THE GENESEE FAEMER. 





Mr. B. has written four successive articles on this subject. The first was in reply to 

 an article by R. M. Copeland, of Boston, who thought mineral manures were not of 

 so much consequence as ammoniacal ones ; the other three articles have all been in 

 reference to Mr. Lawes' experiments, or at least to a few results of his we gave in our 

 article on "Plowing in Green Cro.ps." That this article was the object of Mr. Bart- 

 lett's criticism, vfiG had good reason to suppose from the fact that he quoted our sum- 

 mary statement of the results of these experiments, and adopted portions of our language 

 in reference to their application to common farm practice. Besides, we stated some 

 facts connected with the experiments, which have been published no where else ; and 

 these, too, Mr. B. mentions. Would it not have been more consistent with Mr. Bart- 

 leit's deservedly high reputation and scientific attainments, either to have "examined" 

 Mr. Lawes' own account of his experiments, and his deductions from them, before he 

 attempted to " explain" them ?. Or, if our article was the only source of Mr. B.'s know- 

 ledge of these experiments, (as we are forced to believe it was, otherwise he would not 

 have confined himself to our account of them,) would it not have been more candid and 

 honorable to have said so ? 



As the articles now stand, we hardly know what Mr. B. wishes his readers to believe 

 respecting this " vexed question" — whether he coincides with our expressed opinions on 

 the subject, or on what particular points he differs from us. Mr. B. says : " Had he 

 waited till the publication of my October number, he would have found some of the 

 experiments reported ; and for ought I know, Profs. Daubeny, Lindley, Rodgers, 

 Henslow, (fee, are entitled to full credit." In the October number we find another 

 article " examining and explaining" the few experiments of Mr. Lawes as given by us, 

 and a few others giving, as he supposes, results very different ; and engages earnestly 

 in the effort of reconciliation. He first quotes from the late Prof. Norton as follows : 



"Prof. Norton sajs, 'that during his stay in Ediu'burgh, samples from more than five hundred 

 cargoes of guano were analysed in the laboratory of Prof. Johnston, and were sold by his analysis, 

 fluctuating in price as they indicated more or less ammonia. Had there been any mistake in this 

 method of estimating value, experience would soon have detected it' 



"But notwithstanding the beneficial action of the sulphate and muriate of ammonia as used by Mr. 

 Lawes, and what Prof. Norton and others have said of its importance, there are numerous well 

 authenticated facts on record that prove most clearly that the application of ammoniacal manures is 

 not always attended with very marked beneficial effects, and there are also numerous cases where 

 mineral or saline manures alone have produced extraordinary results, notwithstanding their failure 

 on Mr. Lawes' wheat crop. Why such different effects should be produced by the same kinds of 

 manure on different soils, is an important inquiry for the farmer ; the only reasonable way of solving 

 the question is by assuming as, facts, the general principles laid down by Liebig, Johnston, and other 

 scientific writers on agricidture." 



If we are to assume as facts the principles of Liebig and Johnston, a-s applied by 

 them to agriculture, there is no further necessity of field experiments, and Boussing- 

 AULT and Lawes have spent their years, strength, and money, for that which profiteth 

 naught ; for tie results of both of them are contrary to the principles of agriculture as 

 laid down by Liebig and his followers. 



But, to the promised experiments. The first is on turneps, on which phosphate of 

 lime is found to do as much good as nitrogenous manures. 



The second is by a friend of Prof. Lindley, near St. Albans, and is likewise on tur- 

 neps. "The experiments were made, as all experiments should be, on an exhausted 

 soil." Query : Who was the experimentor ? Mr. Lawes' estate is four miles from St. 

 Albans ; his experiraonts on turneps, and in fact all his experiments, were made on an 

 agriculturally exhausted soil ; and he is a personal friend of Prof. Lindley. The chief 

 result of these experiments is, that the ashes of a given quantity of barn-yard manure 

 gave more turneps per acre than the same quantity of manure unburnt. 



The next experiment is to show that the ashes of tcheat are better manure than guano. 

 -. . The crop to which they were applied is not given. • . _ 



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