460 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



" Your petitioner asks no privilege of your honorable body fur- 

 ther than the passage of the law, and will stock the waters afore- 

 said at his own expense, as he conceives it will be a great national 

 benefit, furnishing abundant food for the masses." 



An offer so munificent as this of Mr, Pell, should, and we trust 

 may, meet with the response it deserves. While so much is being 

 done in a variety of ways to ameliorate the evils attendant upon 

 a rapid increase of population; while objects of charity and 

 philanthropy make frequent, and we are happy to say not unheed- 

 ed calls upon the Legislature of our State, let this truly bene- 

 ficent enterprise, which will result in great good to all classes of 

 community, meet with the ready interest and attention which it 

 merits. 



The subject of the day viz : " Liquid and Solid Manures," was 

 then taken up. 



Robert L. Pell — Oui- subject to-day is the use of liquid and 

 solid manures. We all know that the mode of fertilising by 

 liquid manure is not of modern origin by any means, as the 

 Chinese at a very early period employed fermented soluble 

 manures. Virgil in his Georgics speaks of its practice in Italy. 

 Oato says a mixture of grape-stones and water were employed to 

 fertilise olive trees. Columella speaks highly of putrid water for 

 apple trees and vines, and modern writers unite in approving of 

 various liquid manures. Evelyn in his treatise on earth, gives 

 several receipts for liquid preparations, one of which is composed 

 of salt one part, and lime two parts, mixed together and allowed 

 to remain in a heap for three months, it is then mixed with water 

 and applied to the land. The yield of wheat after this treatment 

 is superior, the strength of straw great, and the yield in grain 

 heavy. All substances, earthy, organic, or saline, can only 

 become at once serviceable food of plants when presented to the 

 roots in solution. Though this may appear to you a sweeping 

 statement, yet it is really true; farm yard manure, muck, mag- 

 nesia, lime and silica must all be dissolved before vegetables can 

 absorb them. The Egyptian and Greek philosopjiers went sofar 

 as to assert that water was the only food of plants. In your 

 liquid preparations be careful not to use any poisonous ingredient, 



