38 



^[)t imincv's iUoutl)lj) bisitor. 



of siw.li nniimils, «liile eirciiliiliiig in their blood 

 vessels. OiherK \^ill pet iiloiiL' ((iiile iis heiiltliily 

 and give oft' tliroii^'li ihfir kiiig.s from tlicir cii- 

 oidaling iioiuis«l)nieiit, only 50 oiiiicea of crnrbon 

 and water lo iiiatcli ; rctiiiniiig llic 20 oz. of inr- 

 bon, mid its accoiiipaiiying ingndientiJ, for the 

 ijiniuifuctiire of good licli milk. 



Whatevtr may I'R tlic iirecise valiii; of the 

 grass, hay, praiii and lOots, worked ii|) annually 

 into bceti pork, hmicr, cliceiie, iiiiutoti and woo! 

 in tlie great folate of New Vorli, is it not plain 

 that genuine srieiice eaii aid the mere nniscidar 

 toil of denial hard work, so as to achieve a nnich 

 greater good ill n given lime? If fo, then kind 

 reader do send down to your servants, the Legis- 

 lature, one petilion for the estahlislimeiit of a State 

 Agrieultiiral Institute, where shall be taught 500 

 yomig practical farmers, coming e((ually iioiii all 

 parts of the State, all the natural sciences that 

 will render agricultural hihor more jirofitahle. and 

 mare useful to the community at large. We an- 

 nually e.\|)end thousands of dollars to teach 

 thousands of young men how to acquire wealth 

 by other means tliaii productive labor — riches 

 called into existence by the hard work of othei' 

 men — why shall not souielhing be done to teach 

 our sons, not only hon to live better by proiluc- 

 live labor than they now can ; but also how to 

 kee|) what their labor produces from the ''itch- 

 ing palms" of those so well instructed to live by 

 pursuing some braiichof unproductive industry ? 

 Why create a state of society that now practical- 

 ly compels the great producing classes, to toil on 

 iiiiy by day through life, attrom fifty cents to one 

 dollar, while those that |)roduce little or nothing, 

 are paid a high bounty as the reward of compar- 

 ative idleness? When will our people learn that 

 the knowledge of the Jlw, no matter how pro- 

 found; can never comiieiisate lor the ignorance 

 of the Hirt/i!/ .' D. LVil'^. 



I'Voai the London .V^ricullurjl Clazette. 

 On Mineral anil Inorganic Manures. 



Bv PnoFKssoa Cii.vrlks .SpnKSGioL. 

 {^TrandaUd from the Grnnau.] 

 So many proofs can be adduced for the asser- 

 tion that the success of plants depends chielly on 

 the mineral substances of the soil, that it is only 

 prejudice which can make us fora moment doubt 

 of it. I will state some of the arguments iu favor 

 of my assertion. In all (or, at least, most) plants 

 belonging to the tribe of Clovers we lind a great 

 amount of phosphoric and sulphuric acid, chlo- 

 rine, soda, potash, lime, and magnesia; and we 

 know well that they will only succeed when the 

 fiu'row-slice and the sub-soil abound in these sulr^ 

 stances. Red Clover is often very diflicult to be 

 reared, but succeeds at once if the soil be man- 

 ured with inarl. Jf we examine tlio latter, we 

 .shall tind that it either contains all the mineral 

 substances required for the growth of Clover, or 

 that it contains those in which the siil was deti- 

 cient, and for the want of which Clover could 

 not succeed. If Flax be submitted to chemical 

 analysis, we find that it contains much magnesia; 

 and if we plant il in a soil which is deficient in 

 this mineral substance, it will either not succeed 

 at all, or turn out so badly, as scarcely to pay the 

 expense of seed and labor. After the same soil 

 has been manured with marl, tlie Flax in most 

 cases will perfectly succeed ; and if we subject 

 the marl lo chemical analysis, ue shall find it to 

 be a sort which is most conspicuous tor its great 

 amount of magnesia. A manure of wood ashes 

 will at once illicit on all sour mcadow.s, covered 

 with moss, a variety of Clover and Vetches, and 

 although the ashes may not contain nearly so 

 much potash and lime ;is to neutralise even the 

 twentieth part of the acid contained in the soil, 

 the above plants will still grow most luxuriantly, 

 for the ashes will su[)ply them with the mineral 

 substances they want, which the soil does not 

 contain, viz., gypsum, |iliospli;ae of li(ne, potash, 

 common salt and magnesia. Oats contain more 

 potash than all other Ccrcalia, and thus we see 

 that they will succeed after a manure of either 

 fresh or even extracted wood ashes, which latter 

 generally contain a good deal of potash, or at 

 least silicate of potash. Kape is very rich in pot- 

 ash, soda, chlorine, and sulphinio and phosphoric 

 acids, on which account it rcfjuires a plentiful 

 supply of good ihmg, which contains a greater 

 amount of these substances than most of the 

 nfmeral manure.*. It is, however, also improved 

 by a sjinujtanpons nmmne of marl (as shown by 



every day's cx|icriencc,)by which it appears the 

 more clear, that the dinig does not entirely sii])ply 

 its want of mineral substances. Diunr will sup- 

 ply Rape abundantly with nitrogen, vihich this 

 plant is so much iu need of, hut even this can be 

 etiecteil by some mineral substances, viz., by any 

 of the nitric or animoniacal salts, as proved to 

 me by experiment. Beech trees will not succeed 

 in sandy soils, whilst Pine will succeed there ve- 

 ry well, and for this reason; the farm^jr tree con- 

 tains much potash, soda, magnesia, &'.c., substan- 

 ces which therefore are required for its growth ; 

 whilst Firs require but very little of these sub- 

 stances, and cousi-(|uently will succeed in .Bandy 

 soils, which in the m.iin do not jjossess these 

 mineral substance's to any considerable amount. 

 The Fumitory (Fcnnaria) contains a great deal of 

 potash, on which accoimt we always tind this 

 shallow-rooted plant in localities whose surface 

 is rich in that substance. The Nettle, the Mug- 

 wort, Coltsfoot, the Thistle, and the Durr, are al- 

 so rich in potasti, but their roots penetrate deep 

 into the soil, and thus we iiiui them in places 

 wheie the suh.soil contains much potash. The 

 so-called Salt plants, (Salicornia, Salsola, ifcc.,) 

 succeed only iu soils superabundantly rich in 

 coninion salt, ajid we find in them a greater 

 niiionnt of potash than in any other plants. The 

 Rush (.funcu=,)ap|)ears always in a rich soil in 

 potash and magnesia, and it is a proof of its le- 

 quiring imich of these stdislances for its nonr- 

 ishment, that they enter largely into its chemical 

 composition. The chemical an.dysis of the Lu- 

 |)ine has convince<l ine that it contains much iron 

 and phosphoric acid, antl I find also that it suc- 

 ceeds best in localities whose subsoil is rich in 

 these mineral substances. If we manure u sour 

 moorland with a mi.^tiire of sulphate of potash, 

 gypsum, phosphate of lime, and magnesia, com- 

 mon salt and Ihic quartz gravel — (substances 

 which do not neutralize the acidity of the soil,) 

 we shall find that the plants aftercanls grown on 

 it will prosper, and this proves that these are tlie 

 mineral substances which nourish the plants, and 

 we shall also linil these substances eruering into 

 their chemical composition. If mineral substan- 

 ces acted merely as solvents of the hiuiuis, or 

 merely as stimulants of the vegetative process, 

 they would lie equally uselid to all plants; hut 

 the cnntr'iay is the fact; gypsum, for instance, 

 will improve Leguminous plants, whilst nitric 

 salts will have no ettect atali on them. The above 

 e.vamples and many others which I could cite, 

 prove, 1 think, most evidently, that besides car- 

 bon, hydrngen, o.xygen, and nitrogen, mineral 

 substances also are required )br the growth of 

 plants. 



The following general remarks are yet to be 

 added, relating to the inamning with mineral 

 substances. Every miner.al substance which is 

 contained in a [ilant is neci.'ssary as a manure for 

 that plant, in so far, namely, as it is not contained 

 in the soil in a sulKcient quantity. r*fo mineral 

 substance, however, is required by plants in large 

 quantity; and because only a very small quantity 

 is (bund in some of them, the opinion has arisen 

 that they are but adventitious ingredients, not es- 

 sential eomponem parts ot' plants. One of the 

 reasons why the ajiplication ol' mineral substan- 

 ces has not produced the ex])ected result, is, that 

 sufticient notice has not been taken that plants do 

 not require, nay, cannot bear, a large quantity of 

 some mineral substances. If, for instance, a min- 

 eral substance is very easily sohdile in water, 10 

 or 15 lbs. per acre nioie of it than is necessary 

 will produce an unsatisfactory result, as the plants 

 will then tje compelled to receive more than they 

 are in need oti On the other hand, mineral sub- 

 stances which are soluble in water with great 

 difliculty may, without danger, be used in great- 

 er quantities, if they produce the desired eft'ect. 

 If, theret'orc, we wish that mineral substances 

 shall act beneficially as a manui'e, the degree of 

 their solubility in water is especially to be taken 

 notice of. If, moreover, mineral substances are lo 

 be useful, il is also alwjiys necessary that the soil 

 be not deficient in humic acid, because the latter 

 has not only to act as the transferring medium of 

 mineral substances into the plants, but it is alss 

 from it that plants have to obtain the carbon, 

 which (as far as weight is concerned) is always 

 the chief conqionent of plants. 



Having said thus much of mineral manures in 

 their general bearing, I shall now discuss them 

 separately, and at the .same time enumerate their 



chemical ingredients. It is only by so doing that 

 the Way in which they act can be properly de- 

 scribed. 



L Lime. — Lime, which ha.snow been long used 

 in .'Vgriculture, ranks .amongst the most useful 

 of mineral manures although sore mistakes are 

 at times committed in its application. Lime suit- 

 able for manure occurs in nature in various stales 

 of purity, and abo ditTerent as to its external 

 qualities; those most used are the varieties which 

 Mineralogists call common conqiact limestone, 

 shell-limeslone, roestoneor oolite, stinkstone, and 

 chalk. On the .sea coast, burnt shells are very 

 much used as nianme, which also consist chiel- 

 ly of calcareous earth. 



Ill its pure state, limn consists of 5G.4 calcare- 

 ous earth and 4-i.ii carbonic acid : but in this pro- 

 |)ortijn it is only found in calc-sjjar (crystallised 

 carbonate of lime) and in some sorts of marble 

 (crystalline granular limestone.) Those sorts of 

 lime used for manure contain, besides carbonate 

 of lime, more or leas of silica, alumina, oxide of 

 iron and magnese, common salt, magnesia, phos- 

 phate of lime, and some other adruixtures, which 

 ainoimt at times to 8 or 10 per cent, of the whole. 

 These extraneous admixtures partially explain 

 the very different effects which lime manure will 

 produce. That lime, for instance, which contains 

 much phosphate of lime, will always act more 

 poweri'ully than that which contains none, foi- 

 phosphoric acid is an assential ingredient in the 

 loud of plants. 



Lime is geneially burnt before it is used, and 

 tiius the wiiole of the carbonic acid isexpelletl as 

 gas. When exposed to the air after this, or s()rin- 

 kled over with water, it liecomes converted into 

 an extremely fine powder (it becomes slaked,) by 

 which it is made capable of mixing more inti- 

 mately with the furrow-sliee~. Quicklime will fix 

 24iJ per cent, water chemically, but will lose it 

 again in the same proportion, as it attracts carbon- 

 ic acid from the air. By losing its carbonic acid 

 after burning, it becomes caustic, ;'. e., it will now 

 affect organic matter with which it may come in 

 contact, decomposing it, and combining chemi- 

 cally with the subjects thus generated. By the 

 action of quicklime, organic matter is converted 

 chiefly into humic arid. To this, lime bears a 

 strong aflinity, and if previously combined with 

 water, it will lose it again through the above 

 combination ; the new comjioiind, however, will 

 again combine with water. 



In its caustic state, lime is soluble in water, but 

 752 lbs. of water at a temperatme of 1GB (leg. 

 Fahr. are required to dissolve I lb. of calcareous 

 earth. The lime-water thus formed po.«sesses al- 

 kaline properties, ainl so also does the earth it- 

 self It is easily soluble in water, if free from 

 carbonic acid, and to this its action on the organ- 

 ic matter of the soil is owing. In order that sub- 

 stances may act upon each other, one at letist 

 must be in a liquid state; and this explains why 

 caustic lime diss.ilved in water will injure vege- 

 tation. 



.^3 long as burnt lime remains caustic, it acts 

 on the soil in the following manner; it decompo- 

 ses the vegetable matter and the coal of humus, 

 which, there can be but little doubt, is contained 

 in all soils ; by this ojieration humic acid is form- 

 ed, and the mineral substances contained in the 

 vegetable mailer, such as potash, soda, alumina, 

 nitrogen, magnesia, lime, &c., tire disengaged 

 from their Ibrmer chemiaal state of composition. 

 It creates, iherefbre, as it were vegetable nourish- 

 ment, for neither coal of humus nor vegetable 

 matter are soluble in water. With the humic 

 acid thus generated, it combines into humate of 

 lime; but as this substance is soluble in water 

 only with great difliculty, the plants will not be 

 able to take up more than the amount of lime 

 they absolutely need. On account of its aflinity 

 to humin acid, lime will also unite with that con- 

 tained in the soil in a free state, which will thus 

 he rendered nearly insoluble, ami this is exactly 

 the contrary of what was formerly believed to be 

 the case. Lime also frees the humic acid of the 

 soil from the alumina, which may be found chem- 

 ically combined with it, and thus also humate of 

 lime is generated, which affords more nourish- 

 ment to plants, as humate of alumina is quite in- 

 soluble in water. For this purpose, however, a 

 greater quantity of caustic lime will be always 

 required, and thus clayey soils must receive a 

 greater quantity of lime than other sorts of soil, 

 as they generally contain much humate of alum- 



