AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



P 



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



vol.. XV. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 19, 1836. 



NO. 15. 



^^ISia<§'!E?IE,^W2Si^ILa 



ON THE USE OF LIME AS MANURE. 



BY M. PUVIS. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



(Continued.) 



When these pi inciples are treated by the sec- 

 ond method, oxygdn, hydrogen, and carbon, are 

 the uniform resiihs, but in different cases; nitro- 

 gen is also detected in some of them, as, for in- 

 stance, in the allvaline principles and in gluten. 

 This method does not ai)pear to be adequate to 

 determine whether earths and alkalis are, or are 

 not, partsof these vegetable principles. From the 

 very remarkable fact, that some of the substances, 

 which are very dissimilar to each other, yield ex- 

 actly the same proportions of oxygen, hydrogen, 

 and carbon, we may fairly conclude by chemical 

 analogy, that one or the other, or perhaps both, 

 contain some substances which have escaped the 

 analysis. As an instance we may cite starch and 

 sugar, whose characters are so dissimilar that no 

 danger can exist of mistaking the one for the oth- 

 er ; and yet their analysis by the second method 

 gives identical results. 



The third method may be understood by com- 

 paring it with the process used in making char- 

 coal. If this be so fur altered that the heat em- 

 ployed shall not arise from the combustion of a 

 part of the substance to be examined, but from 

 one merelv used as fuel, and if the matters which 

 escape in smoke are condensed and collected, we 

 shall have that employed occasionally on a large 

 scale by operative chemists. In this way charcoal 

 will be, as usual, obtained in the solid form. The 

 condensible products will be water, tar, turpentine, 

 or resin ; and the acid which gives that character 

 to vinegar, but which in the present case, in union 

 with the tar and water, is called pyrolignous 

 acid. 



If the charcoal bo burnt in a current of air, all 

 its carbon is converted, by union with the oxygen 

 of the atmosphere, into carbonic acid, leaviiig a 

 residue familiarly known as ashes. The ashes 

 are made up partly of soluble and partly of insolu- 

 ble matter. The soluble matter is separated by 

 the familiar process of making ley, and the ley, if 

 evaporated, leaves the solid substance so well 

 known as potash. 



Potash is principally composed of a carbonate 

 of potassa, but contains, besides silica, rendered 

 soluble by the alkali, sulphate and muriate of po- 

 tassa, and a peculiar acid known by the name of 

 ulmic, which is a compound of carbon, hydrogen, 

 and oxygen. The insoluble part is made up of 

 carbonate of lime, sul(ihate and sometimes phos- 

 phate of lime, silica. The carbonate of lime has 

 probably in no case existed in the living plant, but 

 arises from the destruction by the heat of the pe- 

 culiar acid of the plant ; as, for instance, the citric, 

 the oxalic, or the tartaric ; all of which are by fire 

 converted into carbonic acid. 



The quantity of ashes is extremely various, as 

 in their pro|)ortion of the several .soluble and inso- 

 luble substances we have mentioned. Thus the 

 ashes of the stalk of Indian corn yields 12 1-2 ))er 

 cent, of ashes, while the soft woods do not furnish 

 more than two parts in a thousand. The propor- 

 tion of the sulphate and phosphate of lime is even 

 more various. 'J'lius, in some cases the presence 

 of the sulphate is hardly perceptible, while of the 

 ashes of clover it forms the large proportion offif- 

 teen per cent, in the grain of wheat. 



Water is not only one of the principal compo. 

 nent parts of all plants, but is also the sole vehicle 

 of tlieir nutriment. At each extremity of the 

 small fibres into which the roots of plants are di- 

 vided, is an opening through which that fluid en- 

 ters ; and it appears that, except in the case of a 

 plant having lost its yigor by continued drought, 

 it is only through this channel that water can en- 

 ter. By a powerful action inherent in living veg- 

 etables, water, which with all the matters it is ca- 

 llable of holding in solution, becomes the sap, is 

 raised to the highest parts of the plants, and forced 

 to their most distant^extremities. It has been as- 

 certained that plants do not possess the power of 

 rejecting even those substances which are most 

 noxious to them ; it is tiierefore probable that the 

 character of the fluid admitted is the same in all 

 the plants which grow upon the same sail. Wheth- 

 er it undergoes luiy change in the root does not 

 appear certain, but it has recently been maintain- 

 ed that every description of i)lant throws ofT by 

 the surface of its roots such matter as, if retained, 

 would be injurious; but this opinion does not ap- 

 pear to be well established. 



The sap, when carried up to the leaves, under- 

 goes an important change, principally owing to 

 the action ofsolar light. When exposed to light, 

 the leaves of plants give out oxygen in considera- 

 ble quantities. This |)roceeds from a decompo- 

 sition of the water and carbonic acid, the renjain- 

 ing elements of which two substances agd a por- 

 tion of their oxygen enter into new combinations. 

 These combinations have different characters in 

 different vegetables, but are most familiarly known 

 in the shape of gum ami resin. These still con- 

 tain the earthy and saline matter carried up by the 

 sa)), and after thry are formed return downwarils 

 towards the roots, in their descent they deposit 

 the several parts which minister to the growth of 

 the plant — the leaves, the bark, and the woody 

 fibre. They also appear to be forced with pow- 

 erful energy into the flower and growing fruit, 

 and in these a still more important action is carri- 

 ed forward, by which the reiiroductioii of the spe- 

 cies is ensured. 



The matters which the water that enters by the 

 root may hold in solution, are either derived from 

 the atmosphere or from the soil. In its passage 

 through the air it will carry with it a considerable 

 proportion of carbonic acid, and all the sulphu- 

 retted hydrogen it meets with. It will also take 

 up a small quantity of oxygen, and of carburettcd 

 hj'drogen^ and still ^ less quantity of liiUogca. 



From the soil it will take all the more soluble 

 salts, small (|uantities of sulphate, phosphate, and 

 carbonate of lime, provided they be present, and 

 silica. So also if the soil contain animal matter, 

 or vegetables of which nitrogen forms a part, the' 

 ammonia generated by their decomposition will 

 likewise be ilissolved by water. In like manner 

 the carbonate acid, which has arisen from the de- 

 composition of vegetable or animal matter, and has 

 not yet esca|ied, and the sohdile compounds of 

 carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, which are generat- 

 ed by the same process, will have been taken up; 

 and carried by the water into the root of the plant. 

 It will thus appear that, contrary to the opinion of 

 MrPuvis, the atmosphere furnishes but little of 

 the fixed elemofits of plants, with the exception of 

 sulphur and carbon ; and that even if the growth 

 of plants were to depend wholly upon the carbon 

 obtained in the form of carbonic aci<l from the at- 

 mosphere, their growth must be slow and feeble. 

 !t will also appear, thatif liiue do not exist in the 

 soil, but few plants can find nourishment ; and 

 that for the ripening of the seeds of grain, phos- 

 f>horus must be furnished also. The latter sub- 

 stance may be absorbed in small quantities from 

 the phosphurettcd hydrogen, which is occasionally 

 present in the atmosphere ; but a more certain 

 supply ought to be sought in putrescent manure, 

 and particularly in that of animal origin. 



The uses of lime in agriculture, as will appear 

 from the foregoing remarks and the reasoning of 

 the essay, are as follows : 



1. When a soil contains inert animal or vegeta- 

 ble matter, their decomposition may be promoted, 

 and it may be rendered fit for the food of plants 

 by the addition of caustic lime. 



2. If the soil contain acid, that may be neu- 

 tralized either by caustic or carbonated lime, and 

 besides, the organic matter whose dccom|iosition 

 may have been prevented by the acids, will be 

 permitted tn putrify. 



3. Soils containing too much silica, or in other 

 words those which are sandy, are made more re- 

 tentive of moisture by the addition of lime or its 

 carbonate. 



4. Clays, may be rendered less retentive of 

 moisture, and more friable by the same means. 



5. The gases which escape when vegetable or 

 animal matter putrify, are retained in the soil by 

 means of lime or its carbonate ; and thus a given 

 quantity of manure, or the original vegetable mat- 

 ter of the soil, will retain its efficacy longer. By 

 a recent discovery, it has also l)een ascertained 

 that the decomposition of plants yields a peculiar 

 acid, called the humic, which forms with lime a 

 salt sparingly soluble in water. The generation 

 of this salt also serves to render the nutriment con- 

 tained in the soil more lasting. 



6. Lime and its compounds aie absolutely ne- 

 cessary, as constitiifut parts, to the growth of ma- 

 ny plants. ']'he sulphate is essential to the growth 

 of clover, and the phosphate to that of wheat. 

 Hence the efficacy of plaster of Paris and crushed 

 ijoutjH u:) tnanur«i9, 



