aei 



114 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 3 



Scientific Agriculture.»Iietter V. 



MANCHEs. — crates; poudhettk; guano. 



One of my chief designs in these letters is to endeav- 

 or to elevate th« mind of the agriculturist, by bringing 

 him constantly and repeatedly in contact with the liigh- 

 er branches of the pursuit be follows. The names 

 Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, &c., may appear at first 

 puzzling to him, but by frequent collision with them, 

 and by the persuasion that they represent substances as 

 distinct, although not quite so tangible, as his own 

 plough or harrow, this appearance will wear off, and he 

 will be gradually brought to pay attention to their ope- 

 rations. When he becomes convinced that the ammo- 

 nia of his dung heap is its most valuable part, he will 

 exert himself to economise and save it in' every possi- 

 ble way. When, by practice and experiment on his 

 own farm, he becomes intimately acquainted with the 

 powers mi his men soil of the different ' artificial ma- 

 nures, of nitrate of soda, of Guano, or of the composts 

 under various names now regularly offered for sale as 

 raaniures in this and other countries, then will he dis- 

 cover the great value of the study of those principles 

 and laws, which, always found to be simplest when 

 best understood, nature has wisely ordained for the 

 regulation and connection of the animal and the veg- 

 etable kingdom ; a kingdom in the midst of which the 

 farmer passes his whole existence, and in whom, there- 

 fore, an ignorance of these laws is only to be excused 

 by want of the means of obtaining a knowledge of 

 them. I vriU then, at the risk of repetition, and in or- 

 der more clearly to elucidate what follows, recall a few 

 facts and principles already set forth in these letters, 

 and which cannot become too familiar to every one 

 connected with agriculture. They are that vegetation 

 iscliiefly composed of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and 

 azote or nitrogen, and that this latter substance is prin- 

 cipally useful in promoting the digestion of the food 

 absorbed by the vegetable, or in otjier words of convert- 

 ing this food into its substance and juices ; assimila- 

 tion, as it is most properly called ; hence that ij" a veg- 

 etable absorbs more food than it can procure Tulrorren 

 to assimilate, all such superabundance is worse than 

 useless, it is injuriojis. Frpm this it wiH be seen that 

 during the whole time a plant is growing, (which is 

 this action of assimilation) until the formation of the 

 flower and the fruit, it is necessaiy that aioie should 

 be supplied just as fast as, and for economy not faster 

 than it absorbs its foo^i ; that the more of this food is 

 healthily digested or assiinijated by means of .-iote, the 

 larger will be all the parts of the plant, and the greater 

 will be the quantities of saccharine and other juices 

 stored up in the stems, roots, &c., for conversion into 

 flower and fruit, and the larger and finer of course will 

 this flower and fruit be, provided th3 necessary heat 

 and sun light to ripen these juices be present, and the 

 requisite arrestation of growth of stem and foliage take 

 place as prescribed by nature previous to the formation 

 of these products. 



This statement renders quite clear the importance of 

 a constant and abundant supply of azote to vegetation, 

 and will therefore shew the value of urine as a manure. 

 Urine is composed chiefly of Urea wjth a few extreme- 

 ly useful salts, as sulphate and nitrate of potash, com- 

 mon salt, phosphate and acetate of soda, a little phos- 

 phate of lune, and a httle muriate and urate of afli- 

 monia. '' ' ' 



Urea, the chief ingredient of which i? unp acid, 



contains in 60 parts, 12 of Carbon, 



28 of Nitrogen, 



4 of Hydrogen, 



19 of Oxygen, 



60 



X7ric acid contains in 100 parts 



36.11 of Car'bon, 

 33,36 of Nitrogen, 



2.34 of Hydrogen, 

 28.19 of Oxygen. 



100 



This uric acid combines with various alkaline bases, 

 such as ammonia, soda, potash, &c., and forms salts 

 called urates, thus urate of ammonia, urate of potash, 

 &c. Now one great ftaturo of these urates is their 

 slow solubility in cold water, although some of them 

 particularly urate of ammonia, is very readily soluble 

 in hot water ; this is as though nature had said in 

 stamping them with this properly, "You are required 

 to supply digestive powers'to vegetation, and yourqual- 

 ity must be to dissolve only just as fast as you are 

 wanted." We shall see hereafter the value of Silex, 

 Lime, Potash, Soda, &c., with Iheir different salts ; on 

 these much|discussion does and always will exist ; they 

 are all good applications when the soil does not already 

 contain a sufficient quantity of them ; but no discus- 

 sion ever arises respecting animal manure containing 

 nitrogen, no farmer, whatever may be the quality of 

 his soil, ever doubts the value of this — on this the only 

 discussion which arises is as to its economical anplica- 

 tion. In our Chemical Laboratories by the applica- 

 tion of fierce fires, of concentrated acids and alkalies, 

 we can analyze various fubstances and exhibit to our 

 limited senses their constituent parts, and in many 

 cases we can gain some knowledge of their properties; 

 hut nature does not act thus, yet she analysps and sep- 

 arates the same ingredients, by action on infinitely mi- 

 nute particles, such as are entirely invisible to our most 

 powerful microscopic efforts. We analyze for exhibi- 

 tion, she for use. She analyses or forms combinations 

 and again separates these into their original particles, 

 just as they arc wanted hy the animal or the vegeta- 

 ble creation, but of her methods of so doing we are at 

 present profoundly ignorant ; our chief exertions must 

 be cor>fined to observe her operations and afford ample 

 ingredients for carrying them on. Thus soon after 

 animal urine is voided it begins to ferment ; urea and 

 uratep are formed; these, applied to the soil are acted 

 upon by plants, and their constituent parts, nitrogen, 

 oxygen, &c., with their alkaline bases, are separated by 

 them for their growth. The immense value of this 

 material is therefore quite evident, as is also the folly 

 of wasting it. The great practical knowledge now re- 

 quired, is to find the best way of preserving its virtues 

 until wanted for use, and the quantities in which to 

 apply it With the utmost economy and advantace on 

 soils variously constituted. Much experiment is still 

 needed to advance the present infancy of this great 

 practical -study. There is a substance existing in im- 

 mense beds of GO to 100 feet in thickness on the coast 

 of Peru, called Guano, pronounced somelliinir Uke 

 Huano, with which the people of that country have 

 time out of mind manured their almost barren, sandy 

 soil, and by the help of which they have raised good 

 crops of corn. The recent application of science to 

 agriculture, has caused this substance to undergo inves- 

 tigation for the purpose of ascertaining its value as a 

 manure. Amongst much other valuable information 

 contained in areccnt publication of Dr. Dana, of Low- 

 ell, ma^ be found the latest and most correct analysis 

 of Guanob^ Vpelckel. It contains in round numbers. 



About 31 per cent of eunmoniacal salts, (amongst 

 them urate of ammonia.) 



About 14 per cent of phosphate of lime, the chief 

 ingredient of bone dust. 



About 31 per cent of orgarjic substance:;, such as 

 will form hitmus or geine. 



About 30 per cent of salts of soda, potash, magpesia 

 and lime. 



About 4 per cent of sand and clay. 



So that according to our present knowledge, it would 

 hardly be possible to concoct a compound of greater 

 apparent power en vegetation. Its operations have 



consequently been found go valuable in England, that 

 about GO vessels are now employed in removing it there 

 from Peru, and it has taken its place in the price eur^ 

 rents of that country as an article of standard valub. 

 The London price current of the 24th May, obser.es, 

 " Guano is now dull of sale, though offered at th 2 re- 

 duced price 'of £lo to £16 sterling, about $G0 to S64 

 per ton" of 2240 lbs., it used to sd\ for about 8^80. Not- 

 withstanding its immense quantity, it can hardly be 

 any thing ejse but the excrements of birds, urates nev- 

 er having been /ound naturally formed, except in ani- 

 mal excrement. It will be obsened to contain many 

 of the ingredients of urine. I am not aware that any 

 expetiments have been yet made on this substance in 

 this country, but having, by the kindness of a friend, 

 received about a pint of it, just arrived here direct from 

 the coast of Peru, I have applied it to different plants 

 in quantities varying from one sixtieth to one hundreth 

 part of the soil. Two or three plants of delicate hab- 

 its to which the smallest quantity has been applied, 

 have in 14 days been killed by its too great power; 

 other plants of more robust habit, are evidently getting 

 of a deeper green color in their leaves — all have been 

 most copiously supplied with water. Dr. Lindley, in 

 the London Gardeners' Gazette, states that not much 

 is yet known there on the subject, but advises trials 

 to be made by solutions of it in water ; this method, 

 however, is evidently inapplicable to large agricultural 

 operations, besides it is dissolving out the soluble salts 

 and applying them alocie by themselves — whereas by 

 intimately mixing with the earth and copiously water- 

 ing, the roots can act on the substance in the way 

 most congenial to their nature, and the salts are also 

 dissolved. The best way, probably of using it on a 

 large scale, would be either by luLxing it thijily spread 

 throughout the manure heap, or strewing it seantiljr 

 over the ground previous to ploughing. From its in» 

 tense smell and appearance, it must be a very strong 

 manuie, but to what vegetation it will be most advan- 

 tageous, and how best applied, will require some expe- 

 rience to decide upon. Oiher artificial manures called 

 Poudrettes, are norw commonly known here; they are 

 or ought to be chiefly compounded of night soil ,wij}» 

 or without animal offal, prepared so as to retain the am- 

 monia, which, although not the only, is yet the cliief 

 valuable ingredient. It is obvious that its effects will 

 depend on the proper preparation which it undergoes 

 and on its freedom from adulteration of other substan- 

 ces of little va,lue as manure. 



Nitrate of soda, with several other salts of impor- 

 tance in commerce, are found in large quantities in the 

 province of Tp.rapaca, Peru, where it never rains. — 

 This district has been visited by Mr. Blake of this city, 

 and much valuable intelligence obtained. Dr. Dau- 

 bany, well known in England for the unremitted ap- 

 plication of liis scientific attainments to the promptioij 

 of agriculture, is about quitting England for the pur- 

 pose of visiting this spot; so that agriculturists may 

 perceive that scientific persons are every where bend- 

 ing all their energies towards the improvement of the 

 cultivation of the soil; it behoves them, therefore, not 

 to be behind hand in endeavoring to second, by their 

 practical eipeijment, the efforts of these worthy co- 

 laborers. ' J. E. T. 



Boston, July, 1842. 



.Additional on Daniels' Patent mannre. 



In my last letter I gave you my ideas respecting Mr. 

 Daniels' new manvire; since then, I have received the 

 speciticaiion of the pMent ; here it is a litUe abbrevi- 

 ated. 



The substances are divided into three classes : 



First ; Ligneous matters, (say sawdust of any wood) 

 also peat, straw, and weeds of any kind. 



Second: Bituminous matters; these are, mineral 

 soal, (not antljracite, I am siu?e ,although this is not so 



