No. 2. 



Tliaer^s Principles of Agriculture. 



67 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Thaer's Principles of Agriculture. 



Mr. Editor, — I design with your permis- 

 sion, to give to yonr readers some knowledge 

 of a work published in Germany in 1844, 

 entitled, " Principles of Agriculture," by 

 Albert D. Thaer. They need be under no 

 alarm that I shall impose upon them any 

 thing not altogether practical. I know very 

 well the caution with which farmers receive 

 theories, or indeed any information which 

 they cannot readily and immediately apply 

 to their business. It is a fault and a misfor- 

 tune, but as it is a feeling which exists too 

 generally, and is far too strong to be resist- 

 ed, and far too sensitive to be rebuked, I 

 shall not venture to quarrel with it. But 

 this work contains nothing not strictly prac- 

 tical ; it is the result of the experience of a 

 very intelligent man, whose life was devoted 

 to the study and practice of agriculture, and 

 although he was of a country towards which 

 Americans, from the difference of language, 

 customs, &c., very seldom turn for informa- 

 tion, yet it is probable that such a man as he 

 appears to have been, with a strong mind, 

 earnestly engaged for years in a single pur- 

 suit, may, and ought to have struck out 

 something of interest to his brother cultiva- 

 tors. Of this we shall be made aware, as 

 we proceed in the examination of the work. 

 It may be as well, perhaps, to encourage an 

 esteem for the writer's opinions, and to give 

 them all the authority possible, to say who 

 and what he was. Thaer was a Hanoverian, 

 born in the town of Celle, in 1752; he was 

 the son of a physician, and educated for the 

 medical profession; after practicing for some 

 years, he retired and devoted the rest of his 

 life to agriculture. He appears to have been 

 an enthusiast, for though living at a time 

 when Europe was convulsed by Bonaparte's 

 ambition, and he himself in his peaceful oc- 

 cupation, was surrounded by the ring of arms, 

 and was at length obliged to desert his coun- 

 try, yet he does not seem even for a moment 

 to have thought of giving up his pursuit — 

 having once put his hands to the plough, he 

 looked not back. Honours were showered 

 upon him from all parts of Europe; noble- 

 men and princes sought his acquaintance; 

 all men honoured him because he was use- 

 ful. After a career of high merit, he died 

 at an advanced age, in 1828. 



I now propose to myself the pleasure of 

 introducing to the readers of the Farmers' 

 Cabinet, some of the ideas and modes of 

 proceeding of this estimable person. As 

 one of the most interesting topics to all 

 agriculturists, I will begin with the chapter. 



On Manuring the Soil. — Manures are of 



two sorts, those which nourish the plant by 

 becoming, as it were, its food, and those 

 which stimulate its growth by chemical de- 

 compositions and combinations. It is not 

 easy to define the way in which each ma- 

 nure produces its effect; but it is very im- 

 portant that we should make the endeavour 

 to discover it, as it is only by attaining or 

 approximating towards the real effect, that 

 we can appreciate its value or feel author- 

 ized to discard any particular manure, or to 

 continue its use. I3ut in making this at- 

 tempt we strike upon one of the greatest 

 difficulties in the management of land — the 

 power of deciding as to the soils and ma- 

 nures that are fitted for each other. In a 

 practic.ii point of view there is no subject 

 more difficult, and no knowledge more diffi- 

 cult to attain; for a long time, and time of 

 great value to the farmer, may be wasted 

 before he is enabled to say whether he is 

 treating his soil in the right manner. It is 

 true that all soils may contain the aliments 

 necessary for every kind of plant, but they are 

 not in equal proportions; for this reason one 

 kind of land favours the vegetation of one 

 kind of plant, and another some other kind 

 of totally a difierent nature. And in this 

 way it is a nice point in the management of 

 land, to know what our land is fitted to pro- 

 duce, and what kind of manure is calculated 

 for this particular product. Our author 

 makes an important distinction between ve- 

 getable and animal manure. The first, he 

 says, appears to act on plants solely as an 

 aliment, while the last acts on the soil as 

 well as on the plants which vegetate there. 

 Mineral manures, lime, plaster, &c., which 

 contain no organic bodies, and of course, no- 

 thing to be decomposed, act almost entirely 

 by rendering those parts of the soil soluble, 

 which were before insoluble, and by favour- 

 ing and accelerating decomposition. The 

 manures in common use, are composed part- 

 ly of vegetable and partly of animal sub- 

 stances; the vegetable matter, from not 

 being so easily soluble as the animal, pre- 

 vents or restrains the too rapid decomposi- 

 tion of these last, and makes their effect more 

 lasting. The vegetable matter would indeed 

 have but little effect, unless animalized, by 

 first passing through the bodies of animals; 

 while on the other hand, the vegetable are 

 made to decompose more rapidly by the ad- 

 dition of animal substances. The value of 

 these manures does not depend on the quan- 

 tity so much as their quality. This is a 

 point very little attended to. They should 

 he from the best animals, fed in the best 

 manner, for that which comes from an ani- 

 mal, will be of little value unless that which 

 goes into him is of the best sort. Let aft 



