OBSERYER AND RECORD 



OF AGRICULTURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. 



EDITED BY D. PEIRCE. 



Wo. 1.] 



Philadelphia, Monday, October 1, 1S3S. 



[Vol. I. 



The object of this paper is to concentrate and preserve, in a form suitable for future 

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From Sir Humphrey Davy's Elements of Agrie\iUun(l 

 Chemistry. 



AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 



Agricultural Chemistry has for its 

 objects all those changes in the arrange- 

 ments of matter connected with the growth 

 and nourishment of plants ; the compara- 

 tive values of their produce as food ; the 

 constitution of soils ; the manner in which 

 lands are enriched by manure, or rendered 

 fertile by the different processes of culti- 

 vation. Inquiries of such a nature cannot 

 but be interesting and important, both to 

 the theoretical agriculturalist and to the 

 practical farmer. To the first, they are 

 necessary in supplying most of the funda- 

 mental principles on which the theory of 

 the art depends. To the second, tliey are 

 useful in affording simple and easy experi- 

 ments for directing his labours, ancl for 

 enabling him to pursue a certain and sys- 

 tematic plan of improvement. It is scarce- 

 ly possible to enter upon any investigation 

 in agriculture without finding it connected, 

 more or less, with doctrines or elucida- 

 tions derived from chemistry. 



If land be unproductive, and a system 

 of ameliorating it is to be attempted, the 

 sure method of obtaining the object is by 

 determining the cause of its sterility, 

 which must necessarily depend upon some 

 defect in the constitution of the soil, which 

 may be easily discovered by chemical 

 analysis. 



Some lands of good appaient texture 

 are yet sterile in a high degree ; and com- 

 mon observation and common practice 

 afiord no means of ascertaining the cause, 

 1 



or of removing the effect. The applica- 

 tion of chemical tests in such cases is ob- 

 vious ; for the soil must contain some 

 noxious principle which may be easily 

 discovered, and probably easily destroyed. 



Are any of the salts of iron present ? 

 Ihey may be decomposed by lime. Is 

 there an excess of siliceous sand ? the sys- 

 tem of improvement must depend op. the 

 application of clay and calcareou? matter. 

 Is there a defect of calcareous matter ? the 

 remedy^ is obvious. Is an excess of vege- 

 table matter indicated ? it may be re- 

 moved by liming, paring, and burning. 

 Is there a deficiency of vegetable matter ? 

 it is to be supplied by manure. 



A question concerning the different 

 kinds of limestone to be employed in cul- 

 tivation often occurs. To determine this 

 fully in tlie common way of experience, 

 would demand a considerable time, per- 

 haps some years, and trials which might 

 be injinious to crops; but by simple che- 

 mical tests the nature of a limestone is dis- 

 covered in a few minutes; and the fitness 

 of its application, whether as a manure for 

 difierent soils, or as a cement, '^deter- 

 mined. 



Peat eartli of a cotain consistence and 

 composition, is an exf'eilent manure; but 

 there are some varieties of peats which 

 contain so large a quantity of ferruginous 

 matter as to be absolutely poisonous to 

 j)lants. Nothing can be more simple than 

 the chemical operation for determining 

 the nature, and the probable uses of a sub- 

 stance of this kind. 



There has been tio (|uestipn on which 



