664 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



CALCAREOUS MANURES. OBJECTIONS TO THE 

 LIMITATION OF TUB TERM "CALCAREOUS 

 EARTH" TO CARBONATE OF LIME. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Cambridge, (Dorchester,) ~) 

 E. S. Md., Jan. 27, 1835. S 



1 have, for very many years, entertained the 

 conviction of the want of calcareous matter 

 throughout the whole of our peninsula with 

 which I am acquainted; yet the almost impossi- 

 bility of obtaining it in any of i!s combinations, 

 in the section (Dorchester) in which my destinies 

 have placed me, has diminished, mortifyingly, the 

 advantages that might, have resulted from that 

 conviction. Ten years ago, 1 constructed an au- 

 ger with a long shank, and fixed with a moveable 

 crank to work at any point of its length: and I 

 have bored on my lands, indefatigably, in quest of 

 marl, to no purpose. A year ago Professor Dn- 

 catel assisted me in full confidence — but in vain. 

 The few shells which my neighborhood afforded 

 me have made my only resource — enough only to 

 increase my regrets at the privation. I have fi- 

 nally made a large contract tor oyster-shells in Bal- 

 timore, to be transported ninety miles — a i'cw 

 thousand bushels of which were delivered last fill, 

 which led me to make further research into the 

 operation and uses of calcareous manures. At 

 this critical moment I had the satisfaction to re- 

 ceive the kind favor of your Essay on the subject, 

 and I say in truth, I know not, whether to appre- 

 ciate the more the untiring zeal, or the discrimina- 

 tive judgement, evinced in that production. Your 

 propositions exhibit a philosophic view, founded, 

 in my opinion, upon fads — which time, observa- 

 tion, and reflection, may extend and improve, but 

 will never controvert. 



Though extremely unfashionable, yet the doc- 

 trine of uncombined acids, vegetable as well as 

 mineral, ready formed in the earth, I have always 

 maintained, and I believe, on good authority, as 

 well as reason; and the presence of either the one 

 or the other class would bring calcareous manures, 

 within ynur rationale of its operation. Upon this 

 subject, the celebrated Duhamel, who is known 

 where science has reached, has expressed himself 

 eighty years ao-o, in these words — "if the clay is 

 of a cold, acid nature, the marl destroys that acid- 

 ity, and keeps the clay warm, &c. &c. — Duha- 

 meVs Practical Treatise of Husbandry, published 

 1762, p. 23."* 



* Our correspondent gives to this work, more credit 

 than it deserves, in supposing it to be Duhamel's. His 

 name, though standing most conspicuously on the title 

 page, and with the intention, of passing for the author's, 

 is a publisher's cheat, which will be manifest to a care- 

 ful examination of the title page itself, with a glance at 

 the contents of the volume. It is a compilation, and a 

 part consists of experiments reported by Duhamel — but 

 not the passage referred to — which indeed, is worlh 

 nothing as authority even if it happened to contain a 

 truth. In speaking of acidity in the soil, the compiler 

 uses the term ignorantly, without any precise meaning, 

 or the least knowledge of the chemical nature of soils, 

 or calcareous manures — of which enough evidence is 



Dr. Darwin in his "Phitologia" says, "where 

 clay abounds with vitriolic arid, it is anti-septic;" 

 and he recommends lime and ashes, as a correc- 

 tive. 



The source of carbonic, acetous, oxalic, and 

 many other acids may be found, as every one 

 knows, in the continual growth and decay of ve- 

 getable substances. Some, in the products of 

 their decomposition, by the fermentative process, 

 others are mere educte, being ready formed in the 

 plant: it is reasonable to believe that these results 

 will, under favorable circumstances, be deposited 

 in the matrix from which their elements had been 

 derived, and where they had grown and perishedj 

 with winch, too, they would become mechanical- 

 ly mixed, and so intimately, as to be largely re- 

 tained: and more especially, if undisturbed by 

 agricultural operations — which accords with the 

 fact stated by you, "that rest increases acidity in 

 the soil:" the effect thus produced becomes a new 

 cause, furnishing the proximate principles, | pecu- 

 liarly required by the paints which yielded them; 

 hence a cumulative series of cause and effect, in- 

 definitely extended, and constantly in operation. 

 A greater degree of "fixity" is consequently not 

 essential for their continued presence in the earth. 

 The materials for the generation of many of the 

 mineral acids are equally copious. By lessening 

 the aptitude of the soil lor the. production of those 

 species of vegetables, by the neutralization of 

 their acids, the cause and effect are removed, 

 pro rata — and its constitution becomes finally 

 adapted, exclusively, to other species of vegeta- 

 tion. Moreover, the evaporability of the first 

 named, the carbonic acid, is not so considerable as 

 some suppose: its specific gravity being as 15 to 

 10 of atmospheric air, it may be copiously held by 

 the cold sod— though, this 1 mention, incidentally, 

 and not in reference to your theory, with which 

 the question of the presence of this acid does not 

 interfere. 



Mr. Grisenthwaitesays, "the carbonic and ace- 

 tic are the only two acids likely to be generated 

 by any spontaneous decomposition ol animal or 

 vegetable bodies, and neither of them have any 

 "fixity," when exposed to the air." The acetous 

 acid is more fixed in its character than the acetic, 

 holding more carbon — and is not so likely to es- 

 cape; and it is in that, shape, possibly, that this 

 variety of vegetable acid may usually exist in the 

 earth; and hence the force of Mr. Grisenthvvaife's 

 remark is at least diminished in its purpose. But, 

 for reasons before given, acids whether o-enerated 

 by the spontaneous decomposition of bodies, or by 

 the secretion and assimilation of organic life, may 

 be fixed in the soil, under very possible, and in- 

 deed, very usual circumstances, durably enough 

 to operate much good or evil, as their respective 

 characters may incline them; and yet they may 

 not possess enough of that property of "fixity" 

 to beJar transportation and exposure in the labo- 

 ratory of the analyst. The oxalic and other acids 

 come under the same remarks. As to the "hu- 

 mic" acid, its actual detection in the soil rests, at 

 least upon highly respectable authority. 



furnished in other passages soon after. See quotations 

 from the work, and remarks thereon, in Note G, of the 

 Appendix to the Essay on Calcareous Manures, p. S2, 

 — Ed. Farm. Reg. 



