356 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



of much more importance. 11" the man, instead i as the peculiar ingredients can be lound, which 

 of puzzling his brains about the deficiency ol are suited to each pariicuiar crop ' 

 potash, had only gone to Liebig and got some of 

 his ammonia, and ap|)iied it pretty hlierally, I 

 doubt not his Ikrm would liave produced lieavier 



and belter crops oT grass than ihey ever did be 

 tore. Give me ihereloie this one pecuiiiir ingre- 

 dient, /er<i/;<!/, and 1 care nut a fig tor ail the 

 other peculiar in^redien's |)ui tugether. 



But i have a liiiie more to eay about ihix Got- 

 tingen iarmer, so mucti relied upon as authority by 

 your correspondent, Mr. Peyton. According to 

 Liebig's account ol him — ami this is all I know — 1 

 suspect that he was bui a very poor farmer alter 

 all. He risked the productions of a whole year 

 upon a single crop! Now 1 never knew even a 

 gambler, rash and fool-hardy as gamblers com- 

 monly are, to risk his whole stake upon the cast 

 of a single die. I wish the man had tried worm- 

 wood a second time, when he tailed in grass. But 

 1 suppose that LietJig had drilled him too well in 

 the doctrines ol roiation, lor this. 



There is another reason why I am opposed to 

 this peculiar ingredient system ; and ihat is, that, 

 in my present circumsiauces, 1 should find it too 

 expensive and loo iroubleiome to practise upon. 

 On this plan, as 1 am not a chemist, I should 

 have to employ one ; and as Liebig stands tiiglier 

 in authority than any other man, 1 think 1 should 

 prefer him. 1 could get JVlacaire Princep, or De 

 Candolle, or some oiher Frenchman, perliafis, a 

 little chea[)er ; t>ut still, li.)r certain reasons, I think 

 1 should preler Liebig. Now although, as I have 

 had occasion to state elsewhere, the income of my 

 farm is pretty considerable, still I lear that the in- 

 creased income would not pay his salary. This, 

 then, would be but a bad bargain. In laci, 1 

 doubt if the whole income ol many /arms would 

 be sufficient to pay him. What then should I, 

 and others situated as 1 am, do lor our cht-mist ? 

 1 am aware that this objection does not lie as it 

 respects Mr. Peyton; lor 1 see Irom his commu- 

 nication that he is a chemisi, and therelbre need 

 not employ one. But I, and perhaps more than 

 nineteen-twentieths of the other farmers ol Virgi- 

 nia, would each have to employ one, or at least one 

 for every neighborhood, xliid the reason is sim- 

 ply this, that belbre 1 could venture with any pru- 

 dence to plant my corn or sow my wheal in any 

 field, 1 must first ascertain if that field contained 

 the peculiar ingredient, and in that peculiar quan- 

 tity, which are necessary to insure a crop. See how 

 much Liebig's Goaiiigen Iarmer lost by not em- 

 ploying his chemisi — liis whole crops ol grass " lor 

 many years ! ' VVhy this would ruin me, hoily and 

 estate. But, jesting aside, it would really graiily me 

 to see this vit^ionaiy scheme carried into actual ofie- 

 raiion. And if Mr. Peyton will establish a larm on 

 this principle — and, being a chemist, lie ie tlie fittest 

 person that 1 know of to do so — I will leave my 

 smoky atmosphere, and, with his permission, 

 visit it. Such a thing appears very well on paper ; 

 I wish to see how it looks in practice. In liict, 1 

 have been a d^'speptic for nearly the last twelve 

 ' months, and should be glad of an apology to visit 

 the salubrious mountain region that he inhabits. 

 How delighilul, then, on such an excursion, to 

 visit a field cultivated on this scientific plan— corn 

 here, potatoes there, wheat, rye, oats, beans, 

 pumpkins, turnips, not Jbrgetting wormwood, 

 every thing arranged in scientific order^ according 



Now my iheoiy on ihis whole subject is so sim- 

 ple and plain, iliat I am rid of all this vexatious 

 iiouble and expense. 'I'here is no chemist, ex- 

 cept the cojk, on ilie place, and >ei we get along 

 pieiiy well. Grass, ii is known, is my main crop, 

 and as I plant no vvornuvuod to exhaust the pol- 

 Hsti, I have had, wuh ihe excejjiion ol one unusu- 

 ally dry year, very lair ciops. I go upon ihe sim- 

 ple priiici|)le, iliHi every crop oi every description 

 which I take oti, and <ippropriate to my own use, 

 IS injurious to tlie hind. 1 I see any held, or any 

 part of a field, beginning to tail — and this 1 see 

 much more frefiuenily than 1 wish— I never send 

 lor a chennst to tell me what is warning. 1 al- 

 ready l<now thai it wants feriilily, and riiis want 

 I endeavor to supply by manure. And in the ap- 

 plications ol manure 1 never trouble myself to 

 in(]iiire whai special ingredieiiis it contains — whe- 

 ther humus, or geine, or ammonia or silicate ol 

 potash, or phosphate of lime, or " a thousand 

 and one" other hard names infinitely more fami- 

 liar wiih Liebig and Mr, Peyton than they are 

 with me. it is enough lor me to know that these 

 manures impirt to my land feriility — ''the one 

 thing needlul" to every crop. 



Bui Mr. Peyion states another strong case 

 upon the authority ol' Macaire Princep, and 

 '•alluded to by Liebig, m which leginninosce 

 (beans, reader) are represented as having so filled 

 ihe water in which ihey grew with their excre- 

 tions, thai a second crop would not grow in the 

 same, whilst corn plants grew vigorously in Ihe 

 liquid ;" and he calls upon me by name to account 

 iLr this strange phenomenon. This case, I Irankly 

 conless, is too hard lor me. I have planted beans, 

 it is true, and I have a very fluuMshing crop ol' 

 them in my garden at this lime, bui 1 never 

 plant them in a liquid. 1 always plant them in 

 the suil, just as 1 plant corn or potatoes, or any 

 thing else; and if the soil is a leriile one, and 1 

 cultivate it well, I never have any trouble about 

 their growih. I beg leave, iherelore, to reler this 

 strange atlair, and all oihers of a similar character, 

 10 Liebig, or Macaire Princep, or some other ol' 

 the cliem.cal Iraierniiy. Mr. Peyton tells me ihat 

 the "genius of De Candolle revived and illus- 

 trated" this very thing. Liebig aliervvards " mo- 

 dified it," in some slight degree ; but I suppose 

 the gentleman is noi satisfied vviih the modifica- 

 tion, and therefore calls on me to modily it still 

 further. Really, sir, I would like to graiily you, 

 but this whole allair is luo refined for me. I never 

 plant t)eans in the way ihese gentlemen speak of, 

 and iherelore know nothing about it. But il you 

 must have a further modification, I think it more 

 than probable that the very next writer on che- 

 mical agiiculiure will modify ihe whole away, and 

 then ai least one of us will be gratified. 



And here, I will lake occasion to say, ie the 

 Ibundalion of all the objection ihat J have to eci- 

 entilic agriculture, or to larmingon scientific prin- 

 ciples. A chemist takes a vessel (rom his labora- 

 tory, in il he pours water, and in the water he 

 puts some beans, just as I have seen my wife 

 (she is a great florist) place her bulbous roots in 

 flower vases, containing nothing but water and 

 perhaps a little cotton to support the roots, la a 

 little while the beans vegetate and show some 

 disposition to grow. After a while the water be- 



