'"oL. XX, SEC0^'D Series. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., JUNE, 1859. 



No. 6. 



"PROGRESSIVE ULTIMATES." 



The editor of the WorTcing Farmer lias for some 

 ;me been promulgating the doctrine that the crude 

 laments of plants are of little or no value as ma- 

 ure. They must first he taken up by plants, and 

 rganized, before they become of any manurial 

 alue ; and the oftener they have been taken up by 

 lants — the oftener they have formed parts of the 

 ving organism of plants or animals — the more 

 aluable they become. An atom of potash, fresh 

 •om the hands of its Creator, in the virgin soil of 

 Iden, was entirely useless as plant-food. 

 This is a most remarkable doctrine; and one, if 

 .'ue, of great practical importance. The evidence 

 n which it rests we have been unable to discover. 

 t is quite true that the potash in feldspar is not as 

 aluable for manure as the potash of wood ashes ; 

 ut is not this owing to the fact that plants can 

 ike up their food only in solution, and that the 

 otash in feldspar is comparatively insoluble, while 

 bat in wood ashes is readily soluble ? Is not an 

 torn of ammonia formed during a thunder storm, 

 ■om the nitrogen of the atmosphere, of just as 

 mch value as manure as an atom formed by the 

 ecay of animal matter ? 



But we need not speculate. The originator of 

 lis hypothesis states that its truth may be estab- 

 shed by the following test: Tal^e the mineral 

 hosphate of Estramadura, and lone phosphate, 

 issolve portions of each in dilute muriatic acid, so 

 lat each portion shall be in solution. Apply them 

 ;spectively to the soil, and it will be found that 

 le dissolved phosphates from bones will fertilize 

 lants and be readily assimilable by them, while 

 le dissolved mineral phosphate will inoduce no 

 feet at all. 



Now it so happens that this very test has been 

 ade — and that, too, with the very "phosphate 

 ■ Estramadura" alluded to. Dr. Datibent and 

 apt. Wellington brought over to England, from 

 J stramadura in Spain, some of the very apatite or 

 11 ineral phosphate which, according to the Wcrlc- 



ing Farmer., will "produce no effect at all" as a 

 manure for plants. It was sent to Mr. Lawes' ex- 

 perimental fixrm at Eothamsted, and there used on 

 turnips side by side with phosphates obtained from 

 bones, wirh the follo^iving results : 



1. A plot without any manure produced 2 tons 4 cwt. of turnip 



bulbs per acre. 



2. With 8 cwt. of ground apatite or mineral phosphate, 3 tons 



1 cwt. 



3. With 3 cwt. of superphosphate of lime (made from calcined 



hemes) and 15 lbs. phosjiliate of ammonia, 6 tons dH cwt 



4. Witli 3 cwt. of superphosphate of lime made from ground 



apatite, 6 tons \iiJi cwt. 



5. With 374 lbs. of superphosphate made from apatite or mineral 



phosphate, 7 tons 3>^ cwt. 



6. Wilh 560 lbs. of superphosphate of lime made from calcined 



hones, 1 tons \i'}i cwt. 



It will be seen that the superphosphate made 

 from the apatite or mineral phosphate, so far from 

 "producing no effect at all," was quite as beneficial 

 as that made from bones. 



These experiments, which are perfectly reliable, 

 show the utter absurdity of tliis doctrine of " pro- 

 gressive ultimates." Plants feed on unorganized 

 matter. Substances which are only partially or- 

 ganized — such as urea, in fresh liquid excrements 

 — are injurious. Fresh blood in solution will kill 

 plants. But if these substances are allowed to fer- 

 ment and become crude inorganic matter, they are 

 very beneficial. That the individual atoms have 

 been in any way changed by being organized, we 

 have not a particle of evidence. Lichens and 

 mosses may grow on a soil which would not sup- 

 port a wheat plant. By their decay in the soil 

 they may furnish food for some plant of a higher 

 organization ; and these in their turn may furnish 

 food for clover ; and this, by being plowed in, may 

 furnish food for wheat : and tli\is, in the course of 

 years, a soil which would not produce wheat may 

 be rendered capable of doing so. But to account 

 for this, it is not necessary to assume that the ele^ 

 ments which were first taken up by the lichens are 

 in any respect different from the same elements 

 which are taken up by the wheat. The soil did 

 not contain a sufficient quantity of these elements 



