49S 



FARMERS' REGISTER— FERM [ONTATION. 



ders of the Farmors' Register can I'arnish informa- 

 tion on .some branch of it. I invite all such, to a 

 free conference in the columns of this journal; and 

 will commence ofiering my mite of contribution 

 forthwith, in the hope that others better qualified 

 will engage in the discussion. However loose, or 

 imperiect, ihe views of each of us may be, a li-ee 

 and unreserved expression of them will scarcely 

 fail to add to the correct information of all. If a 

 scrutiny of my ofanions should [jrove them to be 

 erroneous and worthless, still their expression will 

 not be useless, if they should serve to elicit instruc- 

 tion and truth irom other sources. 



Facts learned from practice, and correctly un- 

 derstood, certainly are of far more value than any 

 mere theoretical opinions. But in processes so 

 varied as the management of manures, in which 

 so many unseen and unsuspected agents may ope- 

 rate, and so many chemical changes take place 

 — in which each difference of soil, temperature or 

 season, serves to aft'ect and carry the result, so that 

 no two operations can possibly be made through- 

 out precisely alike — practice alone will prove a 

 blind guide, unless directed by rules drawn from 

 sound theory. Farmers of good judgement, and 

 long practice, are found to advocate every difierent 

 mode of preserving and apjilying manures, and 

 each refer, to experience and to facts, to prove his 

 mode the best. Facts, the causes of which are 

 misunderstood, are viot truths, and serve only to 

 mislead us: and the only means of understanding 

 the results that practice flirnishes, will be to in- 

 vestigate their causes, which is to learn the true 

 theory of their operation. This course I will at- 

 temj)t with respect to manures — and for this pur- 

 pose, it is necessary first to slate the established 

 laws and known phenomena of those sponta,neous 

 changes of animal and vegetable substances, 

 which are comprehended under the name of 

 Fcrmenlalion. 



Chemists have bestowed much care in the in- 

 vestigation of tiie whole process of fermentation 

 as it is exhibited in the formation of spirituous li- 

 quors, and of which the knowledge is necessary 

 to the brewer and dis;i!!er. If equally careful re- 

 searches had been extended to the fermentation of 

 manures, the benefit conferred on agriculture, and 

 on mankind, would be of incalculable value. Un- 

 fortunately, chemists have not yet thought the lat- 

 ter subject worth more than slight and general no- 

 tice — and have only made loose and random ap- 

 plications of the fermentative processes of liquors, 

 to the very different and ever varying changes in 

 the substances that form manures. VVe must be 

 content to use these imperfect lights, in making 

 our investigations — and even by their aid, we may 

 yet be able to arrive at truths of great importance 

 to agricultural improvemiMit. 



Almost every kind of dead vegetable or animal 

 sulistance is putrescent, or under certain circum- 

 stances will ferment and rot. Such substances varv 

 greatly (according to their texture and component 

 parts) in their tendency to pass through fermenta- 

 tion; and none can ferment without the presence 

 of three agents, viz. air, water, ahd a certain de- 

 gree of temperature, which must be above the 

 freezing point, 32^, and becomes more favorable 

 to the progress of fl^rmentation, as it approaches 

 to sununer heat. If either of these three agents 

 is totally excluded, no fermentation can begin, no 

 matter how favorable mav be both the others: and 



if all are present, fermentation will certainly take 

 place, and j)roceed with more or less rapidity ac- 

 cording to the more or less favorable circumstances 

 existing. These well established chemical truths, 

 are of universal application, and should never be 

 lost sight of in considering the spontaneous 

 changes of putrescent manures. 



It will be useful first to trace the effec's of fer- 

 meniafion in the formation of spirituous fluids, as 

 the most correctly understood, and the most famil- 

 iar to observation. These fluids pass through 

 three successive kinds of fermentation, which are 

 called the vinous, the acetous, and the putrefactive. 

 Some consider a still earlier change as properly 

 termed the saccharine feryncntaiion. 



If apples of harsh and acid flavor are bruised, 

 or beaten for cider, the mass very soon acquires 

 an increase of saccharine matter, and the juice 

 when expressed, is a sweet cider. This is the re- 

 sult of the saccharine fermentat ion. A nother ibrni 

 is presented in the sugar formed by the soaking of 

 grain in water, preparatory to distilling — and 

 another, in the natural change of acid to sweet 

 juices, in the ripening of fruit. 



The vinous fermentation next takes place. If 

 new cider, or any other fluid containing saccharine 

 matter is exposed undisturbed to a temperature be- 

 tween 60*^ and 80°, it first becomes turbid and vis- 

 cid; an intesfine motion and increase of bulk grad- 

 ually take place; air bubbles are discharged fi-om 

 every part of the mass, forming a fi'oth on the sur- 

 face. 'J'he sweetness of the fluid is lost, and a 

 different and strong taste is acquired. After- 

 wards, the fluid deposites a copious sediment, and 

 becomes transiiarent. It has then acquired a vi- 

 nous odor and an intoxicating power. 



If this or any other vinous fluid be exposed to a 

 heat between 75° and 80°, and air be admitted, 

 other changes take place. It loses its peculiar 

 taste and qualities, and becoming acid, is convert- 

 ed to vinegar. During the change, the liquor is 

 again turbid, its surliice is covered with a mouldy 

 pellicle, a quantity of fibrous matter separates, 

 and forms a kind of skin, which sink's to the bot- 

 tom, and is vulgarly called the mother of the vine- 

 gar. This is the acetous fermentation. 



The putrefactive fermeniationtakes place when 

 the decomposition of vegetable substances is suf- 

 fered to proceed beyond the production of acetous 

 acid. The vinegar gradually becomes thick and 

 foul: air is einhted with a fetid odor: an earthy 

 sediment is deposited. Finally, scarcely any thing 

 remains but the salts, the alcohol, and the earths 

 which formed the constitueiit parts of the vegeta- 

 ble: the fluid, if any is left, is water and acetous 

 acid.* 



Davy thns describes the changes which take 

 place in other substances, and which in gener- 

 al are such as affect all collections of substances 

 tor manure. "If any fresh vegetable matter, which 

 " contains sugar, mucilage, starch, or other of the 

 " vegetable compounds soluble in water, be moist- 

 "ened, and exposed to air, at a temperature from 

 "55° to 80°, oxigene will soon be absorbed, and 

 "carbonic acid formed; heat will be produced, and 

 "elastic fluids, principally carbonic acid, gaseous 

 " oxide of carbon, and hydro-carbonate will be 



* Accum's Chemistry — from wliicli the descrip- 

 tion of the three last kinds of fermentation is 

 abridired. 



