1S3G.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



541 



which the solution cannot be found, in the stimu- 

 lating properties of the plaster. 



"Hitherto it has been sufficient to state the good 

 effects of plaster, in order that agriculture might 

 be enriched by so important a discovery. The 

 fact alone is sufficient tor the farmer, und it is not 

 the only one in which the theory can add nothing 

 to the practice. I shall; however, give here a few 

 of my ideas upon the action of plaster; and I pub- 

 lish them with the more confidence, because they 

 appear to me to be deduced from well established 

 analogies. 



"It is proved that those salts which have a base 

 of lime or alkali, are the most abundant in plants. 

 Analysis also shows, that the different salts do not 

 exist in the same proportions, either in plants of 

 different kinds, or in the different parts of the same 

 plant. 



"On the other hand, observation shows us eve- 

 ry day, that these substances, to be beneficial to 

 plants, must be presented to them in proper pro- 

 portions; for if too great a quantity of salts easily 

 soluble in water be mixed with the soil, the plants 

 will wither and die; though they will languish if 

 totally deprived of the salts. A little marine salt, 

 mixed with dung and spread upon the soil, excites 

 the organs of plants and promotes vegetation; but, 

 too much wdl produce a pernicious effect upon 

 them. 



"If we now consider that salts can act upon 

 plants, only in proportion to their solubility in wa- 

 ter, through which medium they are conveyed, 

 we can conceive, that those which are least solu- 

 ble will be productive of the greatest advantage. 



"Water can hold in solution at any onetime, 

 but a small portion of these saline substances; and 

 as they will always be conveyed into plants in the 

 same proportions, their effect will be equal and 

 constant, and will be continued till the soil be ex- 

 hausted of the salts. The length of this period 

 will be according to the quantity of them which is 

 contained in the soil, and to the plants not being 

 rendered liable to receiving more of them than it 

 needs. 



"The solubility of plaster in water appears to be 

 precisely of the degree most beneficial: 300 parts 

 of water will dissolve only one of plaster. Its ac- 

 tion is therefore constant and uniform, without be- 

 ing hurtful. The organs of plants are excited by 

 it, without being irritated and corroded, as they 

 are, by those salts which being more soluble in 

 water, are carried more abundantly into plants, 

 producing upon them the most injurious effects. 



"The greater part of those salts which are found 

 in plants, serve no purpose of nourishment; they 

 are generally useful only as stimulating the organs, 

 and aiding digestion. Animals, as they enjoy the 

 power of locomotion, can easily procure for them- 

 selves these stimulants, and whatever is needful 

 for the exercise of their offices, and they take only 

 such quantities, and in such proportions, as are 

 suitable for them. But plants have no other me- 

 dium than air and water, through which to receive 

 their supplies; and this last transmits to them in- 

 discriminately, all which it can dissolve from the 

 soil: whence it follows, that the best saline ma- 

 nures are those that can be only gradually dis- 

 solved. 



"This principle is applicable to all manures of 

 whatever nature. There is, however, this differ- 

 ence in the effects of manures purely nutritive, and 



of the stimulating or saline manures: if the first 

 be too abundant, the plant absorbs more nourish- 

 ment than it can readily digest, and becomes af- 

 fected by a kind of obesity; the texture of its or- 

 gans is rendered soft, loose and spongy, and una- 

 ble to give to their products the due degree of con- 

 sistency; whilst, on the contrary, if the stimula- 

 ting manures be supplied too profusely, and espe- 

 cially it they be of kinds very soluble in water, 

 the organs of the plants are dried and parched by 

 the excess which they receive. 



"Those animal substances that are the most 

 slowly decomposed, and which by their decompo- 

 sition, always give rise to soluble products, are the 

 best of all manures: of this, bones, horns, and 

 wool, afford a sufficient proof. These substances 

 possess the advantage of affording to plants their 

 suitable aliments, almost always combined with a 

 stimulant, such as ammonia, of which the too ir- 

 ritating action is moderated by its union with car- 

 bonic acid, or with animal matter. 



"The ashes of the turf and of pit-coal produce 

 wonderful effects upon grass lands. The first of 

 these, often contains gypsum, but frequently only 

 silica, alumina, and the oxide of iron. From ashes 

 of pit-coal I have obtained by analysis, sulphuret 

 of lime. 



"The ashes produced by the combustion of wood 

 in our common domestic fires, give rise to some 

 very remarkable results. Without being leached, 

 these ashes are much too active; but after having 

 been deprived, by the action of water, of nearly 

 all their salts, and employed in this state, under 

 the name of buck ashes, they still produce great 

 effect. 



"The action of the buck ashes is most powerful 

 upon moist lands and meadows, in which they 

 not only facilitate the growth of useful plants, but 

 if employed constantly for several years, they will 

 free the soil from weeds. By the use of them, 

 land constantly drenched with water, may be freed 

 from rushes, and prepared for yielding clover and 

 other plants of good kinds. Wood ashes possess 

 the double property of amending a wet and clayey 

 soil, by dividing and drying it, and of promoting 

 vegetation by the salts they contain." 



The foregoing extract is taken from page 73, et 

 seq. of the first American, translated from the 

 second French edition of "Chemistry applied to 

 Agriculture by John Antony Chaptal," published 

 in Boston by Hilliard, Gray, & Co. 1885. Itseems 

 to settle the question of the utility of burnt or 

 baked plaster, upon good authority. Chaptal was 

 a great chemist and a distinguished farmer. To 

 this section of country it is most important, that 

 we should be able to get plaster at a price 

 much reduced from its present standard. Near- 

 ly twenty years ago, I bought plaster at five 

 dollars per barrel, which, allowing seven barrels 

 to the ton, is thirty-five dollars per ton. Since 

 that time the price has been regularly diminishing. 

 Last spring it sold at sixteen to fourteen dollars. 

 Our agriculturists, however, cannot afford to pur- 

 chase largely at these prices — especially, as there 

 is a strange capriciousness in the action of even 

 the best plaster on our lands. If baked plaster 

 will answer, there will be no necessity for it to 

 change owners so often between the importer and 

 the land holder, and of course, it will cost less. 

 We have also reason to hope that the cost of car- 



