The dedication of tliis volume sHows its origin and 

 object. The Author is not an agriculturist, he does 

 not assume the name even of agricultural chemist. 

 Practical chemistry is his profession, and has been for 

 some thirty years. During the greatest portion of 

 this time he has been attached as chemist to the Print- 

 works of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, in 

 Lowell. While pursuing there, during the years 1835, 

 '36, and '37, researches on the action of cow-dung in 

 calico dyeing, he pushed his inquiries, as a recreation 

 during his few leisure hours, into the nature and action 

 of manures and of soil. 



Conversation on these matters with the geological 

 surveyor, and with the agricultural commissioner of 

 Massachusetts, led to a correspondence between the 

 parties, which partly appeared in the published reports 

 on the geology and agriculture of Massachusetts. This 



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