ECONOMY OF FARMING. 5$ 



100 lbs. Albumen. Unazotised matter. 



Flesh, 25 



Blood, 



Peas, . 



Beans, 



Lentils, 



Potatoes, 



Oats, 



Barley meal. 



Hay, . . 



Turnips, 



Carrots, 



Red beet, 



29 



29 51^ 



31 52 



33 48 



2 24^ 



10^ 68 



14 68 



8 684 



1 9 



2 

 li 8^— Tr.] 



B. -OF MANURES. 



1. Since manures are the nourishing material of plants, and, other things 

 being equal, the higher profit of the fields depends only and alone on the 

 greater easily-extracted quantity of the same found in the soil ; therefore, 

 the more accurate knowledge of this substance, its preparation, proportional 

 use, and how it may be procured on a farm in sufficient quantity, and with 

 the least cost, is of the greatest importance to the husbandman. 



2. The knowledge, preparation, employment, and proportionate value 

 of the substances used as manure, has already been shown in Chemical 

 Agriculture ; only how much of it is necessary in a farm, and how it may 

 be procured at the least expense, will now be attempted to be shown. 



[The present Treatise, it will be recollected, forms only a concluding portion of a 

 much larger work, embracing the whole range of topics connected with Farming. Of 

 course the Author finds it unnecessary to repeat what he has already said, and there- 

 fore merely refers to his previous discussions ; but separated as it now is from the 

 whole work, it may be useful to incorporate as much of these portions with it as the 

 space will allow. Yet it will be impossible to enter very largely on so extended a 

 subject, important as it is. There are many admirable things in the Authors I have 

 already quoted, which were I to subjoin, would no doubt be of great practical 

 utility, and add much to the value of this work ; but this would be to swell it beyond 

 all reasonable bounds for the object prescribed. I must therefore reserve these valu- 

 able materials, for the most part, for the whole work to be published hereafter, if the 

 success of the present essay shall seem to justify so much more difficult an undertak- 

 ing. Without, therefore, embracing every topic, I shall now simply cull out such 

 remarks as may seem most appropriate to the points just suggested by the Author, on 

 the knowledge, preparation, and proportionate value of the manuring substances. 

 Burger's remarks on this subject are embodied in a series of propositions, followed 

 by illustrations of the principles advanced, similar to the mode of the present Trea- 

 tise. Some of these I shall quote in full, and in the words of the Author ; of others I 

 may give only the substance, interweaving also such things as may seem proper, from 

 Thaer, Veit, Schwertz, and others. — His remarks may be found on pp. 90, &c. 

 of Vol. I. 



"By manure^ we understand in general those bodies which directly conduce to the 

 nourishment of plants." 



" Plants are nourished only by sucking in the nutritious substance, in a fluid or 

 gaseous form, out of the earth or air, by means of their roots or leaves. Nourishing 

 substances must therefore be soluble in water ; and if a substance is thus insoluble, it 

 must first be dissolved by the agency of some other substance, and in its new combi- 

 nation become soluble in water before it is to be considered as nourishment or manure. 



" Such materials only can be considered as the nutriment of plants, the elements of 

 which we find in them on their decomposition. 



" The dead organic matter contains all the constituents out of which the living of the 

 same kind is combined. It is therefore the most excellent nourishment of beasts 

 and plants. 



