1838] 



F A K M E U S ' U E G I S T E R 



G49 



ilioro f:Iimilil be a little inclination from each side 

 U)\v;ir(lfl ilio conti-p, in which there should be 

 drains connected will) a small well, furnisliod with 

 a pump, by which any lluid n)atter may be collect- 

 ed lor the use ot the land. It too often happens 

 that a dense mucilafrinous and extractive lluid is 

 suH'ered to drain away t'rom the dunghill, so as to 

 he entirely lost to the larm.* 



Street and road dung, and the sweepings of 

 houses, may be all reo-arded as composite ma- 

 nures; the constitution of them is necessarily va- 

 rious, as they are derived from a number of differ- 

 ent substances. These manures are usually ap- 

 plied in a proper manner, without beini;; fermented. 



Soot, which is principally formed from the com- 

 bustion of pit-coal or coal, generally contains like- 

 wise substances derived from animal matters. 

 This is a very powerful manure. It affords am- 

 moniacal salts by distillation, and yields a brown 

 extract to hot water, of a bitter taste. Ii likewise 

 contains an empyrenmatic oil. Its basis is char- 



the growth of plants, and supplies the materials 



of their nourishment. The conversion of matter 

 that has belonged to living structures into or- 

 ganized ibrms IS a process than can be easily un- 

 derstood; but it is more dillicult to Ibllow those 

 operations by which earthy and saline matters are 

 consolidated in the fibre of plants, and by which 

 they are made subservient to their functions. 

 Some inquirers, adopting that sublime generaliza- 

 tion of the ancient philosophers that matter is the 

 same in essence, and that the difi'erent substances 

 considered as elements by chemists are merely 

 diflerent arrangements of the same indestructible 

 particles, have endeavored to prove that all the 

 varieties of the principles found in plants may be 

 formed from the substances in the atmosphere; 

 and that vegetable life is a process in which bodies 

 that the analytical philosopher is unable to change 

 or to form are constantly composed and decom- 

 posed. These opinions have not been advanced 

 merely as hypotheses; attempts have been made 



coal, in a state in which it is capable of being ren- lo support them by experiments. JVl. Schrader 



dered soluble by the action of oxygen and water. 



This manure is well fitted to be used in the dry 

 state, thrown into the ground with the seed, and 

 reqin'res no preparation. 



The doctrine of the proper application of ma- 

 nures from organized substances offers an illustra- 

 tion of an important part of the economy of na- 

 ture, and of the happy order in which it is ar- 

 rancred. 



The death and deca}?- uf animal substances tend 

 to resolve organized forms mto chemical constitu- 

 ents; and the pernicious efTluvia diseniraged in the 

 process seem to point out the propriety of buryinij 

 them in the soil, where thev are fitted to become 

 the food of vejxetabf's. The fermentation and 

 putrefaction of organized substances in the free 

 atmosphere are noxious processes; beneath the 

 surface of the crrourid, they are salutary opera- 

 tions. In this case the food of plants is prepared 

 where it can be used; and that which would of- 

 fend the senses and injure the health, if exposed, 

 is converted by gradual processes into forms of' 

 beauty and of usefulness; the fu>tid yas is render- 

 ed a constituent of the aroma of the flower, and 

 what might be poison becomes nourishment to 

 animals and to man. 



LECTURE VII. 



on manuues of mineral origtn, or fossil 

 manures; their preparation, and the 

 manner in which they act. of lime 

 in its different states; operation of 

 lime as a manure and a cement; dif- 

 ferent combinations of lime. of gyp- 

 sum; ideas respecting its use. of other 

 weutro-saline compounds, employed 

 as manures. of alkalies and aljca- 

 line salts; of common salt. 



The whole tenor of the preceding lectures shows 

 that a great variety of substances contributes lo 



* The state in which farm-yard manure should be 



used is still a queslio vexala ; and is likely to i-emaiii 



so, till an extensive series of judicious experiments 



shall have been made ou the subject by comueteut 



Vol. VI.— 82 



and Mr. Braconnot, from a series of distinct inves- 

 tigations, have arrived at the same conclusions* 

 They state that diflerent seeds sown in fine sand, 

 sulphur, and metallic oxides, and supplied only with 

 atmospherical air and water, produced healthy 

 plants, which by analysis yielded various earthy 

 and saline matters, which either were not contain- 

 ed in the seeds or the material in which they 

 grew, or which were contained only in much 

 smaller quantities in the seeds: and hence they 

 conclude that they must have been formed from 

 air or water, in consequence of the agencies of the 

 living organs of the plant. 



The researches of these two gentlemen were 

 conducted with much ingenuity and address; but 

 there were circumstances which interfered with 

 their results, which they could not have known, 

 as at the time their labors were published they 

 had not been investigated. 



I have found that common distilled water is far 

 from being free from saline impregnations. In 

 analyzing it by Voltaic electricity, I procured from 

 it alkalies and earths; and many of the combina- 

 tions of metals with chlorine are extremely vola- 

 tile substances. When distilled water is supplied 

 in an unlimited manner to plants, it may furnish 

 to them a number of different substances, which, 

 though in quantities scarcely perceptible in the 

 water, may accumulate in the plant, which pro- 

 bably perspires only absolutely pure water. 



In 1801 I "made an experiment on the growth 

 of oats, supplied with a limited quantity of distilled 

 water in a soil composed of pure carbonate of lime. 

 The soil and the water were placed in a vessel of 

 iron, which was included in a large jar, connected 

 with the free atmosphere by a tube, so curved as 

 to prevent the possibility of any dust, or fluid, or 

 solid matter from entering into the jar. My ob- 

 ject was to ascertain whether any siliceous earth 



persons, equally qualified by theoretical and practical 

 knowledge to arrive at precise results, and to be able 

 to communicate them. The question, in all its rela- 

 tions, is necessarily one of extreme ditliculty, as well 

 as of importance. Probably composts, or mixtures of 

 stable and farm-yard manure, witfimarl, clay, or lime, 

 according to circumstances, will piove most advanta- 

 geous of all, if kept well covered with earth, so as to 

 allow of a certain degree of fermentation, and yet 

 prevent any material loss of gaseous matter. — J. D. 



