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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 bo the first thing, and it must be the last thing ; with 
 it he can do everything, without it, nothing. — Gavlord. 
 
 BY HENRY HEERMANCE. 
 
 REVISED AND CORRECTED BY 
 
 A. B. ALLEN ; 
 
 EDITOR OF THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PUBLISHED BY HENRY HEERMANCE, 
 
 AND FOR SALE BY SAXTON & MILES, 
 Office of the American Agriculturist, 205 Broadway. 
 
 1843. f 
 
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. 
 
 6 
 
 ; 4 J 
 
 S. W. BENEDICT & CO., PRINT., 
 128 Fulton St., N. Y. 
 
 S t3 
 
 M 4b 
 
 
CONTENTS— PART I 
 
 Introduction, . 
 Salts, . 
 Marl, . 
 Gypsum, ; 
 
 Ashes, . 
 
 Salt, . 
 
 Salt and Lime mixed, 
 
 Action of Manures, 
 
 Vegetable Manures, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Manures produced by the dead or dry parts, 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Manures produced by seeds and fruits, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 CHAPTER III. 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 CHAPTER V. 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Page 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 36 
 
 49 
 
 53 
 
 58 
 
 70 
 
 72 
 
 75 
 
 81 
 
 83 
 
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, . . . ; 1 14 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Animal Manures, . . . . . .116 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Animal offals, . . . . . . .122 
 
 CHAPTER XVn. 
 
 Charcoal and Soot, . . . . . .129 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Excrements of Birds, ...... 136 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Night Soil— Poudrette, ..... 138 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Liquid Manures, . . . . . .142 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Animal and Animalized Black, . . ; .152 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Manufacture of disinfected Manures, . . . .155 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Yard Manure, . . . . . . .158 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Composts and Liquids, . . , . •. .168 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 Different Methods for the Preparation or Manufacture of 
 Vegetable Manure, . . . . . .173 
 
CONTENTS— PART II. 
 
 Page 
 Preface, .-..-. ^ 185 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory Observations, • . . . .187 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Some Account of the Simple or Elementary Bodies found (com- 
 bined or uncombined) in Animals, Plants, and Soils, . 200 
 
 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, 210 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of the Elementary Composition of Water ; of the Composition 
 of the Atmosphere ; and of the artificial Application of Wa- 
 ter to Grass Lands, . . . . . .232 
 
 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, . 238 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Of the Sources of the Saline, Earthy, and other Unorganized 
 
 Constituents of Vegetables, ..... 259 
 
 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, . . 265 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 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, . . 276 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Of the comparative Value of Vegetable Manure, as contrasted 
 with Animal Excrements, ..... 295 
 
 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, ..... 298 
 
 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, . 308 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Of the Chemical Analysis of Soils, and how far this is practi- 
 cable by the Farmer, ..... 320 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Of Advertised "Fertilizers" for the Soil, . . .325 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 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. Heermance. 
 New York, September, 1843. 
 
THE 
 
 FARME ITS MINE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Of 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 all 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 
 2 
 
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 
 and 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 is asked him, What is his 
 first requisite ? Manure. What second 1 Manure. What 
 third 7 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 understandingly, 
 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 "vegeta- 
 ble, animal, and mineral matters, introduced into the soil 
 to accelerate vegetation, and increase the production 
 of crops." The Encyclopaedia, published by the London 
 Society for the Promotion 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 — c * All substances which, 
 when mixed with the matter of the soil, tend to fertilize 
 it, are in common language termed manures." Mr 
 
INTRODUCTION. II 
 
 Johnson, in his " Farmers' Encyclopaedia," lately pub* 
 lished, says — " A manure may be defined to be any fer- 
 tilizing 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, derived 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 the latter ones engrais. It is 
 probable, however, that the system which considers all 
 manures as consisting of humus or geine. and salts, com- 
 prehending in the latter 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- 
 bon, 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^ 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 lime, 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 
 contains 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 will 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 Plants. — 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 absolutely 
 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 Oxygen, 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 Origin 
 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 an 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 pis inertias, ; 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 control 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. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 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, 
 Salts. These may be supposed to act in different ways. 
 
 1st. 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 
 plant. 
 
 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- 
 gled 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 a soapy 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 of 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 
 2* 
 
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 causae 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, i. 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 
 tillage, 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 
 ft 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 is 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. 21 
 
 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- 
 ing 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, 
 
22 the farmer's mine. 
 
 those moist arid cold soils of the immense argilo- 
 siliceous table-lands which confine the basins of our lar?;e 
 rivers, the ground upon which the fern, the small ajonc, 
 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 laro-e 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 soil. 
 
 Three modes are principally in use for spreading lime. 
 The first and the simplest, that which is employed in most 
 places where lime is cheap, cultivation little advanced, and 
 manual labor dear, consists 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, 23 
 
 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 t\ie 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' containing more humus. 
 This method is most used in Belgium and the Netherlands ; 
 it is 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. 
 
24 
 
 THE FARMERS 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 
 a country where lime is dear, and the dose employed 
 large. 
 
 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 andl pint.] 
 
 Table of the products of the estate of Croisette. 
 
 
 RYE. 
 
 Wffl 
 
 SAT. 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Seed. 
 
 Product. 
 
 Seed. 
 
 Product. 
 
 1822 
 
 110 
 
 600 
 
 24 
 
 146 
 
 1823 
 
 110 
 
 764 
 
 24 
 
 136 
 
 1824 
 
 110 
 
 744 
 
 24 
 
 156 
 
 1825 
 
 107 
 
 406 
 
 27 
 
 251 
 
 182G 
 
 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 Meyzeriat. 
 
 
 RYE. 
 
 WHEAT. 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 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 
 
 477 
 
 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 
 
 32 
 
 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 during 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, 
 
26 The 
 
 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 to 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 to .a 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, is given in compost ; it is the regular prac- 
 tice in this country, more even than in Belgium, upon the 
 meadows and cold pastures which are not subject to irri- 
 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 yearSj 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 w T ith 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. 
 
 4. 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 
 
28 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, marl, 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 qualiiies 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 or 
 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 to 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 timings. 
 
 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 Innings 
 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. 3 1 
 
 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. 
 
 After having endued the soil with great 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 it manures to compensate for the pro- 
 ducts obtained, 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 long, 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 
 
32 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 required 
 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 e Farm 
 House, 5 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 I purchased a 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 lime, 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 
 
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 I ever 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, I 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- 
 gle 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 lais 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 for a 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 in 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 being 
 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 food 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 1 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 1 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 III 
 
 MARL. 
 
 • Marls, 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 marl 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. 
 Marl 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 Housed 
 
 Composition, discovery, and choice of marl. 
 
 Mature 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. 
 
 Marl 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- 
 port 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 is 
 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 in a 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 in 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 Enodish 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 
 according 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 fertilizes 
 large portions. In Ireland a quantity of it has been placed 
 
40 THE FAKMEtf'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 
 get it. 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 a marl 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 mailing, which is renewed 
 
MAUL* 41 
 
 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 Isere, 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 THE FARMERS MINE. 
 
 a few cantons of Isere : 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 in 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 w T arm 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 he given. 
 
 Among so many methods we can, however, for soils of 
 a medium consistence, arrive at the reasonable dose of 
 
MAUL. 43 
 
 marl which will afterwards be modified according to the 
 nature of the soil ; this will he 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 Thaer ; the review of numerous mail- 
 ings given by Arthur Young, 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 plowing. 
 
 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 two and one-quarter acres. — Tkans. 
 
44 
 
 THE FARMER S MINE. 
 
 
 When 
 
 one 
 
 NUMBER OF CUBIC FEET OF MARL NECESSARY FOR 
 
 hundred parts 
 
 AN ARABLE BED OF A THICKNESS OF 
 
 of marl con- 
 tain in carbo- 
 
 3 inches. 
 
 4 inches. 
 
 5 inches. 
 
 6 inches. 
 
 7 inches. 
 
 8 inches. 
 
 nate of lime. 
 
 Cubic feet 
 
 Cubic feet 
 
 Cwbic feet 
 
 Cubic feet 
 
 Cubic feet 
 
 Cubic fee; 
 
 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 
 
 t 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 marl 
 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 
 
MAKL. 45 
 
 thrown upon some comer 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 close. 
 
 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. 
 
 Second marlings are not needed, and should be long 
 deferred wherever the first has been very abundant. If 
 they have not succeeded in Ain, Isere 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 onr 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 da 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 cubic feet per 
 
MAKL. 47 
 
 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 hy 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 
 marl 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 w T ith 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 should 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. 
 
 Purification produced by marl. 
 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 proclucts. 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- 
 Gypsum 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 T -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 leguminous 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 trifling, 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 is 
 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 product 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 Franklin 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. 
 
 It 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 hundred weight to the acre ; at this dose it makes 
 upon the soil a layer of less than iJ of a line, or 6 oeo 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 SUNS* 
 
 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 legumes 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. 
 
 Ashes, leached or otherwise, are of great value as a fer- 
 tilizer, especially when used on soils that are sandy or 
 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 groimds 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 plowing. 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 
 slightly 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 
 
ASHKS. 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 increased 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 rericm magistra" — (Experience is 
 mistress). I 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. 
 
 Holland 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 rate 
 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 
 
 4 
 
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. 
 
 The 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, Pliny 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, hav- 
 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, Brownrigg, Watson, and Cart- 
 wright, have confirmed by experiment the efficacy of salt 
 upon vegetation. The Agricultural Societies have offered 
 a prize, and Davy, Sinclair, Johnson, and Daore, 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- 
 turaHnterest, orders the salt which is required for the soil 
 to be mixed 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 efficacy 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 efficacy of salt united with dung. 
 Finally, the great effect of sea weeds and their ashes, 
 which contain perhaps half their 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. Lecoq 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 j 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. 
 
 Doses of salt. 
 
 
 Products in grain 
 
 
 lbs. lbs. 
 
 1 
 
 li . . . 30 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 29£ 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 41 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 48 
 
 7 
 
 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 : 
 
 Dry Lucern. 
 lbs. 
 87 
 131 
 102 
 75 
 62 
 48 
 85 
 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 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Doses of salt 
 
 lbs. 
 
 u 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 . 12 
 
 7 
 
 . 00 
 
 8 
 
 . 00 
 
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 w T here 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 w T hole extent, it is necessary to use it dissolved 
 in a great deal of water. 
 
 Of the hydro-chlorate or muriate of lime. (Chloride of 
 
 calcium). 
 
 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. Lecoq, 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 is 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. Dubuc, 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. 65 
 
 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. 
 
 ibers. 
 
 
 Doses. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Dry Lucern. 
 
 1 
 
 . 
 
 . 3 
 
 25 . 
 
 . 137 
 
 2 
 
 
 . 6 
 
 34 . 
 
 . 156 
 
 3 
 
 . 
 
 . 12 
 
 0Z2 • 
 
 . 187 
 
 4 
 
 • 
 
 . 00 . 
 
 26 . 
 
 . 99 
 
 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. 
 
 Curling mixed it advantageously with ashes by which 
 he was able to diminish the dose. Mr. John Lee, who 
 4* 
 
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. Lecoq 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 hilling ; 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 unfortunately their effect is not uniform, it is 
 not general, and it is produced- only upon certain soils. 
 Since the Memoir of M. Lecoq, M. de Dombasle 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 
 hilling of corn, it gave no result * it only seemed to excite 
 a little the vigor of winter vetches. 
 
 Sea manure, sand, sea mud o?- 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 
 it is 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, 
 lucern, 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. 
 
 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 legumes, as well as to 
 high 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 dang 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. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 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 at 
 the rate of from thirty to sixty bushels per acre, either 
 before or at the time of sowing. Mixed w T ith 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 umnanured 
 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 
 geine ; 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, acts 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 lime ; 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. 
 
 The 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. 
 
 The strong drying and disinfecting agency of carbona- 
 ceous substances, or dull and very porous charcoal, 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- 
 nience 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 IX. 
 
 VEGETABLE MANURES. 
 
 Of land plants. — Manures produced by the green parts. 
 
 The use of vegetables as manures has doubtless always 
 been known. The Greeks, we are told by Theophrastus : 
 the Romans, according to Pliny, 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 is also general in Italy. 
 Philippo 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. In the Bolonais and the territory of Cesene, 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 
 (sysymbrimn), 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 {haricot) are preferred. In some parts ot 
 the Milanais from time immemorial turnips are turned in 
 green, notwithstanding their value as fodder. Finally, 
 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.. 
 
YEGETABLE MANURES. 77 
 
 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 fall sowing. Buckwheat, of which the seed can every- 
 where be procured at a low price, and about one bushel 
 and a quarter of 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 grain 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 rotations. 
 
 In proportion as we proceed from the south to the north 
 the advantages of green manures are less ; so, notwith- 
 
78 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 plo wings are not much, if 
 any, more numerous, and with a little care it is 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. 
 
 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 \* ith 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 ofiignamiche, 
 and placed at the roots of the olive trees, after having lain in 
 a heap long enough to begin to ferment. I have 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 for them, can be immediately 
 transformed into 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 Tyringham, 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. 81 
 
 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. 
 
 Plants 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 process 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- 
 mentation more speedily, Davy recommends the use of 
 lime. 
 
 The chaff from the threshing-floor, the skives 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. 
 
 Philippo 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 half a 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 Taylor, 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 clays 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 urine 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 y 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. 
 
 Among 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 it, 
 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 Meadowbank has judiciously recommended to mix it 
 with other substances less 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 a manure. We can, 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 Kasteler 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 in 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 
 
ARTIFICIAL 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, sowing 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- 
 ing 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 XIII. 
 
 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 Manual, 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- 72- 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, 38-30 44.15 82-45 17-55 
 
 6. « 32- 54-90 86-90 13-10 
 
 7. " 12- 60-85 72-85 27-15 
 
 8. « 10- 49-45 59-45 40-55 
 
 9. « 33- 59- 92- 8. 
 10. « 46- 46-80 92-80 7-20 
 
 Average, 29-41 55-03 84.44 15-55 
 
 11. Watertown, pond mud, 5-10 8-90 14- 86- 
 
 12. Danvers, pond mud, 8.10 6-50 14-60 84-40 
 
 Under the general name of peat are comprised several 
 varieties, which may be distinguished as, 1st. 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 
 js dug. It is 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 plants, 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 
 dio-nfino;. It will be found on the above data, that 100 
 parts of fresh dug peat, of average quality, contain — 
 
 Water, 85- 
 
 Salts of lime, '50 
 
 Silicates, -50 
 
 Geine, 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 sajts of lime, 
 make the total amount of salts, in round numbers, equal 
 that of cow dung. 
 
 If the bulks of these are compared, it will be found, that 
 at 90 lbs. per bushel, fall 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 12S 1288 1416 92 
 
 No. 9 peat of table, 9216 376 673 1049 91 
 No. 10, " " 9216 519 529 1048 81 
 
 A cord of pond mud (No. 11) weighs when dug, 6117 
 lbs. 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 2£ 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 ieet 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 matter, 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 dang. First, it has been shown that dun*; 
 produces nitrates. Porous substances and alkali possess 
 the power of forming nitrates ; these substances, alkali 
 and porous substances, act like spongy platina, they induce 
 a catalytic power, and the consequence is, that the ele- 
 ments of the air, oxygen and nitrogen, unite, and form 
 nitric 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 dung, 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. 
 
 Ity, 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 1 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"s 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 " 1st 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 lbs. Hence, if to 100 
 lbs. fresh dug peat, there are added 2 lbs. soda ash, or 3 
 lbs 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 lbs. ; 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 lbs. of soda 
 ash, or 1104 lbs. 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 dug peat neutralizes 100 lbs. of 
 soda ash, or 400 lbs. to a dry cord. Further, dry peat, by 
 boiling with, neutralizes 12£ 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 10| 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 
 lbs. of soda, 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 lbs.=36^ lbs. and 109-i lbs. pure carbonate, or in round 
 numbers, an average of commercial 1st 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 
 green 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 
 a cord 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 
 lbs. of fresh dug peat into good cow dung. The equivalents 
 of these, as has been shown, are 2 lbs. of soda ash, or 3 lbs. 
 of potash. Allowing the gaseous ammonia to be divided 
 equally among the 300 lbs. of dung and peat, this is in 
 proportion of 10| 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 lbs. 
 soda ash, 92 lbs. potash. This proportion gives each cord 
 
ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 95 
 
 of peat a value equal to that of cow dung • if one-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. If this is done, then the result will be, in round 
 numbers, 1 cord of fresh dug peat, — 20 lbs. 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 following 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 2S 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, 2h lbs. 
 white ash, fill up with water, as much as you have dipped 
 off, boil again, 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. 
 
 " It 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- 
 
98 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 1 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. Nichols, beginning on p. 10.2 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 Water town, 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. 97 
 
 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, mixed in 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, 
 
 $150 
 92 lbs. potash, 6 cts. §5 52 
 or, 61 lbs. soda ash, or 
 
 white ash, 4 cts. 2 44 
 
 or, 24 bush, ashes, 12]- cts. 3 00 j 
 
 average of alkalies, 3 65 
 
 3)10 96 $5 15 
 
 3 65 
 
98 THE 
 
 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 Manufacturing Company, that 
 for 9^ 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 12£ 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 is $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 lbs. of potash, or 20 lbs. 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 lime ; 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, forming 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 geine ; 
 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 lbs. 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, - 27 
 
 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 w T orth 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 
 
 $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 to a 
 
X02 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 is 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 suhject of Compost 
 Manures, fyc. 
 
 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 Rev. 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 
 
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 12£ 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 to two 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 infer this is, 
 that a run below, over which the w T ater 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 w 7 as grass land, which produced last year 
 about half a ton of hay to the acre, broken up by the 
 plow in April. The remainder was cropped last year 
 
104 THE FARMERS 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 be a 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 produce 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 lbs., potash 1 lb., 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 anv 
 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 12| 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 satisfies 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, I 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, I 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. 
 
 Andrew Nichols. 
 
 I 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. 
 
 John W. Proctor, Surveyor. 
 
 DR. ANDREW NICHOLS'S STATEMENT OF 1840. 7 
 
 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 a 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 Parmer'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 
 4 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, 
 
 Andrew Nichols, 
 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 
 lbs. 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. I should 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 the 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. Ill 
 
 self, I 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, 
 
 Andrew Nichols. 
 To S. L. Dana, M. D. 
 
 It will be observed that about three cords of swamp 
 mud and 33 bushels of ashes, have been used per acre, in 
 1839, and 40 lbs. 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 7 ~ 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. 
 
 Northampton, 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. I will, 
 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 w T ood 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, I am 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 clay 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 head 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 fertilizing 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 in 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 Clark, Jr. 
 
 S. L. Dana, M. D., Lowell, Mass. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 manures produced by marine plants. 
 
 These plants, such as the fucuses, the cdgo, and the 
 coriferves, 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 j 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 is 
 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 John 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. 
 
11(3 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, in other 
 places. In Ancona hardly any other manure is known 
 than the alga 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. 
 
 Animals 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 MAMUKES. 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 Utile used. 
 
 No certain experiment authorizes us to consider the 
 fatty substances as susceptible of serving directly as 
 manures. 
 
 The tendons are generally too difficult of 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 silk. — 
 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 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 Arts, 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 make 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 garden 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, gristle, 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 disgusting 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 manure, 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. 
 
120 THE FARMER'S MLNE. 
 
 Refuse of factories. 
 There are many manufactories, 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 MANURES* 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 w T as 
 asked. " It is all owing to the refuse of that clothier's and 
 carder's shop," was the reply. " I saw 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 
 ). 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 w r ater, 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 
 slight 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 w T hen 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 
 
 went 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, fyc. 
 
 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 
 organization, offers more remarkable examples of various 
 effects in its action as a 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 in 
 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 as a 
 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 ammonincal 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 therefore 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. 
 
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, a priori ; then drying and weighing anew the pow T - 
 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 natural 
 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 f 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. 
 
 Charcoal 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 is 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 Peireskice, 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 Peireskice. 
 grew so vigorously, that the P. aculeata produced shoots 
 7 
 
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 Glox- 
 inia, and also for the tropical Aroidece 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. Aroidece 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, Puerile, 
 &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 BromeliacecB and Liliacece, 
 with the Citrus and Begonia also, and even with the Pal- 
 ma. The same advantage was found in the case of almost 
 
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 utilis in three months, 
 P. Amaryllifolius, Chamcedorea elatior in four weeks, Pi- 
 per nigrum. 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 pedunculi f 
 or petioles, took root and in part budded in pure charcoal. 
 Among others we may mention the foliola of several of 
 the CycadecB as having taken root, as also did parts of the 
 leaves of the Begonia Telfairice and Jacaranda brasilien- 
 sis ; leaves of the Euphorbia fastuosa, Oxalis Barrilieri, 
 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. 
 
 " I 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 ' Allgemeine 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 is in contact 
 — 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. Lucas 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. — Licbig's dnnalen, Band xxxix. Heft 1, S. 127. 
 
CHARCOAL AND SOOT. 133 
 
 the case, it must yield carbon, or carbonic oxide, abun- 
 dantly to the plants growing in it, 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- 
 gioid. 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, ii. Reihe, 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 
 is, that charcoal possesses the power of absorbing carbonic acid and 
 ammonia from the atmosphere, which serve for the nourishment of 
 plants. — Ed. 
 
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 on a large scale. I 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. I 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 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen, - - 55 
 Nitrous oxide, - - - - 40 
 Carbonic acid, - - - - 35 
 Olefiant, ----- 35 
 Carbonic oxide, - 9*42 
 
 Oxygen, ----- 9-25 
 Nitrogen, ----- 7*5 
 Gas from moist charcoal, - 5*0 " 
 
 Hydrogen, - 1-75 " 
 
 u 
 
 a 
 
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. Raymond. 
 
 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 in a 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, at a 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 
 
 bad 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 uric 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 Bonpland. 
 
 " 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 league'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. 
 
 Humboldt 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 larvae themselves which remain 
 after the reeling of the cocoons, form also an excellent 
 manure. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 NIGHT SOIL. POUDRETTE. 
 
 Night 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 . 
 
 Geine, 27. ... 23. 
 
 Salts, ...... -96 . . 1-2 
 
 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. 
 
 With cow dung, .... 7 " 1 
 
 With horse dung, .... 10 " 1 " 
 
 With night soil, .... 14 " 1 " 
 
 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, .... 12£ bushels. 
 
 Bushels of night soil, .... 320 37£ " 
 
 . . . . 240 324 " 
 
 " .... 160 31^ " 
 
 Cubic vards of farm yard compost, 60 25 
 
 30 23| " 
 30 do. and 1 cubic yard of chalk, . 25 " 
 
 Applied to potatoes, the results were not less decisive : 
 Simple soil produced per acre, .... 120 bushels. 
 Night soil, 10 wagon loads, .... 600 
 Bones, 10 " .... 650 « 
 
 Hog dung, 60 one horse cart loads, . . 480 " 
 Yard compost, 60 one horse cart loads . 300 
 
 Poudrette. 
 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 acquiring 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 XX. 
 
 LIQUID MANURES. 
 
 The 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 
 I have 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, V Agriculture de la Flandre, by M. 
 Cordier, 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 is 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 urine or water from the privies, 
 or with the pasty matters mixed with these liquids, or 
 finally with powdered oilcakes (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 it communicates, and which should have 
 capacity enough to hold the manure w T hich 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 equal 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. 
 
 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 lbs. 
 
 Water, . 
 
 926.24 
 
 urea, ••....< 
 
 40-00 
 
 Albumen, ....... 
 
 •10 
 
 Mucus or slime, ...... 
 
 1-90 
 
 Hippuric acid, 1 combined with potash, ( 
 Lactic acid, > soda and ammonia, form- < 
 
 •90 
 5-16 
 
 Carbonic acid, J ing salts, [ 
 
 2-56 
 
 Ammonia, ....... 
 
 2-05 
 
 Potash, .... . 
 
 6-64 
 
 ooua, ....... 
 
 5-54 
 
 Sulphuric acid, ") combined with soda, lime f 
 Phosphoric acid, > and magnesia, forming < 
 Chlorine, J salts, [ 
 
 4-05 
 
 •70 
 
 2-72 
 
 Lime, ....... 
 
 •65 
 
 Magnesia, ....... 
 
 •36 
 
 Alumina, ....... 
 
 •02 
 
 Oxide of iron, ...... 
 
 •04 
 
 Oxide of manganese, . 
 
 Silica, . ...... 
 
 •01 
 •36 
 
 1000-00 
 
 Let this now be compared with the standard of value, 
 cow dung. 100 lbs. of that afford 2 lbs. 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 clung. 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 lbs. 
 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 be 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 so manured. 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, 
 Chalk, 
 
 Carbonate of soda, 
 Hippurate of soda, 
 Muriate of potash, 
 
 •7 
 1J 
 
 •9 
 2-4 
 
 .9 
 
LIQUID MANURES. 149 
 
 The hippuric 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 lbs. affords, 
 
 Water, 926* 
 
 Urea, with a little slime and albumen, 56*40 
 Salts, common salt, muriate of potash, 
 
 gypsum, chalk, Glauber's salts, . 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 42£ lbs. nearly of salts, which are, 
 
 Sal ammoniac, .... *459 
 
 Sulphate of potash, . . . . 2*112 
 
 Muriate of potash, . ... . 3*674 
 
150 
 
 THE FARMER'S MINE. 
 
 Common salt, . . 
 
 Phosphate of soda, . 
 
 Bone dust (phosphate of lime), . 
 
 Acetate of soda, 
 
 Urate of ammonia, . 
 
 Urea, with coloring matter, 
 
 5-060 
 4-267 
 
 •209 
 2-770 
 
 •298 
 23-640 
 
 Water, ..... 
 
 42-489 
 . 957-511 
 
 4- 
 
 lbs 
 
 •70 
 
 a 
 
 2-36 
 
 iS 
 
 2 80 
 
 a 
 
 5-64 
 
 a 
 
 There is scarcely a single element in this liquid which 
 is not essentially an ingredient in all plants. 
 
 In every 100 lbs. of cow urine, are, 
 urea, ..... 
 Of horse urine, . 
 Of human urine, . 
 Of sheep urine, 
 Of hog urine, 
 
 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 geirie 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 XXI. 
 
 ANIMAL AND ANIMALIZED BLACK. 
 
 I observed 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 io 
 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 inquiring 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 : 1st, 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, in 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. Dutrochet has observed that the sugar itself dissolved [in 
 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 XXII. 
 
 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 disinfection 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 is 
 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, anc\ 
 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. 
 
 o . - 
 
 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 — 1st, 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 is to be had, and of which the greater part 
 is lost by a too quick decomposition, at the same time that 
 it 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 six-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* 
 foonaceous 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 
 flow 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 Fleming^, 
 
YARD MANURE* 16 1 
 
 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^ 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 applied 
 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 such a 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 to 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 
 feedino- 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 lies, and allowed 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 cattle 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, is 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 is 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 frequently, so as to 
 maintain a uniform or increasing fertility in the soil. 
 
 Mr. Gay lord 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- 
 sisting 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 effi- 
 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 
 orowth, 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 mine. 
 
 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 forc- 
 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 XXIV. 
 
 COMrOSTS AND LIQUIDS. 
 
 Mr. Gaylord 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 matters 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, I 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- 
 
170 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, I 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 into the yards 
 and tank. If a surplus is 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 hill 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, it is laborious 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 I am ; 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 invaluable medium for saving the waste 
 of manure and for increasing its amount and usefulness ; 
 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 ordinarily 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. 
 
 It 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 
 Olmi. 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 or no 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 in another direction. 
 
 3. In this vat mix the following ingredients as nearly 
 as you can without actual measurement or w T eight : To 
 every barrel of liquid add 41b. of stone lime just slacked, 
 41b. wood ashes of good quality and dry, or an equivalent 
 of leached ashes, or 1-4 lb of potash, 1-4 lb. of salt, or 
 its equivalent of old brine ; 2oz. of saltpetre, 20 lbs. of 
 piaster of Paris, or mud, or muck ; 10 lbs. of excrements 
 from the privy, or 20 lbs. 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 w r ell to mix these 
 ingredients a few days before you lay up your heap, and 
 stir them every day, but this is 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 liquor over the heap. In 
 such case, let one stir, 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. 
 
 8. 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. 
 
 Advantages 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 for ever. 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 adjoining 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 reservoirs, 
 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 pine 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 nui- 
 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 
 a ring. 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, mulleins, 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 lbs. 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 lie 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 all 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 lie, 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. 
 
PART II. 
 
 TILLAGE 
 
PRODUCTIVE FARMING: 
 
 OR A 
 
 FAMILIAR DIGEST 
 
 RECENT DISCOVERIES 
 
 LIEBIG, DAVY, AND OTHER CELEBRATED WRITERS ON VEGETABLE 
 
 CHEMISTRY 5 SHOWING HOW THE RESULTS OF 
 
 TILLAGE MIGHT BE GREATLY AUGMENTED. 
 
 BY JOSEPH A. SMITH. 
 
 REVISED BY A. B. ALLEN, 
 
 EDITOR OF THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
 
 1/ 
 
 NEW YORK 
 184 3. 
 
P K E F A C E. 
 
 This book is a 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 do 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. 
 
 Agricultural 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 is, 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, jHe 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 #re 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 ; 
 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 applying 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 lono- 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 surfaces but fearlessly maintain, that such limit 
 
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 191 
 
 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 m^de them excel in arms, commerce, and learning, 
 only require to be strongly directed to agriculture, to insure 
 the happiest effects. We possess advantages in the 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 excrem nts of animals, but those also from the privies and 
 every particle of vegetable and other manures within their reach. — 
 Amer. Ed. 
 
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 sub-soil, 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- 
 rect 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 a strong 
 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 
 simple 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 
 ns, is fifty-four. 
 
 Now, if these elementary, or simple substances, are 
 placed either artificially or, as they are presented in the 
 universe, naturally in contact 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 why 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, bu< 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 those num- 
 bers, or by some simple multiples of them. Thus, sugar 
 and Indian rubber are compounds resolvable into precisely 
 the same ultimate 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. Hyrdog-n. Oxvsren 
 
 Hay, - - - 458 50 
 
 Potatoes, - - 441 58 
 
 Wheat straw, - 485 52 
 
 Oats,- - - - 507 64 
 
 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 mixed 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 applied. 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. Thus, sugar forms one of the proximate 
 
 )xvjren. 
 
 Nitrogen. 
 
 Ash. 
 
 387 
 
 15 
 
 90 
 
 439 
 
 12 
 
 50 
 
 389 
 
 4 
 
 70 
 
 367 
 
 22 
 
 40 
 
^96 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 in this 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 to the 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 most 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- 
 ternal 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 is in 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 Affinity : it is sometimes 
 well named Elective 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 Jive forms in 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 body. 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. In the 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 attraction 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 attraction 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. 
 
 It 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 
 
ELEAIENTAKY B0UE*. 20 1 
 
 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, it 
 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. If a 
 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 the streets and shops 
 is mostly used for this purpose, instead of pure hydrogen, 
 — the carbon it contains not materiallydestroying 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 hydrogen 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 until 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 mixed, 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. It 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 a state 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 whichjill 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, is, 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- 
 rately 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. It is 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 w T hich 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 
 a manure. 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, or such 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, in chemical language, 
 " oxide of calcium," combined with various acids, is a 
 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. In this process the water becomes 
 solid, unites, 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 w T ith 
 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 a compound 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- 
 
ELEMENT ARY 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, hydrogm, 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 is 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 contain it. 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, and is 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 is 
 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. 
 
 Aluminium. — 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. — Iron 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 in a 
 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 a sulphate 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 undecompounded 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. 
 
 n 
 
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. 
 
 If I dig up a stone, 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, 01 mutilate an 
 animal, — that plant or animal 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 w^hat this internal power consists, w T e 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 inorganized. 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. There is a 
 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 
 
212 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. 
 
 Carbonic acid, Ammonia, 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 immediate 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 esculentus) 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. 
 
 Vegetable gum is analogous to animal mucus. Gum 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 long 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 in a 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 1.00 parts, or 
 pounds. 
 
 Woody fibre is a substance remaining after the plant sub- 
 jected to analysis has been exhausted of all its soluble 
 materials by repeated boiling in water and spirit of wine. 
 It forms the bulk of vegetables. Its composition is 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 solid 
 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 5 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 
 glance 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 
 w T ater ; 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 terra 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 
 11* 
 
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. 
 
 Wax 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. 
 
 Fixed 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 which is of animal origin ; — 
 
 Olive Oil. 
 
 
 Spermaceti Oil. 
 
 
 Carbon 
 
 77.2-10ths 
 
 Carbon 
 
 50 
 
 Oxygen 
 
 9.4-10ths 
 
 Oxygen 
 
 5 
 
 Hydrogen . 
 
 13.4-10ths 
 
 Hydrogen . 
 
 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 oils, 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 animalculae 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 bitter 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, Athly, 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 w T hole- 
 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, like animals, are produced by ordinary genera- 
 tion ; and though we meet with various instances of pro- 
 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, as a 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 I" 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 
 1782 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, eggs, 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 w r aste lands, in reference to animal matter. When 
 those have been for some time filled with stagnant w T ater, 
 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, in 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 during long 
 periods. The eggs of the gad-fly could never be hatched 
 on the horse's back : their covering preserves them entire 
 and 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 t 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; inordinary 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 fruit 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. 
 
 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 close is 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 
 
 * It 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 to the south in the autumn like our other summer birds.— 
 Amer. Ed. 
 
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 ultimate 
 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 is divisible, like the 
 covering of animals, into epidermis (analogous to the 
 scarf skin which rises over a blister), and true skin, or 
 inner bark, w r hich 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 of a 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 w r ood 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 large vessels to its ultimate division ; 
 but the vessels of plants are capillary, that is, hair- like, 
 exceedingly minute, and therefore a central pow r er 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 
 
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. 
 
228 PRODUCTIVE FARMING. 
 
 Every child is led to regard the root of a plant as the 
 organ from which the vegetable groivs ; 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, is 
 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.' 5 
 
 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 
 
 DO D 
 
 tints, the variety of their forms, the delicacy of their orga- 
 nization, and the adaptation of their parts, are all calcu- 
 lated to awaken our curiosity and excite our admiration. 
 The ancients had observed, that different date-trees bore 
 
ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTER. 231 
 
 different flowers ; and that those trees producing flowers, 
 containing in their centre organs termed by botanists 
 "pistils" 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, Linnaeus, has arranged the whole Vege- 
 table Kingdom into twenty-four classes, as deducible from 
 the numbers of these sexual organs in each flower. The 
 numbers of the stamens and pistils in each, their arrange- 
 ments, or their division, are the circumstances which guided 
 him, and enabled him to form a system of botany admira- 
 bly adapted to assist the memory, and denoting well the 
 analogies of all the essential parts of plants. 
 
 The Seed, the last production of vigorous vegetation, is 
 wonderfully diversified in form. Being that part which is 
 of the highest importance, it is 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 eggs 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 w 7 hite 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. 233 
 
 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- 
 duct of their union. So that perfectly pure water is, 
 chemically speaking, not a simple undecompounded ele- 
 ment, but a compound of two elements — oxygen 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 
 2b2± grains; 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 amraoniacal gas readily in large quantities, 
 forming what is sold in the shops as spirit of hartshorn. 
 
 Of the constitution of Sea Water, 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 adverting 
 to the necessity and wisdom of such arrangement. 
 
 Neither is the atmosphere animals breathe and decom- 
 pose, and in which living plants carry on analogous ope- 
 rations, a simple element. Air 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 high, or 
 of mercury, 30 inches. For this reason, a pump will not 
 w T ork 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 is made, in almost every instance where a 
 combustible body unites with the oxygen of the air : it 
 may be separated into its elements, — unmade, 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. 
 
 Mow, it is most materially important, in connection ivith 
 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. 
 
COMPOSITION 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 Ihe 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. If a 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 ram-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 in 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 fertilizing, 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 ivater 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 w T ater 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 151. 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 1000Z., 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 20/. to 30Z. 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. Ed. 
 
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, oxygen 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 woody fibre 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 1 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 is a 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. — Ameb. Ed. 
 
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 7 , 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 daring 
 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 1 
 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 1 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* 
 
242 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 is 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 w T ith 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 lay 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. All 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 ; 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 w r oody 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 GKOWTH. 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 directly, by being taken up in its unaltered state, 
 but by presenting a sloiv 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 atmo- 
 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 everv new leaf. 
 
 Let us suppose 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 inscant 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 liquid 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 is 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 
 greatest 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 nitrogen 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 ammonia, of which nitrogen is one element. 
 We have observed, in speaking of the composition of 
 water, that ram-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 
 
 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 ammonia, 
 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. W r e ought to expect, 
 and such is the fact, that razn-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 gluten in 
 2650 pounds of wood, 2S00 pounds of hay, or 200 cwt. of 
 beet-root, which would be the yearly produce of such a 
 field ; but it is less 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 per cent. Such great differences 
 
 MUST BE OWING TO SOME CAUSE, AND THIS WE FIND IN THE 
 
 different methods of cultivation. An increase of ani- 
 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-fowl that remain 
 on them during the breeding season. This substance has 
 recently been imported in large quantities into England ; 
 and its fertilizing powers are very extraordinary. Its price, 
 about <£18 ($90) per ton, is a 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 ,on 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 on a 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 on a 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. In 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 gluten 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 urine. 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 
 is 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 T 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 is 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- 
 tening 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 be 
 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 
 food 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 less 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 
 grass, 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 it has lost its volatility when presented in this con- 
 dition, not the smallest quantity of ammonia, in such a 
 shape, is 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 1 Be- 
 cause it fixes in the soil all the ammonia of the atmos- 
 phere, which would otherwise be partially volatilized with 
 the w T ater 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 sul- 
 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 instantaneously ; it proceeds 
 very gradually, and this explains why the action of gyp- 
 
258 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 is separated 
 by every shower of rain, and conveyed, in a dissolved state, 
 to the roots of vegetables. Charcoal possesses a similar 
 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 7.2 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 is a 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 innumerable 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 plants 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 acids 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 is 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 on it. It is not known in what form 
 silica, manganese, and oxide of iron, are contained in 
 vegetables ; but we know that potash, soda, and magnesia, 
 can be extracted from all 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 on 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. Ed. 
 
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 not 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 
 w r ell 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. In sea 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, 5£ muriate of magnesia, and 
 1^ 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 ori- 
 
264 PRODUCTIVE FARMING. 
 
 gin of alkalies in the ashes of plants in those eases 
 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 Pacihc 
 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 to raise. Fallowing and Green Crops consi- 
 dered as Vegetable Manure. 
 
 The 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. So, when we inquire how manure acts, we 
 are either met with a reply that is figurative and incorrect, 
 or, with the admission that the result 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 is 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 attainment of the special object in view — 
 namely, an artificial 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 1 They are produced by the break- 
 ing down of aluminous ?ninerals 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. 
 
 It is known that aluminous minerals (that is to say, 
 minerals containing the metal " aluminium" 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 fertile soils, or 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 tilling 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 7 . 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 
 w T ith 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 growth 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 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 vegeta- 
 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 w r hich 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. — Amer. Ed, 
 
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 15^ of ashes ; 
 the same quantity of barley straw, 8£ ; 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. 271 
 
 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 whh 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 in 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. If the 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 
 the atmosphere, be rendered capable of again yielding sili- 
 cate of potash in sufficient quantity 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 — 
 
272 PRODUCTIVE FARMING. 
 
 1st 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 inorganic matter contained in the above 
 would be as follows : — 
 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 
 Potash 
 
 281 
 
 Silica, 318 
 
 
 Soda, 
 
 130 
 
 Sulphuric acid, 111/ 
 
 1 in combination 
 
 Lime, 
 
 242 
 
 Phosphoric acid, 61 : 
 
 > with the earths 
 
 Magnesia, 
 
 42 
 
 Chlorine, 39 ] 
 
 ) and alkalies ; 
 
 Alumina, 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 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 is 
 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. 
 
 soil, appears to have been a very small grass : and the 
 case 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 be 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 
 
274 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 turnip 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 sufficient 
 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- 
 ceeding crops. These grasses, by their large system of 
 leaves, absorb mainly their nutriment from the atmos- 
 phere ; and, when plowed 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 a course 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 w T hole 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 VIII. 
 
 Of the Nature and correct Use of the Excrements of Animals con- 
 sidered as Manure ; the Mode of its Action and Preservation. — 
 Bone Dust, and dead Animal Matter. 
 
 Calico 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-dung 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 slate ; 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 in 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 now, 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 
 must 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. 
 
 kD 
 
 The most important object, then, of farming operations, 
 at least as far as corn is concerned, is the supply of nitro- 
 gen to com 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 nitro- 
 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 plant with 
 carbonic acid, and all the materials which it may require 
 for its mere life ; we may supply it with vegetable matter 
 in a state 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 fasces 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 animal origin, contain insoluble matters, which 
 decay slowly in the soil, and there become useful only after 
 a time. 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, 7 
 
 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 fixed, 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 lungs of horses, as the army 
 veterinary 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 lose 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 
 lay 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 selling artificial 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 3 per cent, of contained nitrogen, would yield 
 16 pounds of that material for the land, a quantity suffi- 
 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 \i 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 containing the most nitroo-en, 
 contains also the most phosphates j 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 as a 
 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. No other kind of manure is used for their grain 
 fields. 
 
 Human urine contains 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 is more 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 feii. 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 is 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. 
 
 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 nitrogen 
 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 of the 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 V'alue, 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 dang, 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 all the 
 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 equally important, in seem- 
 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 PRODUCTIVE 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 sixty •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 ignorance 
 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 much 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 
 duno'-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 Berzelius, 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 solid 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 nio;ht-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 lying 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 
 excrements 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 land 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 solid, 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* 
 
£9(5 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 containing 
 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 from 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. 
 
 g* 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 less liquid food, less 
 succulent and watery, than that of oxen. He discharges 
 less urine, — hence his duns: 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 mixture 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 w r hich 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 300 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 immedi- 
 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. 
 
 Of the comparative Value of Vegetable Manure, as contrasted with 
 Animal Excrements. 
 
 It 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 w T hich 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 fully 
 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 
 
 i 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 : wmile 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 arc fitted to become the food of vege- 
 
298 PRODUCTIVE FARMING, 
 
 tables. The fermentation and putrefaction of organized 
 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 ; 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 
 it is 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 various 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 interesting 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 lime 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 of the 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 injuri- 
 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 so, — that it is never 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 MANURES. 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 1 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 1 
 evidently depends upon whether the previous crops have 
 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, nitrogen 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 nitrates. 
 
 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. It 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. 
 
 Wood-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-ash contains not only carbonate 
 of potash, but also the sulphate of potash and silicate 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. 
 
 Peat-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. 
 
 Kelp. — 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. 
 
 Jf Urate of soda, and nitrate of potash, or saltpetre. — These 
 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- 
 melech 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 potash, 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 of 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 to him. 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 lbs. 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, w T ith 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 ihe 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- 
 ing 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 surrounding atmosphere. He 
 observes that the solution of nitrate of ammonia seemed to 
 be of no greater use than rain-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 existence as many varieties of soils as 
 
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 is 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 
 w T ould 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 
 " loam" 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 soils 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 labor 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 
 land, 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 
 light 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 with a 
 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 soil is 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 owin^ to the 
 ready supply of inorganic 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 hogs, or marsh lands, must 
 be preceded by draining, 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 as a top-dressing. The first step to be taken, 
 in order to increase the fertility of nearly all improvable 
 lands, is to drain 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 of a 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 w r arm, and so a 
 double mischief will ensue ; the soil will be kept cold and 
 wet; and instead of a free passage of air dow T n wards 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 as in 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 lj per cent. ; and barley when only 2 or 3 
 parts per cent, 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 insolubkj of earthy materials. 
 15* 
 
314 PRODUCTIVE FARMING. 
 
 A slvgle 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 long 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 — 
 
 Soluble saline matter, 
 
 Fine earthy and organic matter, (clay) 
 
 Siliceous sand, 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 18 
 
 I 
 
 937 
 
 839 
 
 45 
 
 160 
 
 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 all 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 in a 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 
 soil" contained 8 parts out of 9 of siliceous sand ; that 
 is, sand with flint earth, or silex : the remaining l-9th 
 part consisted, in every 100 grains, of— 
 
 Carbonate of lime, (chalk) 
 
 Pure silex, 
 
 Pure alumina, or the earth of clay, 
 Oxide (rust) of iron, 
 Vegetable, and other saline matter, 
 Moisture and loss, . . . 
 
 63 
 
 grains 
 
 15 
 
 grains 
 
 11 
 
 grains 
 
 3 
 
 grains 
 
 5 
 
 grains 
 
 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, in 
 chemical language — 
 
 Of silica, (or silex) 54 grains. 
 
 Of alumina, 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 iexture. In all cpses, 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, . .... 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 direct 
 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 moist 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 
 
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 less 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, if their 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 w r ater, 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, 
 becin 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. 
 
 Enough 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 1 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 with it. 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 inquiries — 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, w T ill 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 PRODUCTIVE 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 
 obtained. But it is only by aiming after such minutely 
 correct results that chemistry is likely 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 3 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, however, 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. &23 
 
 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 indication 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 is 
 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 w T ho 
 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 thefarm* 
 ers, or persons wishing the analysis, for any chemical 
 knowledge. They are to submit limestones, bone-dust, 
 guano, 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. 
 
 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 is 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 
 oiF, 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. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Of Advertised "Fertilizers" for the Soil. 
 
 The 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 scarcely 
 one of them that may not be good for some ailment or 
 other. The mischief of such nostrums is, 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 PRODUCTIVE 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 
 into a hair-trunk 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 a soil 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. 
 
 1st, 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. 
 
 4th, 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. 32't 
 
 6th 9 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, 
 yield. 
 
 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 
 in 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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