I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 327 



tended use. Among other applications, this substance is 

 ground up and mixed with prepared fish, and converted into 

 an excellent manure for worn-out lands. 12 A, November 

 24,1870,62. 



SULPHATE OF MAGNESIA AS A MANURE. 



The accumulation of sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salts, 

 as a waste product at a mineral-water establishment in Ko- 

 nigsberg, where it is offered for sale at about fifteen cents per 

 hundred weight, has suggested its use for agricultural pur- 

 poses, as its constituents enter largely into the composition 

 of most vegetable substances. Magnesia, especially, is found 

 in considerable quantity in the seeds of various cultivated 

 plants, and especially in corn, etc. The experiment has al- 

 ready been tried of applying the sulphate of magnesia to one 

 part of the field, and the sulphate of lime, or gypsum, to the 

 other; and, according to Professor Goltz, it is stated that in 

 the case of clover especially, the difference was very marked 

 in favor of the magnesia, although the general nature of its 

 agency appears to be quite similar to that of the gypsum. 

 Both seem particularly valuable in this connection, on ac- 

 count of entering directly into the composition of the plant 

 instead of requiring a certain transformation before being 

 taken up. The sulphate of magnesia, as stated by Professor 

 Goltz, has a perhaps still more important application in the 

 stable, acting like gypsum in retarding the decomposition 

 of the manure, and fixing the ammonia developed from it. 

 The sulphate of magnesia, however, acts more quickly and 

 energetically than gypsum, in consequence of being very sol- 

 uble in water; quite the contrary being the case with gyp- 

 sum. From the preceding considerations, therefore, it is in- 

 ferred that sulphate of magnesia is quite equal to gypsum as 

 a fertilizer, and decidedly superior for use in stables. From 

 one pound to one and a half pounds per day, per head, will 

 suffice for the latter object, or from four to five hundred 

 weight per annum. The cost in the vicinity of Konigsberg, 

 being less than one half that of gypsum, is an important 

 point in favor of the Epsom salt. 9 (7, September, 67. 



