154 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



No. 3 



fore, may be regarded as the most condensed ma- 

 nure that it is possible to apply to a soil: it con- 

 tains little, if any, water, and every portion of it 

 is a food for plants. 



The same remarks will apply to the dregs of 

 irain oil, &c., which are sometimes applied; mixed 

 with earth, to the same purpose ; but it is seldom 

 that these substances can be procured in any 

 quantity, at a sutRcienlly reasonable rate. 



Some Ikrmers may possibly doubt the correct- 

 ness of my assertion, that all the principal vegeta- 

 ble substances are composed of ])reciscly the 

 same ingredients as oil and other purely animal 

 matters; and as it is of the first importance that 

 the cultivator should clearly understand the rea- 

 son why the decomposition of animal matters 

 furnishes such admirable food for vegetation, I 

 must beg of him to compare the analysis of the 

 oils which I have already stated with that of the 

 following common vegetable substances, as ascer- 

 tained by the most careiul analysis ; and, not to 

 be tedious, I will merely give that of three sub- 

 stances : — 



1. Sugar, 100 parts of which are composed of— 



Oxygen - - 51^ parts. 



Carbon - - 4l| " 



Hydrogen - - 7 " 



100 



2. In 100 parts of starch from wheat flour are 

 found — 



Oxygen - - 49| parts. 



Carbon - - 43^ '* 



Hydrogen - - 7 " 



100 



3. The wood of oak is composed of — 



Oxygen - -. 42^ parts. 



Carbon - - 52 " 



Hydrogen - - 5J " 



100 

 All oily and other ammal substances, there- 

 fore, as they putrefy in the soil, are slowly con- 

 verted into those gaseous substances which are 

 the food or breath of vegetable lile, such as car- 

 bonic acid, gas (fixed air) or carbonated hydrogen 

 (the gas employed lor illumination), and which 

 are absorbed either by the roots or the leaves of 

 the plant as they are formed. There is little or no 

 waste, in these, for when the decomposition of 

 the oils and fibrous matters of fish is finished, 

 there is very little or no earthy or solid matter re- 

 maining, unless in the soil. In this, again, the 

 experience of the farmer substantiates the che- 

 mist's doctrines, tor he uniformly tells us in an- 

 swer to our inquiries, that " the fish only last for 

 one crop." 



In the east of England the farmers of the soils 

 convenienly situated for water carriage employ to 

 a very considerable extent as manure several kinds 

 of fish besides sprate, such as five fingers, cockles, 

 muscles, &c., and this use is only limited by the 

 supply, or what is commonJy a more important 

 impediment, the difficulty of transportinn- them 

 any distance while sufficiently fresh. 



When once the fish begin to putrefy, their fer- 

 tilizing properties rapidly diminish; the oil from 

 the fermenting sprats I have seen drippino- from 

 the wagons as they travelled along; thus" they 

 speedily lose in weight, and become intolerably 



obnoxious to the district through which they pass; 

 several convictions have, indeed, taken place 

 among my neighbors in Essex, for carrying pu- 

 trefying fish through towns and populous villages. 



This is hardly a matter of astonishment, since 

 the farmer who has to convey a fi"eight of several 

 hundred bushels of sprats, perhaps ten or twelve 

 miles, has often much too little time allowed him 

 for that purpose. The fish perfiaps arrive stale. 

 Is a load detained by contrary winds, or prevent- 

 ed by circumstances from reaching another desti- 

 nation, the farmer has to be informed of their ar- 

 rival, cannot despatch his teams as speedHy as 

 the nature of the case requires, the fish become 

 ofiensive, and his ardor tor the improvement of 

 his land is checked by a magistrate's summons 

 and a conviction for a nuisance. These are the 

 reasons which retard the use of these kinds oi" 

 fish as manure, but cannot entirely prevent their 

 being employed. Their use is still, in spite of aW 

 impediments, annually increasing, especially in 

 the neighborhood of those places to which the 

 fishing smacks find a ready access. 



By the general formation of railroads, the cul- 

 tivator even of the inland soils of England wili 

 have all these valuable sources of improvement 

 offered for his service — fertilizers of even national 

 interest, since they are drawn from an inexhausti- 

 ble source, afTord employment to a branch of in- 

 dustry invaluable in a maritime point of view, as a 

 nursery for seamen, and have, moreover, this 

 great and paramount advantage, that they add to 

 the permanent riches of the land, and are not, as 

 is the case with other fertilizers, drawn from one 

 district of the state to enrich another. There need 

 be no fear of the supply not keeping pace with the 

 demand, for the ocean is inexhaustibly tenanted 

 with fish. As fresh agricultural markets arise and 

 are satisfied bythe railways, fresh sources of sup- 

 ply will be discovered, other coasts explored^ and 

 increased fisheries established. 



From Miseries and Beauties of Ireland. 



THE PRICE OF RENTS, AND OF THE TENANTs' 

 "good will" in IRELAND. 



"The circumstance that Avould Strike an Eng- 

 lishman as most remarkable on first investigating 

 the agriculture of Ireland, is the enormous price 

 given for the tenant-right or good-will of a farm, 

 in addition to a full and sufficient rent. Ten 

 pounds per Irish acre is no unusual price. This 

 cripples the farmer, and keeps him in debt as long 

 as he lives. Nor is the practice confined to farms 

 held under lease; those held from year to year are 

 purchased; and, if belonging to a kind landlord, 

 fetch nearly as much as those held on lease, 

 though the tenant is liable to be turned oH' when- 

 ever the landlord chooses. Such is the confiding 

 disposition of these people, when the conduct of 

 the landlord, whatever be his politics or religion, 

 is regulated by honorable principles. This confi- 

 dence in their superiors is one amongst many 

 proofs of the docility of the Irish people, and the 

 ease with which they may be governed. I was 

 anxious to ascertain how these farmers, always 

 poor and in debt, could possibly raise the money to 

 buy the farms. This I never got satisfactorily an- 

 swered, and I believe they scarcely know. Some 



