1847.] Inorganic Matter lost in Drainage Water. 157 



of the drained soil, it appears to Le composed of the same ingre- 

 dients, with a decrease in the proportion of silica and an increase 

 in the lime, both of which may be readily accounted for. 



Analysis of Soil deposited from. Turbid Drain-water. 



Silica, 600 



Silicate of alumina, .... 17-5 

 Protoxide of iron, .... (j-j 



Sulphate of lime, .... 9-4 

 Sulphate of magnesia, .... 0'75 

 Phosphate of lime, .... o-(3 

 Alumina, - - - - . -40 

 Water, &c., - - . - - \_-25 



10000 



I do not for a moment wish to question the value of the princi- 

 ple of thorough draining; that is now, I believe, universally ad- 

 mitted; but if its resuhs are deemed so beneficial to the farmer 

 under the present practice, how much more so would they not 

 become, if some renjedy were devised either to prevent as much 

 as possible this great abstraction, or else to render the enriched 

 drainage-water again available to the soil. This subject has not, 

 I find, escaped the observant mind of Liebig, and in fact forms the 

 basis of the Patent Manure, according to his specification in 

 October last. He has argued theoretically to the same end, and 

 proffered a remedy in the shape of a manure, by his patent pro- 

 cess rendered much less soluble than before, 'which of course 

 would not be acted upon so readily by the percolating rain-water, 

 and would consequently remain longer in the soil for the purposes 

 of vegetation. Mr, Smith, of Deanston, a man to whom practi- 

 cal agriculture is deeply indebted, has suggested the application 

 of all manures whatsoever in a largely diluted liquid state, and 

 which 1 am inlbrmed has been most successfully applied on the 

 western coast of Scotland. Now both of these plans will most 

 assuredly tend to lessen the loss at present sustained; the one by 

 diminishing the solubility of the manures employed, and the other 

 by rendering the drainage-water again available. But should 

 the farmer object to take advantage of either plan, it would ap- 

 pear expedient to avoid using as much as possible the very solu- 

 ble manures, and instead of giving his land the usual good dose 

 of manure that is expected to suffice for two or three seasons to 

 divide the quantity, and to apply it in as small a proportion and 

 as frequently as the nature of his crops will permit him to do. In 

 such cases his crops will get more and his ditches less than by the 

 present practice. 



