600 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 10 



well as the soil, and consequently do not require 

 the same quantity of manure, as in the case of 

 corn, where the growth of the plant, in a great 

 measure, depends upon the fertility and richness 

 of the soil.* 



[The foregoing article is from the Addenda to the 

 last edition of Sinclair's Code of Agriculture, and may 

 be supposed to present whatever was known of the 

 valuable properties of bone manure. But there is one 

 objectionable part, which by attempting to prove too 

 much, might, with some well informed readers, weaken 

 the sound testimony of the balance. We refer to the 

 recommendation of pounded oyster shells as a substi- 

 tute for bones, of equal value. Pounded oyster 

 shells are almost a pure calcareous manure, consisting 

 of carbonate of lime entirely, except a very small por- 

 tion of gelatinous animal matter. None of our rea- 

 ders will charge us with underrating the value of such 



* See some ingenious observations, entitled, Re- ' 

 marks on Manures, and on the Action of Ground I 

 Bones on Plants, and the Sod. Quarterly Journal of 

 Agriculture, No. 1. p. 43. Mi\ Mason of Chilton tried j 

 the following experiment: "He applied forty bushels 

 "of bones, broken small, with eighty bushels of burnt 

 "soil, to one acre, and to an acre immediately adjoin- 

 "ing, forty gallons of unrefined whale oil, (which cost 

 "8£d. per gallon,) mixed with one hundred and twen- 

 "ty bushels of screened oil." This last mixture was 

 made one month before it was used. The result was, 

 that the soil and oil gave him at the rate of 23 tons, 5 

 cwt. 6 st. per acre, while the bones and burnt soil pro- 

 duced 21 tons, 18 cwt. 6 st. per acre, making therefore, 

 a decisive difference, in favor of the fine earth and oil. 

 See the Doncaster Report, p. 30. 



The attention of the spirited farmer, to its impoi tant 

 experiment, cannot be too strongly recommended, for 

 oil would be a much more accessible species of ma- 

 nure than even bone-dust, and could be had in greater 

 quantities, and at a cheaper rate. 



The want of an expi rimental farm, to try the effect 

 of such experiments as these, is deeply to be lamented. 

 In the interim, it is highly desirable, that agri 

 associations should endeavor to supply the deficiency, 

 by a diligent inquiry into the practices of different 

 farmers, and a publication of the most important im- 

 provements, which they have respectively discovered. 

 This is an advantage, which has not hitherto been ob- 

 tained to the extent it ought, owing to the attention of 

 the public, not being hitherto sufficiently called to the 

 immediate and extensive advantages which would re- 

 sult from habits of inquiry. Hence, owing to the want 

 of communication and intercourse on practical farming 

 subjects, the improvements adopted by one farmer, are 

 unknown, even among his nearest neighbors. It is next 

 to impossible, that hundreds and even thousands of in- 

 telligent men, should be in the practice of directing 

 and superintending agricultural operation, without ma- 

 king some improvements in their method; and it can- 

 not be doubted, that the advantages accruing from the 

 improvements they have discovered, might be made 

 equally available to all other farmers. But unfortu- 

 nately, from the seclusion connected with a life, en- 

 tirely devoted to the pursuits of agriculture, individu- 

 als are not led, by the great impetus of self-interest, 

 to make their improvements public; on the contrary, 

 they are frequently inclined to conceal them. This 

 great deficiency can best be supplied, by means of ag- 

 ricultural associations making a diligent collection of 

 facts, and communicating them for the public benefit. 

 See the valuable Report of the Doncaster Association, 

 p. 32. 



a manure: but highly as we would estimate it, its 

 chemical composition is altogether dilt'erent from that 

 of bones — and its action as manure may be supposed 

 to be also quite different — as it certainly is greatly in- 

 ferior to that of bones, which consist of phosphate of 

 lime, combined with a very large proportion of gelati- 

 nous or other alimentary animal matter. Sir John 

 Sinclair's agricultural works stand deservedly high: 

 but, as we have elsewhere remarked, so voluminous 

 a writer has been necessarily furnished by others 

 with much the greater part of the matter of his 

 writings — and as a consequence (in some degree per- 

 haps unavoidable) some passages and statements of 

 facts are admitied, which a stricter scrutiny would 

 either have rejected, or so explained as to present 

 quite a different aspect. The author of so many 

 works was n cessarily, like the editor of an agricul- 

 tural journal, principally a compiler and publisher of 

 other men's opinions — but the difference is, that while 

 an editor is responsible for no opinion which he merely 

 publishes, or selects from other journals, the compi- 

 ling author makes the materials of others his own pro- 

 perty — and if his name is high authority, he thus, 

 through want of examination, gives currency and im- 

 portance to mistakes or false statements. 



The idea that "the utility [of sea shells] would be 

 much increased by sprinkling them with sulphuric arid, 

 by the addition of which they would be converted to 

 gypsum," is as ridiculous as any practicable scheme 

 of the philosophers of Laputa. In addition to the 

 enormous and unnecessary expense of thus manufac- 

 turing gypsum, the result would be to give to the soil 

 a manure entirely different in chemical composition — 

 and which, however valuable in suitable applications, 

 mightbe useless and wasted, where the shells would be 

 most necessary and profitable.] 



EXTRACTS FROM THE ?i Ae.TSCRirT NOTES OF 

 A FARMER. 



[Continued from page 539.] 



Letter III. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Holmesburg, Nov. 22, 1835. 



I thought you would lecture me about slavery. 

 If'I should say any thing which you think might 

 ffive offence, pray alter it or strike it out — hut I 

 have no such wrong and foolish intention. I am 

 no abolitionist. I do not view slavery as a crime, 

 but. an error — alike injurious to all future and pep* 

 manent interests. Doubtless it has great and 

 beneficial effects, otherwise it never would have 

 been permitted to exist. But it is clearly not. a 

 permanent institution. If it is viewed as a crime, 

 every one who pays wages below the bread and 

 meat power of subsistence, in ihe North, in En<r- 

 land, Ireland, &c. are much more criminal than 

 the slaveholders in warm climates: because ani- 

 mal food and warm clothing are much more es- 

 sential to the existence, well-being and comfort of 

 man in the former countries than in the latter. 

 We have sins and errors enough of our own to 

 correct and reform, without crusading amongst our 

 neighbors. If principles and the operations and 

 effects of the observance and non-observance of 



