rOL.. XXII. Nl>. 43. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



1 



371 



gives his riirm into the hnnds of his successor, 

 t l!ii?re IS no necessity tor his invcslinfr, besides 

 s ni'Ces;!,iry sum, an annual amount in tlie pur- 

 ise of innniirt's, applied in such form and quan- 

 r, thai t!ie prolils resnllinij from them shall not 

 fully obtoincd tiU 10 or 15 years have run their 

 irse. He has already invented a considerable 

 ti, which is now lyinij idle; he surely is not aux- 

 s to »('d Id that sum, and allow iha increase to 

 as }on'T d )rMiaht as that to which it is added. 



From the London Gardener's Chronicle. 



[EORY A.\D PRACTICE OF MANURING 

 LAND. 



Under this head I propose to discuss the best 

 ans of retaining or increasing the fertilizing 

 •per'li 3 of manures. ■ 



Plaii'.s, havinir no power of locomntion, must have 

 ir food supplied to them upon the spot where 

 y groH-. Now, as from nothinn; it is clear noth- 

 ■ can be made, so is it equally certain that the 

 in, leives, straw, and roots of a stalk of wheat, 

 at hhie derived the materials of which their 

 ric is composed, either from the earth in which 



roots are planted, or from the atmosphere in 

 ich the straw, leaves, and grain grow. Now, 



have only to apply the same truth to difFerent 

 Is of which a plant is composed, and instead of 



iiig that as a whole it derives its material from 



earth oi air, we prove that it must have carbon 

 I the elements of water for its starch and sui;ar, 



addit' in of nitrogen for its gluten or albumen, 

 isphUe of lime and magnesia for the husk of its 

 ■d, and silicate of potash for its straw; and we 

 re only further to prove that these elements 

 St be present for one crop, and with variations 

 omissions are essential for another, and also 

 .t by tiie addition of individual elements, we can 

 reasf! tiie quantity of individual produce, as 

 )le fur gluten, carbonaceous matter for starch, 

 we hnve only to prove this, and we arrive at 

 je at the foundation of Agricultural Chemistry, 

 the basis of those great principles which must 

 3r guide the scientific farmer, in a judicious ap- 

 cali'jri of manures — tiie food of plants. A mo- 

 m's rt. lection, too, will convince any one who 

 nks it worth while to consider the subject at all, 

 :t the cause of failure, which we so often hear of 

 the application of manures, arises from the want 

 atteitlon to these principles. 

 Let us take an example : — A farmer is anxious 

 try a certain manure: we will say nitrate of so- 

 or I ilash, lie applies it to his land according 

 the prescribed rules of so much ppr acre. 

 Now the nitrate acts as a manure principally, if 

 ; entirely, by supplying the alliali, soda, or pot- 

 1 to the soil. The Cerealia (wheat, barley, &c.) 

 lausf the soil of alkali, because a union of it 

 :h silicic acid, is necessary for the stiffness of 

 ! stalk ; and this, I may observe, en passant, is 

 ! causa of the green, rank appearance of the 

 lii) crops to which the nitrates are applied. 

 But it may happen, and does frequently happen, 

 .t there is no deficiency of alkali in a soil. 

 >w in such a case it is obvious that the applica- 

 n of 'he nitrate must fail. Another farmer ap- 

 es It wlicre ihc alkali is deficient, and it suc- 

 3ds : I ^nce the discordance in experiments, of 



ich we hear so much. 



I wiU take a second example: A crop of turnips 



man^' Id-wurzel, or potatoes, is manured in part 



with guano aid azotiscd manure, and in part willi 

 good rotten stable manure, and the crop from the 

 last nariied is tiie best. Another crop of wheat, 

 barley, or beans, shall be manured in a ^ilnilar way, 

 and that from the guano succeed best. Now in 

 these cases the results are strictly in accordance 

 with chemical focts ; and yet the experimenter who 

 fails on the turnip crop, rejects the guano as a 

 useless expenditure. 



Theio is another source of apparent failure and 

 consequent disappointment in the use of guano and 

 artificial manures, which cannot be too strongly 

 dwelt upon: I mean the fallacy of judging the ef- 

 fect of uiaiiures by appearances. If wheat is ma- 

 nured with rotten stable manure and guano, or 

 nriiie, the plants from the stable manure will have 

 the freshest, gieencst, and strongest appearance: 

 but notwithstanding this, the grain from the guano 

 will be the best sample, superior both in quality 

 and quantity to that in the other experiment. 



Experiment, sound co-operative experiment, is 

 the means by which these principles can be proved 

 true or false ; but no good results will ever be ob- 

 tained by putting a bushel of this or that manure 

 at random upon the first crop that comes to hand, 

 and judging of the result Irom mere appearances; 

 on the contrary, much mischief may arise, and a 

 certain retardation of the application of one of the 

 most interesting and important of the sciences to 

 Agriculture. Mr Pusey, was, to a certain extent, 

 right, when he stated that the experiment of the 

 Duke of Richmond was the first real contribution 

 of Chemistry to Agriculture. But this was not 

 the fault of the science, but of those who have un- 

 dertaken experiments. An experiment, as Liebig 

 has observed, is the expression of a thought ; and 

 whether this thought is that of the chemist or the 

 farmer, it is quite impossible to prove its soundness 

 unless the minutest details are attended to. 



C. R. BREE. 



ANALYSES OF AFRICAN GUANO. 

 In the London Gardeners' Chronicle, of March 

 23d, we find the following analysis of the newly 

 discovered African guano, which, it will be seen, 

 diffi'ra very materially from the analysis of Dr. 

 Davy, given on our first page. Dr. D. could de- 

 tect in the African guano no urate of ammonia, 

 whereas the analysis below, gives to it 52 parts 

 (out of 100) of " ninmoniaca I salts, chief y urate and 

 phosphate of ammonia." The Peruvian guano has 

 been found to diifer considerably in quality, and 

 the same may be the case with the African, and 

 hence the wide disagreement in the analyses : 



" We are enabled, by the kindness of a friend, 

 to give an analysis of Guano from Ichaboe, West- 

 ern Africa, as obtained by MrHuson, of Liverpool : 

 Moisture (water) - - 10.5 



Free ammonia ... 6.5 



Ammoniacal salts, chiefly urate and phos- 



phate of ammonia - - - 52 



Carbonate of lime - - - 6 



Organic (animal) matter, with phosphate 

 of lime, traces of oxide ol iron, and an 

 inappreciable amount of silica, - 10 



1(10. 



If this analysis is correct, (observes the editor 

 of the Chronicle,) there can be no doubt that the 

 substance is of great value." 



Ill ihc same paper, of March 13th, we find two 

 more analyses of the African guano — one by An- 



drew Ure, M. D., F. R. S., Proftssor of Chemis- 

 try, London ; the other by Prof Ilcrepath, Uristol — 

 which, lor the sake of coiiiparis on, we subjoin. It 

 is proper to state that the samples were from dif- 

 ferent islands. 



Dr. lire's .'Inalysis. 

 "This is the first sample of clean guaro from 

 .Africa which I have seen. 100 parts contain 10 

 of ready formed ammonia, equivalent to about 32 

 parts of anl ammoniac, and to nearly 40 of sulphate 

 of ammonia. 100 parts contain 21 1-2 of moisture, 

 separable by the heat of boiling water ; 100 parts 

 lose 50 parts of volatile saline and organic matter, 

 including the 10 parts of ammonia, by a red heat, 

 besides the 21 1-2 of water, and leave 28 1-2 of 

 white matter, which is chiefly phosphate of lime. 

 100 parts contain only 1 of siliceous sand, showing 

 the guano to be the genuine excrement of birds. 

 The whole constituents nioy be thus stated : 



Saline and organic matter, containing 10 



parts of pure ammonia - - ."iO.O 



Water - - - . - 21.5 

 Phosphate of lime and magnesia, as also 



potash .... 26.0 

 Silica - - - - - 1.0 



Sulphate and muriate of potash - - 1.5 



100. 



Prof. Htrepath's Analysis. 



"I have analysed the sample of African guano, 

 and find that it is quite equal to that of Peru of 

 good quality. The results are below ; but I have 

 not particularized those matters contained in it 

 which agriculturists do not yet know the value of: 

 all those which are known tube beneficial are — 



Phosphate of lime - - 21 parts. 



Soluble phosphates, with a little com- 

 mon salt, - . - - 8 



The elements of ammonia - - 11 



Other matters, almost entirely organic 00 



100 parU. 



To Protect Vines from Bugs. — A subscriber 

 communicated to us a (ew days ago, a fact relative 

 to the destruction of such bugs and winged insects 

 as are injurious to encumber and melon vines, &.c. 

 He has practiced it for several years, and found it 

 very effectual in protecting the plants from the de- 

 structive ravages of these insects. The method is 

 as follows : Just at evening, he kindles a small 

 fire, (or if the patch be large, several may be nec- 

 essary,) that will blaze freely, in some convenient 

 place, where it will not injure the plants. He 

 then, by brushing the plants, alarms the bugs, so 

 as to cause them to take wing, when they fly di- 

 rectly into the fire, and are destroyed. — H'estern 

 Far. ($• Gard. 



IPatering Fruit Trees. — There is great danger 

 in over-watering. The newly transplanted tree 

 will generally, from its innate vigor, push its leaves 

 well, and until tliey are fully expanded, retain their 

 freshness: </ie)i, they call for a greater supply of 

 moisture than the atmosphere usually furnishes, 

 and in such case copious watering of the roots is 

 usually resorted to, which excites them to over- 

 action, followed, of course, by a corresponding de- 

 bility. The proper way is to water over the top 

 two or three times a day, with a watering-pot or 

 syringe. — Ibid. 



