1861.] 379 [Emerson. 



in the field, and perhaps by no one in this country on a scale so 

 extensive as by myself, having for many years past applied from 

 thirty to forty tons a year of concentrated fertilizers abounding in 

 phosphates, on farms which I cultivate, in Kent County, Dela- 

 ware. These were in a very impoverished condition when I began 

 to apply concentrated fertilizers, the bases of which are phos- 

 phates of lime. The particular preparation I use has the bone-earth 

 brought into a soluble state by chemical agency. The soluble phos- 

 phate has a sufficient amount of ammonia, with other fertilizing ele- 

 ments, to meet all the requisitions of growing plants in every stage 

 of their development. By such applications I have obtained results 

 in the highest degree satisfactory, in proof of which, I am able to 

 state that in from two to four years' time, I have brought up land so 

 as to yield thVee and four times what it could do before the applica- 

 tions were made. The increase in the crops always paid for the 

 outlay in the fertilizer, and thus the increase in the productive value 

 of the land was clear gain. To state one out of many cases tried (some 

 on a much larger scale), a small farm of about one hundred and ten 

 arable acres, was dressed with a good ammoniated superphosphate 

 applied in the successive crops during two years. In its former 

 greatly impoverished condition, it would pay less than §150 per 

 year, or an interest on $2500. At the end of two years, after an 

 outlay of about 8800 in the fertilizer, the farm was permanently im- 

 proved so as to yield a rent of §600, thus showing that the produc- 

 tive value had been raised from §2500 to §10,000. 



My extensive use for many years past, of a fertilizer in which solu- 

 ble phosphate or superphosphate of lime constitutes the basis, has 

 fully established the views taken by scientific men, of the inestimable 

 value of phosphoric acid to increase the productiveness of the soil. 



I reckon my agricultural profits as mainly based upon my ability to 

 supply the land with the necessary amount of soluble phosphoric acid. 

 This when once removed is never supplied from natural sources, and 

 consequently, has to be put back by the hand of man. Not so with 

 other fertilizing elements, which, like ammonia, is derived from the 

 atmosphere, whilst the alkaline earths are often supplied by the dis- 

 integration of minerals composing the soil. Whilst the farmer rejoices 

 in having obtained the power to derive treble and quadruple profits 

 from his labor, he must bear in mind that for this power, he is under 

 obligations to the brilliant results of scientific investigation. 



Various practical questions were put to Dr. Emerson by the 

 members present, to which he replied. 



