AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 093 



by trituration, handling or decay. There must be contact of eacli 

 sensible particle of manure with particles or proximate atoms of 

 soil, to produce a high result. 



Thorough pulverisation, or liquifying of manures, combined 

 with complete pulverisation of soil, and then perfect mixture of 

 the two are absolutely necessary for the best use of manures. 



We then derive these general laws which govern the action of 

 manures upon vegetation, as useful though not as sublime as Kep- 

 ler's great laws which govern the heavenly bodies. Premising, 

 that to find these laws useful to us we must first know what ele- 

 ments of vegetation we need, by analysis of the soil. 



1st Law. All plants derive their nutriment from solutions or 

 gases, (and solubility is a necessity of gaseous formation,) and 

 manures are valuable in the ratio of their solubility, or the 

 chemical condition of the soil to render them so. 



2d Law. Manures must either be capable of solution or reduc- 

 tion to the gaseous state only in the quantity needed by plants, 

 or the soil must be fitted to absorb and retain, or neutralize 

 them. 



3d Law. Every sensible particle of manure must be divided 

 from another by sensible particles of soil— by manipulation or 

 liquifaction. Or in other words, the soil and the manure must 

 be thoroughly commingled and intermixed. 



Prof. Mapes, in reference to what Mr. Judd has said, remark- 

 ed, that he used charcoal dust and braize freely; has a load a day 

 of that made on the railroad. Covers manure heaps with it, and 

 thus stops all smell and escape of the ammonia. Covers a heap 

 of 500 barrels of rusty bad salt fish, and stops the smell. The 

 fish being mixed with gas lime, the spot where the barrels were 

 opened smelt bad from the liquor of the fish, he charcoaled that, 

 and it ceased. He puts muck in the charcoal in the rear of his 

 cattle, covers it with straw. The urine, &c., penetrate and mix 

 by the treading of the cattle, &c. He cleans all this out once in 

 about ten days, charcoal on it, puts in fresh muck, straw, &c. 



Dr. Field— I covered bad smelling fish with dry muck, and it 

 stopped the smell. 



Mr. Judd— Pulverized clay or saw dust, if moistened with 

 water will give the like results. It will retain the ammonia. 



Prof. Mapes— Alumina absorbs it. Many years, ago in one of 

 my public addresses, I mentioned that fact. Common soil also 

 absorbs the ammonia to some extent. 



Prof. Mapes moved as subjects for the next meeting— Pruning 



