228 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JAN. 17, 1844 



DANA'S PRIZE ESSAY ON MANURES. ] 



Extinct from llie Report of the Committee appointed 

 by the Trwitees of the Mass. Sucietij for Promo- 

 ting ^gricidture, to award the Premium for the 

 best Dissertation upon Manures, and their appli- 

 cation to the various Soils in this Commonwealth. 

 Thn aiitlior of the fullowinp Essay upon the ap- 

 plication of Chen-iisti V to Agriculture, is known to 

 be one of the most scientific and best practical 

 chemists of the country ; a man of genius ; a gen- ; 

 tleman, loo, who has done more to advance the 

 science of Chemistry as applied to Agriculture, 

 than any other man in America. It is intended tn ' 

 be written in plain lang^iiage, such as most farmers 

 can understand, if tht-y give their attention to it. 

 The principles laid down are generally such as are 

 well established, and no longer doubtful. The 

 great object, however, of the Essay is, to bring in- 

 to more general notice a theory, and a practice 

 growing out of it, suggested some years since by 

 the author, which has received the sanction of 

 some of our practical farmers, who have tried it 

 under his direction. 



If the author is correct, common peat, when 

 mixed with soda, potash, or ammonia, in the pro- 

 portions given by him, would be, on most soils, 

 equal, as a fertilizer, lo the common manures used 

 by the farmer. 



Should his views be hereafter fully sustained by 

 experiment, it will lead, we thinl;, to the greatest 

 improvement that has ever taken place in the Ag- 

 riculture of the State. A cord of peat earth can 

 often, with us in Massachusetts, be obtained from 

 from the meadows, as easily as a cord of manure 

 from tlie bnrn-cellar; and one dollar's worth, or 

 twenty pounds of soda ash, would, according lo 

 the aullior, make the one equal lo the other. 



The theory on which the author founds this 

 practice is, that potash or soda may be substituted 

 for each other and for ammonia in the compost 

 heap, without detriment. To Ibis theory we can- 

 not, at present, subscribe. ■ But wliether they 

 adopt this theory of the author's or not, most of 

 cur farmers who may read this Essay, will, we be- 

 lieve, receive both profit and pleasure from the pe- 

 rusal. 



We therefore recommend, that the Society's 

 premium of One Hundred Dollars, be given to 

 Dr. Samlel L. Dana, for the best Dissertation 

 upon Manures, and their application to the various 

 soils of this Commonwealth. 



ESSAY. 



Section First. 



Clearing and Breaking up, and making Compost. 



There is one thing settled in farming — stable 

 manure never fails. It always tells. There are 

 no two ways about it. There is here neithertheo- 

 ry, nor speculation, nor doubt, nor misgiving. 

 "Muck it well, master, and it will come right," is 

 an old proverb. It is considered a fact so well es- 

 tablished, that nobody thinks of disputing it. 

 There is advantage in asking why barn-yard ma- 

 nure never fails. The answer is easy : It contains 

 all that plants need for their growth. If we know 

 then what plants contain, we can easily tell what 

 is in manure. The whole doctrine of manures, 

 then, falls into two plain principles, on wliicli hang 

 all the law and the •* profits" of agriculture : — 



1. Plants contain and need certain substances 

 which are essential to their growth. 



2. Manure contains all those substances which 

 plants want. 



If, then, we would find out what it is which ma- 

 nure contains that makes plants grow, we must 

 first find out what a grown plant contains. This 

 cannot be done without some little, a very little, 

 knowledge of chemistry. Do not be startled, 

 reader. I suppose that you may know nothing of 

 chemistry — no, not even its terms. As a very 

 sensible man, who wrote letters on Botany to a 

 young lady, said, to encourage his pupil, it was 

 possible to be a very good botanist without know- 

 ing one plant by name, so is it possible lo become 

 a very good agricultural chemist without knowing 

 little more than the chemical names of a very few 

 substances. You know nothing of chemistry, it 

 may be, and as little of law ; yet you will go to 

 law, and learn some of its terms by a dear-bought 

 experience. The law terms are harder to learn 

 ihan the chemical terms. Now I fear that some 

 persons who have followed me thus far, will shut 

 up the book. It is, they say, all stutf, book-farm- 

 ing, and beyond us. It' one may not understand 

 what manure is without this learning, we may as 

 well begin where our fathers ended, and that was 

 where our forefathers began ages ago. By a little 

 law, however, picked up as a juryman, or witness, 

 selectman, town-clerk, justice of the peace — yea, 

 perhaps, by hearing an indictment read — men do 

 come to understand what a lawyer means when he 

 talks. So, too, by a little chemical talk, a man 

 may learn what a chemist means when he talks of 

 oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine, and carbon ; 

 potash, soda, lime — (all these are old friends ; the 

 very names make us feel at home again) — alumina, 

 magnesia, iron, manganese, and silex, sulphur, and 

 phosphorus. Here is a long list. Long as it is, 

 perhaps it will be thought worth learning, when 

 you are told that these are the names of all the 

 substances found in plants, every substance which 

 they want. Out of these is made every plant. 

 Every pari of every plant, from the hyssop on the 

 wall to the mountain cedar, contains some or all 

 of these. Be not disheartened. Look over, read- 

 er, the list again carefully ; see how many are old 

 names of things which you know. Of the four- 

 teen, you know nearly one-halt by name and by 

 nature. These are, potash, soda, lime, magnesia, 

 iron, sulphur. Perhaps you will add, that you 

 know carbon is coal, or rather coal carbon. ^ oii 

 have heard, from some travelling lecturer at your 

 town lyceum, that oxygen and hydrogen together 

 form water ; that oxygen and nitrogen form the 

 air you breathe; ihal nitrogen and hydrogen form 

 ammonia, or sal volatile, which gives the sharp 

 smell lo the smelling-botilc. Besides, the thing 

 has been said so often, that you must have heard 

 it, that chlorine, the substance which bleaches in 

 bleaching salts, united to soda makes common salt, 

 or if chlorine is united to ammonia, sal ammoniac 

 is formed. Now, by changes and combinations 

 among these fourteen things, nature makes every 

 thing we find in plants. Many of these are invisi- 

 ble to us, as is the air. The substance called 

 chlorine, perhaps you have never seen, but if you 

 ever smell it you will never forget il. It is often 

 smelt in a piece of bleached cotton, when opened 

 in the shops. It gives the smell lo bleaching 

 powder, used lo disinfect the air during caolcra 

 and other diseases. If you could see it, it would 

 appear merely a faint yellowish green air. It is 

 all-powerful on veguialion. As it forms a part of 

 common salt, say half of its weight, we may dis- 



miss the furlher consideration of it by saying, ih, 

 in some shape or other, chlorine is universally d 

 fused in soil and plants. 



The list above may be divided as follows: fir 

 the airy or volatile; secondly, the earths and mi, 

 als ; thirdly, the alkalies; fourthly, the infiamii 

 bles. Only the third and fourth divisions requ 

 to be explained or defined. The substances call 

 potash and soda, are termed alkalies. Tliey i 

 said to have alkaline properties. Touch yc 

 tongue with a bit of quick-lime, it has a hot, bui 

 ing, bitter taste. These are called alkaline prop( 

 ties. Besides these, they have the power of cc 

 bining with, and taking the sour out of, all si 

 liquids or acids — that is, the acid and the alk 

 neutralize each other. This word alkali is of A 

 bic origin : its very name shows one of the propi 

 ties of alkalies. '• Kali" is the Arabic word 

 bitter, and " al" is like our word super — we s 

 fine and superfine; so kali is bitter ; al kali,supt 

 latively bitter, or truly alkali means the "dregs 

 bitterness." 



I wish, reader, for your own sake, as well as i 

 own, thai you should fix in your mind what I ha 

 said about alkali and alkaline properties. Alk 

 is a general term. It includes all those substa 

 ces which have an action like the ley of wood ae 

 ea, which you use for soap. making. If this ley 

 boiled down dry, you know it forms potash. Ni 

 lime fresh slaked has the alkaline properties 

 potash, but weaker, and so has the calcinfd ma 

 nesia of the shops, but in less degree than liii 

 Here we have two substances, earthy in their loi 

 having alkaline properties. They are called, thei 

 fore, alkaline earths. But what we undcrsta 

 chiefly by the term alkalies, means potash, soc 

 and ammonia. Potash is the alkali of land plant 

 soda is the alkali of sea plants; and ammonia 

 the alkali of animal substances. Potash and so 

 are fixed, thai is, not easily raised in vapor by fi 

 Ammonia always exists as vapor, unless fi.ved 

 something else. Hence we have a distinct) 

 among alkalies which is easily remembered. Tl 

 distinction is founded on the source from »hi 

 they are procured, and upon their nature wh' 

 heated. Pota.sh is vegetable alkali, derived frt 

 land plants ; soda is marine alkali, derived frc 

 sea plants; ammonia is animal alkali, derived frt 

 animal substances. 



Potash and soda are fixed alkalies; ainir:onia 

 a volatile alkali. Potash makes soft soap wi 

 grease, and soda forms hard soap. Amnion 

 forma neither hard nor soft — it makes with oil 

 kind of ointment used lo rub a sore throat wit 

 under the name of volatile liniment. Eiit tliouf 

 there be these three alkalies, and lv,o alkalii 

 earths, I want you to fix in your mind, reader, ih 

 they all have common properties, called alkalin 

 and which will enable you to understand their a 

 lion without more ado about their chemistry. 



The inflammables, or our fourth division, a 

 sulphur and phosphorus ; both used in makii 

 friction matches. The phosphorus first takes fi 

 by rubbing, and this sets the sulphur biirnii) 

 Now, the smoke arising from these is only the su 

 phur and phosphorus united to the vital part of it 

 common air. This compound of vital air, or ox; 

 gen, as it is called, and inflammables, forms acid 

 called sulphuric and phosphoric acids. Ko il yc 

 burn coal or carbon, it is well known you for 

 fixed air, or carbonic acid. That is, by biirnin, 

 the cool or carbon unites with the oxygen or vit. 

 part of common air, and forms carbonic acid. Tl 



