162 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



in solution,) untU reduced from a fluid to the form of a powder, by the means of ivory -black, 

 guano, or some less valuable diluent ; and the universal distribution of carbonates of lime, 

 c. in these, converts nearly all of the biphosphates into neutral nascent phosphate or sub- 

 phosphates. During the past summer, I have been experimenting on two separate fields 

 with four of these compounds two of which were made in New York, and two in Baltimore ; 

 the most remarkable results were obtained from experiments made upon a few hills of corn. 

 But I will confine my statement to two series, where whole rows of shocks wete compared 

 with contiguous unmanured rows ; the average of twenty-three shocks, each shock repre- 

 senting sixty-four hills, exhibited a difference of about 25 per cent. ; or the manured weighed 

 forty-two pounds per shock, while the unmanured weighed forty-two pounds ; and these 

 manures were applied in my presence, at the rate of ten bushels per acre broadcast, and I 

 gathered and weighed the corn in the field myself. Now, it is most probable that no atom 

 of free phosphoric acid, or phosphate of lime, ever enters the rootlet of a plant without de- 

 stroying it ; and, having proved that a solution of bones would necessarily become precipi- 

 tated in contact with any soil, we are driven to the conclusion that this precipitate or nascent 

 subphosphate is the valuable manure, and we take it for granted that it will preserve the 

 nascent form for some time in moist situations, as we know that moist oxide of iron will con- 

 tinue to preserve this form, as the antidote for arsenic, for weeks together. Ultimately, 

 however, it also loses the nascent and assumes the normal form, and becomes so insoluble, 

 that five times the dose is required, in order to afford the soluble material for the same 

 proportion of arsenic. Thus it is with phosphatic guanos and bone-dust ; none of them are 

 absolutely insoluble in pure water, and when thus dissolved as subphosphates, they are con- 

 verted in the nascent form, and more readily redissolved than before their solution. The 

 contact of a piece of wood or string has been known to hasten the solubility of the most in- 

 soluble substances ; for instance, the inner part of the metallic worm of a still, opposite a 

 wooden support, has been known to dissolve in the distilled waters passing through it ; and 

 the same remark is made with regard to hydrant pipes : the normal condition of insoluble 

 bodies is then disturbed, and the allotropic or nascent condition produced, by contact with 

 vegetable substances in a state of change ; this, then, may account for the influence of 

 organic manures, and indicates the philosophy of the modern plan of manuring in Europe, 

 which is by hauling out the manure on the field, load by load, as it is generated, instead of 

 permitting it to ferment in heaps in the stableyard. Now, query, would it not be still better 

 to stratify it with powder of feldspar, phosphorite, or phosphatic guano, and concentrate this 

 disturbing force of fermentation upon the elements, which, when reduced to the nascent 

 state, are worth more than the 1 or 2 per cent, of alkalies, &c. in the manure itself? 



It is still the question with physiologists whether nitrogen is ever assimilated by plants, 

 much less by animals, in its normal condition ; and it is a curious fact that both the plant 

 and animal may starve when fed on carbonaceous food exclusively, although both are bathed 

 in an atmosphere containing four-fifths of nitrogen, which is perfectly useless to both, be- 

 cause not presented in the nascent form. American Farmer. 



Methods of Preparing Muck for use as Manure. 



THE Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, for 1855, furnishes 

 the following statements relative to the preparations of muck for use as manure, each being 

 the results of the writers' (practical farmers) observations : 



A Middlesex farmer says: "I use swamp muck most successfully composted with stable 

 manure, on different varieties of soils, but think it does best on high land of a loamy soil. I 

 notice it is used very extensively by farmers, with satisfactory results, when composted with 

 other manures thoroughly." A farmer of Worcester county says: "I use it extensively on 

 my hard, clay soils ; it works well on dry lands to keep them moist, and on clay soils to keep 

 them light." Another writer, from Dukes county, follows: "It should be hauled out in 

 the fall, and exposed to the frost during winter, and mixed with stable manure in the pro- 

 portion of two parts muck to one of manure ; it should also be used in the hog-pen, barn- 

 yard, and barn-cellar. I have found it a good manure on loamy, gravelly, and sandy land, 



