430 



THE FARMERS REGISTER. 



" The proportion of potash which this marl 

 contains, by direct analysis, is 9.5 per cent." 



All oC these earths, as well as others, I saw in 

 place, except James Smith's. 



These stated contents, (as of a far greater 

 number,) given in that report, are so nearly alike, 

 that is difficult to believe that any diH'erence of ef- 

 fects could be munilesi from the diflerence of the 

 amounts either of the irroen-sand or of the potash 

 in the green-sand. Yet very diflereiit values are 

 attached to the earths furnished at these localities. 

 Heritage's in Gloucester is esteemed more highly 

 than Bee's; and in Salem, the VVoodstown earth 

 (Riley's and Shinn's) is valued above all in the 

 neighborhood; and James Smith's, after haviiig 

 been extensively used, has been abandoned as 

 comparatively inert. 



The upper light-colored green-sand earih at 

 Mullica Hill, vvhicii, though not so rich as the 

 best, yet contains 85 per cent, of pure green-sand 

 and 5.50 per cent, of potash (according to the 

 reported analysis) is pronounced by those persons 

 who have used it for manure, to be utterly worth- 

 less. This is said to be the same green earth 

 which I saw at Lippincoti's, and also is cut 

 through by the mail road on the hills on boih 

 sides ol' Oldman's creek, which makes the sur- 

 face of the roads greenish, and rises to near llie 

 surface soil. Yet the soil, thus resting upon a 

 green-sand earth, and necessarily more or less 

 mixed with it, is very poor naturally, and shows 

 no benefit whatever from its natural admixture 

 with green-sand. 



Also the stratum at Mullica Hill next below 

 the one referred to in the first part of this para- 

 graph is described in the geological report ol Prof. 

 Rogers as " a chocolate colored bed, in which 

 about one half is the green granular matter [pure 

 green-sand it is presumed the author means,] and 

 one half a fine clay ofa light purple or chocolate tint. 

 This also has all the features of a good marl, 

 though it is not reported to have any power." 

 The want of power or fiieble action as manure, 

 of these several kinds of green-sand earth, are 

 among the most remarkable of the many opposed 

 and unaccountable (acts which have been pre- 

 sented by the use of this earth. 



USB3S OF CHARCOAL AS A MANURE. 



From ttie American Agriculturist. 



From an article on Dr. Licbig's Organic Che- 

 mistry applied to Agriculture, in the April number 

 of the North American Review, it appears that 

 the most valuable property of a soil is that of ab- 

 sorbing and giving ott' those vapors and gases that 

 constitute so considerable a portion of the food of 

 plants. Reflecting on this fact, it occurred to me, 

 that charcoal might prove a most valuable ma- 

 nure ; from its well known capacity ol absorbing 

 vapors, gases, and saline solutions, and under 

 certain circumstances giving ihem out. 



The ladies make use ol charcoal in their flower- 

 pots, from an experience of these results. At this 

 time I did not know of its being used on a large 

 scale. I communicated the idea to Mr. Phineas 

 Sargent, and he remarked he did not know that it 

 had been used as a manure ; but that he had often 

 observed the charcoal hearths were more produc- 



tlve than the surrounding land. I made further 

 inquirers of Mr. A. B. Allen on the same point, 

 and he had the kindness to furnish me Mr. J. H. 

 Hepburn's valuable p;iper, "Charcoal as a ma- 

 nure," published in the Trans, of the Ag. Soc. of 

 N. Y. p. 298, 1841. 1 was not a lilile gratified to 

 find my speculations sustained by so accurate an 

 observer. 



As Mr. H. declined to enter into the chemical 

 character of charcoal, I propose to supply that 

 portion of the subject compiled from such writers 

 as are wiihin my reach. 



From Ure's Dictionary of Chemistry, article 

 Gas, we extract : " Of all solid bodies, charcoal 

 is the most remarkable in its action on the gases. 

 In M. De Saussure's experiment, the red hot 

 charcoal was plumed under mercury, and intro- 

 duced after it had become cool into the gas to be 

 absorbed without ever coming into contact with 

 the atmospherical air. 

 " One volume of charcoal made from boxwood 



absorbed of ammonia, 

 Muriatic acid gas. 

 Sulphurous acid, - 

 Sulphuretted hydrogen. 

 Nitrous oxide, - ' 

 Carbonic acid, - 

 Olefiant, . . . 

 Carbonic oxide, - 

 Oxygen, 



Nitrogen, - - - 

 Gas from moist charcoal, 

 Hydrogen, 



" The absorption was 

 ing the charcoal to remain in contact with the 

 gases after 24 hours, with the exception of oxy- 

 gen, which goes on condensing for years in conse- 

 quence of the slow formation and absorption car- 

 bonic acid gas. If the charcoal be moistened, the 

 absorption of all those gases that have not a strong 

 affinity for water is diminished. Thus boxwood, 

 charcoal, cooled under mercury, and drenched to 

 water, is capable of absorbing only 15 volumes of 

 carbonic ncid gas ; although before being moist- 

 ened, if could absorb 35 volumes of the same 

 gas." 



" Dry charcoal, saturated with any gas, gives 

 out, on immersion in water, a quantity corre- 

 sponding to the diminution of its absorbing power. 

 When a piece of charcoal which is saturated with 

 either oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, or carbonic 

 acid gas, is put into another gas, it allows a por- 

 tion of the first to escape, in order to absorb into 

 its pores a portion of the second gas.'" 



Charcoal, when reduced to powder, will absorb 

 but half the quantity of gas that it would when in 

 the lump. 



The advantage of this article over every other 

 that has been used as a manure is, that what is 

 not actually consumed or washed away is retained 

 on the soil, and will continue to absorb and give 

 off' the vapors, gases, and saline solutions for an 

 unlimited period. It would iherelbre be an expe- 

 riment worthy of trial by our western agricultur- 

 ists, to mak« their wood into charcoal and spread- 

 it on the soil, rather than to reduce it to ashes, 

 which at most will last but a few years, 



C, H, Raymond. 

 Buffalo, Jjug. 6th, 1842. 



