VARIOUS ma;n^ures. 139 



good results may be expected from its use. The waste 

 products (defecation, animal black, etc.) contain large 

 quantities of the same, their use as a fertilizer is most 

 desirable, for we also then have besides a certain amount 

 of lime, the foreign mineral elements that had been pre- 

 viously absorbed by the root and partly eliminated from 

 the juice by defecation and filtration. As a general 

 thing we must admit that certain precautions are neces- 

 sary before using the calcareous fertilizers. If, at the 

 same time, with ammoniacal salts a decomposition will 

 take place, and thus cause a loss of nitrogen in the soil, a 

 carbonate forming this to become soluble would require 

 a large new supply of carbonic acid. When used as 

 sulphate of lime it soon dissolves, and does but little 

 harm to the other elements the soil contains ; but the 

 general advantage derived from the use of calcareous 

 fertilizers is that it forces the non-combined acid of 

 the soil and helps to decompose the organic. How 

 many examples we could give in chemistry where 

 given substances are not acted upon by acids, and 

 when lime is added the desired effect is immediately 

 produced. Many recommend the use of these fertili- 

 zers combined with barnyard manure, but, strange to 

 say, the very beets that have at their disposal the 

 largest amount of plaster are those that contain the 

 least in their composition. 



We still have a fertilizer upon which nothing has 

 been said: this is the final molasses containing all the 

 mineral substances that have not been returned by the 



