MANURES. 363 



coral, but which naturalists determine to be of vegetable origin, 

 and which is rich in nitrogenous ingredients. This coral con 

 tains, likewise, phosphoric acid, and is greatly esteemed as a 

 manure. These various sands are full of comminuted shells, and 

 very rich in animal matter, either living or dead. They are 

 applied at the rate of ninety bushels, or even double that quantity 

 of bushels, to the acre. &quot; To the large proportion of phosphate 

 of lime contained in the crustaceous remains, and the nitro- 

 genized matters of the fish, much of its importance, doubtless, is 

 due.&quot; The farmers in the neighborhood of Cork come ten and 

 twelve miles to obtain it ; and &quot; it is dredged in the river from 

 depths varying from ten to thirty feet.&quot; This, certainly, speaks 

 strongly in favor of its value. 



In Cornwall, England, vast amounts of sand are found near 

 the sea-shore, and are carried into the country. In examining 

 this sand, which is obtained in inexhaustible quantities near parts 

 of the coast, it appeared, in an extraordinary degree, to abound in 

 broken shells. In analytical examination of the sands from dif 

 ferent localities, they have been found to abound in carbonate of 

 lime, varying from forty-four to ninety-four per cent. A com 

 pany has been formed for calcining this sand, which serves to 

 make it more soluble, and renders its action upon the soil more 

 speedy. It is called the Cornwall patent manure ; and from 

 the advertisements of the company, it might be inferred that it 

 was exactly suited to all sorts of crops and all kinds of soils. Its 

 beneficial efficacy in many cases cannot be doubted. 



I have referred thus particularly to these manures, that the 

 farmers living in the maritime parts of the United States mi^ht 

 be induced to look after resources of fertilizing their lands, within 

 their reach, which may have hitherto escaped their observation. 



7. SUPER-PHOSPHATE OF LIME. Bones, broken and ground, 

 have been a long time employed as manure in England, and 

 with wonderful efficacy. Indeed, the extraordinary improve 

 ments in some parts of the country have been wholly ascribed 

 to the application of bones. It was found, likewise, contrary to 

 all expectations, that bones which had been through the hands 

 of the soap-boiler, and from which all the animal and gelatinous 

 matter had been thus abstracted, and that even bones which had 

 been calcined, were of equal efficacy with those which were ap- 



