638 



FARMERS' REGISTER-NEW MINERAL MANURES, &c. 



•which proposes an artificial substitute for them. A 

 translation of the memoir which appeared in the last 

 No. of the Journal d'JlgricuUure, fyc. dts Pays Bas, has 

 since been prepared by a friend, for the Farmers' Regis- 

 ter, and which we now offer to our readers ;" together with 

 two letters explanatory of certain terms'therein used. 



The Dutch ashes and their effects have been particu- 

 larly described in the article referred to above, and also 

 in previous selections for the Farmers' Registei". One 

 of these passages will be quoted from the article on the 

 Agriculture of the J^elherlands (No. 2, p. 104,) to shew 

 the strength and value of this manure. "On these 

 ' [the fields in clover,] it is usual to spread, in 



* March, turf ashes brought in boats from Holland. 

 'From eighty to one hundred tubs, of about sixty 

 ' pounds weight each, are employed for a bunder, 

 ' one third of which is kept to be spread after the first 

 ' cut. Many of the Flemish farmers make great use 

 ' of these ashes, which being highly impregnated with 

 ' salts, enrich the land so as to render it capable of pro- 



* ducing excellent crops of wheat, without any other 



* manure, except turning under the clover it was sown 

 ' with the preceding year." The bunder is about three 

 acres ; so that these very great effects are produced by 

 from twenty-six to thirty-three tubs of aslies to the 

 acre. The practice of using these ashes in Belgium 

 (as stated by Mr. Hollert) commenced in 1731, and as 

 the dressings are frequently renewed, it may be infer- 

 red that the soils generally, have in 100 years become 

 greatly altered by the chemical ingredients of the ma- 

 nure, and that its influence is considerable on the great 

 agricultural product of that country. We learn from 

 Sinclair's statement of the analysis of Dutch ashes, 

 that they were found to contain 



"Silicious earth, 32 



Sulphate of Ihne f gypsum,] 12 

 Sulphate of soda, and muriate of soda 



[common salt,] 6 



Carbonate of lime, [calcareous earth,] 40 



Oxide of iron, 3 



Impurities and loss, 



93 



7 



100' 



Tlie silicious earth, or pure sand, which forms 

 32-lOOths of the whole, should be deducted as worthless, 

 in an estimate of value. Much the greater part of the 

 remaining and active ingredients consist of calcareous 

 earth and gypsum, and the balance of solulde salts and 

 iron. There cannot be much doubt as to the accuracy 

 of the analysis of a manure so valuable and so well 

 known, and therefore there is not so much difficulty as 

 might be at first supposed, in compounding an artificial 

 manure of similar ingredients, and in the same propor- 

 tions. The only important obstacle would be the 

 expense. "We may suppose however, that the cheinical 

 composition of the turf ashes of Holland, is so well 

 known by his scientific countrymen, that Mr. Hollert 

 has been compelled to furnish similar ingredients to his 

 artificial compound : and this belief will serve to allay 

 the suspicions which are naturally produced by the cir- 

 cumstances of liis having taken out a patent right to 

 secure to him the benefit of his discovery, and his ask- 



ing for a protecting duty on the ashes from Holland, as 

 requisite to carry into effect his " patriotic" intentions 

 and wishes. 



When the memoir of Mr. Hollert first attracted our 

 observation, the subject was considered merely as a 

 matter of curiosity, and not likely to be of any practi- 

 cal use in Virginia. But though there is no probability 

 of different results, it is possible that its publication 

 may lead to investigation, "and to practical good, in the 

 preparation and use of new matmres, resembling .more 

 or less the ashes of Holland. All the materials are fur- 

 nished, or substitutes can be obtained in some parts of 

 Virginia,— and most easily in a region particularly 

 needing the application of earthy manures. The coal 

 mines of Virginia, offer an immense supply of a kind of 

 coal which is of so little value for sale as to bs a nui- 

 sance to the colliers— ;and if this is not the "houille" and 

 " fe?Te ftoitiZie" used by Mr. Hollert, it may serve as a 

 substitute for both. The marls recently discovered in 

 the same region may perhaps supply all tiie balance of 

 bulky ingredients needed for tlie compound.* 



It is possible also, that materials might be found in 

 our salt marshes to furnish the proper turf ashes like 

 those of Holland, which are so valuable that Sir John 

 Sinclair urged their being shipped to England, for ma- 

 nure for clover. There is no true peat in Virginia, 

 (unless it may be found in the colder and moister 

 mountain region,) but our fresh water marsh earth will 

 burn like peat, and so we suppose will the earth of the 

 salt marshes. 



The letters which will follow the translation are an- 

 swers to requests for explanations of certain terms, 

 either technical or provincial, which could not be other- 

 wise obtained, and for which we are indebted to Corres- 

 pondents who have already contributed to the value and 

 reputation of the Farmers' Register. 



MEMOIR ON A NEW MANURE, 



jiddrcssed to the Members of the Committees of 

 jjgrlcvlture, Manufactures and Commerce of the 

 provinces of Belgium : by 31. J. Hollert of Nil 

 St. Vincent, (Southern Brabant.) 



Translated fov tlie Farmers' Register, from the Journal iV Agri- 

 culture des Pays-Bas. 



Having received a patent for the invention of a 

 mineral manure, the fertilizing qualities of which 

 are analagous to those of the peat ashes of Holland, 

 and whose effects are of greater duration, I should 

 think myself, gentlemen, deficient in patriotism, if 

 in the present circumstances, I mean at the mo- 

 ment of the separation pf Belgium and Holland,! 

 did not submit to you my reflections on the advan- 

 tages which would result to the state and to agricul- 

 ture, from the use of this manure throughout the 

 whole extent of Belgium, if it should please the 

 government to establish a liglit impost on the im- 

 portation of the peat ashes of Holland, f 



This proposition, gentlemen, premature as it 

 may appear to you, is not therefore the less worthy 



* Since the preceding article was written, Dr. Morton's letter 

 was received (and laubUshed in No. 8,) giving an account of the 

 recently discovered coal in Prince Edward county. His desciip- 

 tion of the "dead coal" which forms so large a proportion of 

 the whole body, seems to agree very exactly with that of the 

 "Ao7«!7/e" of Belgium. See page 506, No. 3. — Ed. 



•\ Or Dutch Jlshes, the value and effects of which are 

 described at large, Farmers' Register, No. 6, p. 376, 



