ti. 



298 



On Manure. 



Vol. X. 



same one, by altering a screw-nut, can be 

 adapted to a stream running one gallon per 

 minute, or to one of five gallons per minute, 

 the sizes of the supply and carrying-ofF pipes 

 being suited to the quantity of water given 

 forth by the spring ; and should the spring 

 fail partially, the machine can be adapted to 

 the change in less than five minutes, unless 

 the failure be so great as to deprive the ma- 

 chine of its power. 



It is understood that the inventor or disco- 

 verer of this power, (Montgolfier, of France,) 

 did not bring his discovery into use for any 

 practical purpose ; — I think it was perfected 

 in England. The writer would refer the 

 curious to Parker and Delaplaine's edition 

 of the JSew Edinburgh Encyclopedia, un- 

 der the head Hydraulics, the publication of 

 which edition was commenced in this coun- 

 try about the year 1812, in which will be 

 found a drawing or plate representing this 

 machine, and a description of it ; also of an- 

 other on the same principle, differently 

 applied, by which a common or muddy 

 stream may be used for the power, and 

 spring water forced up for culinary and 

 other cleanly purposes, provided the two 

 kinds of water are conveniently located 

 contiguous to each other. It is said that 

 there has been a patent taken out in this 

 country connected with this latter machine, 

 whether for the whole of it, or only for 

 something which many patentees call an 

 improvement, I know not, but this I do 

 know, that the plates representing, and de- 

 scriptions of, both these machines, have been 

 laying dormant in my house, and probably 

 in the houses of many other subscribers to 

 the Encyclopedia before mentioned, for some 

 twenty-five or thirty years. Those interested 

 can judge how valuable a patent right can 

 be under such circumstances. 



Jacob Pusey. 



Christiana Hundred, Newcastle Co., Del. 



On Manure. 



We have been in the habit of considering 

 as manure every decomposable or putrescent 

 material which exists naturally in, or is ar- 

 tificially added to, the earths. Thus, the 

 fibrous masses left in the ground, green ve 

 getable substances chopped to pieces and 

 dug in, and the black vegetable portions of 

 heath or moor-soil are in reality, manures 

 Earths proper, namely — alumine and clay, 

 silex or sand, chalk, phosphate of lime, and 

 metallic oxides are themselves almost inso 

 luble ; and can act only, or chiefly, as the 

 bed, or fundamental support of plants: or, 

 to speak more philosophically — the labora 

 lory — wherein the interchange between the 



laboratcd products of decomposition and the 

 roots of the plant is carried on. Tljese 

 general truths are equally applicable to gar- . 

 den and pot-culture — there is no distinction 

 so far, between the processes of the florist, 

 the amateur, the nurseryman, and market- 

 ofardener — all are included therein. 



Our present remarks will not apply to 

 solid manures; the subject which claims 

 immediate attention being the application 

 of liquid manure; a practice which appears 

 to extend with great rapidity. In looking 

 over the weekly publications on horticulture, 

 we cannot but be struck with the earnest 

 recommendations oi fluid manures; and as 

 it is more than probable that they who look 

 for correct information in such publications, 

 will attach faith to the advice they there 

 meet with, it becomes a duty to investigate 

 the principles upon which this practice is 

 founded. 



Mr. Knight, of Downton, was perhaps the 

 first person of authority to whose advocacy 

 we may ascribe the introduction of liquid 

 manure: he employed pigeons' dung steeped 

 in water till the fluid acquired a brown tint 

 nearly as deep as that of porter; and he re- 

 mained firmly of opinion, that pines, melons, 

 and grapes, were much assisted by a copious 

 use of this aliment. Being prepared from 

 recent dung of the dovecote, he obtained at 

 once a solution of the bile, the urea, and all 

 the saline ingredients of the excreta. Gar- 

 deners in general may be presumed to have 

 recourse, of necessity, to the brown drain- 

 age of old dunghills; but here the result 

 is a widely difl^erent affair, because the mass 

 having undergone fermentation, the gaseous 

 and fluid products have been fnterchange- 

 ably attracted and re-formed into new che- 

 mical combinations: thus, the urea has de- 

 veloped ammonia during the first active 

 stage of heat, the chief part of which passed 

 into the air; a portion, however, as the mass 

 cools, would sink into the lower parts of the 

 heap or be carried down by rain, and become 

 united with the black, carbonized substance, 

 which is termed humic acid, and gradually 

 ooze through the bulk, forming that brown 

 fluid which is seen in the waste drains and 

 puddles of farm-yards. 



The chemical elements disturbed during 

 the fermentation of a manure heap are nu- 

 merous: the oxygen and hydrogen combine 

 to produce water ; other portions uniting 

 with carbon yield acetic acid; and certain 

 saline and hydrocarbonaceous substances fil- 

 trate away; leaving a cold, blackened mass, 

 which constitutes the spit-dung of the gar- 

 dener; a substance composed chiefly of car- 

 bon and humus, in a condition fitted to evolve 

 a considerable quantity of carbonic acid. 



