268 



J. B. LA.WBS AND JUSTUS VON LIEBIG. 



we have read it over carefully several times, and that 

 we are still in doubt as to the real position of the 

 learned author on the subject it is the special object 

 of the work to elucidate. He has made some "agri- 

 cultural experiments " on a ten acre Celc^ and in sum- 

 ming up his conclusions from them, says: "My ex- 

 periments, which occasioned me an outlay of 8,000 

 florins, ($3,200,) or $3.20 per acre, show indeed that 

 to make a soil fertile, which is barren from want of 

 active (soluble) ingredients, and not on account of 

 unfavorable physical condition, requires an outlay 

 greater than the purchase of the most fruitful soil; 

 but in this I was in no way disappointed. What I 

 wished to arrive at, was well worth the sacrifice. 

 What I have arrived at, is, [now, surely, he will state 

 his conclusions on the value of mineral manure; but, 

 alas, no! what he has arrived at is only] the firm con- 

 viction that the tine must come when agriculture will 

 be carried on as an art, according to scientific prin- 

 ciples, and not according to mere recipes." 



LiEBic. brings forward these experiments as practi- 

 cal evidence of the correctness of his opinions, and 

 they are, therefore, worthy of attention. He says : 

 " In the years 1845 and 1847 I instituted a series of 

 experiments on the action of individual mineral ma- 

 nures. * * Former experiments which I had 

 made in ray garden, in the city, gave no results; do 

 and apply what I would, I teas not able to perceive 

 any effect from a single one of my mixtures!'* The 

 cause of this is ascribed to the richness of the gar- 

 den soiL This led him to purchase a ten acre field, 

 " distinguished from all other land in the vicinity by 

 its almost perfect incapacity to support the ordinary 

 cultivated plants; 1 do not believe that in an entire 

 year, so much grass and fodder grew upon it as would 

 sustain a single sheep.'' This was, unqueslionalily, a 

 poor soil; and the mind recalls instances of similar 

 soils having been rendered fertile by the ordinary 

 processes of agriculture. The farms of the late 

 Judge BuEL, and of D. D. T. Moore, of Waterveleit, 

 N. Y., and many in the county of Norfolk, England, 



• Prof. HORSFORP, in one of liis lettei-a from Gei'lBen, {Cidticntur 

 184fi, paee 139) alludfS to llie^e fxpeiiments a.>-r'llo\vfi : "]n llir 

 spring, (1844) iTecedine mv ariivMl in Gi-isSfn, tin- rrnf,-»M.i ?.l..nt- 

 el some giape scions uo.ier the windows of XW 1 iiiratorv. Ili- fed 

 them, if I may use such an expression, upon thi' a^hes (/ the ^rapt 

 vine, or upon the proper inorganic f )od of the (xrupe, as kIiow ii l.y 

 analysis of its a.shes. The trrowlh has been eiiiirnious, &e. I was 

 ahown potH of wheat, in different stajies of thfir p^mwtlt, that ha' 

 been fed varionslv — some npntitlie inorganic nutters tliey needed. 

 according to the analysU vf their ashes — others had merely shared 

 the triljuteor the general Boil. The results in numliers I don'tyet 

 iinow. In appear.mce, no one could be at a loss to judue of wiiat 

 might be expe-ted. • • The experiments of Piof. L , 

 wtuch I have alluded to. are full of interest, not ^ilone as pustaiit- 

 in? the views he h'w expnundo i [what views, if Dot tho ^e of the 

 mineial theory :] but a-s also vbriwing that t)ie lM;isirres in the 

 sha -e nf inorganic manures, heaped up in some qnarters of the 

 globe, may be made to eiiualize the fi uits of labor iu other regions. ** 



were once blowing sands, but are now as remarkable 

 for fertility as they once were for barrenness. This 

 result has been attained principally through growing 

 crops of clover and turnips, and plowing them in or 

 consuming them on the farm, thus supplying organic 

 matter and returning the manure, and especially am- 

 monia, from the atmosphere. This, however, is sim- 

 ply a deduction from certain theoretical considera- 

 tions founded on Mr. Lawes' experiments: and we 

 have frequently expressed the wish that experiments 

 with ammonia, salts, organic matter, and mineral sub- 

 stance, might be instituted on similar soils. By ap- 

 plying ammonia on one plot, organic matter on an- 

 other, the various mineral manures on others, and a 

 mixture of these in different quantities and propor- 

 tions on others, and reserving one plot without any 

 manure at all, we might obtain decisive information 

 on this interesting subject. Let us see what kind of 

 experiments the great Geissen Professor instituted. 



jVo part of the field was left without any manure. 

 A quantity of mineral manure was spread uniformly 

 over the whole field, excepting a piece of vineyard of 

 about 2000 vines, each of which received at the time 

 of planting J lb. of the same mineral manure. " On 

 separate divisions of the field were cultivated wheat, 

 rye, barley, clover, potatoes, beets, maize, and Jeru- 

 Sulem articokes." Would it not have been better, 

 instead of having nine different crops and only one 

 kind of mineral manure, to have had nine diflferent 

 manures, and only one crop? If the ashes of plants 

 represent the manure Ijest adapted for their growth, 

 surely no one compound of mineral manures could be 

 best suited to both wheat and clover, maize and beets. 



" Some patches received saw-dust, one nothing but 

 stable-manure, another a mixture of the n)ineral ma- 

 nure with an equal quantity of stable-dung. Beside 

 this stable dung, no other animal substance, no am- 

 raoniacal manure was used on the whole field. One 

 small plot had added to it several wagon loads of soil 

 from a forest; another received the same, mixed with 

 the mineral manure." In other word.', the ichole field 

 was dressed with the same mineral manure. Some 

 plots had stable-dung, and some forest soil, with and 

 without an additional quantity of the same mineral 

 manure. No purely ainmoniacal matter was used. 

 The poor impoverished soils of Maryland, Virginia 

 &c., have been made to yield an excellent crop by the 

 application of a small quantity of a strongly ammo- 

 iiiacal guano. Who knows whether such would nol 

 have been the case with "Liebig's Heights?" Snrelj 

 in instituting scientific experiment.', there could havi 

 been no harm in trying. 



