4'?2 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JUI.Y 1, is«0. 



From the Journal of the English Agricultural Society. 



ON THE USE OP SALTPETRE AS MA- 

 NURE. 



BY GEORGE KIMBERLET, ESq. 



To take a retrospective view of the use of salt- 

 petre (or nitrate of potash) as a manure, may well 

 at the present day be considered superfluous, but 

 it may not be amiss to remind the reader that salt- 

 petre was known and used as long since as the 

 time of Virsfil, and we tind a notice or hint of the 

 effects of nitre or nitrous water worth the attention 

 •f farmers in the Si/lra of Bacon, published in the 

 year 1670. Kvelyn also understood some of the 

 advantages of saltpetre as a manure ; it has also 

 been tried and reported on by various anthois down 

 to the year 1828, when, in No. 3 of the Quarterly 

 Journal of Agriculture we find an account of its 

 ■se by William Hawkins, Esq., of Hi'chin, Hert- 

 fordsliire, where the e.xperiments appear very satis- 

 factory aiid conclusive. Since that time, though 

 the use of saltpetre has been partially continued, 

 yet it may he said, considering its value, that it has 

 been much neglected ; nor does it ever appear to 

 have been established as a standard auxilia- 

 ry manure. Mr Culhbcrt Johnson justly observes, 

 "tbat the agricultural uses of saltpetre have nut 

 have not been examined so carefully or generally 

 as they ought to have been." The neglect of so 

 valuable a fertiliser when there are thousands of 

 acres requiring such assistance, is most extraordina- 

 ry, and attempts have been made by different authors 

 to account for it. One supposes that the price 

 may have been an obstacle; another that it was 

 not obtained pure, and therefore the experiments 

 failed. But my observations on the use of artifi- 

 cial manures generally lead me to other conclusions, 

 and I think the history of saltpetre furnishes us 

 with the liistory of nearly all artificial, but particu- 

 larly saline manures, the use of which, I regret to 

 ebserve, has been successively and hastily adopted, 

 without reference in tnaiiy cases to season, soil, 

 climate, or quantity ; and as a few fortunate ex- 

 periments have started into a fashion the use of 

 these articles, so one or two unseasonable or im- 

 proper applications has at once condemned them 

 to neglect and oblivion ; and though from the ad- 

 vancement of science 1 should now hope for some 

 satisfactory result from the trial of that class of 

 fertilisers, I fear that the indiscriminate use to 

 which I daily see and hear of their being applied 

 will again end in their expulsion from that rank 

 in which they ought to stand, as great and useful 

 auxiliaries to our stock of known manures. It is 

 not my intention to make a compilation from the 

 various authors who have written on saltpetre, but 

 as all persons may not have seen the article above 

 mentioned in the Quarterly Journal, I may, I hope, 

 be excused for extracting so much of the report as 

 will give some weight to my own opinions,and direct 

 the attention of the public to so important a state- 

 ment It there appears that Lord Dacre and 10 

 other gentlemen and farmers have used saltpetre 

 for difl^erent periods, varying from 15 to ;J years, 

 on almost all sorts of crops, and though there are 

 some d'.flferences of opinion as to its merits as a 

 ■ manure for wheat, yet the wliole of the report may 

 be considered as conclusive of the value of saltpe- 

 tre as a top dressing ; but I beg to refer gentlemen 

 to the report itself, which will be found as above 

 mentioned. 



Now, as to my own experience, it was in the 



year 1827 that I first used saltpetre in any quantity, 

 and as it is my constant practice to try every arti- 

 ficial manure by some standard of known value, I 

 manured part of 14 acres of seeds in the auiumn 

 of J 826 with 10 cart loads of good dung per acre 

 leaving a portion in the centre of the field to be 

 dressed with saltpetre in the following spring. 

 The decomposition of the dung, and the protection 

 it hud atfiirded during the winter, caused the clover 

 thus manured to be very rank and forward in 

 growth, and far superior to the unuianured part, 

 whicli looked weak and bare. I liowever waited 

 till the c'over had just begun to grow, and ti.cn, 

 after having reduced the saltpetre to a fine powder 

 it was sown by hand on the land left for that pur- 

 pose. In about a fortnight from that time I went 

 to examine it, and could see distinctly where the 

 saltpetre had been used : it already surpassed the 

 part manured with horse-dung in tlie breadth of its 

 leaves, and richness of its color, which was chang- 

 ed to a very dark green, and it continued through 

 the season to grow with a luxuriance of vegetation 

 that produced a very large crop of clover, quite 

 equal, if not superior, to that of horse manure; nor 

 could we distinguish any difference in the value in 

 thesucceeding crop of wheat. The salpetre was 

 used at the rate of 1 cwt per acre ; cost, 26s. Gil. 

 in London ; carriage and sowing included, about 

 2'M. per acre. The horse manure from the fa.-m- 

 yard, 10 loads, or 25 yards, at \s. per yard ; cart- 

 age, 10.9. ; spreading, 2«. making a total of 5i. 13s. 

 per acre. The expense would have been much 

 increased had not the field been ner.r the farm. 

 The trial was on sandy land of moderate quality. 

 I eotild add a great number more experiments, 

 which would be but a repetition of the above, and 

 I have used it on spring corn with equal success. 

 I also recommended it to a friend who tried it on 

 oats, barley, and grass, and a few weeks after the 

 application I had an opportunity of inspecting the 

 crops, which were considerably higher and of a 

 much darker green where the saltpetre had been 

 used than the other parts of the fields, and were 

 judged to contain from 8 to 12 bushels of corn 

 more per acre. Its effects were equally striking 

 on the meadow. It was used at 1 cwt. per acre. 



Nitrate of potash, according to Thomson, con- 

 sists of 



1 atom of Nitric Acid 675 



1 atom of Potash 6-00 



13-75 



54-34 parts 

 45-66 



Or (in 100 parts) Nitric Acid 



Potash 



And it is said by Davy to contain I part of 

 Azote, 6 of Oxygen, and 1 of Potassium. 



It would be presumption were I to venture an 

 opinion on its mode of operation, nor for our pros- 

 ent purpose may it be necessary ; a v.ell authenti- 

 cated collection of practical facts are of more ser- 

 vice and better understood by agriculturists. It 

 may he asked, Do you use saltpetre now ? to whicli 

 I answer. Yes, and, while I require manure, proba- 

 bly always shall use it, but not by itself. I con- 

 sider saltpetre to be a necessary constituent and 

 valuable component part of all manures. I can 

 safely recommend its use alone as a top-dressing 

 on all crops, (except wneat which I have not tried* 



* When tried as a top dressing on wheal, it has been 

 found to increase tbe bulk of straw ; Iiut in many cases lo 

 occa!»ion mildew. 



clover and all trefoils particularly, and, as far as 

 my experience goes, as to the best method and 

 time of application, I think it should be finely pul- 

 verised and sown with care and legularity on corn 

 or grass, at the rate of. 1 cwt. to 1 1-4 cwt. per 

 acre, just when the crops begin to feel the influ- 

 ence of spring, and vegetation is making its first 

 efforts. Its effects then, particularly if the 

 weather is favorable, are as sudden as they are 

 gratifying, and the rapid change in the color and 

 growth of the crop gives ample and satisfaclory 

 proof of its almost miraculous powers. 



GEORGE KIMBERLEY. 

 Trotsworlh, Surrey, ATov. l^th, 1839. " 



From the Third Report on the Agriculture of Massachusetts. 



ON PLOUGHING IN CROPS FOR MANURE. 



Boston, March ^5, 1840. 



Dr S. L. Dana — Di-ar Sir — Two successful and 

 experienced farmers, one in Franklin and one in 

 Berkshire county, have come to the conclusion that, 

 in turning in crops by way of enriching the land, 

 more benefit is derived, that is, tlie fertility of tlie 

 land is more advanced by ploughing in a crop after 

 it has become dried or dead, than by- turning it 

 in its greatest luxuriance and greenness. One of 

 them showed me the results of an experiment tend- 

 ing to this point, which appeared strongly to favor 

 his conclusions. A well-established fact is better 

 than the most elaborate hypothesis ; and prejudices, 

 however strong, must yield to facts. 



.Mlow me under these circumstances to inquire 

 whether, upon your principles or pliilosophy of veg- 

 etation, there occur to yon any good reasons for a 

 result so much at variance with popular opinion. 

 Your views in full on this subject, will add to the 

 obligations under which you have already laid tho 

 public and your respectful friend and servant, 



HENRY COLMAN. 



Loicell, Marches, 1840. 



Deah Sir — The results referred to in your let- 

 ter are opposed to the common opinion. Common 

 opinion, especially in agriculture, is not always 

 founded on observation. It is oftcner prejudice, 

 than opinion ; and when inconsistent with well 

 known facts, has not its source in observation or 

 experiment. The whole resolves itself into this, 

 dry plants give more geine than green. This fol- 

 lows from the little we know of the process termed 

 " fermentation ;'' 1 use the term as commonly ex- 

 pressive of the spontaneous decay of vegetables. 

 It includes the three stages of vinous, acid and pu- 

 trefactive fermentation. These are not necessarily 

 dependent, following in regular progression. They 

 are not cause and effect. Putrefaction may com- 

 mence first, and it is so different from the other 

 two, in all its stages and products, thai the term 

 "fermentation" ought never to have been applied - 

 to it. The greater part of vegetables are suscep- 

 tible of putrefaction only ; a small number becoiiie 

 acid at once, and a still smaller number ever under- 

 go vinous, acetous, and putrefactive fermentation. 

 Fermentation then, in its widest sense, will help us 

 to understand how dry crops may be better i.la- 

 nures than green. Let us glance at the principles 

 and products of fermentation. 



1st, What vegetable substances are susceptible 

 of the vinous fermentation, and what are its pro- 

 ducts ? 



The juices only which contain sugar or starch. 



