120 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2. 



and long established practice, should be made 

 u slowly } but surely.' 1 '' The petitioners wished only 

 to abolish the system, and designed — as in all 

 similar cases, to leave the choice of the details, as 

 well as the time and manner of accomplishing 

 their object, to the good sense and judgement of 

 the legislature. But admitting the rejection of the 

 petition to be perfectly right, did the committee 

 determine justly in abstaining from any attempt 

 whatever to amend the law, merely because they 

 deemed it wrong to repeal it altogether? Was 

 there a man in our whole legislative body who 

 could conscientiously say, that the present law is 

 faultless-? Nay, can a single person be found in 

 our whole community, by whom the law has been 

 read at all, who will not pronounce it full of most 

 glaring defects — delects too, that might very easily 

 have been remedied, without disturbing its pre- 

 cious principle of taxing enormously the whole 

 agricultural portion of our people for the imagina- 

 ry benefit of a few owners of comparatively 

 worthless stock? If there be any such man, it 

 has never yet been my lot to meet with him. As 

 to that part of the committee's report which you 

 so truly designate as "miserable and false rea- 

 soning," 1 will not trust myself to speak of it as 

 I think it deserves. 



COMMENTATOR. 



From the [British] Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 

 ANIMALIZED CARBON, A NEW MANURE. 



This substance is of French origin, and its man- 

 ufacture is secured by patent. It was discovered 

 by a French chemist; but that it is a substance 

 easily manufactured may be interred from the fact 

 of its being shipped free on board lor 35s. per ton. 

 Mr. Joseph Owen, of Copenhagen, acquired the 

 knowledge of the manufacture horn the patentee 

 in France, and has since established a manufacto- 

 ry on his own account in Copenhagen. His tra- 

 veller, a Danish gentleman, was the first to intro- 

 duce this new manure to the notice of the Scottish 

 agriculturists. We have not had an opportunity 

 of seeing a sample of it, but it seems it has been 

 tried last year by Mr. Dalgairns of Ingliston, and 

 Mr. Inches of Cardean, who, we hope, will favor 

 us with their opinion of its efficacy. We under- 

 stand that the. Danish gentleman has disposed of 

 250 Ions of it. in the counties of Forfar and Kin- 

 cardine. Mr. Owen's card gives the following 

 account of its nature, and the mode of using it: 



"The chief excellency of this manure is, Ihat it 

 is powerful in its effects, occupies but little room, 

 is easily separated, and conveniently used either 

 by hand or drill; its eifects are farther to ensure a 

 rich crop, by gradually ameliorating the soil, and 

 rendering fallowing unnecessary. For wheat, rye, 

 buckwheat, barley, and similar descriptions of 

 corn, about 8 cwt. 1 qr. 16 lbs. is used per acre: it 

 may be either broadcast or drilled in before har- 

 rowing. For flax, hemp, beet, potatoes, &c. about 

 101 cwt. per acre; and 12 cwt. 2 qrs. 10 lbs. per 

 acre lor artificial meadows, different sorts of cab- 

 bage, rape, culinary plants, and for refreshing na- 

 tural meadow land. For plants that are set in 

 rows, a handful is put to each plant; for those 

 which are transplanted, a child lbllows the planter 

 and throws a very small handful of the manure 

 into each hole, which is immediately covered over 

 with earth; in several places for rape, it is scattered 



out in rows along the roots of the plant, which the 

 plough covers by forming anew furrow. On mea- 

 dow land it must be spread out in December or Jan- 

 uary, when the snow is not on the ground. Gen- 

 erally speaking, it is well to mix the manure with 

 half its quantity of finely sifted earth; but there is 

 no necessity for pursuing this method. On light 

 and warm soils about 2 qrs. 22 lbs. less per acre is 

 used than on cold or clay lands, where an extra 2 

 qrs. 22 lbs. are added to the quantity as before- 

 hand directed to be used; it is in fact left to the 

 farmer's judgement to make use of the above direc- 

 tions, according to local circumstances. What 

 characterizes this manure most is, that it dcvelopes 

 its effects so slowly and gradually, that it may be 

 applied without danger in contact with the seed or 

 roots of plants; in this it differs from a number of 

 other manures which are less rich, but more heat- 

 ing. In Scotland it has been tried in 1834 on eight 

 different soils, has been found nearly equal to bone- 

 dust for turnips, and has since been ordered in large 

 quantities from the manufacturer, Mr. Owen, at 

 Copenhagen, who delivers it free on board at 36s. 

 per ton. — Ed. Qu. J. Ar~ 



[We have seen in the last year's numbers of the An- 

 nates de I' Agriculture Francaise, several notices of the 

 manure referred to above, but none so full as to show 

 how it is prepared, or of what it is composed. The 

 following, however, may throw some additional light 

 on the subject. The remarkable cheapness of the ar- 

 ticle, of which the English editor speaks, may be per- 

 haps caused by the adulteration which is here made 

 known.] 



REMARKS UPON A FALSIFICATION OF THE 

 AKIMALIZED CARBONACEOUS MANURE. 



Translated for the farmers 9 Register. 



The great demand for some years back of ani- 

 mal black, and of the charcoal -which isleir by the 

 sugar refineries, has determined some persons to 

 speculate on these manures, and to increase their 

 quantity by the addition of matters having a like 

 appearance, but a less value, and containing nei- 

 ther the blood, nor the other matters, which make 

 the base of these two manures. It is important to 

 cultivators to know these fraudulent mixtures, and 

 nothing is more easy, especially in relation to the. 

 black earth of Picardy,* which is the most used in 

 these falsifications, and which is now transported 

 for this purpose to Brittany in heavy cargoes. 



To prove the existence of this fraud, it suffices 

 to sprinkle a little of the manure in a shovel, to 

 heat it red for some minutes, and then to let it 

 cool. Then if the manure was pure, the ashes 

 left on the shovel will have an uniform grayish 

 color. If it contained the black earth, the. ashes 

 will present reddish, or rust colored particles, 

 which will be the more numerous in proportion to 

 the quantity of the admixture of black earth. * 



*This matter, designated also by the names of black 

 ashes, and of pyriious ashes, is met with in abundance 

 in many localities, particularly in the department of 

 Aisne. It is composed of argil, (or fine clay,) sulphu- 

 ret of iron, sulphate of iron, of coally and bituminous 

 organic substances. Steeped in water, it <;-ivesan acid 

 solution, which strongly reddens litmus paper, (or ve- 

 getable blues.) 



