60 MANURES. 



sulphate of iron, a substance poisonous in excess, if applied in 

 the quantity suited to the wants of plants, seems eminently 

 calculated to promote the vegetation of the plants, and the 

 fertility of the soil. 



Jlshes of every description, including soaper's waste, though 

 not all falling strictly under the character of fossil substances, 

 and, indeed, being partly derived from the vegetable kingdom, 

 yet, partaking in a great degree of the same calcareous nature 

 as those of which we ha\e already treated, may also be allow- 

 ed to rank together under the general denomination of mineral 

 manures. 



IV. MIXED MANURES. 



This class of manures consists of those derived partly from 

 organic and partly from mineral substances. *dshes of fuel 

 of different kinds used for domestic and other purposes, may 

 be said to be of this class. Ashes of anthracite coal are to be 

 regarded as a manure of very inferior quality, its principal 

 virtue consisting in the ashes of wood, &c., of which it most 

 generally contains a portion, with various other extraneous 

 substances. 



Coal ashes, however, have been found highly serviceable, 

 when applied in sufficient quantity to tenacious or stiff and 

 clayey soils, and are therefore valuable in cities and large 

 towns, if soils of this description abound in the vicinity. They 

 have been applied in large quantities to clayey lands in the 

 vicinity of Philadelphia, with manifest advantage. One of the 

 shrewd, intelligent, money-making farmers of the county, 

 assured the editor that he had experienced great benefit by 

 top-dressing his grass lands with coal ashes, previously sifted.* 



Soot is frequently applied in its unmixed state as a manure. 

 Its base is charcoal, and it is advantageously spread upon all 

 soils, and in an especial manner upon land in grass. 



The sweepings of roads are frequently used as a manure, 



* This gentleman said he obtained several hundred bushels of the ashes, 

 which cost him nothing in the city; they were also generally return loads. 

 They were always put under cover, sifted in rainy weather, and applied to 

 1 he land as occasion required. His plants and vines were regularly dusted 

 with the sifted ashes, and almost generally escaped the ravages of insects. 

 But there was another advantage connected with this operation, which did 

 not occur to him until he commenced sifting the ashes. He found large quan- 

 tities of unconsumed coal; most of it, to be sure, partially burnt, but still suffi- 

 cient both in quantity and quality to keep him in two coal fires throughout the 

 season. 







