in an extremely active and concen-
trated form. The extraordinary efficacy of Peruvian bark
in the cure of fever, is found to depend on the admixture
of a minute quantity of a crystalline substance termed
quinine, with the useless woody fibre; and the causes of
the various effects of opium, in as many equally minute
yet powerful ingredients in that drug. The inhabitants of
Savoy are much infested with the disease known amongst
us as “ Derbyshire neck.” They have springs which are
famous for its cure; we derive benefit from the use of
burnt sponge. Now, burnt sponge contains iodine; and
upon examination these springs contain iodine in small
quantities. The action of the sponge, or of the water,
must depend upon some definite cause common to both ;
by ascertaining which we place the action and result com-
pletely at our command.

ANIMAL MANURE. 277

Apply this reasoning to agricultural operations. One
practical farmer applies, indiscriminately, any fertilizing
material to his land in any state ; another, more partial to
what is technically termed “short muck,” allows violent
fermentation to reduce his mixture of straw and dung to
one half its weight; during which operation much gase-
ous ammonia is disengaged and lost, which, if retained, or
supplied to the soil, would have proved extremely service-
able. Both methods cannot be right m all cases.

Besides the dissipation of gaseous matter when ferment-
ation is pushed to the extreme, there is another disadvan-
tage in the loss of heat, which, if excited in the soil in-
stead of the dunghill, is useful in promoting the springing
of the seed and in assisting the plant in the first stage of
its growth, when it is most feeble and most liable to dis-
ease: and the decomposition of manure in the soil must
be particularly favorable to the wheat crop, in preserving
a genial temperature beneath the surface late in autumn
and during the winter. These views are in accordance
with a well-known principle in chemistry—that, in all
cases of decomposition, substances combine much more
readily at the moment of their disengagement than after
they have been some time perfectly formed and set at lib-
erty. And in fermentation beneath the soil, the fluid mat-
ter produced is applied instantly, even whilst it is warm,
to the young organs of the rising plant ; and, consequent-
ly, is more likely to be efficient, than in manure that has
gone through the process, and of which all the principles
have entered into new combinations.

It is certainly a matter of indifference whether we em-
ploy excrements, ashes, or bones, in carrying out the prin-
ciple of restoring to the soil those substances which have
been taken from it by the previous crop. But, unless we
know accurately what are those matters that have been
actually removed, how is it possible to supply, otherwise
than at random guess, the deficiency ? Fermented dung
may be really useful, if no nitrogen be demanded. A time

278 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

will come when fields will be manured with saline solu-
tions, with the ashes of burnt straw, or with salts of phos-
phoric acid prepared in chemical manufactories, with as
much certainty as new, in medicine, iodine cures the Der-
byshire neck, or as quinine is substituted for the bulky
powdered bark in fever. The same mixed mass of mate-
rials may be useful in one state, less so in another and
under other circumstances. A knowledge of the actual
wants of the land, and of the exact composition of the pro-
posed manure, is obviously necessary to enable the farmer
to adapt the one to the other as a requisite and fitting re-
medy. If our object be the development of the seeds of
plants, we know they contain nitrogen. Our manure then
roust be rich in this material. If by fermentation ammo-
nia be formed in the manure, if it become dry, rotten, and
nearly devoid of smell, having lost its previous heat; al-
though it may cut better with the spade, we may be sure
it has lost its nitrogen, and, consequently, as far as our
object is concerned (the nutriment of the seed), nearly
lost its utility. The leaves, which by their action on the
air nourish the stem and woody fibre; the roots, from
which the leaves are formed; in short, every part of the
structure of a plant contains nitrogen in small and
varying proportions. But the seeds are always rich in
nitrogen.

The most important object, then, of farming operations,
at least as far as corn is concerned, is the supply of nitro-
gen to corn plants in a state capable of being taken up by
them—the production, therefore, of manures containing
the most of this element. Gypsum and nitrate of soda are
as properly termed manures as farm-yard dung, bone-dust,
or night-soil; but our present inquiry is, what class of
substances contain and yield to corn-plants most Nirro-
GEN? Nature, by the ordinary action of the atmosphere,
furnishes as much nitrogen to a plant as is necessary to its
bare existence. But plants do not exist for themselves
alone—the greater number of animals depend upon the

ANIMAL MANURE. 279

vegetable world for food; and, by a wise adjustment of
nature, plants have the remarkable power of converting,
to a certain degree, all the nitrogen offered to them into
nutriment for animals) We may furnish a pLantr with
carbonic acid, and all the materials which it may require
for its mere life; we may supply it with vegetable matter
in astate of decay in the most abundant quantity; but it
will not attain complete development unless nitrogen be
afforded to it by the supply of suitable manure: a herb
will, indeed, be formed, but its seeds or grain will be im-
perfect and feeble.

But when, with proper manure, we supply nitrogen in
addition to what the plant would derive from natural
sources, we enable it to attract from the air the carbon
which is necessary for its nutrition—that is, when that in
the soil is not sufficient, we afford it a means of fixing the
atmospheric carbon.

There are two principal descriptions of manure, the bene-
ficial agency of which is derivable, almost exclusively,
from the large quantity of nitrogen ‘hey yield.

These are the solid as well as fluid excrements of man
and animals, their dung and urine.

Urine is employed as manure, either singly, in its liquid
state, or with the feces which are impregnated with it. It
is the urine contained in night-soil which gives it the pro-
perty of giving off ammonia, a property which the. dis-
charges from the bowels possess only in a very slight de-
gree. Liquid manures act chiefly through the saline sub-
stances they hold in solution; while the solid manures,
even of anima! origin, contain insoluble matters, which
decay slowly in the soil, and there become useful only after
atime. When we examine what substances we add to a
soil by supplying it with urine, we find that this liquid con-
tains in solution ammoniacal salts, uric acid (a substance
itself containing much nitrogen), and salts of phosphoric
acid.

Human urine consists in 1000 parts of

280 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

Water, - - - - - - - ~ 932
Urea, and other organic matters containing nitrogen, 49
Phosphates of ammonia, soda, lime, and magnesia,- 6
Sulphates of soda and ammonia, - - . i Sy
Sal-ammoniac and common salt, - . - - 6

1000

In dung reservoirs, well constructed and protected from
evaporation, the carbonate of ammonia, which forms in
consequence of putrefaction, is retained in solution; and
when the putrefied urine is spread over the land, a part of
this ammonia will escape with the water which evapo-
rates. On account of the formation of carbonate of am-
monia in putrid urine, it becomes alkaline, though natu-
rally acid in its recent state ; and when this carbonate of
ammonia is lost by being volatilized in the air (which hap-
pens in most cases), the loss suffered is nearly equal to one
half of the urine employed. So that, if we fix the ammo-
nia (by combining it with some acid which forms with it
a compound not volatile) we increase its action two-fold.
Now the carbonate of ammonia formed by the putrefac-
tion of urine can be fired, or deprived of its volatility, in
many ways.

If, for instance, a field be strewed with gypsum, or
plaster of Paris (in chemical language, sulphate of lime),
and then sprinkled with urine, or the drainings of the cow-
shed, a double exchange or decomposition takes place.
Sulphate of lime and carbonate of ammonia become con-
verted into carbonate of lime (that is, chalk) and sulphate
of ammonia; and this because sulphuric acid has a greater
affinity for ammonia than it has for lime. This sulphate
of ammonia will remain in the soil—it will not evapo-
rate.

If a basin containing spirit of salt, or muriatic acid, be
left a few weeks in a close stable or privy, so that its
surface is in free communication with the ammoniacal
vapors that rise from below, crystals of muriate of ammo-
nia, or common sal-ammoniac, will soon be visible, as an
incrustation about its edges. The ammonia that escapes

ANIMAL MANURE, 281

in this way is not only entirely lost as far as vegetation is
concerned ; it works also a slow but not less certain de-
struction of the mortar and plaster of the building. For
when in contact with the lime of the mortar, ammonia is
converted into nitric acid, which gradually dissolves the
lime. There are few schoolboys who have not picked
out crystals of nitrate of potass, or saltpetre, from an old
brick wall; and in this instance the atmosphere has
yielded the ammonia.

The offensive carbonate of ammonia in close stables is
very injurious to the eyes and lunes of horses, as the army
veteriary surgeons are well able to testify. They adopt
measures to carry it off by ventilation and cleanliness. If
the floors of stables or cow-sheds were strewed with com-
mon gypsum, they would Jose all their offensive and inju-
rious smell, and none of the ammonia which forms could
be lost, but would be retained in a condition serviceable
as manure. This composition, swept from the stable floor,
nearly constitutes what is sold under the denomination of
urate. Manufacturers of this material state, that three or
four hundred weight of urate form sufficient manure for an
acre; a far more promising adventure for a practical far-
mer will be to go to some expense in saving his own
liquid manure, and, after mixing it with burnt gypsum, to
Jay it abundantly upon his corn-lands. For, in this way,
he may use as much gypsum as will absorb the whole of
the urine. Now, in the manufacture of urate, the pro-
portion of 10 pounds is employed to every 7 gallons,—
allowing the mixture, occasionally stirred, to stand some
time, pouring off the liquid, and with it nearly all its
saline contents, except the ammonia. Urate, therefore,
can never present all the virtues of the urine — 100
pounds of urate containing no greater weight of saline
and organic matter than 10 gallons of urine.

From the foregoing analysis it would appear, that 1000
pounds of human urine contain no less than 68 pounds of
dry fertilizing matter of the richest quality, worth, at the
present rate of iota ee manures in this country, at

| 14

282 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

least 20 shillings ($5) per hundred weight, Suppose we
say that the liquid and solid excrements of one human be-
ing amount on an average to a pound and a half daily, then
in one year they will amount to 547 pounds; which, at
the rate of 5 per cent. of contained nitrogen, would yield
16 pounds of that material for the land, a quantity sufh-
cient to supply enough for 800 pounds of wheat, rye, or
oats, or for 900 pounds of barley. As each person in
reality voids at least 1000 pounds or pints of urine in a
year, the national waste incurred in this form amounts, at
the above valuation, to twelve shillings a head upon every
individual of the whole population of England and Wales.
And if five tons of farm-yard manure per acre, added
yearly, will keep a farm in good order, four hundred
weight of the solid matter of urine would probably have
an equal effect—in other words, the excrements of a sin-
gle individual are more than sufficient to yield the requi-
site nitrogen to an acre of land, in order to enable it (with
the assistance of the nitrogen absorbed naturally from the
atmosphere) to produce the richest possible yearly crop.
Every town and farm might thus supply itself with the
manure, which, besides containmg the most nitrogen,
contains also the most phosphates; and if an alternation
of the crops were adopted, they would be most abundant.
By using at the same time bones and wood ashes, the ex-
crements of animals might be completely dispensed with ;
so that artificial, mineral, or chemical manures are no im-
perfect substitutes, if applied judiciously.

The urine alone discharged into rivers or sewers by a
town population of 10,000 inhabitants would supply ma-
nure to a farm of 1500 acres, yielding a return of 4500
quarters (36,000 bushels) of wheat, or an equivalent pro-
duce of other crops. The powerful agency of urine asa
manure is well known on the continent of Europe, and
the Chinese justly consider it as invaluable ; and they are
the oldest as well as the best agriculturists in the world.
Indeed so much value is attached to human excrements by

the Chinese, that the laws of the country forbid that any

ANIMAL MANURE. 283

ef them should be thrown away ; and reservoirs are placed
in every house, where they are collected with the utmost
care. Vo other kind of manure is used for their grain
fields.

Human urine centains a greater variety of constituents
than any other species examined. Urea, uric acid, and ano-
ther acid similar to it in nature, called rosacic acid, acetic
acid, albumen, gelatine, a resinous matter, and its various
salts, are all valuable to the land, inasmuch as from the
land they or their elements have been originally derived.
The urine of animals that feed exclusively on flesh con-
tains more animal matter, and consequently more nitrogen,
than that of vegetable feeders, whence it ismore apt to run
into the putrefactive process and disengage ammonia. In
proportion as there are more gelatine and albumen in
urine, so in proportion does it putrefy more rapidly. Thus,
then, all urine contains the essential elements of vegetables
in a state of solution; and that will be the best for ma-
nure which contains most albumen, gelatine, and urea.
Putrid urine abounds in ammoniacal salts, and is only less
active as a manure than fresh urine, because of the portion
of ammonia which is continually exhaling into the atmos-
phere.

As to the urine of cattle, it contains less water than that
of man, varying with the kind of food on which the animal
is fed. A cow will secrete and discharge from two thou-
sand to three thousand gallons of urine a year; and this
quantity will contain at least from 1200 to 1500 pounds
of dry solid saline matters, worth from ten to twelve
pounds sterling (¢50 to $60). Even in the liquid state,
the urine of one cow, collected and preserved as it 1s in
Flanders, is valued at £2 ($10) a year. Any practical farmer
may easily make the calculation for himself, how much
real wealth is lost in his own farm-yard, how much of the
natural means of reproductive industry passes into his
drains or evaporates in the air. bun

The urine of the cow is particularly rich in salts of, po-
tash, but contains very little soda. The urine of swine

284 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

contains a large quantity of the phosphates of ammonia
and magnesia. That of the horse contains less nitrogen
and phosphates than that of man.

The fertilizing power of animal manures, whether fluid
or solid, is dependent, like that of the soil itself, upon the
happy admixture of a great number, if not of all, those
substances which are required by plants in the universal
cultivation they receive from the industry and skill of man,
more especially upon the large proportion of netrogen
they contain. The amount of this latter material affords
the readiest test by which their agricultural value, compar-
ed with other matters and with that of each other, can be
tolerably well estimated.

Ordinary farm-yard manure, in its recent state, contains
a given proportion of nitrogen ; but fifteen pounds of blood
would yield as much nitrogen as one hundred pounds of
farm-yard compost. If dried blood were taken, four pounds
would be sufficient; three pounds of feathers, three of
horn-shavings, five of pigeons’ dung, or even two and-a-
half of woollen rags, would counterpoise one hundred of
the first named material. Sixteen would be the equivalent
number for the urine ofthe horse, ninety-one that of the
cow, seventy-three for horse-dung, one hundred and
twenty-five for cow-dung; while the mixed excrements
of either animals would correspond with the fact, that the
discharges of the cow offer no resemblance to those of the
horse.

Besides their general relative value, namely, as to. the
proportions of nitrogen they contain, the above matters
have a further special Value, dependent upon the diversity
of saline, and other organic matters which they severally
contain. Thus, three of dried flesh are equal to five of
pigeons’ dung, as far as nitrogen is concerned ; but then
pigeons’ dung contains a quantity of bone, earth, and
saline matter, scarcely present in the former. Hence, the
dung of fowls will benefit. vegetation in some instances
where even horse-flesh, ordinarily regarded as a strong
manure, would fail. And why? Evidently because, if

ANIMAL MANURE. 285

saline matters are deficient in the soil, an excessive supply
of nitrogen will not serve as their substitute. So the liquid
excretions contain much important saline matter not pre-
sent in solid dung, nor in such substances as horn, hair, or
wool; and therefore each must be capable of exercising
its own peculiar influence, and be comparatively useless if
deficient of those matters which are also found wanting,
deficient, yet necessary in the soil. - This affords the reason
why no one manure can long answer on the same land:
it can only supply the materials it contains. When allthe
silicate of potash in corn-fields is exhausted, urine will not,
cannot, supply the deficiency ; because it contains no sili-
cate of potash. So long as the land remained rich in this
material, urine or blood would supply the requisite nitro-
gen. Hence, in all ages and countries, the habit of em-
ploying mixed manures and artificial composts has been
universally diffused. What is wanting is, a more accu-
rate knowledge of the precise deficiency at any given mo-
ment, and a consequent saving of capital from unnecessary
waste, together with an immense increase in fertility, as
the reward of so accurate an adaptation of means and
ends. The knowledge of a disease is essential to the cor-
rect application of a remedy.

A high degree of culture requires an increased supply of
manure. With its abundance, the produce in corn and
cattle will augment, but must diminish with its deficiency.

From the foregoing remarks, it must be evident, that
the greatest value should be attached to the liquid excre-
ments of man and animals when a manure is desired which
shall supply nitrogen to the soil. And as nitrogen is sel-
dom wanted alone,—and as, generally, in practice, both
liquid and solid excrements are found associated, contain-
ing, besides nitrogen, many other essential and invaluable
ingredients,—too much care cannot be taken, not only in
preserving them, but which is cheat important, in secur-
ing to the land the full value of their operation, by
applying them in the best possible condition for the
development of their powers.

286 PKODUCTIVE FARMING.

We have already alluded to the loss sustained by the
fermentation of dung-heaps. As we observed, in an
earlier chapter when it is considered that, with every pound
of ammonia which evaporates, a loss of sizty pounds of
grain is sustained, and that, with every pound of urine, a
pound of wheat might be produced, the indifference with
which liquid refuse is allowed to run to waste is quite
incomprehensible. That it should be allowed to expend
its ammonia by fermentation in the dung-heap, and evapo-
ration into the atmosphere, is ascribable solely to zgnorance
of the elementary outlines of that science which hitherto
the practical farmer has thought it no disgrace, but
rather an honor to publish, glorying in his utter disregard
of all bookish knowledge! and substituting his own
notions of wasteful and vague experience for the calm
deductions of sound and rational investigation. In most
places, only the solid excrements impregnated with the
liquid are used ; and the dunghills containing them are pro-
tected neither from evaporation, nor from rain. The solid
excrements contain the insoluble, the liquid excrements all
the soluble phosphates ; and the latter contain, likewise, all
the potash which existed as organic salts in the plants
consumed by the animals which fed upon them.

It is by no means difficult to prevent the destructive fer-
mentation and heating of farm-yard compost. The sur-
face should be defended from the oxygen of the atmos-
phere. A compact marl, or a tenacious clay, offers the
best protection against the air; and before the dung is
covered over, or, as it were, sealed up, it should be dried
as muck as possible. If the dung be found at any time to
heat strongly, it should be turned over, and cooled by
exposure to air. Watering dung-hills is sometimes recom-
mended for checking the process of putrefaction, and the
consequent escape of ammonia; but this practice is not
consistent with correct chemistry. It may cool the dung
for a short time; but moisture is a principal agent in all
processes of decomposition. Water, or moisture, is as
necessary to the change as air; and to supply it to reek-

/ ANIMAL MANURE. 287

ing duug, is to supply an agent which will hasten its
decay.

If a thermometer, plunged into the dung, does not rise
much above blood-heat, there is little danger of the escape
of ammonia. When a piece of paper, moistened with
spirit of salt, or muriatic acid, held over the steams arising
from a dung-hill, gives dense fumes, it is a certain test
that decomposition is going too far; for this indicates that
ammonia is not only formed, but is escaping to unite with
the acid in the shape of sal-ammoniac.

When dung is to be preserved for any time, the situa-
tion in which it is kept is of importance. It should, if
possible, be defended from the sun. To preserve it under
sheds would be of great use, or to make the site of a
dung-hill on the north side of a wall. The floor on which
the dung is heaped, should, if possible, be paved with flat
stones; and there should be a little inclination from each
side towards the centre, in which there should be drains,
connected with a small well, furnished with a pump, by
which any fluid matter may be collected for the use of the
land. It too often happens, that a heavy, thick, extract-
ive fluid is suffered to drain away from the dung-hill, so as
to be entirely lost to the farm.

Night-soil, it is well known, is a very powerful
manure, and very liable to decompose. Human excre-
ments differ in their composition, but always abound in
nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. From the
analysis of Berzelins, it appears that a part of it is always
soluble in water ; and in whatever state it is used, whether
recent or decomposed, it supplies abundant food to plants.
But this affords no excuse for its misapplication in any
other condition than that which is most profitable. It
varies, no doubt, in richness with the food of the inhabit-
ants of each district,—chiefly with the quantity of animal
food they consume,—but, when dry, no other sop ma-
nure, weight for weight, can probably be compared with
it in general efficacy. The soluble and saline matters it
contains are made up from the constituents of the food we

288 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

eat; of course, it contains most of those elementary sub-
stances which are necessary to the growth of the plants
on which we live. The disagreeable smell of night-soil
may be destroyed by quick lime. If exposed to the air in
thin layers strewed over with lime, in fine weather, it
speedily dries, is easily pulverised, and, in this state, may .
be used in the same manner as rape-cake, and delivered
into the furrow with the seed. If night-soil be treated in
a proper manner, so as to remove the moisture it contains,
without permitting the escape of its ammonia, it may be
put into such a form as will allow it to be transported
even to great distances. This is already attempted in
many places; and the preparation of human excrements
for exportation constitutes not an unimportant branch of
industry. But the manner in which this is done, is not
always the most judicious. In Paris, the excrements are
preserved in the houses in open casks, from which they are
collected and placed in deep pits at Montfaucon ; but they
are not sold until they have attained a certain degree of
dryness by evaporation in the air. But whilst lymg in
the receptacles appropriated for them in the houses, the
greatest part of their urea is converted into carbonate of
ammonia; lactate and phosphate of ammonia are also
formed, and the vegetable matters contained in them
putrefy ; all their sulphates are decomposed, whilst their
sulphur forms sulphuretted hydrogen. The mass, when
dried by exposure to the air, has lost more than half of the
nitrogen which the excrements originally contained; for
the ammonia escapes into the atmosphere along with the
water which evaporates; and the residue now consists
principally of phosphate and lactate of ammonia, and
small quantities of urate of magnesia and fatty matter.
Nevertheless, it is still a very powerful manure; but its
value as such would be twice or four times as great, if the
excrements, before being dried, were neutralized with a
cheap mineral acid.

In other manufactories of manure, the excrements,
whilst still soft, are mixed with the ashes of wood, or with

ANIMAL MANURE. 289

earth; both of which substances contain a large quantity
of caustic lime, by means of which a complete expulsion of
all their ammonia is effected, and they are completely
deprived of smell. But such a residue applied as manure,
can act only by the phosphates which it still contains ; for
all the ammoniacal salts have been decomposed, and their
ammonia expelled. In London, night-soil is dried with
various mixtures; while, in other of our large towns,
what is called “ animalized charcoal” is prepared by mix-
ing and drying night-soil with gypsum and ordinary wood
charcoal in fine powder. In all cases, the excrements of
human beings contain more nitrogen than those of any
other animal. Berzelius obtained, by the burning of 100
parts of dried excrements, 15 parts of ashes, principally
composed of the phosphates of lime and magnesia.

It is quite certain that the vegetable constituents of the
excremenis with which we manure our fields, cannot be
entirely without influence upon the growth of the crops
on them; for they will decay, and thus furnish carbonic
acid to the young plants. But it cannot be imagined that
their influence is very great, when it is considered that a
good soil is manured only once every six or seven years ;
that the quantity of carbon thus given to the Jand corres-
ponds only to 5 per cent. of what is removed in the form
of herbs, straw, or grain; and further, that the rain-water
received by a soil contains much more carbon in the form
of carbonic acid than these vegetable constituents of ani-
mal excrement.

The peculiar action, then, of som, as opposed to fluid,
animal excrements, is limited to their inorganic consti-
tuents,rather than to the presence of the partially changed
vegetable or organized matter which they contain. Horse-
dung contains a large proportion of such partially altered
vegetable matter ; and the reason why night-soil is a more
powerful manure, is that, relatively, it contains less vege-
table matter, while nitrogen is more abundant ; and this,
principally, because its weight is materially made up by
the liquid excrement, or urine, always forming part of its

14*

296 PRODUCTIVE FARMING. -

composition. Now, urine easily putrefies, and yields am-
monia largely ; and this because of its containing more
animal matter than is contained in dung. A horse lives
exclusively on vegetables ; and 100 pounds of the urine
of a healthy man (living, of course, partially upon flesh,
and partly upon those seeds and parts of plants contaiming
nitrogen, in quantity) will yield as much nitrogen as 1300
pounds of fresh horse-dung, or 600 of cow-dung. We
cannot ascribe much of the power of the excrements of
cattle, sheep, and horses, to the nitrogen which they con-
tain, for the quantity derivable from these vegetable feed-
ers is too minute. The restoration of inorganic matter to
the land, is the chief value arising frorn the application of
the dung of cattle. A certain amount of inorganic mat-
ter is removed with every crop. If we manure that land
with the dung of the cow or sheep, we restore to the sur-
face silicate of potash, and some salts of phosphoric acid.
If we use horse-dung, we supply, chiefly, phosphate of
magnesia and silicate of potash. In the straw which has
served as litter, we add a further quantity of silicate of
potash, and phosphates, which, if the straw be already
putrefied, are exactly in the same state as before they
formed part of the crop which yielded them.

But, if we use human excrements, in addition to the
phosphates of lime and magnesia, we supply a larger
proportion of compounds of nitrogen, essential to the
development of those parts of plants upon which human
beings are accustomed to feed: and, by a wise ordination,
cereal-plants are found associated with human dwellings,
—in other words, the family of man having selected such
spots on the earth’s surface as are fitted for the growth of
grain, animal manure is always at hand in quantity for its
artificial cultivation ; thus restoring, through the feculent
discharges of man and animals resident on the spot,
precisely those materials which the process of growth has
removed from the soil.

& Cow-dung is not incorrectly said to be “ cold :? so much
of the saline, nutritive, and other organic matters from the

ANIMAL MANURE. 291

cow, pass off almost exclusively with her urine, that her
dung does not readily heat and run into putrefaction.
Still, mixed with other manures, or well diffused through
the soil, its vegetable matter is not useless. It loses more
than any other similar substance in drying. The dung of
pigs is soft and cold, like that of the cow; containing, like
it, nearly 80 per cent. of water. Mixed with other
manures, it may be applied to any crop; but is of very
variable quality, owing to the variety of food of the animal.
» The horse is fed, generally, on Jess liquid food, less
succulent and watery, than that of oxen. He discharges
less urine,—hence his dung is richer in animalized matter ;
or, adopting the figurative language of the farmer, it is
hotter, and, indeed, runs more readily into the putrefactive
fermentation.

If the solid excrements of animals are chiefly valuable
for the saline, earthy, and inorganic constituents they
restore to the soil which has yielded them, it will be readily
inferred, that instead of dung or night-soil, other substan-
ces, containing their peculiar ingredients, may be substitut-
ed. One hundred tons of fresh horse-dung, if dried, would
leave only from 25 to 30 tons of solid matter, the rest
being only water; and if this dried matter (itself only
one-fourth of the original weight) were burnt, so as to
decompose its vegetable ingredients, we should obtain,
perhaps, 10 per cent. of really useful saline and earthy
matters (one-fortieth of the original weight), according
to the richness or poverty of the food the horse had taken.

Now, this minute proportion of saline and earthy mat-
ters, and its relative quantity, in the various kinds of dung
or excrement, forms, evidently, the chief topic of interest
to which our attention should be directed; inasmuch as
what is left upon such examination and analysis, is exactly
what has made up the component inorganic parts of the
hay, straw, grass, or oats, on which the animal has been
fed ; or, in other words, exactly what has been removed
from the soil, and requires to be replaced, if the next crop
is to equal the last. If our object is increased fertility,

292 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

more must be added than has been taken away. Hay,
straw, and oats, form (for illustration’ sake) the food of
a horse. Their principal constituents are the phosphates
of lime and magnesia, carbonate of lime, and silicate of
potash ; the first three of these preponderated in the corn,
the latter in the hay; and these, removed from the soil
with the crop, are precisely the saline matters which would
be found in the excrement of the animal for whose support
that crop was intended. |

In order, then, to atone for the absence of that excre-
ment which derives its value from the soil which has pro-
duced it, and for which it is peculiarly fitted, as containing
what that soil has lost, the ashes of wood or bones may often
be judiciously substituted; and for this reason: wood-
ashes contain silicate of potash, exactly in the same
proportion as that salt is found to exist in the straw of the
last crop ; and as to bones, the greatest part of their bulk
consists of the phosphates of lime and magnesia. Ashes
obtained from various trees are of unequal value: those
from oak-wood are the least, those from beech most ser-
viceable. With every 100 pounds of the ashes of the
beech spread over a soil, we furnish as much phosphates
as 460 pounds of fresh night-soil could yield. But night-
soil contains other useful matters besides phosphates ;
hence the utility of mixed composts, as, evidently, the ashes
of the beech would not alone secure fertility.

Bone manure possesses still greater importance than
wood ashes as a substitute for an indefinite and large sup-
ply of animal excrement. The primary sources. from
which the bones of animals are derived are,—the hay,
straw, or other substances which they take as food. Now,
bones contain more than half their weight of the phos-
phates of lime and magnesia; and hay contains as much
of these salts as wheat straw. It follows then, that 8
pounds of bones contain as much phosphate of lime as
1000 pounds of hay or wheat straw ; and 2 pounds of bones
as much as is found in 1000 of the grain of wheat or oats.
These numbers express pretty exactly the quantity of

ANIMAL MANURE. 293

phosphates which a soil yields annually on the growth of
hay and corn. Upon every acre of land appropriated to
the growth of wheat, clover, potatoes, or turnips, forty
pounds of bone-dust will be found sufficient to furnish an
adequate supply of phosphates for three successive crops.
To secure the best application of bones, they should be
reduced to powder; and the more intimately they are
mixed with the soil, the more easily are they taken up
and assimilated. The most easy and practical mode of
effecting this, is to pour over the bones, in powder, half
their weight of sulphuric acid (or oil of vitriol), diluted
with three or four parts of water; and after they have re-
mained in contact for some time, say a fortnight, to add
one hundred parts of water, and sprinkle this mixturé over
the field before the plow. Bones may be preserved un-
changed, for thousands of years, in dry, or even in moist
soils, provided the access of rain be prevented, as is exem-
plified by the bones of animals, buried previous to the
Flood, found in loam or gypsum ; the interior parts being
protected by the exterior from the action of water. But
they become warm when reduced to a fine powder; and
moistened bones generate heat, and enter into putrefaction
—the gelatine which they contain is decomposed, -and its
nitrogen converted into carbonate of ammonia, and other
ammoniacal salts, which are retained, in a great measure,
by the powder itself. Bones burnt till quite white, and
recently heated to redness, will absorb seven times their
volume of ammoniacal gas. The analysis of bone enables
us to say, that while 100 pounds of bone-dust add to the
soil 33 of gelatine, the organized substance of horn, or as
much organized matter as is contained in 200 or 400
pounds of blood or flesh; they add, at the same time, more
than half their weight of inorganic matter, lime, magne-
sia, soda, common salt, and phosphoric acid, in combina-
tion with some of these—all of which, as we have. seen,
must be present in a fertile soil, since the plants require
a certain supply of them all at every period of their growth,
but more especially during the maturation of the straw

294 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

and grain. These substances, like the inorganic matter
of plants plowed into the soil, may, and do, exert a bene-
ficial agency upon vegetation after all the organized struc-
ture of such decaying plants is broken up and destroyed.
One hundred parts of dry bones contain 33 per cent. of
dry gelatine, and are equivalent to 250 parts of recent
human urine. We do not speak now of the bone-dust
which remains after all the animal gelatine is removed, in
boiling them to extract size for the calico-printer.

Horn is a still more powerful manure than bone—that
is to say, it contains a greater proportion of organized ani-
mal matter. The peculiarity is, that horn, hair, and wool,
as organized substances, are dry; while blood and flesh
contain from 80 to 90 per cent. their weight of water.
Hence, a ton of horn-shavings, of hair, or of dry woollen
rags, ought to enrich the soil with as much animal matter
(and consequently nitrogen) as would be yielded by ten
tons of blood. In consequence of this dryness, horn and
wool decompose more slowly than blood; and hence, the
effect of soft animal matters is more immediate and appa-
rent than that of hard and dry animal matters, the action
of which is, nevertheless, stronger, and continues for a
longer period.

The refuse of the different manufactories of skin and
leather form very useful animal manures; such as the
shavings of the currier, furrier’s clippings, and the offals
of the tan-yard and of the glue-maker. The gelatine con-
tained in every kind of skin is in a State fitted for its gra-
dual decomposition ; and when buried in the soil, it lasts
for a considerable time, and constantly affords a supply of
nutritive matter to the plants in its neighborhood. These
manures contain nitrogen as well as phosphates, and, con-
sequently, are well fitted to aid the process of vegetable
growth.

From what has been stated, we may arrive at the fol-
lowing conclusions :—

1. That fresh human urine yields nitrogen in greater
abundance to vegetation than any other material of easy

VALUE OF VEGETABLE MANURE. 295

acquisition ; and that the urine of animals is valuable for
the same purpose, but not equally so.

2. That the mixed excrements of man and animals yield
(if carefully preserved from further decomposition), not
only nitrogen, but other invaluable saline and earthy mat-
ters that have been already extracted in food from the soil.

3. That animal substances which, like urine, flesh, and
blood, decompose rapidly, are fitted to operate zmedi-
ately and powerfully on vegetation.

4, That dry animal substances, as horn, hair, or woollen
rags, decompose slowly, and (weight for weight) contain
a greater quantity of organized as well as unorganized
materials, manifesting their influence, it may be, for seve-
ral seasons.

5. That bones, acting like horn, in so far as their ani-
mal matter is concerned, and like it, for a number of sea-
sons more or less, according as they have been more or
less finely crushed, may ameliorate the soil by their earthy
matter for a long period (even if the jelly they contain
have been injuriously removed by the size-maker), per-
manently improving the condition and adding to the natu-
ral capabilities of the land.

CHAPTER IX. x

Of the comparative Value of Vegetable Manure, as contrasted with
Animal Excrements.

Ir may be asked, if the principal sources of the nitro-
gen required for the artificial forcing of corn-plants be
the feculent excretions of man and animals—if the object
be chiefly to replace in the soil those matters which have
been abstracted with the previous crop—how is it that
such excrements more effectually restore those elements
than would occur if the ripe crop were plowed into the

296 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

soil; in other words, how is it that dung and urine are
richer in nitrogen than the food from which they are
formed ? ,

The answer is easy and obvious. The BuLk of a vege-
table is chiefly woody fibre or carbon. A horse lives
exclusively upon vegetables, and discharges from his lungs,
in breathing, a large portion of the carbon his food con-
tains; hence, what is left to be thrown off from his kid-
neys and bowels, contains relatively a greater proportion
of nitrogen which could only be otherwise feebly sup-
plied to the soil from the rain-water of the atmosphere,
while the air yields to the land carbon in abundance.
Nearly the whole of the nitrogen contained in his food
(indeed, all beyond what is necessary for the wants of his
own living system) is thrown off in his urine and dung.
In the food consumed, the carbon was to the nitrogen as
9 to 1: in that which remains, after breathing has done
its work, the carbon is to the nitrogen in the proportion
of only 2 to 1. It is out of this residue, rich in nitrogen,
that the several parts of animal bodies. are built up.
Warm-blooded animals with capacious lungs, double and
triple their weight very rapidly after birth: they take in
(as lambs or calves after separation from the parent) only
vegetable food ; but the rapidity of its decomposition is
the index or ratio of the rapidity of their growth. Their
actions are lively ; and the playful exertion of their mus-
cles renders the decomposing play of the heart, and con-
sequently of the lungs, more frequent than when full
grown. During their quick growth, they absorb all the
nitrogen their food contains, while they throw off carbon
from the lungs. After growth is finished, they still throw
off, in breathing, nearly all the carbon, while the residual
quantity of nitrogen (not wanted for the purposes of the
living system) escapes in the dung and urine. The urine
of a child would not, upon. putrefaction, disengage the
same quantity of ammonia as that of a full-grown man.
Hence the reason why bodies can be nourished and _ built
up upon food comparatively poor in nitrogen; and yet

VALUE OF VEGETABLE MANURE. 297

1 ot only do those same bodies contain nitrogen in quan-
tity, but also their excretions are rich in the same element.
The more nitrogen that is appropriated by growing cattle,
the less will pass off into the fold-yard ; hence itis natural
to expect that the manure, either liquid or solid, which
accumulates where many young animals are fed, will not
be so rich as that yielded by full-grown cattle, unless, by
giving richer food to the young cattle than they actually
require or can dispose of, the difference to the dung-heap
be made up. A little acquaintance, then, with first prin-
ciples will explain the seeming difficulty, how it is that
the dung or urine of animals has a greater fertilizing power
than even the whole weight of the food which they have
consumed would have, if laid upon the soil. Its carbon
has passed through the lungs of animals that have eaten
it into the atmosphere: and the soil can always supply
itself with sufficient carbon from the decomposition of the
carbonic acid of the air: while its natural supply of nitro-
gen for the plants which grow on its surface is limited
to the decomposition of the ammonia, and the evolution of
nitrogen from rain-water,—a quantity which, though suf-
ficient for the sustenance of crabs, will not serve for
apples; and we must remember, that corn-plants are not
in a state of nature,—wild oats or potatoes are widely dif-
ferent from the same plants under the care and culture of
man. The difference between a wild and a cultivated
vegetable is not merely an increment of size, but the
development of those parts which, though naturally con-
taining nitrogen, contain, proportionally, far less than by
artificial culture they may be compelled to take up.

The doctrine of the proper application of manures from
organized substances offers an illustration of an important
part of the economy of nature, and of the happy order in
which it is arranged. The death and decay of animal
substances tend to resolve organized forms into elementary
constituents ; and the pernicious effluvia disengaged in the
process seem to point out the propriety of burying them in
the soil, where they are fitted to become the food of vege-

298 PRODUCTIVE FARMING:

tables. The fermentation and putrefaction of orgamzed
substances in the free atmosphere are noxious processes ;
beneath the surface of the ground, they are salutary opera-
tions. In this case, the food of plants is prepared where it
can be used 3 and that which would offend the senses and
injure the health, if exposed, is converted, by gradual pro-
cesses, into forms of beauty and of usefulness; the stink-
ing gas is rendered a constituent of the perfume of a flower ;
and what might be poison, swells the food of animals
and man.

CHAPTER X.

Of Manures of Mineral Origin, or Fossil and Artificial or Chemical
Manures; their Preparation, and the Manner in which they Act.—
Of Lime in its Different States; its operation as a manure.—Of Al-
kalies, and Common Salt, as to their Action upon the Land.

From what has been already said, a great variety of
substances contribute to the growth of plants, and supply
the materials of their nourishment. How matters that
have once been living are in turn converted into the sub-
stance of other living things, may be comprehended; but
itis more difficult to understand those operations by which
earthy and saline matters are taken up and consolidated in
the fibre of vegetables.

Sir Humphrey Davy, quoting the experiments of conti-
nental chemists who had preceded him, states, on their au-
thority, that different seeds sown in fine sand—flour of
brimstone, or rust of iron, and supplied only with air and
water, produced healthy plants, which by analysis yield-
ed yarious earthy and saline matters, which were not
contained either in the seeds or the material in which they
grew; and hence they and he concluded, that they must
have been formed from air or water, in consequence of the
agencies of the living organs of the plant. |

MINERAL MANURES: 299

_ It would be impossible to pass this teresting fact, with-
out observing how strikingly it confirms the views advanc-
ed in the preceding pages as to the origin of nitrogen from
the ammonia in rain-water. Sir Humphrey contends, from
some subsequent experiments, that the atmosphere yields
no saline matter to plants; but the existence of ammonia
in rain-water, if not unknown to that distinguished chem-
ist, was overlooked in his computation.

The only substances that can, with propriety, be called
fossil manures, and which are found unmixed with the re-
mains of any organized beings, are certain alkaline earths,
or alkalies, and their combinations.

The only alkaline earths which have been hitherto ap-
plied in this way, are Lime and magnesia. Potash and
soda, the two fixed alkalies, are both used in certain of
their chemical compounds, but never in a pure or caustic
state.

The most common form in which time is found on the
surface of the earth, is in a state of combination with car-
bonic acid. We have already alluded to some of its chem-
ical properties in a previous section of this work. When
common limestone is burnt in the kiln, the carbonic acid
gas is driven off by the heat, and nothing remains but the
. pure caustic earth. If the fire have been very high, it ap-
proaches to one-half the weight ofthe stone; but, in com-
mon cases, limestones, if well dried before burning, do
not lose much more than from 35 to 40 per cent., or from
7 parts to 8 out of 20.

Very few limestones, or chalks, consist entirely of lime
and carbonic acid. Statuary marble is nearly a pure car-
bonate of lime. When a limestone does not copiously
effervesce in acids, and is yet sufficiently hard to scratch
glass, it contains the earth of flint, and, probably, the earth
of clay. When brownish or yellowish-red, the tinge, in
all probability, depends upon the presence of iron. If not
hard enough to scratch glass, if the stone effervesce slowly
or but slightly with acids, and the solution have a milky
appearance,—most probably magnesia is present.

300 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

Before any opinion be formed of the manner in which
the different ingredients in limestones modify their proper-
ties, and their consequent action upon the soil, it will be
necessary to consider the action of pure, or recently burnt
caustic lime, when employed for agricultural purposes.

Quicklime,—in its pure state, whether in powder, or dis-
solved in minute proportion, in water,—is directly wjurt-
ous to plants. Grass may be certainly killed by sprinkling
it with lime-water; but since lime is a necessary ingre-
dient in soils, and an useful addition in many cases, it evi-
dently must be that its combination with carbonic acid—
the state in which it is found naturally—is the circum-
stance which not merely renders it void of causticity, but
so far alters its properties, as to exchange injury for advan-
tage. Lime, if pure, and recently burnt, cannot long re-
main caustic, inasmuch as it rapidly attracts sufficient car-
bonic acid from the atmosphere to reduce it to the state of
chalk, or a carbonate. and it is a wise arrangement that
it is incoetlvad it is weit found, in nature, pure, or free from
this acid.

Nevertheless, there are cases in which the application
of caustic lime may be requisite. If it be mixed with any
moist, fibrous, vegetable matter, there is a strong action
between the lime and the vegetable fibrin: they form a .
kind of compost together, of which a part is usually solu-
ble in water. By this kind of operation, lime renders mat-
ter which was comparatively inert, nutritive, or, at least,
soluble ; and as charcoal and oxygen abound in all plants,
the lime becomes at the same time usefully converted, even
by their agency, into a carbonate. It is obvious, then,
that the operation of quicklime, and that of marl or chalk,
depends upon principles altogether different. Quicklime,
in being applied to land, tends to bring any hard vegetable
matter that it contains into a more rapid and easy state of
decomposition ; while chalky forms of lime only add the
necessary amount of this earth, so as to furnish the requi-
site supply to be absorbed as part of the inorganic structure
of the plants which grow in that spot. Quicklime, when

MINERAL MANUBES. 301

it becomes mild by exposure, acts in the same way as
chalk, but, in the act of becoming mild, it prepares soluble
out of insoluble matter.

It is upon this circumstance that the operation of lime
in the preparation for wheat crops depends, and its efficacy
in fertilizing peats, and in bringing into a state of cultiva-
tion all soils abounding in hard roots, dry fibres, or unde-
composed and, therefore, useless vegetable matter.

So, then, the solution of the question, Whether quick-
lime ought to be applied to a soil? depends upon the
quantity of the undecomposed vegetable matter that soil
contains; and the answer to the question, Whether marl,
or any chalky carbonate of lime, ought to be applied ?
evidently depends upon whether the previous crops lave
exhausted the requisite quantity of lime necessary to form
part of the inorganic material of the crop that is intended
to be raised there. All soils are improved by mild lime,
because each successive crop takes a portion of lime away.
But, perhaps, one of the most important and influential
agencies of lime in the soil to which it is added, is to be
found in its ready combination with nitric acid, which it
assists in forming, from the facility with which it promotes
the union of its already existing elements, nzérogen and
oxygen. NiTRaTe oF Lime, which, by a series of inevitable
actions, is produced in the decomposing soil, is very solu-
ble in water: entering readily into the roots of plants, it
forms the medium by which lime becomes part of a vege-
table, (for, as before stated, the earths and alkalies never
enter a plant in.a pure, free, caustic, or uncombined state),
and producing upon growth effects precisely similar to
those of the now well-known nitrate of soda. Plowing,
harrowing, digging, and turning over the soil to the action
of the air, is useful, chiefly, because it facilitates the more
ready action of the atmosphere, indispensable to the for-
mation of these netrates.

Besides pure, or caustic lime, and its carbonate, in the
form of chalk or marl, the application of gypsum, or sUL-
PHATE OF LIME,—sometimes called alabaster, or plaster of

302 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

Paris,—deserves a passing notice. Great difference of
opinion has prevailed among agriculturists as to its use.
Correct notions as to the nature of vegetable growth, an
exact acquaintance with the constitution of plants intended
to be raised upon a given locality, and the admitted neces-
sity for an equally exact acquaintance with the existing
condition of that soil, so as to adapt the one to the other,
—in fact, a better knowledge of agricultural chemistry,—
is all that alone is wanting, or can solve the variety of
opinion as to its employment. Doubtlessly, if lime be de-
ficient in a soil, though marl, or the carbonate, is more
easily susceptible of action, the sulphate or gypsum, which
is less so, less easily decomposed, is better than none. Sul-
phuric acid has a stronger affinity for lime than carbonic
acid can exert; hence, gypsum does not so readily enter
into new combinations. It has been said, that sulphate of
lime assists the putrefactive decomposition of animal sub-
stances,—that it hastens the evolution of ammonia, and
the consequent development of nitrogen; but the experi-
ments of Sir Humphrey Davy disprove this view of the
case. It would appear that peat-ashes naturally contain
gypsum in abundance. These peat-ashes are used with
advantage in some parts of the country, as a top-dressing
for cultivated grasses, particularly clover; and, in examin-
ing the ashes of sainfoin and clover, they have been found
to contain gypsum in quantity, proving that lime, in the
form of a sulphate, is a necessary ingredient in the consti-
tution of some vegetables. The practical deduction from
such investigations obviously is, that if clover be intended
to be raised upon a soil deficient of lime, in the form of a
sulphate, gypsum will not only constitute an advantageous
manure, but one that is absolutely essential to the produc-
tion of a vigorous, abundant, and healthy crop.

Phosphate of lime is another combination of this earth
with an acid. It forms the greatest part of calcined bones,
of the utility and application of which we have already
spoken. It exists in most excrementitious substances, and
is an essential constituent of the straw and grain of wheat,

MINERAL MANURES. 303

barley, oats, and rye, and likewise in beans, peas, and
vetches. Jt exists in some places, in these islands, native,
but only in small quantities. Phosphate of lime is gene-
rally conveyed to the land in the composition of other ma-
nure, and is absolutely necessary to corn crops. Bone-
ashes, ground to powder, are useful on arable land that is
deficient in lime, or its phosphate, especially if there be a
superabundance of vegetable matter. If lime, or its phos-
phate, be the only deficient ingredient in the land,—if it
already contain, or be at the same time supplied with ani-
mal manure, yielding nitrogen,—then bone-dust may prove
useful.

Woop-asHes consist principally of the vegetable alkali,
or potash, united to carbonic acid; and as this alkali is
found in almost all plants, it is net difficult to conceive that
it may form an essential part of their organs. The gene-
ral tendency of the alkalies applied as manure is, to sup-
ply the deficiency occasioned by what is removed with the
previous crops. Wood-zsh contains not only carbonate
of potash, but also the sulphate of potash and _selicate of
potash; hence its utility, as affording silex to wheat straw,
—a material essential to its firmness and stability. These
saline matters in wood-ash are all valuable, as supplying
the necessary inorganic constituents of plants; and hence
the extensive use of wood-ash, as a manure, in every coun-
try where it can readily be procured.

Pegat-asHes vary, in constitution, with the kind of peat
from which they have been prepared. They often contain
traces of potash and soda, and generally a quantity of sul-
phate and carbonate of lime, a trace of phosphate of lime,
and much siliceous matter. In almost every country where
peat abounds, the value of peat-ashes, as a manure, has
been more or less generally recognized.

Keirp.—The ash left by the burning of sea-weed contains
potash, soda, silica, sulphur, and several other of the inor=
ganic constituents of plants, and is usefully and extensively
employed in many districts near the sea, where plants
naturally requiring these materials grow more luxuriantly

304 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

than in more inland districts. Sea-weeds decompose with
great rapidity when collected in heaps and laid upon the
land. During their decay, they not only yield inorganic
saline matter to the soil, but enrich it with an additional
layer of vegetable mould. |

JVitrate of soda, and nitrate of potash, or salipetre.—T hese
substances have been much commended for their beneficial
action upon growing plants. They impart to the leaves a
deeper green, and evidently quicken vegetable action:
they are applied advantageously to grass and young corn,
at the rate of a hundred weight of either to an acre. The
nitric acid they contain yields the additional nitrogen be~
yond the quantity the plants can obtain by decomposing
the ammonia contained in the rain that falls upon them ; at
the same time, the other ingredient—potash or soda, as the
case may be——is put within the reach of their roots, to be
absorbed as an inorganic, yet necessary constituent.

Common salt, muriate of soda, or, more correctly, a
compound of the metal sodium with elementary chlorine,
is undoubtedly indispensable to the fertility of many inland
soils. It is not without design that the spray of the sea is
allowed to be borne by the winds for many miles over the
shore, so supplying an ample dressing of common salt to
the land. A minute quantity is absolutely necessary to
the healthy growth of all our cultivated crops, and most
lands (in this island at least) contain a sufficient quantity
of it for the purposes of vegetation. Common salt is found
in every species of animal manure, and will be found most
requisite in high situations exposed to the washing of heavy
rains, which tend to remove the soluble alkaline matters
from the soil. ;
Much diversity of opinion has prevailed as to the utility

of this substance. The Cheshire farmers plead in its favor.
On the other hand, that salt, in large quantities, renders
land barren, was known long before any records of agri-
cultural science existed. We read in Scripture, that Abi-
¢imelech took the city of Shechem, and sowed the land’

with salt, that the spot might be for ever unfruitful. Pliny.

MINERAL MANURES. 305

a Latin historian, though he recommends giving salt to
cattle, yet affirms, that when strewed over land it renders
it barren. But these form no argument against the proper
application of it.. There can be no question that salt, as
well as many other similar mineral substances, is really
useful to vegetation ; yet the intelligent agriculturist ought
not to be surprised to find, that a substance which is use-
ful, because necessary and deficient in one instance, may be
positively in excess, and consequently injurious, if added
in another. He will try cautiously, and upon a small
scale, whether this or that material seems fitted to answer
his intention ; or, what is far better than blind hit-or-miss
experiment, he will endeavor to ascertain the actual con-
stitution of the soil, and not expect to grow wheat where
there is no phosphate of lime or silicate of potash; nor
plants which thrive best near the sea, in a soil which he
knows to be devoid of common salt. If salt be there, it
is a needless and foolish waste to attempt to improve the
land by adding more. If he has already bricks enough at
hand, you must carry the builder mortar: more bricks will
not supply the place of mortar. So, if the soil contain
lime, or magnesia, or petash, in sufficient abundance for
the wants of the plant it is our object artificially to force,
it may still be deficient of other materials, and here the
skill and science ef one man stand in beautiful contrast
with the blundering, bungling guesses of another.

At a meeting of the Chemical Society, a paper was
lately read containing a report of some experiments with
saline manures containing nitrogen, conducted on the
Manor Farm, Havering-atte-Bower, Essex, in the occupa-
tion of C. Hall, Esq., communicated by W. M. F. Chatter-
ley, Esq. The experiments were suggested by the pre-
vailing opinion, that the fertilizing power of some animal
manures, and of the salts, nitre, (nitrate of potash), nitrate
of soda, and sulphate of ammonia, depend upon the pro-
portion of nitrogen they contain. The salts mentioned are
all, from their low price, within the reach of the farmer ;
and the quantity of the last thrown into the market is

15

306 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

greatly increasing, from the extension of the new mode of
purifying coal-gas from its ammonia, by washing the gas
with dilute sulphuric acid. The interest also of experi-
ments with salts is greater than with mixed manures, both
to the farmer, who, from the nature of the former sub-
stances, may depend upon their uniformity, and to the che-
mist, as their composition is necessarily known tohim. A
field of wheat was chosen, which, in the latter end of
April, 1842, presented a thin plant; the salts were top-
dressed over the land by hand, on the 12th of May, and
the crop cut on the 10th of August. The soil was rather -
poor, consisting of a heavy clay upon a subsoil of the Lon-
don clay. 1. No manure; wheat per acre 1413 lbs. 2.
With 28 lbs. of sulphate of ammonia; wheat, 1612 lbs.
3. With 140 lbs. of the same salt; wheat 1999 lbs, 4.
With 112 lbs. of nitrate of soda; wheat 1905 Ibs. 5.
With 112 lbs. of nitre; wheat, 1890 lbs. The increase
in the straw was also considerable in all cases, except
with the small proportion of sulphate of ammonia. The
total increase in the four manured crops was per cent., in
the order in which they were enumerated,— 14-1, 41:5, 34,
and 33°5. The cost of the manure for the three last did
not greatly differ, being 21s. 9d., 24s. 6d., 27s. 6d.; and
the profit on the outlay was, with the small dose of sul-
phate of ammonia, 294 per cent.; with the large dose, 212
per cent.; with the nitrate of soda, 138 per cent.; and
with the nitrate of potash, 92 per cent. The principal
conclusions drawn by the author are, that the increase of
nitrogen in the crop is greater than is accounted for by the
nitrogen of the manures, showing that these manures have
a stimulating effect, or enable the plants to draw additional
nitrogenized food from the soil and atmosphere; the con-
siderable superiority of sulphate of ammonia over the other
salts, and the greater proportional efficiency of a small,
than of a large dose of that salt. The sulphate of ammo-
nia costs 17s. per cwt. It appears best to apply this salt
in the proportion of about 1 cwt. per acre, at three differ-
ent dressings: the first quantity when the crop of wheat

MINERAL MANURES. 307

makes its spring growth, or if of oats, when about two
inches above the ground; the second quantity about a
month afterwards; and the third at the time of the forma-
tion of the ear. To meet the practical difficulty of distri-
buting so small a quantity as one-third of a hundred weight
over an acre, about twice the quantity of common salt or
of soot may be mixed with the ammoniacal salt. These,
and most saline manures, when used as a top-dressing,
should be supplied to the plant when dry, after a shower
of rain, or during hazy weather.

That which was true in the day of Sir Humphrey Davy,
when experimental agricultural chemistry was in its in-
fancy, is equally true at the present moment. He observes
that “ much of the discordance of the evidence relating to
the efficacy of saline substances depends upon the circum-
stance of their having been used in varying proportions,
and in general in quantities much too large.” That which
is salutary and medicinal in moderate doses, not only may
be, but is, absolutely poisonous in another.

Sir Humphrey made a number of experiments on the

effects of different saline substances on barley and on grass
growing in the same garden, the soil of which was a light
sand, of which 100 parts were composed of 60 parts of
siliceous sand, and 24 parts finely-divided matter, consist-
sing of 7 parts carbonate of lime, 12 parts alumina and
silica, less than one part saline matter, principally com-
mon salt, with a trace of gypsum and magnesia; the re-
maining 16 parts were vegetable mould.

The solutions of the saline substances were used twice a
week, in the quantity of two ounces, on spots of grass and
corn, sufficiently distant from each other to prevent any
interference of results. Several of the salts of potash,
soda, magnesia, and ammonia, were experimentally and
separately employed. He found that in all cases, when
the quantity of the salt equalled one-thirtieth part of the
weight of the water, the effects were injurious; but least
so with the salts of ammonia. When the quantities of the
salts were one part in three hundred of the solution, or 1

308 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

pound to 300 pounds of water, the effects were different.
Those spots watered with the solution of carbonate of am-
monia were most luxuriant of all. This last result is what
might be expected (and it agrees well with the theoretic
views of later chemists), inasmuch as carbonate of ammo-
nia is made up of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen ;
all of which are essential to the supply of the additional
quantities artificial plants require beyond that they can
naturally obtain from the surroundmg atmosphere. He
observes that the solution of nitrate of ammonia seemed to
be of no greater use than ratn-water, and he attributes its
failure to the circumstance of the acid being in excess.
But Sir Humphrey was not aware that rain-water actually
contains ammonia ; it was left to the genius of Liebig, in
our later day, to develope that discovery.

CHAPTER XI.

Of the Composition of Productive Soils, and of the Agency of the
Elements in their Natural Formation, from the rocks upon which
they rest.

WE may now take it for granted, that every practical
farmer will admit the position as proved, namely, that
there must be an exact adaptation and fitness between the
condition of any given soil and the plants intended to be
raised upon it; and that, if this condition does not exist
naturally, it not only may be, but must be, artificially
remedied.

At this stage of the inquiry, it will be our endeavor to
anticipate further question, and to give an exact account
of the chemical constitution of such soils as are known to
be best suited to the cultivation and growth of green as
well as corn crops. |

There are in existerice as many varieties of soils as

a,

PRODUCTIVE SOILS. 309

there are species of rocks exposed at the surface of the
earth. In fact, there are many more. Independently of
the changes produced by cultivation and the exertions of
human labor in tearing down and breaking up the surface,
the materials of various layers have been mixed together
and carried from place to place by various great alterations
that, during a succession of ages, have been silently yet
constantly carried forward in the system of our globe,
together with the united agencies of air, water, and the
varying alternations of summer’s heat and the cold of
winter.

To attempt to class soils with scientific accuracy would
be a needless labor; the distinctions adopted by farmers
are sufficient for our present purpose, particularly if some
degree of exactitude be maintained in the application of
terms. A full knowledge of modern geology 1s not neces-
sary to enable a man to determine whether a field is best
suited for arable or grazing purposes ; nor is it our inten-
tion needlessly to employ the scientific appellations which
would only puzzle because they are incomprehensible to
minds unfamiliar to geological nomenclature. The ex-
pression “a sandy soil,’”? is well understood ; but let it
never be applied to any soil that does not contain at least
three parts out of four of sand. Then, again, sandy soils
that effervesce or give off carbonic acid or fixed air, when
vinegar or vitriol is poured upon them, should be distin-
guished by the name of “sandy limestone soils,” to mark
them from sandy soils that contain silex or the earth of
flint. The term “ clayey soil,’ should not be applied to
any land which contains less than one-sixth of an earthy
matter not effervescing with acids; while the word
“Joam” should be limited to such soils as contain one-third
of a smooth earthy matter, considerably effervescing with
acids. A soil to be considered “ peaty” ought to contain
at least one-half of vegetable matter.

Soils perform at least three functions in reference to
vegetation. They serve as a basis in which plants may
fix their roots and sustain themselves in the erect position

310 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

—they are the medium through which the greater part of
the inorganic matter of vegetables is supplied to them
during their growth—and they allow many chemical
changes to take place that are essential to a right prepa-
ration of the various kinds of food which are yielded to the
growing plant.

The best NATURAL soits are those whence the materials
have been derived from the breaking up and decomposition,
not of one stratum or layer, but of many, divided minutely
by air and water, and minutely blended together; and in
improving soils by artificial additions, the farmer cannot do
better than imitate the processes of nature.

We have spoken of soils as consisting mostly of sand,
lime, and clay, with certain saline and organic substances
in smaller and varying proportions; but the examination
of the ashes of plants shows that a fertile soil must of ne-
cessity contain an appreciable quantity of at least eleven
different substances, which in most cases exist in greater
or less relative abundance in the ash of cultivated plants ;
and of these the proportions are not by any means imma-
terial. The Jabor requisite for the permanent improve-
ment of land is repaid by correspondent advantage; the
materials for the necessary adjustment are seldom far dis+
tant. If coarse sand be requisite, it is mostly or often
found immediately over the chalky soil that needs it; and
beds of sand and gravel are common below clay. Capital
laid out in this way, secures for ever the productiveness
and consequent value of the land.

In ascertaining the composition of barren soils with a
view to their productiveness, or of partially unproductive
Jand, in order to its amendment, they should be compared
with fertile soils in the same neighborhood, and in similar
situations ; as the difference of composition will, in most
cases, indicate the proper methods of improvement. For
instance, if on washing a portion of sterile soil it be found
to contain largely any salt of iron, or any acid matter, it
may be ameliorated with quick-lime, which removes the
sourness, or, in other words, combines with and neutralizes

PRODUCTIVE SOILS. 311

the acid. For though pure fresh burnt caustic lime is inju-
rious to vegetation, yet in combination with acid (as in
chalk) it proves eminently serviceable. A soil, apparently
of good texture, was put into the hands of Sir Humphrey
Davy for examination, said to be remarkable for its unfit-
ness for agricultural purposes; he found it contained sul-
phate of iron, or green copperas, and offered the obvious
remedy of top-dressing with lime, which decomposes the
sulphate. So if there be an excess of lime, in any form,
in the soil, it may be removed by the application of sand
or clay. Soils too abundant in sand are benefited by the
use of clay or marl, or vegetable matter. To a field of
hight sand that had been much burnt up by a hot summer,
the application of peat was recommended as a top-dress-
Ing: it Was attended not only with immediate advantage,
but the good effects were permanent. A deficiency of
vegetable or animal matter is easily discoverable, and may
as easily be supplied by manure. On the other hand, an
excess of vegetable matter may be removed by paring and
burning, or by the application of earthy materials. The
effect of paring and burning is easily understood. The
matted sods consist of a mixture of much vegetable witha
comparatively small quantity of earthy matter ; when these
are burned, only the ash of the plant is left, intimately,
mixed with the calcined earth. To strew this mixture
over the exposed soilis much the same as dressing it with
peat or wood ashes, the beneficial effects of which upon
vegetation are almost universally recognized. From what
has been already said, it will be easily evident, that the
beneficial effect of the burnt ash is chiefly owing to the
ready supply of énorganic and saline material it yields to
the seeds which may afterwards be scattered there; be-
sides which, the roots of weeds and poorer grasses, if not
exterminated by the paring, are so far injured as to lead to.
their death and subsequent decomposition. |

The improvement of peats or bogs, or marsh lands, must
be preceded by pramine, stagnant water being injurious to
all the nutritive classes of plants. Soft black peats, when

312 PRODUCTIVE FARMING

drained, are often made productive by the mere application
of sand or clay asa top-dressing. The first step to be taken,
an order to increase the fertility of nearly all improvable
lands, is to prain them. So long as they remain wet, they
will continue to be cold. Where too much water is
present in the soil, that food of the plant which the soil
supplies is so much diluted and weakened that the plant is
of necessity scantily nourished. By the removal of the
superfluous water, the soil crumbles, becomes less stiff and
tenacious, air and warmth gain ready access to the roots of
the growing plant; the access of air (and consequently
of the carbonic acid which the atmosphere freely supplies)
being an essential element in the healthy growth of the
most important vegetable productions. Every one knows
that when water is applied to the bottom ofa flower-pot
full of soil it will gradually find its way to the surface,
however light that soil may be: so, in sandy soils or sub-
soils in the open field. If water abound at the depth of a
few feet, or if it so abound at certain seasons of the year,
such water will rise to the surface; and as the sun’s heat
causes it to dry off, more water will rise to supply its
place. This attraction from beneath will always go on
most strongly when the air is dry and warm, and so a
double mischief will ensue; the soil will be kept cold and
wet ; and instead of a free passage of air downwards about
the growing roots, there will be established a constant
current of water upwards. Of course, the remedy for all
this is an efficient system of drainage.

In general, the soils which are made up of the most
various materials are those called alluvial, which have
been formed from the depositions of floods and rivers.
Many of these are extremely fertile. Soils consist of two
parts; of an organic part, which can readily be burned
away when the surface-soil is heated to redness; and of
an inorganic part, which remains fixed in the fire, consist-
ing of earthy and saline substances; from which, if
carbonic acid, or any elastic gas be present, it may, how-
ever, be driven by the heat. The organic part of soils is

PRODUCTIVE SOILS. 313

derived chiefly from the remains of vegetables and animals
which have lived and died in and upon the soil, which
have been spread over it by rivers and rains, or which
have been added by the industry of man for the purposes of
increased fertility.

This organic part varies much in quantity, as well as
quality, in different soils. In peaty soils it is very abun-
dant, as well asin some rich long cultivated lands. In
general, it rarely amounts to one-fourth, or 25 per cent.,
even in our best arable lands. Good wheat soils contain
often as little as 8 parts in the 100 of organic animal or
vegetable matter: oats and rye will grow in a soil con-
taining only 14 per cent.; and barley when only 2 or 3
parts percent. are present. In very old pasture-lands, and
in gardens, vegetable matter occasionally accumulates, so
as to be injurious, and overload the upper soil. This
decaying vegetable, or animal matter, is the ‘“ humus’
previously adverted to, and ‘incorrectly supposed, before
our day, to afford almost the sole nutriment essentially
necessary to the growing plants. That living plants derive
from the remains of their decayed predecessors the advan-
tage of being placed in contact with the inorganic or saline
materials those plants once contained, is not to be denied.
But unless the whole crop were plowed in, every year,
this quantity would be exceedingly minute. The true
value of green crops plowed into the soil, or of decaying
vegetable matter, the “humus” of former writers, is the
formation of carbonic acid by the combination of decom-
posed carbonaceous or woody fibre with atmospheric
oxygen; thus supplying to the new and young roots
carbon in a form susceptible of being taken up by them.
The inorganic portion of any given soil is again divisible
into two portions—namely, that part which is soluble in
water, and, therefore, in a state easily susceptible of being
taken up by the vessels of a growing vegetable, and of a
further and much more bulky portion which is insoluble in
water. The soluble portion consists of saline substances—
the insoluble, of earthy materials.

15*

314 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

A single grain of saline matter in every pound of a soil
a foot deep, is equal to 500 pounds in every acre, which is
more than is carried off from the land in the course of 40
years, supposing that the wheat and barley are sent to
market, and the straw and green crops are regularly return-
ed to the soil in the shape of manure.

Sprengel, a German chemist, now at the head of the
Prussian agricultural school, whose own taste, as well as
his professional duty, have Iong directed his attention to
scientific cultivation of the soil,—has published an exact
analysis of two varieties of productive soil, of which the
following is an abstract :—

The first is a very fertile alluvial soil from East Fries-
land, formerly overflowed by the sea, but, for sixty years,
cultivated with corn and pulse without manure.

The second is a fertile soil near Gottingen, which pro-
duces excellent crops of clover, pulse, rape, potatoes, and
turnips ; the two last more especially when manured with
gypsum. |

One thousand parts of each of these soils, after washing,
gave—

No. 1. No. 2.
Soluble saline matter, big. Sah SA sEe 18 1
Fine earthy and organic matter, (clay) . 937 839
Siliceous sand, : AS Sh ee Meh Sg AM 45 160

——— = eee

1000 1000

The most striking distinction presented by these numbers
is the large quantity of saline matter in the first variety.
It consisted of common salt, muriate of potash, the
sulphates of potash, gypsum, magnesia, and iron, with
phosphate of soda, and other salts. The presence of this
comparatively large quantity of these different saline sub-
stances, originally derived, no doubt, in great part from the
Sea, was probably one reason why it could be so long crop-
ped without manure. Its composition illustrates the truth
of the statement, that a considerable supply of att the

PRODUCTIVE SOILs. 315

species of inorganic materials is necessary to render a soil
eminently fertile. Not only does this soil contain a com-
paratively large quantity of the soluble saline matters
above enumerated, but it contains also 10 per cent. of
organic matter, and some lime. The potash and soda,
and the several acids, are also present in sufficient abun-
dance. |

In the second instance, a fertile soil, but which could not
dispense with manure, there is little soluble saline matter ;
and in the insoluble portion, only traces of potash, soda,
and important acids. It contains, also, 5 per cent. of
organic matter, and 2 per cent. of lime, which smaller
proportions, together with the deficiency of alkalies, remove
this soil from the most naturally fertile class, to that class
which is susceptible, in hands of ordinary skill, of being
brought to, and kept ina very productive condition.

Sir Humphrey Davy examined some productive soils,
which were very different in their composition.

We will state the analysis of a few of them.

Soil from Holkham, Norfolk, described as a “ good turnip
sow,’ contained 8 parts out of 9 of siliceous sand ; that
is, sand with flintearth, or silex: the remaining 1-9th
part consisted, in every 100 grains, of—

Carbonate of lime, (chalk) Rit SA aig ote 63 grains.

MMe Sede cos Ota oh, eke a Tres 15 grains,

Pure alumina, or the earth of clay, . . . 11 grains.

Oxide (rust) of iron, a Ret ORAL INE igh tiaieg 3 grains.

Vegetable, and other saline matter, . . . 5 grains.

Moisture and loss, OES en Koala ok att ha 3 grains,
100

Thus the whole amount of organic matter in this instance
is only 1 part in 200, or one-half per cent.; a fact which,
in itself, would demonstrate the fallacy of supposing that
decomposed animal and vegetable matter in the soil forms
the exclusive supply to growing plants.

In another instance, soil was taken from a field in Sussex,
remarkable for its growth of flourishing oak trees. It

316 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

consisted of 6 parts of sand, and 1 part of clay and finely-
divided matter. One hundred grains of it yielded, m
chemical language—

Of silica, (or silex) : : : , Z 54 grains.

Of alumina, " 4 : : 7 ; 28 grains.

Carbonate of lime, ; . , . . 3 grains.

Oxide of iron, : . : : . ; 5 grains.

Vegetable matter in a state of decomposition, 4 grains,

Moisture and loss, : : - % : 6 grains,
100

To wheat soils, the attention of the practical farmer will
be most strongly directed. An ExceLLenT wheat soil
from West Drayton, in Middlesex, yielded 3 parts in 5 of
siliceous sand; and the remaining two parts consisted of
carbonate of lime, silex, alumina, and a minute proportion
of decomposing animal and vegetable remains.

Of these soils, the last was by far the most, and the first,
the least coherent in texture. In all cases, the constituent
parts of the soil which give tenacity and stiffness, are the
finely-divided portions; and they possess this quality in
proportion to the quantity of alumina (or earth of clay)
they contain. A small quantity of this finely-divided mat-
ter is sufficient to fit a soil for the growth of turnips, or of
barley, as turnips will grow (though it is not to be
expected they will thrive) on a soil containing 11 parts
out of 12 of sand. Sand in much greater proportion, or
rather disproportion, produces sterility. So pure alumina,
or pure silex, pure chalk, or magnesia, are incapable of
supporting vegetation; and no soil is fertile that contains
19 parts out of 20 of any one of the materials that have
been mentioned.

Sprengel gives also the analysis of an unproductive soil
from Luneburg. It contained, in 1000 parts—

Soluble saline matter, . : . : - 1 part.
Fine earthy and organic matter, (clay) . ; 599 parts.
Silieeous sand, . : : é : 400 parts.

1000

PRODUCTIVE SOILS. 317

This unfruitful soil, compared with the analysis given of
the other two on a previous page, will be found to be the
lightest of the three, containing 40 per cent. of sand. But
this alone is not enough to account for its barrenness,—
many light soils containing a larger proportion of sand,
and yet sufficiently fertile. One thousand parts of its fine
earthy matter contain 40 of organic matter instead of 97,
—778 of silica instead of 648,—91 of alumina instead of
57,—4 of lime instead of 59,—1 of magnesia instead of
10,—81 of oxide of iron instead of 61; while potash, soda,
ammonia, chlorine, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, car-
bonic acid, are entirely wanting ; such being the ingredients
and quantities in 1000 parts of the finer portion of the very
fertile soil from East Friesland. The oxide of iron is in
excess in the Luneburg barren soil; there requires, there-
fore, to be added, not only those substances of which it is
destitute, but such other matters as shall prevent the inju-
rious effects of the excessive proportion of iron. This
illustration may serve to aid the practical farmer in com-
prehending how far exact chemical analysis is fitted to
throw light upon the capabilities of soils, and to dérect
agricultural practice. The constitution of a soil, like the
constitution of a horse, or a human being, requires to be
known and understood, if we would prescribe otherwise
than at random, expensively, unprofitably, or injuriously,
either for the diseases of the one, or for the deficiencies of
the other.

The varying power of soils to absorb and retain water
from the air, is much connected with their fertility. Sir
Humphrey Davy has remarked upon this; and connecting
his statement with the fact, that rain-water always con-
tains ammonia, and, consequently, nitrogen (as one of the
elements of ammonia), we can easily understand why it
should be so. He observes, that “the soils which are
most efficient in supplying a plant with water by absorp-
tion and retention from the atmosphere, are those in which
there is a due mixture of sand, finely divided clay and chalk,
with some animal] and vegetable matter ; and yet so loose

318 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

and light, as to allow of the action of the air beneath the
surface.”? Sand in excess destroys the requisite stiffness
of the soil, but gives little absorbent power.

The absorbent power of land is always greatest on the
most fertile soils, thus affording one ready test of produc-
tiveness. One thousand grains of soil, rendered perfectly
dry by exposure to heat equal to that of boiling-water,
ought, by exposure to air, saturated with moisture, to gain
in weight, at least, 18 grains, or one-fiftieth ; so that the
standard of fertility of soils for different plants must vary
with the climate, (as well as the varying constitution of
the soil itself), and be particularly influenced by the
quantity of rain that falls upon it. The power of soils to
absorb moisture ought to be much greater in warm or dry
counties, than in cold, marshy places; and the quantity of
clay they contain, greater. The inference is obvious: if
deficient, it ought to be added. Soils, also, on the slope
of a hill, ought to be more absorbent than in plains, or in
the bottom of valleys. Their productiveness is also much
influenced by the nature of the subsoil on which they
rest; for, when soils are immediately situated upon a_ bed
of rock or stone, they dry sooner by the sun’s agency, than
when the subsoil is clay or marl. A prime cause of the
fertility of the land in the mois¢ climate of Ireland is, that
happily the surface-soil rests upon a rocky substratum.
A clay subsoil will sometimes be of material advantage to
a sandy upper-soil, inasmuch as it will retain the necessary
moisture in such a manner as to be capable of supplying
that lost by the earth above in consequence of evapora-
tion. In the same way, a sandy or gravelly subsoil often
corrects the imperfection of too great a degree of absorb-
ent power in the true soil.

In devoting the different parts of an estate to the ne-
cessary crops, it is perfectly evident that no general prin-
ciple can be laid down, except when all the circumstances
of the nature, composition, and situation of the soil and
subsoil are accurately known.

Whatever be the specific variety of the surface-soil, it

ele ke

PRODUCTIVE SOILS. 319

will, of necessity, take its character from the prevalent
substratum. In limestone countries, where the surface is
a species of marl, the soil is often found only a few inches
above the limestone, and its fertility is not impaired by the
nearness of the rock: though, in a Jess absorbent soil, this
situation would occasion barrenness; and the sandstone
and limestone hills in Derbyshire and North Wales may
be easily distinguished at a distance in summer by the
different tints of their vegetation. The grass on the sand-
stone hills usually appears brown and parched, that on
the limestone hills flourishing and green.

Each locality will continue to present to the agricultur-
ist facilities for the cultivation of such vegetables as it is
best fitted to raise, and for an indefinite period; that is,
until the exhaustion of its saline materials, its capability
will continue. In clayey soils, it will continue longest ;
because, as previously explained, all clays contain potash
and soda. But even these in time are exhausted. Air,
water, and the changing temperature of the seasons, are
at the same time preparing a remedy for the coming defi-
ciency. Fresh surfaces of broken, crumbling rock are in
a state of continual formation, exposing to the elements
the saline treasures they contain. <A period will arrive in
the history of all soils, when, 7f ther saline constituents
are not artificially replaced, it will be necessary, either by
deep plowing, or other mechanical modes of breaking up
and exposing the rock from which that soil has been
formed, to obtain a fresh supply of soluble alkalies.
When the surface of a granite rock has been long subject-
ed to the action of air and water, the lime and the potash
it contains are acted on by both; the felspar, mica, and
quartz, of which that rock is compounded, are decom-
posed. The felspar, which is, as it were, the cement of
the stone, forms a fine clay; the mica, partially decom-
posed, mixes with it as sand; and the undecomposed
quartz appears as gravel, or coarse sand, of different de-
grees of fineness. Then, as soon as the smallest layer of
earth is formed in this way, the seeds of mosses, and other

320 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

imperfect vegetables constantly floating in the atmos-
phere, and which have made that spot their resting-place,
begin to vegetate: their annual reproduction and death
furnishes a certain quantity of organizable matter, which .
mixes with the earthy materials of the rock. In this
improved soil, more perfect plants are capable of subsist-
ing, the gradual process being, in truth, an epitome of the
world’s original creation. Fossil geology shows us that
such was the process; and that not until a soil was formed
by the decay of reeds and mosses, was the earth’s surface
fitted to rear the stately oak. With every fresh disinte-
gration of the surface, successive quantities of alkaline
materials are presented to the growing vegetable.

CHAPTER XII.

Of the Chemical Analysis of Soils, and how far this is practicable
by the Farmer. .

Enoveu has been already written to show what is essen-
tial to the production of heavy crops, and to prove that a
naturally good soil can be forced, or an inferior soil amend-
ed, only by the addition of such substances as are really
requisite in each particular instance; such adaptation, of
course, presupposing an exact acquaintance with the na-
ture of the land.

But the practical farmer will anticipate the inquiry,
How am I to arrive at this knowledge ? I am no chemist:
I can form some general notion of the composition of the
soil which I cultivate; and, from experiments (some of
which have been fortunate, others confessedly expensive
and unproductive), I am enabled to say what seems to
agree best withit. Is it necessary to employ a scientific
chemist to analyze my wheat soils, or are the means of
discovery within my own power ? :

ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 321

In reply to such very natural inquinies--to a certain
extent, the means of analysis are within the reach of every
working farmer. Nevertheless it is perfectly true, that
the management and tilling of the soil is a branch of prac-
tical chemistry ; and, like the arts of dyeing, calico-print-
ing, or the smelting of metals, it may advance, to a cer-
tain degree of perfection—its present condition (which
has been stationary and imperfect for many centuries)
—without the aid of science ; but it can only have its pro-
cesses explained, and be led on to shorter, more economi-
cal, more productive, and perfect. processes, by the aid of
scientific principles.

From the analyses of Davy and Sprengel, already given,
of soils known to be eminently productive (and two or
three such illustrations are as good as a thousand), it is
not difficult to say of what materials a good wheat soil
ought to consist. It is impossible to compare any given
soil with these standards, unless we have a similar exam-
ination instituted ; and if it can be obtained from the hands
of an able investigator, it is always very desirable, so much
so as amply to repay the trifling expense. Chemistry has
rendered many and great services to agriculture, and can
render more: the two sciences ought not to be considered
as having no relation to each other; on the contrary, prac-
tical farming is only conducted on rational principles when
directed by chemical science. Hitherto it has fallen in
with the humor or bias of only a few scientific men to en-
ter upon such inquiries. Sir Humphrey Davy, the great-
est chemist of his age, devoted his efforts not only labori-
ously, but most usefully, to the prosecution of agricultural
chemistry ; and the recent views and discoveries of Lie-
big, will do much to economize agricultural operations, as
well as to direct the farmer to the easiest and shortest
modes of doubling his crops. But, generally, the appre-
ciation of such efforts, on the part of learned men, has been
so small—the reception of scientific results and suggestions
by the farming tenantry, so ungracious, that little wonder
can exist that so many have quitted the field in disgust—

—

322 FRODUCTIVE FARMING.

that the majority of able chemists should studiously avoid
it. Hence it has happened that, in England, the analysis
of soils has rarely been undertaken, except as a matter of
professional business. Exact chemical analysis is a diffi-
cult art, one which demands much knowledge and skill in
practice. It calls for both time and perseverance, if valu-
able, trust-worthy, and minutely correct results are to be
obtamed. But it is only by aiming after such minutely
correct results that chemistry is hkely to throw light on
the peculiar properties of those soils, which, while they
possess much general similarity in appearance, are yet
found, in practice, to possess very different agricultural
capabilities.

Sir Humphrey Davy has given, with his usual precision,
very copious directions for the analysis of soils. But we
have no hesitation in affirming, that few practical farmers
are likely to attempt the task. Not that the requisite in-
struments are either numerous or expensive, but that some
familiarity with chemical operations is necessary ; and that
little dependence could be placed upon results which, if
incorrect, would mislead, perhaps, more widely than the
merest guesses. Fortunately there are to be found men
of ability in sufficient numbers to supply the requisite in-
formation; and there is nothing more inconsistent in soli-
citing from a practical chemist a statement as to the actual
composition of a given portion of soil, with a view to the
supply of its deficiencies, than there is in employing a
veterinary surgeon, not only to give an opinion as to the
nature of the ailment of a horse, but to advise the appro-
priate remedy. |
Undoubtedly the utility and necessity of such interfer-
ence or assistance may sound strangely—grate harshly
upon the long-established usages of that class of farmers
with whom, unfortunately, mere exertion is a virtue, and
skill or science a presumed apology for laziness. It would
appear, liowever, that in some agricultural districts, a spirit
in most rational conformity with such combinations of sci-
ence with mere brute labor, is beginning to prevail. Early

ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 893.

in the present year, a meeting of landed gentry and farm-
ers took place in Edinburgh, for the express purpose of
forming an association for the application of chemistry to
agriculture ; a tolerably expressive imdication of the state
of public feeling in Scotland, and one that, we trust, will
be followed up by the organization of kindred institutions
throughout the country. The great and leading object of
the association is to have a chemist of first-rate eminence,
resident in Edinburgh, who, during the winter months,
shall devote himself to analyzing such soils, manures, and
other substances as may be sent him by farmers, and giv-
ing them advice regarding their value and usefulness.. In
summer he will visit different districts of the country, at the
request of members of the association, and give a few lec-
tures in the towns, or advice to individuals, regarding the
system of management best suited to different soils. It 1s
easy to see that all this will be attended with very great
practical benefits to the country. —

We are aware, however, that there are persons who
have a distrust of the aid to be had from chemistry in the
delicate and refined processes of agriculture ; and to them
we would address a few words.

Now, the more recondite principles of vegetation are
subjects on which neither chemist nor farmer will require
to touch. Indeed, there will be no call made on the farm~
ers, or persons wishing the analysis, for any chemical
knowledge. They are to submit limestones, bone-dust,
p'uano, and manures of all kinds, marls, decaying rocks,
and such like substances, to the chemist, and he is to pro+
nounce on their value, and to point out their utility in
reference to different soils, and for raising different crops.
He will say, for example, whether the guano has been
robbed of its ammonia, or the bone-dust of its gelatine, or
whether the limestone be colored with bituminous matter .
which will disappear with burning, or with iron which
will not; and then he will be able to say what price the
article ought to bear, and with what crops, on what soils,
and at what periods it ought to be used. On the part of

324 PRODUCTIVE FARMING.

the person who sends the substance for analysis, it is plain
that no- knowledge of chemistry is required; and even the
chemist will not find his duty an arduous one. A few
chemical tests, and an accurate balance, will be nearly all
that he will require; and he will have no. occasion to
approach those nice and subtile operations of nature, over
which there certainly hangs a delicate and almost impene-
trable veil. | ad:

But the summer duties of the chemist will be even more
important than the analyses which are to occupy his win-
ter hours. During that season he will impart information
on many of the more recent discoveries and improvements
in practical agriculture; and already enough has been
done to admit of his giving much valuable and curious in-
formation, whether, in the form of lectures, or by commu-
nicating with individuals. For example, the good effects
of bone-dust, and of the phosphates generally, on peaty
soils—of saline compounds for crops of hay on loams in
trap districts—and of lime on granitic soils—may be men-
tioned, and they admit of explanation. They are noticed
here as a proof of the advancement already made in this
kind of knowledge. But much yet remains to be done ;
and besides giving: information, it will be his duty no less
to suggest experiments. He will give instructions to
farmers to make trial of substances, the composition of
which ts known and determinate, on different soils, and
with a variety of crops, accurately noting the weight of
the produce, both in its dry and moist state. And who
does not see that such trials, made on a diversity of soils
(for, in this respect, the experiments will have the advan-
tage over any which the chemist could make himself on
an experimental farm), will furnish him with results from
which he may possibly draw some general principle.
This, again, may point the way to other trials and new
discoveries ; and so on without limit. |

Need we say what will be the benefits of all this training —
and experiment? In the first place there will be a gain
to the country at large in the increased productiveness of

FERTILIZERS. 325

the land; and in this those will be the first to share who
first know of the new methods that will give them crops
at a lower cost than their neighbors. And, in the second
place, a spirit of intelligence and inquiry cannot fail to be
diffused among our farmers, of which it will be difficult to
estimate the value. Instead of blindly following in the old
courses, they will have a pleasure in devising new ones,
and will gradually raise themselves in the scale of being.
And if it be true that even the mechanical arts will fall
off, as De Tocqueville has admirably shown, if their prin-
ciples are lost sight of, just as copies taken from copies
decline at last from the original, much more will the fields
of the farmer, changing in their composition with every
crop that is taken from them, reward none at last but the
intelligent and the skilful.

CHART ER’XTIF.
Of Advertised “Fertilizers” for the Soil.

Tue publication of more scientific and enlarged views
respecting the nature of vegetable growth, has led to the
attempt to furnish mineral compositions to meet the sup-
posed deficiency of saline matters in the soil. Their
inventors secure the secret of each such composition by a
patent; in other instances they are left unprotected :
nevertheless, it is a matter of no difficulty to say of what
materials they chiefly consist. Now, there are such things
as patent medicines, and, unquestionably, there is scareely
one of them that may not be good for some ailment or
other. The mischief of such nostrums 3s, that they are
recommended as universal specifics; they will cure every-
thing. As any one may read of the last new fashionable
pills, that they have stood the test of thousands of trials,
and proved efficacious in the removal of the direst and most

326 FRODUCTIVE FARMING.

diversified evils that can infest humanity ; so of these agri-
cultural specifics, it is said that “their efficacy has been
submitted to innumerable tests since the ingredients were
discovered ; by which trials their utility has been amply
demonstrated in all instances.”” Now, this is saying too
much. Macassar oil may cause a luxuriant growth of
hair; but rubbed upon a deal box, it will not convert it
inte a hair-trank before the morning: and so a remedy,
said to be universally useful, mostly proves {whether land
or living creatures be the subject of experiment) of little
use in any instance. In some cases that have fallen under
our own notice, the guano, which these mineral manures
were intended to supersede, has proved a far more strongly-
fertilizing substance. And if there had been no deficiency
of the materials of which guano is exclusively composed,—
if purely saline and earthy, rather than animal matter, had
been wanting, the balance of recommendation would
undoubtedly have turned the other way. All this shows
that it is folly to add to asoil any other matters than pre-
cisely those which are exhausted or deficient ; and that this
can only rationally be attempted after close examination
of the materials of which that soil is composed.

Let us suppose that this is done, and that an artificial
saline or mineral compost is judiciously and accurately put
together, either to meet the deficiency, or added to a tole~
rably good soil to increase its fertility. The advantages
of its use are not overstated in a recent pamphlet.

Ist, It is cheap, compared with its value: a twenty
shilling cask will supply an acre.

2d, It is light and easily carried, when compared with
carting manure.

3d, It is suitable for small holders who cannot afford
soiling, or keeping of cattle for making dung-heaps.

Ath, It enables a tenant-at-will to take a good crop out
of done-out land, if his landlord refuse to renew.

5th, It furnishes to barren land such food for plants as
had been deficient; such defects of one or more substances
being, in general, the cause of sterility.

FERTILIZERS. po7

6th, It enables the cultivator to extract ten times as
much vegetable aliment for his plants from the soil, and
from other manure, as they could otherwise, in most cases,

ield.

e This is the language of one who has devoted much
time, talent, and energy to the task of improving the soil ;
and he believes there are no soils which may not be
permanently fertilized by the mineral compost which forms
His invention. Thus he speaks of its powers. But bear-
ing in mind the remarks we have already made, every
practical farmer must advance upon his own responsibility
im making trial of its capabilities; the object of this work
being, not the introduction of advertised artificial manures
into the notice of the agricultural world, but rather the
dissemination of those sound and rational views of the
necessary relations between PRACTICAL FARMING and PRAC-
TICAL SCIENCE, without which Agriculture must still lag
behind the age, and, though the first and most important
of all arts, remain for ever stationary.

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