W. C. GOLDTHWAIT'S ADDRESS. 375 



waves down through our valley, and no better ; that perhaps 

 fifteen parts in one hundred are decayed vegetable matter ; 

 that perhaps two or three parts in a hundred are salts of various 

 kinds, of common salt, sulphate of lime, (which is plaster of 

 Paris,) phosphate of lime, (of which bones are composed,) and 

 so on ; all which salts are valuable, exceedingly, but over their 

 presence we have little control ,• that perhaps one-half of one 

 hundreth, or ten pounds in the ton, consist of a substance which 

 I have already introduced to you under the name of ammonia. 



But this last named substance, which the uneducated farmer 

 overlooks entirely, is like gold dust in a heap of sand, the val- 

 uable part. In its uncombined state no mortal eye can see it, 

 for it is perfectly invisible ; but unless it is present in the 

 wagon, you might about as well tip your load into the next 

 brook and go home. It is the vitality of all domestic manure. 

 If you would know more of it, it is the very same gas that es- 

 capes from a smelling bottle when uncorked ; it is powerful, 

 pungent, and reviving. It also rises from the wet floor of a 

 stable, and especially from the saturated earth beneath the sta- 

 ble. We do not say that the whole value of manure lies in 

 this substance. By no means ; there are other gases evolved 

 in the process of fermentation of importance, and many of the 

 solid elements are indispensable. But for the other ingredients 

 of common manure, we need feel less solicitude. They are 

 more certainly present, and are less volatile in their nature. 

 The methods taken to preserve this, will also for the greater part 

 preserve those. We may therefore say that the value of ma- 

 nure, is proportioned to its power of producing ammonia. 

 Even the different samples of Guano, exposed in the markets 

 of Edinburgh, which have been analyzed by the chemist, com- 

 mand a price, which corresponds almost exactly to the quantity 

 of this article they can evolve. I should add that this gas is 

 exceedingly light ; it is no sooner formed than it mounts the 

 air, and in a few days it may be diff'using itself over the ice of 

 the Polar regions, or deepening the green on the other side of 

 the tropics. 



Now what says science here ? Why it says most plainly to 

 every husbandman who owns a barn or a stable ! " Save 



