AND GAR DENE R'S JOURNAL. 



PlIBLISHCI) BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agriculturil Warehouse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XV. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 5, 1836. 



NO. 13. 



^^mis<gwi£,'S'^:a^s>a 



A frii.nd who signs I. W. (but to whom these initials 

 belong we are not certain) has been so kind as to present 

 US with a pamphlet entilled " Essay on the use of Lime 

 as a Manure, by M Puvis. Translated from the French, 

 by E. Ruffin, Esq Editor of the Farmer's Register, with 

 an Introduction, explanatory of the Principles of Agri- 

 cultural Chemistry. By James Renwick, L. L. D. Pro 

 fessor of Nat. Exp. Philosophy and Chemistry in Colum- 

 bia CoUige." 



We esteem this a very able and useful publication, and 

 well worth the careful and studious perus;il of every man 

 of sciinee whether he is, or is not engaged in practical 

 agriculture. We cannot give an abridgment or analy- 

 sis of the work, and do justice to the authors, or fulfil 

 the reasonable expectations of our readers; and intend, 

 therefore, to give the whole, as we can from time find 

 room in our columns. — Ed. JV. L. Far. 



ON THE VSE OF L.I9IK AS MANURE. 

 BY M. PUVIS. 



The task of adapting an hitrodtiction e.xplana- 

 tory of the chemical |)riiiciples most important in 

 agriculture to the Es.say of Mr. Puvis, was under- 

 taken at the instance of a valued friend, James 

 Wadsvvorlli, Esq of Geneseo. Tlie transiation 

 whici) is employed was liberally placed at my dis- 

 posal by the very intelligent and practically skil- 

 ful editor of the Farmer's Register. He has the 

 merit of first bringing the Essay (if Mr Puvis be- 

 fore the American public, and, taken in connexion 

 with his own Essay on Calcareous Manures, he 

 has thus made us acquainted not otdy with all that 

 was jireviou.sly known in the theory or practice 

 of the use of Lime in Agriculture, but has added 

 himself some most valuable theoretic views, which 

 he has also established by successful and judicious 

 experiments on his own farm. 



James Renwick. 



Columbia College, March, 1836. 



PREFACE OF TBE TRANSLATOR. 



The publication of the following communica- 

 tion to the Annnks de VAgriculture Fnmcaise, 

 was commenced in the February No. of that Jour- 

 nal, (which was received here in May,) and the 

 June No. contains the end of the first part " On 

 Liming," and enables us to offer the translation 

 of that portion to our readers. Only a few pages 

 of the next portion of the series, " On Marling," 

 hus yet appeared, and not enough to permit a judg- 

 ment to be formed of its worth. 



Though there are many deficiencies in tliis 

 treatise on litiiing — and also opinions as to the 

 theory of the action of lime, ill which we cannot 

 coincide — still, on the whole, we consider it ns 

 presejiting far more correct views, and more sat- 

 isfactory information, both on theory and practice, 

 than any other work on liming that we have be- 

 fore seen. In other points, and those of must im- 

 portance, the facts here presented (and now first 

 learned from any European authority) stroiigiy 

 eustain the views inaiutaiued in the Uss.ty on Cal- 



careous Manures. It would he both unnecessary 

 and obtrusive to remind the reader of these points 

 of difference, and of agretjment, whenever passa- 

 ges exhibiting either may occur. They will there- 

 fi)re, generally be submitted in the .nutlior's words 

 without coimnent. A few exceptions only to this 

 rule will be made, in cases which appear particu- 

 larly to call /or them. 



We have no information whatever of Mr Puvis, 

 the author of this treatise, previou s to the appear- 

 ance of the commencement of the (lublication in 

 the Annales. But he is evidently well informed 

 on his subject, and is stated hy the introductory 

 remarks of the French editor, to be entitled to all 

 respect, for liis long experience, and his practical 

 as well as scientific investigation of the subject, 

 if, then, there remains no ground to distrust his 

 judgment or his facts, the statements inade are 

 most important to a rery large portion of this 

 ccuiitry, which has heretofore been generally sup- 

 posed to be depriveil of all possible benefit from 

 the use of calcareous manures on account of their 

 remoteness and high price of carriage. M. Puvis 

 states tliit the most successful and profitalile lim- 

 ing in Europe (for the expense incurred) is in re- 

 peated applications of very small dressings — mak- 

 j..^ Iqtjs, on the average, than four bushels of lime 

 "to the acre, annually. This small ainouut, if real- 

 ly as efficacious as is alleged, would cost so little 

 in labor and money, that the limits of the region 

 capable of being limed may be very far extended. 

 It would not matter though the applications should 

 require to lie repeated for ever, provided the an- 

 nual returns gave good profit upon the annual ex- 

 penses ; and far greater will be the profit, if (as 

 we think) the soil ultimately will no longer re- 

 quire such repetitions — or only at very distant 

 intervals of time — and still be a highly produc- 

 tive, because it has -been made a calcareous and 

 fertile soil. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Chemical farts and principles which are 

 applicable to Agriculture are neither numerous 

 nor complex. They are, however, to be found 

 (inly in works on General Chemistry, in which 

 they are intimately associated with laws and phe- 

 nomena of a more abstruse description, and in con- 

 nexion with which they constitute a science of 

 which the most learned are still student.s, and to 

 attain which in its existing form may require years 

 of close and attentive study. The language, too, 

 of Chemistry, which, to those who study it in a 

 regular course, serves as an artificial memory, and 

 single words of which call up long trains of 

 thought and experiment, presents to the uninitiat- 

 ed all the difficulties of a foreign tongue. 



Yet it cannot be doubted, that the practical far- 

 mer may derive important benefit from acquiring 

 so much of this language as wiil enable him to 

 understand the chemical explanation of the nu- 

 merous changes which are continually taking 

 place in the natural actions which it is his high 

 privilege to call into his service, to direct in part. 



and modify in degree. So also are there certaiu 



chemical elements and compounds, with the [irop- 



erties of which he ought to be acquainted if he 



wish to be able to direct his practical skill with 



more effect, even in circiunstances more familiar 



to hi(T), but vvhich may be absolutely necessary, 



or will at any rate save waste of labor and loss of 



time, when the knowledge acquired by practice 



in line place is to be employed in a new situation, 



and under a change of circumstances. 



. . ft 



It is the object of this introduction to exhibit, 



in such form as may he intelligible to those who 

 have not made general chemistry an object of 

 study, a concise view of such of the laws and 

 facts of that science, as,, are abs(5lutely necessary 

 for the agriculturist w'ho may wish to improve his 

 practice, and vvhich are more 'fai:ticularly requir- 

 ed by those who wish to avail themselves of the 

 knowledge contained in the subjoined essay. To 

 do this has been found no easy tusk. It woiilfl be 

 in itself difficult, hut to the author of this intro- 

 duction has been more particularly so, as he has 

 for years been in the habit of im| artiiig instruc- 

 tion to ti ise whose habits of life and tijouabts are 

 as remote ns possible from those of the practical 

 farmer; p.eli3/>«is to whomthe jieciiliar language 

 of ciiemifufj;^^ e,n a'lA jtist(*!Kl of^n impeilimenl ; 

 and who, with ample time at tlieir command, 

 have an oppo-tunity of pursuing the stiiily of the 

 science step by step. Fully aware of these diffi- 

 culties, both general and peculiar, this attempt 

 would not have been made, and certainiy not per- 

 sisted in, had it not have been for the instances of 

 an intelligent, scientific, and successful farmer, 

 who has urged the completion of the task as an 

 object likely to be beneficial to those, who perhaps 

 with equal zeal and native powers of .Tiind, have 

 not enjoyed, like himself, the advantages of a sci- 

 entific education. 



The atmosphere which surrounds our earth is 

 the first object to which our attention should be 

 directed. This is the vehicle of the moisture, 

 which, whether it fall in the form of rain or dew, 

 run in streams or issue from springs, is absolutely 

 essential to the success of the farmer's labor. It 

 is also, as we shall presently see, iinport<;nt to him 

 on other accounts. 



The greater part of the atmosphere is made up 

 of a mixture of substances, each of which has the 

 same mechanical properties as the whole mass. 

 These air-like substances are known to chemists 

 by the name of Gases. 



Of these gases, two made up by far the greater 

 jHirtion of atmospheric air, and exist in it in pro- 

 portion of about four to one. 1 hat which is the 

 lariiest in quantity and makes up nearly four-fifihs 

 of the whole atmosphere, is called, in the Essay 

 of M. Puvis, by the name of Azot, but is more 

 usually known in English by the name of Nitro- 

 gen. 



This substance, although in the largest propor- 

 tion, is the least important of the gases in its chem- 

 ical effects. It does not aid in supporting the life 



