UMASS/AMHERST 3iaDtDbD0SfllDflfi4 LIBRARY OF THE O, /863 3^ X I DATE DUE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST S 73 B32 1813-15 V.3 THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL REPOSITORY. ANt) JOURMAJ. u» VOLUME III. 'UBI.ISHED BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE, BOSTOJSr, {ME.) ^•HIJfTEJ) FOB THr. SOCIETT, BY EZRA B. TIMSTOX. 1.815. n 4 36'0L> V-3 CONTENTS. Preface, - - - - - •/(. S Premiums, _..-!-- 7 Manures applicable to different kinds of Soil, See. - 7 A'Merican Hedge Thorn, . - - » 27 Culture of wheat near Boston, - - » - 31 Fiorin Grass, _ - - - - 32 Sugar from the Sap of the Butternut Tree, - * 37 ^Meadow Oat Grass, - - - • - 38 Necessary atlention in raising Trees, - - 39 Substitute for Hemp and Flax, - - - - - 41 Report of a Comnnttee of the Board cf Trustees thereon, 41 Letter, relating to same subject, from East Andovcr Aricul- tural Society, ----- 44 Culture of Carrots, - - - - - 46 Method of Cheese making, - - - - 52 Manner of making Stilton Cheese, - - - 54 Method of salting Butter, ----- 55 Inquiries, on various subjects of Agriculture, by Board of Trustees ; with Answers by J. Ely, Esq. - - 55 Communication from East Andover Agricultural Society, 67 On the culture of the Yam, - - . = - 68 The Sun-Flower Oil, 70 Various uses of the Helianthus Annuus, or common Sun- Fiower, - - - - - -71 Daubenton and Tcssier, on the management of Sheep, T2 Agricultural Intelligence, ------ 80 List of Officers of the Society, ----- Si Premiums, ---.----=■ Theory of the operation of Plaster of Paris as a manure, 85 Best sorts of Fruits, - - - - - 92 On cutting C;*rrct Tops, while growing, to be used as green Fodder, = - - - - - ^'^ CONTENTS Of prcpavinj; land for Flax, - - - - - 102 Cultivation of Flax, « - - - - - -104 Process of raising; and curing llcmp. county of Hampshire, 105 '^^'ild oat grass, - - - - - 1 1 1 Machine for destroying Ticks in Sheep, - - 113 Inquiries on various subjecls of Agriculture- by Board of Trustees ; witli Answers by Shrewsbury United Agri- cultural Society, - - - - - 1 1 6 Description of Weeds injurious to land — to cattle, - 12S Comparative durability of different kinds of Timber. - 133 Seaweeds — their use — mode of promoting their growth, 133 On the choice of Cattle and Sheep for breeding. - 133 Dyer's VVoad — manner of cultivating and preparing it for use, 1 36 On Madder — how cultivated and prepared for use, - 139 Account of Lice infesting young orchards — mode of de- stroying them, - - - - - 144 Improved mode of managing Bees, - - - 145 Means of preserving mildewed Wheat, - - IbS Important information on the excretory duct in the feet of Sheep, - - - ... -163 New invented Churn, by which the usual labour, employed to cleanse the butter from buttermilk, is saved, - 164 Machines for raising water for the purpose of Irrigation — notice to applicants for the Society's premium, - 170 Agricultural Intelligence, - - - - 172 List of Officers of the Society, - - - - 174 On the cultuie of the Root of Scarcity, - - 175 On cutting Carrot Leaves — as a green p'odder — making the same into hay — experiment showing the practice to be injurious to the roots, communicated by the lion. Josiah Quincy, - - . - 179 — 182 Statement respecting Merino Sheep, - - - 183 On the culture of Rhubarb, - - - - 184 On the culture of Burnet, - - - - 186 Comparative advantage of sowing broadcast and by drill, 190 practical Remarks on the management of the Dairy, - 192 On the Tall oat grass, - . - . 209 Wheat crops, .... - 210—223 Influence of Soil and Climate on Wool. Chapter I. On the soft and hard qualities of wool, and the great differ- ence in the value of cloth made from wool of these dif- CONTENTS. ferent qiialUies, although eacli sort may be equally fine — distinction between hair and wool, Sec. - 224 — 23o Chapter II. On the formation of uool, hair, and silk — observations of Lewenhoeck — on the roots of hair — on the feltine; quality of wool and hair — opinion of M. Monge respecting it — experiment to ascertain its truth — on the furs of different animals, and the causes which occasion the same hair to be grown coarser or finer at difiercnt seasor.s — n the defects of wool — the jointed staple, cottcd fleeces, &c. — effect of climate on wool — improvement and application of the furs of different animals — on the formation of feathers — cause of the moult — microscopical observations — hints from nature for the improvement of wool, - - 233 — 246 Use and culture of Sea Kale, .... 246 Diseases of Fruit Trees, in some instances, hereditary, 249 On the culture of the Fuller's 'Iccizcl, ... 250 New method of raising large stones out of the earth, 25 1 Observations on the remarkable decay of Peach Trees, of late years, - - - - - -254 Queries addressed to Farmers ; with Answers from New- bury Agricultural Society — from Vassalborough Agri- cultural Society, ----- 259 Experiments on raising Wheat, Barley, &c. with Remarks, by Gorham Parsons, Esq. •• - - - 271 Discovery of a nicthod for preparing Forest Trees for im- mediate use, and increasing the duration of Timber, 274 IVIisccllany, - - - - - - 279 Notice to Correspondents, .... 280 Premiums, ------ Essay on the Natural History and Origin of Peat, - 281 Horn Distemper in Cattle, - - - - 3 13 Remaiks on the Canker ^Vorm, - - - 316 On the relative andvautage of ieeding Cattle in the Stable or Farm-yard, or sending them to Pasture, - - 319 Series of Experiments to ascertain the quantity of seed necessary to produce the best ciop of Potatoes, - 322 Disorder among Sheep, _ . - - 325 Experiments on the culture of Potatoes, - - 328 Crops of Wheat raised in Dan vers, county of Essex, in 18 14, 331 CONTENTS. Wheat Crops raised in Andover, in 1814, with Remarks on the culture of Flax, . . > . 332 Quantity of Wheat raised in Newbury, od parish, in 1814, 3S5 On Oil asa Manuie, - - - - - 335 Inquiries addressed to Farmers ; with Answers from the Danvers Ai2;ricultural Society, ... 338 Original letter from Judge Peters of Pennsylvania, with Remarks on the culture of Chiccory, the Mangel Wurtzel or Scarcity Root, £^c. ... 349 Remedies for cei tain diseases in Sheep, - - - 351 Extracts from " The Rural Socrates." — Small farms well cultivated, more profitable than large farms ill culti- vated— Oxen more profitable on a farm than Horses Various modes of collecting and making Manures, with Remarks — On the advantage of flowing Meadow Lands, with Remarks — Cattle not to be allowed to graze on Meadow Land late in the ye:^.r — Great crops of Grass, and the con)ing in of profitable species of Grass de- pends more on manuring well, than on the choice of Seed — Importance of varying the Seed on the same ground — Gravel, on some soils, a valuable Manure — Method of reclaiming wet lands — Tlie cultivation by Faimers of abundant crops of Garden Vegetables for family use, good economy — Potatoes more profitable than any oilier kind of crop, - - 354 — S7'4 Essay on the expressing of Oil from Sun-Flower seed, 374 Intelligence : — Society's Premium for best breed of Swine, &c. — Society's Premium for the best machine for cut- ling Straw, Hay, and Corn Stalks, as Provender for Cattle — Catalogue of approved works on Agriculture, in its various branches, . . - - 378 Premiums, Sec. ----- sstS PREFACE. The Trustees of the Massacliusctts Society for pro- moting Agiiculture,offer to the public the first number of a new series of their publications. Should the stock of communications put it in their power to issue them hereafter quarterly, they shall execute the duty which will devolve on them, with great pleasure. The various topicks of Agriculture have already been treated by able writers, and frequent attempts made to rouse the spirit of careless and improvident cultivators, by eloquent appeals to their interest, pat- riotism, and philanthropy. But the kind of book from which the farmer will, without doubt, derive the greatest advantage and the instruction of which he stands most in need,is,that which makes known to him the practice and experience of the most active and intelligent men,inhabiting the same district of country with himself, and not dissimilarly circumstanced as respects climate, sail, and the general face of the country. 1 iy TREFACE. Therfe are maxims in AgricuUiirc of universal ap- plication, and hints derived from a foreign country sometimes lead to important improvements, Init the attention is more deeply engaged, and the memory more strongly impressed by what passes in our own neighbourhood, besides, narratives of improvements in distant countries are commonly viewed with dis- trust, and disregarded often as mere innovations. It is far otherwise with what takes place in the society, town, or county, or State to which we belong ; the accounts can either be verified by our own observa- tion, or are admitted without question as true, from the known cvedibpity of those from wliom they are \ derived. How far modes of culture practised in other coun- tries are suitable to our own, is matter of inquiry for gentlemen of leisure and intelligence ; their tes- timony will be heard with interest by the farmers at large, and their recommendations adopted with thankfulness and followed as the sure road to wealth. From these remarks it will appear to be the ob- ject of the Trustees in tlieir future publications, as in their former, to open a channel of communication between the several Agricultural Societies in this Gommonwealth; and between the individual farmers PHEFACE. of the same county and of the same town, to promote as far as it may be in their power, a frequent and familiar intercliange of practical hints — to carry the knowledge of new facts from one farm to another, and to record for the benefit of the present generation and that of our posterity, the course of husbandry of the good farmers of Massachusetts. A work of this kind, lays no claim to literary dis- tinction. It will be open to the communications of all farmers. Their inquiries will receive respectful attention ; and any doubts or difficulties will be im- mediately considered and answered, or published for the consideration of the speculative. The simple, plain, and familiar»style used in com- mon life, is found often to convey, as precise ideas on subjects of business as the more' refined language of the scholar. It is hoped,therefore,tliat our intelligent husbandmen, who have not leisure to attend to the arts of composition, will not be deterred by too great delicacy from communicating for publication, the re- sults of their experience. They should reflect, that it will operate to induce others to do likewise. And the mutual encouragement afforded by example, will thus be the means of bringing together a mass of in- formation, highly interesting and profitable to all. VI rOEfACE. Great expectations arc formed from the numerous town societies, instituted recently for the promotion of agriculture. The promptitude with which they have been organized, and the zeal they have mani- fested is highly flattering to the object. All such societies will be entitled, of course, to a copy of these publications, and to a number for distribution to indi- viduals, as a reward of good husbandry. Correspon- dents will also be entitled to a copy of the number in which their communications shall appear. PREMIUMS OFFERED BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 1 . To the person who shall produce the largest quantity of wool, meat and tallow, from the smallest number of sheep, not less than ten, raised on his own farm, a premium of tMrty dollars ; to be claimed on or before the 1st day of August, 1814. 2. To the person who shall invent a cheap method of raising water, for the purpose of irrigating land from rivers and ponds from ten to twenty feet above the level of the same, and give evidence thereof to the satisfaction of the Trustees, on or before January 1 , 1814, one hundred dollars.^ or the Society's gold medal. 3. To the person who shall present to this Society the most complete (being nearly complete) Hortus Siccus, exhibiting dis- tinct specimens of the greatest variety of grasses in general use, and specify to the satisfaction of the Trustees, their respective qualities, productiveness, and usefulness as food for different kinds of animals, the gold medal, ^.n^Jifty dollars ; to be claimed on or before the 1st day of October, 1814. 4. To the person who shall produce from seed, the best growth of thrifty trees, not less than six hundred in the whole, and in the proportion of 2400 to the acre, of any of the following kinds of forest trees, viz. oak, ash, elm, sugar maple, beech, black or yellow birch, phesnut, walnut or hickory, tivcnty-Jive dollars ; if all of oak, Jifiy dollars. Claims to be made on or before the- first of October, 1814. 5. To the person who shall ascertain by accurate analysis, the constituent parts of several fertile soils respectively, and in like manner the parts of several poor soils, and thus shall discover the defects of the latter ; and shall show by actual experiments, how the said defects may be remedied by the addition of earths or other ingredients which abound in the country, and in a man- ner that may be practised by common farmers, Jifty dollars. x\nd if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Trustees, that, Vm PREMIUMS. upon an extensive practice, the improvement of the poor soil would be more than equivalent to the expense of the improve- ment, the addition of one hundred dollars. A minute description of the several soils, and all the circumstances attending the pro- cesses, cultivation, and results, will be required. Clahns to be made on or before November 1, 1814. 6. To the person who shall produce a machine for cleansing butter from its whey or butter milk without working with the hand, Jifttj dollars. Said machine must be approved by such persons as the Trustees shall appoint, and it must be procured so cheap as to be of general utility. 7. It is required that the communications, for which the fore- going premiums are oflfei*ed, be accompanied with proper cer- tificates from the selectmen, magistrates, or clergymen of the vicinity, or other vouchers, to the satisfaction of the Trustees ; that they be delivered without names, or any intimation to whom they belong ; and that they be severally marked in such manner as each claimant shall think fit ; the claimant sending also a pa- per, sealed up, having oin the outside a corresponding mark, and on the inside his name and address. JIICHARD SULLIVAN, Recording Secretary, MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. Vol. III.] NOVEMBER, 1813. [No. L OF SOILS AND MANURES. The importance of the subject would be a sufficient apolog"y, should our publications be found to treat frequently of Manures. The following extracts from a valuable Treatise of the c'plebrated Dr. Kirwan, enti- tled, *' Manures most advantageously applicable to the various kinds of soils. Sec." will be read with interest by every Farmer. It is rare that a work so learned is so well adapted to the mass of general read- ers. We commence with the analysis oi Soils. OF SOILS. J^AND, considered as the basis of vegetation, is called soil. Soils consist of different combinations of two or more of the four primitive earths, namely, the calcareous (which I sometimes call mild calx) magnesia, argill, and the silicious. For a more accurate description of these I must refer to books of mineral- ogy ; and shall only remark, that by calcareous earths are meant chalk, and all stones that burn to lime. They are easily distin- guished by their property of effervescing with acids. Magnesia is never found alone ; its distinguishing character consists in affording a bitter salt, generally called Epsom Salt, when combined with the vitriolic acid. .Argill is that part of clay to which this owes its property of feeling soft and unctuous, and of hardening in fire ; it is difficultly soluble in acids, and scarce ever effervesces with them. When combined with the vitriolic acid, it forms abmi. 6 OF SOILS. Silicious earth is often found in a stony form, sucli as flint or quartz ; and still more frequently in that of a very fine sand, such as that whereof glass is marie. It does not effervesce, nor is it soluble in any of the common acids. To these we may add Iron, in that imperfect state in which it exists when reduced to rust, and commonly called Calx of Iron. The soils most frequently met with, and which deserve a dis- tinct consideration ; are clay, chalk, sand, and gravel, clayey loam, chalky loam, sandy loam, gravelly loam, ferruginous loam, boggy soil, and heathy soil, or mountain^ as it is often called. Clay is of various colours, for we meet with white, grey, brownish red, brownish black, yellow or bluish clays. It consists of argill and fine sand, usually of the silicious kind, in various proportions, and more or less ferruginous. Chalk.) if not very impure, is of a white colour, moderate con- sistence, and dusty surface, stains the fingers, adheres slightly to the tongue, does not harden when heated, but, on the contrary, in a strong heat burns to lime, and loses about four-tenths of its weight — It promotes putrefaction. Sand. By this is meant small loose grains of great hardness, not cohering with water, nor softened by it. Gravel differs from sand chiefly in size : however, stones of a calcareous nature, when small and rounded, are often compre- hended under that denomination. Loam denotes any soil moderately cohesive ; that is, less so than clay, and more so than loose chalk. By the Author of the Body of Agriculture, it is said to be a clay mixed with sand. Clayey Loam denotes a compound soil, moderately cohesive, in which the argillaceous ingredient predominates. Its coher- ence is then greater than that of any other loam, but less than that of pure clay. The other ingredient is a coarse sand, with or without a small mixture of the calcareous ingredient. It is this which farmers generally call strong, stiff", cold, and heavy loam, in proportion as the clay abounds in it. Chalky Loam. This term indicates a loam formed of clay, coarse sand, and chalk ; in which, Iwwever, the calcareous in- gredient or chalk much predominates. It is less cohesive than clayey loams. Sandy Locim denotes a loam in which sand predominates : it is less coherent than either the above mentioned. Sand, partly OF MANWRES. 9 coarse and partly fine, forms from 80 to 90 per cent, of this compound. Gravelly Loam differs from the last only in containing a larger mixture of coarse sand, or pebbles. This and the two last are generally called by farmers, light or hungry soils; particularly "when they have but little depth. Ferruginous Loam or Till. This is generally of a dark brown, or reddish colour, and much harder than any of the preceding : it consists of clay and calces of iron, more or less intimately mixed. It may be distinguished not only by its colour, but also by its superior weight. Boggy Soil, or Bogs, consist chiefly of ligneous roots of de- cayed vegetables mixed with earth, mostly argillaceous, and sand, and a coaly substance derived from decayed vegetables. Of bogs there are two sorts : the black, which contain a larger proportion of clay and of roots more perfectly decayed, with mineral oil. In the red the roots seem less perfectly decayed, and to form the principal part. Heathy Soil is that which is naturally productive of heath. OF MANURES. Manure denotes any substance or operation by which a soil is improved. To improve a soil is to render it capable of produ- cing corn, legumens, and the most useful grasses. The substances principally used as manures, are chalk» lime, clay, sand, marl, gypsum, or plaster of Paris, ashes, stable dung, mucks, farm-yard dung, pounded bones, sea-weeds, sweep- ings of ditches, old ditches. Other manures or top-dressings, as they are employed chiefly to promote the growth of vegeta- bles, and not merely with a view of improving the soil, I omit. The operations used to improve soils, are fallov.'s, draining, paring and burning. Of chalk, clays, and sand, we have already treated. , Lime is a substance whose external characters and mode of production are well known. It differs from chalk and powdered limestone chiefly by the absence of fixed air, which is expelled from these during their calcination. This air it greedily re- absorbs from the atmosphere, and all other bodies with which it comes in contact, and which can fui'nish it ; but it cannot unite 10 or MANURES. ^vith the air, unless it is previously moistened. 100 parts quick- lime absorb about 28 of water. It is soluble in about 700 parts of this fluid. To regain its full portion of air from the atmos- phere, it requires a year or more, if not purposely spread out : it resists putrefaction, but with the assistance of moisture*. It resolves organic substances into a mucus. Marl is of three sorts ; calcareous, argillaceous, and silicious, or sandy. All are mixtures of mild ealx (i. e. chalk) with clay, in such a manner as to fall to pieces by exposure to the atmos- phere, moi'e or less readily. Calcareous Marl is that which is most commonly understood by the term marlf without addition. It is generally of a yellow- ish white, or yellowish grey colour ; rarely brown or lead col- oured. It is seldom found on the surface of land, but commonly a few feet under it, and on the sides of hills, or rivers that flow through calcareous countries, or under turf in bogs. Frequently of a loose texture, sometimes moderately coherent; rarely of a stony hardness, when it is, it is called stone-marl. Sometimes of a compact, sometimes of a lamellar texture ; often so thin as to be called fiafier'tnarl. It often abounds with shells, and then is called shell-marl ; which is looked upon as the best sort. When in powder, it feels dry between the fingers ; put in water, it quickly falls to pieces or powder, and does not fomi a viscid mass. It chips and moulders by exposure to the air and mois- ture, sooner or later, according to its hardness and the propor- tion of its ingredients : if heated, it will not form a brick, but rather lime. It effervesces with all acids. It consists of from 33 to 80 per cent, of mild calx, and from 66 to 20 per cent, of clay. To find its composition, pour a few ounces of v/eak, but pure spirit of nitre or common salt into a Florence flask ; place them in a scale and let them be balanced ; then reduce a few ounces of dry marl into powder, and let this powder be carefully and gradually thrown into the flask, until after repeated agitation no effervescence is any longer perceived ; let the remainder of the powdered marl be then weighed, by which the quantity projected will be known ; let the balance be then restored ; the difference of weight between the quantity projected and that requisite to restore the balance will discover the -weight of air lost during- effervescence ; if the loss amounts to 1 3 per cwt. of the quantity OF MANURES. 11 of marl projected, or from 13 to 32 per cwt. the marl essayed is calcareous marl. This experiment is decisive, when we are assured by the external characters abovementioned, that the sub- stance employed is marl of any kind ; otherwise some sorts of the sparry iron-ore may be mistaken for marl. The experiments to discover the argillaceous ingredient (being too difficult for farmers) I omit. The residue left after solution, being well washed, will, when duly heated, generally harden into a brick. j^rgillaceous Marl contains from 68 to 80 per cwt. of clay, and consequently from 32 to 20 per cwt. of aerated calx or chalk. Its colour is groy or brown, or reddish brown, or yellov/ish, or bluish grey. It feels more unctuous than the former, and ad- heres to the tongue : its hardness generally much greater. la water it falls to pieces more slowly, and often into square pieces : it also more slowly moulders by exposure to the air and moist- ure, if of a loose consistence : it hardens when heated, and forms an imperfect brick. It effervesces with spirit of nitre or com- mon salt, but frequently refuses to do so with vinegar. When dried and projected into spirit of nitre in a Florence flask, witli the attentions abovementioned, it is found to lose from 8 to 10 per cwt. of its weight. The undissolved part, well washed, will, when duly heated, harden into a brick. Silicious, or S'a7idif Marls, s.ve those v/hose clayey part contains an excess of sand : for, if treated with acids in the manner above- mentioned, the residuum or clayey pari Avill be found to contain above 75 per cwt. of sand ; consequently chalk and sand are the predominant ingredients. The colour of this marl is brownish grey, or lead-coloured : generally friable and flakey, but sometimes forms very hard lumps. It does not readily fall to pieces in water. It chips and moulders by exposure to the air and moisture, but slowly. It effervesces with acids ; but the residuum after solution, will not form a brick. Limestone Gravel. This is a marl mixed with large lumps of limestone. The marl may be either calcareous or argilla- ceous ; but most commonly the former. The sandy part is also commonly calcareous. Gy/isian or Plaister of Paris is a compound of calcareous earth and vitriolic acid : it forms a distinct species of the calca- 2 12 OF MAN'URES. reous genus of fossils : of which species there ai'C six families. I[ promotes putrefaction in a high degree. Jshes. Sifted coal-ashes, those of peat and white-turf ashes, have been found useful ; red-turf ashes useless, and generally hurtful. Wood-ashes have also been employed advantageously in many cases ; they contain either the four primitive earths, as Mr. Bergman asserts, or calcareous earth chiefly, according to Achard : or calcareous and magnesia, according to D'Arcct. They also contain some proportion of phosphorated selenite, f, e. calcareous earth united to the phosphoric acid. Almost all con- tain also a small and variable proportion of common salt, Glaub- er's salt, and terrene salts, which, when in a small dose, all ac- celerate putrefaction ; also small bits of charcoal. Charcoal is a substance well known ; it has frequently and successfully been used as a manure. 1 st Young's Annals, 1 50, Sec. Soaji-boilcrs* Waste or Suds forms an excellent manure for some soils ; it contains, by Mr. Ruckert's Analysis, 57 per cwt. of mild calx, 11 of magnesia, 6 of argill, and 21 of silex. Stable Dung. This is used either fresh or putrefied ; the first is called long; the other short dung ; it abounds in animal i'natter,easily runs into putrefaction,and when putrefied serves as a leaven to hasten the decay of other dead vegetable substances ; its fermentation is- promoted by frequent agitation and exposure to the air : yet it should be covered, to prevent water from cai-ry- ing off most of its important ingredients ; or, at least, the water that imbibes them should not be lost. Farm-yard Dung consists of various vegetables ; as straw, weeds, leaves, fern, 8cc. impregnated with animal matter ; it ferments more slowly than the former ; should be piled in heaps, and stirred, from time to time. Fern putrefies very slowly ; the water that issues from it should be preserved. Pounded Bones form also manure, much used in the neigh- bourhood of great towns. They gradually deposit their oily part, which contains a large proportion of animal coal which is extricated by jjutrcfaction, and phosphorated calx. Hence Bone- ash is also useful. Sea-weed, particularly if mixed with earth, soon putrefies and makes a good manure. Sweepings of Ditches abound with putred matter from decay- ed vegetables, and hence Ibrat a manure. OF THE FOOD OF PLANTS. 13 t)ld Ditches', exposing; a large surface to vegetation, containj when destroyed, a quantity of decayed vegetables, which putrefy and make a good manure ; but in this and the former case, it may be proper to dislinguish of what soil they are composed, for reasons that will hereafter appear. Falloiuing., is the principal operation by which exhausted lands are restored to fertility ; its use seems to me to consist in ex- posing the roots of vegetables to decay, whereby food for a fresh growth is prepared ; the atmosphere also deposits fixed air and carbonaceous substance on earth long exposed to it. Draining is an operation equally necessary and well known, en which no more need be said here. Paring and Burning reduces the roots of vegetables to coal and ashes ; and thus prepares both a stinuilant and nutriment for plants, as will be seen hereafter. For the process of burning to make manure, the fire should be slow and smothered as in charring wood. OF THE FOOD OF PLANTS. To discover the food of plants, particularly of those which form the object of our present inquiry, we must examine the nature and proportion of the substances in V)'hich they grow, and of those which they themselves contain : thus we shall be ena- bled to see which of the latter are derived from the former. First, All plants,(except the subaqueous) grow in a mixed earth, moistened with rain and dew, and exposed to the atmosphere. If this eaith be chemically examined, it will be found to consist of silicious, calcareous, and argillaceous particles, often also of magnesia, in various proportions, a very considerable quantity of water, and some fixed air. The most fertile, also, contain a small proportion of oil, roots of decayed vegetables, a coaly sub- stance arising from putrefaction, some traces of marine acid, and gypsum.* On the other hand, if vegetables be analyzed, they will be found to contain a large proporlion of water and charcoal ; also fat and essential oils, resins, gums, and vegetable acids ; all which are reducible to water, pure air, inflammable • Home, 15 Mem. D'AgriciiUure, Par. 1790. Encycloped. Veqtria- tion, p. 277. 14 OF THE FOOD OF PLANTS. air and charcoal : a small proportion of fixed alkali is also found, some neutral salts, most commonly gypsum, tartar viiriolatc, common salt, and salt of sylvius. In corn, and particularly wheat, phosphorated sclcnitc is also found. Hence we see that, on the last analysis, the only substances common to the growing vegetables and the soils in which they grow, are Avater, coal, different earths, and salts. These, there- fore, are the true food of vegetables : to them we should also add fixed air, though, by reason of its decomposition, it may not be distinctly found in them, or at least not distinguishable from tliat newly formed during their decomjiosition. I shall now examine the separated functions of each of these ingredients. Of Water, — The agency of water in the process of vegeta- tion, has never been doubted, though the manner in which it contributes to it, has not, until of late, been distinctly perceived. Doctor Hales has shewn, that in the summer months a sun-flower, weighing three pounds avoirdupois, and regularly watered every day, passed through it, or perspired twenty-two ounces each day ; that is, nearly half its weight. He also found that a cabbage- plant, weighing one pound and nine omiccs sometimes perspired one pound three ounces ; but at a medmm about half its weight.* Doctor Woodward found that a sprig of common spearmint, a plant that thrives best in moist soils, weighing only 28,25 grains passed through it 3004 grains in seventy-seven days, between July and October ; that is, somewhat more than its own weight each day. He did more ; for he found that in that space of time, the plant increased seventeen grains in weight, and yet had no other food but pure rain-water. But he also found, that it in- creased more in weight when it lived on spring-water, and still more when its food was Thames watcr.f From whence we may deduce that grasses and corn, during the time of their growth, absord about one half their weight of water each day, if the weather be favourable. Secondly, That the water they thus pass nourishes them Tucrely as water, without taking any foreign substance into the account ; for 3000 grains of rain water, in Doctor Woodward's experiment, afforded an increase of seventeen grains ; whereas * 1 Hales, 9, 10, 15. f 2 Phil. Trans, Abr. 716. OF THE FOOD OF P1.ANTS. 15 by Margraaf 's experiments, 5760 gi^ains of that water contain only one third of a grain of earth.* Tliirdly, It also follows, that water contributes still more to their nourishment, when it conveys to them earthly and saline particles, as spring and Tliames waters do. The manner in which pure water contributes to the nourish- ment of plants, besides the service it renders them in distribut- ing the nutritive parts throughout their whole structure, and forming itself a constituent part of all of them, may l:)c under- stood from modern experiments. Doctor Ingenhouz and Mr. Senebier have shewn that the leaves of plants exposed to the sun produce pure air : now Avater has of late been proved to contain about eighty-seven per cvvt. of pure air, the remain- der being infiammublc air. Water is then decomposed by the assistance of light within the vegetable ; its inilammable part is employed in the formation of oils, resins, gums. Sec. ; its pure air is paitly applied to the production of vegetable acids, and partly expelled as an excrement. Many, indeed, have asserted, that water is the sole food of vegetables ; and among the experiments adduced to prove it, that of Van Helmont, quoted by the illustrious Mr. Boylc,t is by far the most specious. He planted a trunk of willow, weighing five pounds in an earthen vessel filled with earth dried in an oven, and then moistened with rain-water. This vessel, it ap- pears, he sunk in the earth, and watered partly with rain-water, and occasionally with distilled. After five years, he found the tree to weigh one hundred and sixty-nine pounds, and the earth in which it was planted, being again dried, to have lost oidy two ounces of its former weight, though the tree received an increase amounting to one hundred and sixty-four pounds. Before I proceed to the explication of this experiment, I must remark son^e circumstances attending it : First, That the weight of the earth contained in the vessel at the commencement and at the end of five years, could not be exactly compared, because the same degrees of desiccation could not be exactly ascertained, and because many of the fibrillae of the roots of the tree must have remanied in the earth after the tree was taken out of the vessel, and these must have prevented the true loss of earth * 2 Margr. 6, 70. + 2d Shaw's Borle, 240. 16 OF THE FOOD OF PLANTS. from being perceived. Secondly, That the earthen vessel must have frequently absorbed water impregnated with whatever sub- stance it might contain, from the surrounding earth in which it •was inserted ; for unglazcd earthen vessels easily transmit moisture. (First Hales 5, and Tillet's Mem. Par. 1772, page 298, 304, 8vo.) Thirdly, As it appears that the pot was sunk in the earth, and received rain-water, it is probable that distilled "water was seldom used. These circumstances being considered, it will easily be made to appear that the rain-water, absorbed by the tree, contained as much earth as the tree can be supposed to contain. First, The willow increased in weight one hundred and sixty- four pounds in five years ; that is, at the rale of 2,7 lb nearly per month ; and it being an aquatic, it cannot be supposed to pass less than its own weight of water each day during the six vegetating months. In the first month therefore, it absorbed and passed S^i 30=150 pounds, and as each pound of rain-water contains one third grain of earth, fifty grains of earth must have been deposited in the plant ; and allowing no more than fifty grains for the deposit of each of the six months, we shall have 50><^ 30=11 10 pounds of water, and receives a deposit of three hundred and seventy grains ; and at the end of the second year, the deposit amounts to 2220 grains. At the commencement of the third year, the tree gaining a farther ac- cession of thirty-two pounds must weigh sixty-nine pounds, and pass in each of the summer months 69X 30=^270 pounds of water, and receive a deposit of six hundred and ninety grains which multiplied into 6=4140 grains. At the commencement of the fourth year, the tree still gaining thirty-two pounds must weigh one hundred and one pounds ; and if it passes 101 = 30 in each of the summer months, it must gain a deposit in each of 1010 grains of earth, and at the end of the year 6060. At the com- mencement of the fifth year, it weighs one hundred and thirty- three pounds, and gains at the end of the six months 23940 grains of earth. The quantities of earth deposited each year exceed five pounds avoirdupois, a quantity equal to that which one hundred and sixty-nine pounds of willo^v can be supposed to OF THE FOOD OF PLANTS. 17 contain ; for the commissioners employed to inspect the fabrica- tion of salt-petre in France, having examined the quantities of ashes afiorded by trees of various kinds, found that 1000 pounds • of sally, a tree much resembling the willow, aflbrded twenty- eight pounds of ashes, and consequently one hundred and sixty- nine pounds should produce 4,7.* I do not give this calculation, however, as rigorously exact. It is certain that if the deposit left at the end of every month were exactly taken, the total would exceed the quantity just mentioned; but that, found even by this rude mode, suPxiciently proves that water conveys a por- tion of earth into vc.:i-elab!es e([ual to any that the experiments hitherto made can prove to exist in them. As to the coal, or carbonaceous principle, which this willow must also have contained, it is probable that much of it existed in the earth in which the willow grew. Some is contained in all moulds or vegetable earth ; and as we are not told what sort of earth Van Helmont used, we may well suppose it was good vegetable earth, its quantity amounting to 200 lb. This princi- ple may also have been contained in the water, for the purest rain-water contains some oleaginous particles, though in an ex- ceeding small proportion, as Mr. ^Margraaf has observed ;* and all oil contains coal. Some also may have passed from the surrounding vegetable earth through the pores of the earthen vessel. All the other experiments, adduced to prove that water is the sole food of plants, may be explained in the same manner. Grains of wheat have been made to grow on cotton moistened with water ; each produced an ear, but that ear contained but one grain. t Here the carbonaceous substance was derived from the grain, and afterwards diffused and transported through the whole plant by the water absorbed ; for it must be observed that grain, like an egg, contains much of the nourishment of its future offspring. It is thus that tulips, hyacinths, and other plants, expand and grow in mere water. The earth contained in rain-water is united partly with the nitrous and marine acids, as Margraaf has shewn, but far the greater part only with fixed air; for the feeble traces of the two former acids could not hold in solution the 100 grains of earth which he found in 300 lb. of raiii-water. * 2d Marg. 15, 90. f 2d Young's Annals, 487. tS OF THE FOOD OF FLANTS. By far the greatest proportion of vegetable substances con- sists of water. According to Mr. Young and Ruckert, grass loses about 3 of its weight on being dried into hay.* Dr. Hales found a sun-flower plant, which weighed 48 ounces, to lose 36 ounces by drying in the air during thirty daysf, and consequently to have lost 3 fourths of its weight. Even vegetables, to appear- ance thoroughly dry, contain from 3 fifths to 3 fourths of their •weight of vvater.:j; This water is not all in a liquid state, but, by the loss of much of its specific heat, is in a great measure solidified. OJ' Coal, or the Carbonic Substance. To Mr. Hassenfraz we ow€ the discovery, that coal is an essential ingredient in the food of all vegetables. Though hitherto little attended to, it appears to be one of the primeval principles, as ancient as the present constitution of our globe : for it is found in fixed air, of Avhich it constitutes above I part ; and fixed air exists in lime- stones and other substances, which date from the first origin of things. Coal not only forms the residuum of all vegetable substances that have undergone a slow and smothered combustion, that is, to which the free access of air has been prevented, but also of all putrid vegetable and animal bodies : hence it is found in vege- table and animal manures that have undergone putrefaction, and is the true basis of their ameliorating powers : if the water that passes through a putrefying dunghill be examined, it will be found of a brown colour ; and if subjected to evaporation, the principal part of the residuum will be found to consist of coal. § Ail soils steeped in water communicate the same colour to it in proportion to their fertility ; and this water being evaporated, leaves also a coal, as Mr. Hassenfraz and Foxa'croy attest.|| They also observed, that shavings of wood being left in a moist place for nine or ten months, began to receive the fermentative motion, and being then spread on land, putrefied after some time, and proved an excellent manurc.lf Coal, however, cannot produce its beneficial effects but in as much as it is soluble m water. The means of rendering it soluble are not as yet well •2d Young's An. S6. 2d Ruck 139. f 1st Hales, 8. i, Uuckert, 28. Seneb. Encyclop. Veg'etation, 52. § U An. Cli V, 56. II Ibid. 1[ Ibid. OF THE FOOD OF PLANTS. 19 hs«ertained ; nevertheless, it is even now used as a manure, and Avith good effect.* In truth, the fertilizing power of putrid ani- mal and vegetable substances were fully known even in the remotest ages, but most speculalists have hitherto attributed them to the oleaginous, mucilaginous, or saline particles then developed, forgetting that land is fertilized by paring and burn- iriff, though the oleaginous and mucilaginous particles arc thereby consumed or reduced to a coal, and that the quantity of mucilage oil or salt in fertile land is so small, that it could not contribute the thousandth part of the weight of any vegetable ; vhereas coal is supplied not only by the land, but also by the fixed air combined with the earths, and also by that which is constantly set loose by various processes, and soon precipitates by the superiority of its specific gravity, and is then condensed in, or mechanically absorbed by soils, or contained in dew. Lands which contain iron in a semicalcincd state, are thereby enabled to decompose fixed air, the iron, by the help of water, gradually attracting the pure air which enters into the compo- sition of fixed air, as Mr. Gadolin has shewn :t a discovery which appears to me among the most important of these later times ; but these calces of iron may again be restored to their former state by union with oleaginous substances, as Mr. Deaume has noticed : and this is one of the benefits resulting from the application of dung before it has fully putrefied. |: Hence Ave may understand how soils become effete and ex- hausted, this effect arising in great measure from the gradual loss of the carbonic principle deposited by vegetable and animai manures, and from them passing into the growing vegetables ; and also from the loss of the fixed air contained in the argilla- ceous part of the soil, which is decomposed by vegetables ; and from the calcination of the ferruginous particles contained in the soil. I say in g^eat measure^ because other causes contribute to the diminution of fertility ; which shall presently be mentioned. Hence also we see why lands pastured remain longer fertile than those whose vegetable crop is carried off, as much of the carbonaceous principle is restored by the excrements of the pasturing animals : why some crops exhaust more than others ; because corn, and particularly wheat, contains more of the car- • Young's Annals. f 1st Cbym. Ann. 1791, 53. ? The afRnities of coal aud iron to Dure air, vary wilU the temperature. 3 20 Ol;^ THli FOOD OF I'LANTS. Vionic principle than grasses, and very little of its cxiuKC are kft behind : why fallows are of some use ; as the putrefaction of t.'ie roots of weeds and the absorption of fixed air by clays, arc thereby promoted : w hy vegetables thrive most in the vicin- ity of towns ; because the carbonic principle is copiously dis- persed by the smoke of the various combustibles consumed in inhabited ])laces: why soot is so powcriul a manure: why burning the clods of grassy land contiibutes so much to its fertility, and then only when the fire is smothered and coal ])roduced ; besides many other agricultural phaenomena, too tedious to relate : but I must not omit that the phosphoric acid is found in coal ; and this enters into the composition of many vegetables. The quantity of coal in vegetables is vari(>iis, according to their various species, age, and degrees of perfection : wood and corn contain most, grasses least. Wicgleb found dry beech-wood to contain one fifth of its weight of coal.* Westrumb found trifolhim firatense, a sort of clover, to contain about one seventh. Hence, after water, it is the most copious ingredient in vegetables. Of earths. The next most important ingredient to the nour- ishment of plants is earth ; and of the difi'crent earths the calcare- ous seems the most necessary, as it is contained in rain water; and, absolutely speaking, many plants may grow without imbi- bing any other. Mr. Tillet found corn would grow in pounded glass ;t Mr. Succow in pounded flucr spar, or ponderous spar, or gypsum -.^ but Tillet owns it grew very ill ; and Hassenfraz, who repeated this experiment, found it scarcely grow at all when the glass or sand were contained in pots that had no hole in the boUom, through which other nutritive matter might be conveyed. It is certain, at least from common experience, that neither grasses nor corn grow well either in mere clay, sand, or chalk -, and that in vegetables that grow most vigorously, and in a pro- per soil, three or four of the simple earths are found. Mr. Berg- man, on the other hand, assures us he extracted the four earths, the silicious, argillaceous, calcareous^ and muriatic, in difTerent proportions from the different sorts of corn.§ Mr. Ruckert, who • Uber die alkalis, p. 76. t Mem. par. 1772, 301, 8vo. i 1st Chym. An. 1784. § 5 Eergman, 94, 98. SchalTer ^Vorlcs, sec. 172. OF THE FOOD OF PLANTS. 21 has analyzed most species of corn and grasses, found also the four above mentioned earths in various proportions in all of them. Mr. Riickcrt is persuaded that earth and water, in proper proportions, form the sole nutriment of plants ; but J\Ir. Giobert has clearly shewn the contrary ; for, having mixed pure earth of alum, silex, calcareous earth, and magnesia, in various pro- portions, and moistened them with water, he found that no grain would grow in them ; but when they were moistened with water from a dunghill, corn grew in them prosperously.* Hence the necessity of the carbonic principle is apparent. The absolute quantity of earth in vegetables is very small. Dr. Watson iriforms us that 106 avoirdupois pound = 1696 ozs. of oak, being carefully burned, left but 19 ozs. of ashes; and from these we must deduct 1,5 for salt, then the cartby part . amounts only to 17-5 ; that is, little more than one per cwt. The commissioners appointed to inspect the saltpetre manufactory, found nearly the same result ; namely, 1,2 per cwt. in beech 0,453, and in fir only 0,003. Hence we need not wonder at trees growing among rocks where scarce any earth is to be seen ; but in the stalks of Turkey-wheat, or maize, they found 7 per cwt. of earth, in sun flower plant, 3,7 ;t so that, upon the whole, weeds- and culmiferous plants contain more earth than trees do. Since plants derive some proportion of earth from the soil on ^vhich they grow, we cannot be surprised that the soils should at length be exhausted by crops that are carried oft'; such as those of corn and hay, particularly the former : even lands pas- tured must at last be exhausted, as the excrements of animals do not restore the exact quantity that the animals have consumed; and hence the utility of nuicks, as the restoration is performed by more animals than have been employed in the consumption. Hence also a succession of different crops injures land less than a succession of crops of the same kind, as different proportions of the different earths are taken up by the different vegetables. Vegetables not only require food, but also that this food be duly administered to them : a surfeit is as fatal to them as abso- lute privation. Doctor Hales observed that a young pcar-lrte, whose roots were set in water, absorbed a smaller quantity of it every day, the sap-vessels being saturated and clogged by it ; * Encyclop. Vegetation, 274. j See 3 Trans. Royal Irish Academy. J2