o98 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



rp:cent rukal publications. 



TnK School of Chemical Manures; or Elementary Piiuciplcs iu the use of I'Vrtil- 

 izing Ageuts. l\oiu the Freiicli of M. George Ville, by A. A. Fesquet, clieuii.st. 



The above is the title of Ji work lately issued from the press of Ilemy 

 Carey Baircl, Philadelphia. 



But few subjects are of more importauce to practical farmers than that 

 treated iu this little volume, aud the name of Professor Viile, who has 

 so long and successfully managed the French experimental farm at 

 Vincennes, is a sufiicieut guarantee of its scientific accuracy. The dis- 

 tinguished author of this book appears to aim at harmonizing the con- 

 flicting theories of the schools of nitrogenized aud of mineral nmnures. 



The agricultural pliilosophy of Professor Ville divides crops into three 

 groups, over each of v, hich some particular manurial agent exerts a 

 predominating influence. His first class consists of wheat, oats, barley, 

 rye, beets, hemp, &c., on which ammonia and the nitrates exert, in an 

 especial manner, a favorable influence. The crops over which i)otassa 

 exerts a predominating influence are peas, beans, clover, lucerne, flax, 

 potatoes, &c. The crops especially influenced by phosphates are Indian 

 corn, artichokes, ruta-bagas, turnips, sugar-cane, «S:c. 



We do not understand the author to teach that crops can be produced 

 by either of these agents,. in the entire absence of the other elements 

 of plant-nutrition. 



By the phrase inedominaiing influence^ we understand him to mean 

 that a soil holding, in an available form, enough of all the elements 

 which enter into a crop of wheat, for example, will, by a redundancy of 

 nitrogenized manure, give a greatly increased growth to that crop, while 

 no such effect would follow a redundancy of potassa, or phosphoric acid. 

 On the other hand, x)otassa will give a similar result with clover, and 

 phosphates with Indian corn. He teaches that lime (and he should have 

 added magnesia) is an essential element of plant-food, but does not ex- 

 ert a predominating influence over any particular crop. 



Professor Yille, in the third chapter of this work, repeats the hypoth- 

 esis which he has advanced in several previous publications, in which 

 he assumes that plants, or at least a certain class of them, use atmos- 

 pheric nitrogen in their nutrition. If by this he means to assert that a 

 plant can use as food nitrogen, or any other form of simple matter — mat- 

 ter which has not been subjected to the action of chemical force — then 

 we are not quite prepared to receive the hypothesis. In proof of his 

 position, the professor calcined a portion of earth so as to expel all nitro- 

 genized substances which may have existed in it ; this earth was then 

 mixed with phosphate of lime, potassa, and lime, and watered with pure 

 distilled water. Clover sown iu it grew perfectly well, and the crop being 

 analyzed, demonstrated the presence of nitrogen. If he had given us 

 an analysis of the soil after the clover had been produced, and had thus 

 demonstrated that it contained neither ammonia nor nitrates, then his 

 proof would have been conclusive. But it is a fact familiar to every 

 observer that earth w^hich contains alkaline substances, if kept in a state 

 of uniform moisture and exclusion from light, will soon become rich in 

 nitrates, which in turn are available as plant-food. It is worthy of 

 notice that the class of plants to which our author attributes this prop- 

 erty of feeding on atmospheric nitrogen, is that class which most com- 

 pletely shuts out the light, and thus induces the condition most favor- 

 able to the union of the atmospheric elements to form nitric acid. For 



