86 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



bonates. The ashes of these seeds, when recently 

 prepared, do not effervesce with acids ; their solu- 

 ole ingredients consist solely of alkaline phosphates, 

 the insoluble parts of phosphate of hme, phos- 



{)hate of magnesia, and oxyd of iron ; consequent- 

 y, of the very same salts which are contain- 

 ed in blood, and which are absolutely indispensable 

 to its formation. We are thus brought to the 

 further indisputable conclusion, that no seed suit- 

 able to become food for man and animals can be 

 formed in any plant without the presence and co- 

 operation of the phosphates. A field, in which 

 phosphate of lime, or the alkaline phosphates, form 

 no part of the soil, is totally incapable of producmg 

 grain, peas, or beans. 



_ An enormous quantity of these substances, in 

 dispensable to the nourishment of plants, is annu 

 ally withdrawn from the soil and carried into great 

 towns, in the shape of flour, cattle, et cetera. It is 

 certain that this incessant removal of the phos- 

 phates must tend to exhaust the land and diminisl 

 its capability of producing grain. The fields of 

 Great Britain are in a state of progressive exhaus- 

 tion from this cause, as is proved by the rapid ex- 

 tension of the cultivation of turnips and mangel- 

 wurzel — plants which contain the least amount of 

 the phosphates, and therefore require the smallest 

 quantity for their development. The roots contain 

 80 to 92 per cent, of water. Their great bulk 

 makes the amount of produce fallacious, as re- 

 spects their adaptation to the food of animals, inas- 

 much as their contents of the ingredients of the 

 blood — that is, substances which can be transformed 

 into flesh — stands in a direct ratio to their amount 

 of phosphates, without which neither blood nor 

 flesh can be formed. 



Our fields will become more and more deficient 

 in these essential ingredients of food, in all locali- 

 ties where custom and habits do not admit the col- 

 lection of the fluid and solid excrements of man, 

 and their application to the purposes of agriculture. 

 In a former letter I showed you how great a waste 

 of phosphates is unavoidable in England, and re- 

 ferred to the Avell known fact, that the importation 

 of bones restored in a most admirable manner the 

 fertility of the fields exhausted from this cause. 

 In the year 1827, the importation of bones for ma- 

 nure amounted to forty tiiousand tons, and Huskis- 

 son estimated their value to be from one hundred 

 thousand to two hundred thousand pounds sterling. 

 The importation is still greater at present, but it is 

 far from being sufficient to supply the waste. 



Another proof of the efficacy of the phosphates 

 in restormg fertility to exhausted land is afforded 

 by the use of the guano — a manure which, al- 

 though of recent introduction into England, has 

 found such general and extensive application. 



We believe that the importation of one hundred 

 ■weight of guano is equivalent to the importation of 

 eight hundred weight of wheat, — the hundred 

 weight of guano assumes, in a time which can be 

 accurately estimated, the form of a quantity of food 

 corresponding to eight hundred weight of wheat. 

 The same estimate is applicable in the valuation of 

 bones. 



If it were possible to restore to the soil of Eng- 

 land and Scotland the phos])hates which during the 

 last fifty years have been carried to the sea by the 

 Thames and the Clyde, it Avould be equivalent to 

 manuring with millions of hundred weights of bones, 

 and the produce of the land would increase one- 



third, or, perhaps, double itself, in five of ten years. 



We cannot doubt that the same result would 

 follow, if the price of the guano admitted the-ap- 

 plication of a quantity to the surface of the fields, 

 containing as much of the phosphates as have been 

 withdrawn from them in the same period. 



If a rich and cheap source of phosphate of lime 

 and the alkaline phosphates were open to England, 

 there can be no question that the importation of 

 foreign corn might be altogether dispensed with 

 after a short time. Foi- these materials England 

 is at present dependent upon foreign countries, and 

 the high price of guano and of bones prevents their 

 general application, and in sufficient quantity. 

 Every year the trade in these substances must de- 

 crease, or their price will rise as the demand for 

 them increases. 



According to these premises, it cannot be dis- 

 puted that the annual expense of Great Britain for 

 the importation of bones and guano is equivalent to 

 a duty on corn — with the difference only, that the 

 amount is paid to foreigners in money. 



To restore the cUstributed equilibrium of consti- 

 tution of the soil — to fertilize her fields — England 

 requires an enormous supply of animal excrements; 

 and it must, therefore, excite considerable interest 

 to learn that she possesses, beneath her soil, beds 

 of fossil guano, strata of animal excrements, in a 

 state which will probably allow their being employ- 

 ed as a manure at a very small expense. 



The coproHthes, discovered by Dr. Buckland 

 (a discovery of the highest interest to Geology,) 

 are these excrements: and it seems extremely 

 pi'obable that in these stiata England possesses the 

 means of supplying the place of recent bones, and 

 therefore, the principal conditions of improving ag- 

 riculture — of restoring and exalting the fertility of 

 her fields. 



In the autumn of 1842, Dr. Buckland pointed 

 out to me a bed of coiwolithes in the neighborhood 

 of Clifton, from half to one foot thick, enclosed in 

 a limestone formation, extending as a brown stripe 

 in the rocks, for miles along the banks of the Sev- 

 ern. The limestone marl, of Lyme Regis, consists, 

 for the most part, of one-fourth part fossil excre- 

 ments and bones. The same are abundant in the 

 lias of Bath, Eastern and Broadway Hill, near 

 Eversham. Dr. Buckland mentions beds, several 

 miles in extent, the substance of which, consists, in 

 many places, of a fourth part of coprolithes. 



Pieces of the limestone rock of Chfton, near 

 Bristol, which is rich in coprolithes and organic 

 remains, fragments of bones, teeth, &c., were sub- 

 jected to analysis, and were found to contain above 

 eighteen per cent, of phosphate of lime. If this 

 lime stone is burned, and brought in that state to 

 the fields, it must be a perfect substitute for bones, 

 the efficacy of which, as a manure, does not ( lepend, 

 as has been generally but erroneously supposed, 

 upon the nitrogenized matter which they contain, 

 but on their phosphate of lime. 



The osseous breccia found in many parts of Eng^ 

 land deserves especial attention, as it is highly 

 probable that in a short time it will become an im- 

 portant article in commerce. 



What a curious and interesting subject for con- 

 templation ! In the remains of an extinct animal 

 world, England is to find the means of increasing 

 her wealth in agricultural produce, as she has al- 

 ready found the great support of her manufacturing 

 industry in fossil fuel — the preserved matter of 



