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FARMERS' REGISTER— PUTRESCENT MANURE. 



forth, by the bud, which sometimes happens late 

 in the summer. 



Jn one instance the loriter of this article had an 

 inocciilation six inches high in, November, grow- 

 ing on a stock raised from ascedsoiocd in the month 

 of March of the same year, and in three years it had 

 upon it six large and ripe oranges. 



3. Fruiting. 



As soon as the blow-buds begin to show them- 

 selves, the compost should be changed in the tops 

 of the pots, and this should be repeated every six 

 weeks until the fruit is mature. During the whole 

 of this period the trees require extra quantities oi" 

 water, particularly at the time the young fruit is 

 setting. 



If an excess of fruit should form, it should be 

 picked off. 



During very cold Aveather and while the trees 

 are not in active growth, they require much less 

 water. 



4. Protection in TVinter. 



They can be protected in a healthy state in al- 

 most any tight parlor or setting room, provided 

 they are not exposed too directly to the scorching 

 heat of the fire, and are furnished with a frequent 

 supply of fresh air. 



REMARKS ON THE ACTION OF PUTRESCENT 

 MANURES, AND THE OPINIONS OF J. M. G. 

 THEBEON. 



To the Editor of the Fanners' Register. 



New Toion, King and Queen ) 

 County, March 21s<, 1835. \ 



In the March No. of your periodical is a com- 

 munication signed J. M. G., containing critical 

 remarks upon an able and learned essay in your 

 January No. signed J. B. I am always happy 

 to see an application made of science to agricul- 

 ture; and both your correspondents have afforded 

 me much pleasure, amusement and information, 

 by the scientific tenor of their observations. It is 

 to be desired that the facts and the principles of 

 science should more frequently be brought into use 

 to elucidate and settle disputed points in husband- 

 ry. Chemistry has accomplished much, that if 

 applied, would be of great practical utility to the 

 farmer; and I doubt not, as it advances, it is des- 

 tined to achieve much more that may improve 

 and throw light upon the agricultural art. 



In the course of J. M. G's. communicalion he 

 propounds a theory, and supports it by many plau- 

 sible c/>riori arguments, for the decision of the 

 long controverted question of the proper mode to 

 apply manures to the soil. This theory I intend 

 to examine with the same freedom, and the same 

 feelings of respect for its able author, that charac- 

 terize his interesting investigation of some of J. 

 B.'s positions. His hypothesis is contained in the 

 following sentence: "Providence has given her 

 (the earth) the power — a kind of chemical alTinity 

 or elective attraction (as I beg leave to call it,) of 

 drawing to herself and uniting with all extraneous 

 substances in contact with her surface, which are i 

 .susceptible of conversion into the (bod of plants." 

 Again. "The only thing assumed in the forego- 



ing hypothesis, is, that the earth and the atmos- 

 phere having to nourish plants in a different man- 

 ner and by diflerent means — one being the nurse 

 below — the other above ground, neither can pos- 

 sibly take from the other any thing which itself 

 cannot use lor their joint object." The conclu- 

 sion deduced is, that manures should be applied to 

 the surface. In the first place I would remark, 

 that admitting the existence ofthischemical affinity 

 of the earth, it would be exerted to greater advan- 

 tage were the substances and the earth mingled 

 together — that is, were they turned into the earth; 

 because chemical aflinity only acts at insensible 

 distances, and the better the mixture of any two 

 things having a chemical affinity, one for the other, 

 the more rapid and perfect will be their combina- 

 tion. Again: this hypothesis assumes, that to- 

 tally difierent substances are furnished by the at- 

 mosphere and the earth in the economy of vege- 

 tation, and hence, that in the harmony of things, 

 they would not, or could not pilfer from one 

 another. So far from this being the case, the 

 nourishment supplied by each, is, to some extent, 

 the same, only in a different state. Water is im- 

 bibed by the roots of plants, and when suspended 

 in the atmosphere it slakes the thirst of the leaves. 

 Carbonic acid gas, oxygen, hj'drogen, and nitro- 

 gen are all Ibund in the atmosphere, and yet these 

 are the very elements that make up the substances 

 which, when in a state of decomposition and so- 

 lution, the earth supplies as food for her vegetable 

 otlspring. The carbon, which is one of the prin- 

 cipal constituents of wood, is made up as well 

 from carbonaceous matter received through the 

 roots as the carbonic acid gas received through the 

 leaves. According to a well established law of 

 chemistry, all bodies are susceptible of three states, 

 the solid, liquid, and aeriform state. By an addi- 

 tion of a sufficient quantity of heat, a solid is con- 

 verted into a liquid, and a liquid into an aerilijrm 

 state. Water affords a most familiar illustration 

 of this gener.al truth. We have all seen it in the 

 solid, liquid, and gaseous form. When manure 

 heaps are subjected to violent fermentation, half of 

 their substance often ascends in gas, and is dissipa- 

 ted by the four winds. When stable manure is 

 applied to the surface of the earth, carbonic acid 

 and anunonia are disengaged and "lost" in the 

 atmosphere during the process of decomposition; 

 whereas, if it be covered in the soil, these sub- 

 stances contribute nutriment to the roots of plants. 

 This has been shown conclusively by Sir H. Davy, 

 who introduced a retort containing manure in a 

 state of fermentation among the roots of grass in 

 a border of his garden, and found at the end of a 

 week that the grass Avas much more luxuriant 

 there, than any where else. It may be, that the 

 gases were not taken up in their aeriform state by 

 the roots, but conibined with fluids. Carbonic acid 

 \3 absorbed by water: and such is the aflinity of 

 water for ammonia, that it will combine with 780 

 times its own bulk. 



But your correspondent inquires, — "Would the 

 earth keep gas (which by the wa}^, is as great a 

 |)hysical impossibility as to prevent water from 

 seeking its level) when she could not apply it to 

 the nurture of her children — that application being 

 the natural province of the atmosphere." To 

 be convinced that the earth holds gas, it is only 

 necessary to place a small piece of fullers-earth 

 in a tumbler of water, and as it crumbles to 



