10 



THE AGRICT'LTrRAL GAI 3TTK. 



[ J a x. e. 



I est ami wont The over was m 

 the «- ptum in u» 



The I j were- q results obtained 





■ 



! o rn'* I. to irt jals. water 



lilt ,i A ,, , t 



! »0 „ B. t.»2'» ,, „ 



J IS „ „ 



V. ir» ,. C.1 ., „ 



'• . »5 M C.tO 15 „ 



VII. 



« * I V . 



r*AW 



Iff 



» 

 IM 



I OS 



115 



* 



P. 



s s 



f 1 



S 



3 



S 



1 



1 :« 



! 



s 



si 



i 



2 

 2* 



where practical chemiotry would be equally useless, because ii 



he trie > avail himself of such knowledge, he would be 

 ro likely to mislead himself, than to profit by his ex- 



farmers are taught how to analyse a soil in 

 a simple and accurate manner, and yet all the information 

 they could derive from snch an analysis, would amount 

 to no more than a good ploughman knows after walking 

 across a field ; nay, the result of such an analysis would 

 probably be of far less practical value than the plough- 

 man's opinion. 

 The chemistry which may benefit the farmer is neither 





lbs. 



isy 



5 



17 « 



From tl rc data Mr. Hree has made the following 



NO. 



nt 1 



p« 



R ACftl. 





»». CO. b. p. qr. 



1. 



' 







IS 1 3 



II 





13 



13 1 1 I 



III 



i 







i<> a i 



JV 





4 



111 S 3 



v. 



1 







10 1 1 



VI. 





4 



id a o a 



VII. 



m: 



• 



p 3 2 



WxiciHT rr.n f'o>m. 



■jrCr* liy mil rum. 





As I am not acquainted with the Cbondrometer, 

 I know t what < dence is to he renoaeil in tins 

 instr nt; but Mr. J e's ca.' lations are somewhat 

 at v- nice i !> t] results furnished to him ( 



abo by a practical man who examined his aaroph-s 

 bv it. f t is a little remarl : thatN< 3 should beat 

 JSo. i, in {his description uf scrutiny. 



Bo Car as th , these int< tits of 



Mr. liree afford good evidence for ir believing in 

 tl»e ironorti to the adiliiio i of a litti 



sulphuric acid to linuid manures; but Standing alone 



•a they at pm do, they ai nl no data by which 

 we may I) > elicit sny very positive informs 

 t g those fundamental ; \ upon which 



the*- f S ure mutt il !. h will m 



tyv\ »? i ration of the actual r 



obtained, than u considered to be nc 



aary for the \ tmlar of. :t 1 id in view, Ik e 

 any audi applications ot these exp its c be 



made ; lor in th present in nee np account ha 



been kept of the effect proiio 1 upon the Clover. It* 



a ind a horse were led upon a given quantity oi 



Corn, we must know h much each of them has 



devoui I before we could safely sp ulate upon the 



effect which the wl * amount had produced upon 

 f of tl .. ^ Mr. Hree s object, in this instance, ha 

 been ly answered by Ins proving the validity 



Li< 1 ; and* it may be left to par 3 



more directly in ,1 in the i rient of A -i 



culture to tj-oj rate in a of experiment to 



h*' d. ed, purpoae ^>f ascertaining wl tever 



1 r v ' 'I ti) their securing a just e lomy in 



pre It will bene, laary to de terra ii to what 



it the medicated urine should be diluted, and how 



often ir should be applied, for the purpose of securing 

 the!) at least cost. Time appears to be now 



an imports leu H winch farmers have to secure in 

 these i quiries ; for I see that Mr. Brande, in his late 

 lecture to the I al Agricultural Society, has declared 

 to be his tinion that the time is now arrived when I 



Chemist iy be mad ervjceable to Agriculture ; I 



and then i be few chemists who are better able to ' 

 form a ji -ment on this point than himself. But if 

 the time is arrived, no time should be lost. What a 

 different p hion will the Agricultural body be placed 

 in at I end of (a-) years, shoutd the fundamental 



prtHcip!e$ of the the ry of Agriculture have become 

 as well estal lied as those of many of the other 

 Indu ru~ as dyeing for instance, and sugar- 



ning, and brewing, &c— from that which they 

 must cor to i those prim all no't 



tlien have been ascertained .'—./. S. Htrulow. 





Manur res. 



Tnc labours of those Cher ts who have particular!,? 

 devoted tl elves to the Che istry of VegeUI « may 

 be divided i two classes the theoretical and the pra 

 tical : the f er including inquiries into the higher ar 

 more a c departments of Organic Chemistry, whilst 



the latter c insists chiefly of investigations into t! e 

 matters which are most immediately interesting to the 

 farmer ; the former seekin , discover the philosophies! 

 laws which govern the pr< s of nature, the latter 



merely endear ring to elucidate those laws, as far as may 

 be necessary in order to explain practice, and lead to its 

 improvement. Both these inquiries are of great value 

 though they have very different objects in view. The phi- 

 losopher who busies himself in searching out those great 

 laws of the universe, which at once exhibit the wisdom 

 and goodness of the Creator, feels comparatively little 



interest h the minor details of practical ex, mce : whilst 



the purely prac' ,1 man, even if he have the io nation, 

 has not time to follow the more abstruse inqairii >f the 

 former ; he will naturally ask, what ill i be the better 

 for snch knowledge? and how will it benefit me 2 



Those who would wish to make farmers chemists, propose 

 that which cannot be done, and which, if it could, would 

 do more harm than good. To teach a farmer the theories 

 of chemistry, r. Id be to give him information which I 

 would be totally impossible for him to applv ; and on the 





p Qsophica! chemistry nor the chemistry of the labora- 

 tory, but it is what may be called the chemistry of Nature. 

 Those simple and elementary rules which affect the ordi- 

 nary operations, either of Nature or art, constantly going 

 on before us. Such knowledge is useful to every one, 

 and. sooner or later, its value will become apparent. 



Every farmer is in the habit of using manure of some 

 kind or other ; he spreads over his land something which 

 causes the plants to grow more vigorously, and yield him 

 larger crops than he could obtain without it. A variety 

 of different substancet are used in different parts of the 

 c (try to produce this effect ; what then is the substance 

 or substances which these different manures contain — and 

 on what does their fertilizing power depend? Setting 

 aside, for the present, the mechanical effects which many 

 manures produce, and which are frequently very irapor- 

 Mt, let us briefly inquire what is the composition of the 

 ordinary kinds of mnnure. The great |bulk of manure 

 consists of decaying vegetable and animal matter, dead 

 plants, and a variety of substances of vegetable origin, 

 Which,, as they formerly constituted living plants, must 

 necessarily contain those matters which plants require. 

 When these vegetable or animal substances decay, for they 

 e very similar in eompo on, they are in part dissipated 

 into certain gases ; there is left after the escape of these 

 gases a quantity of dark-coloured charry-lookin? matter, 

 which i-* comparatively unchangeable, and bi des this 

 there remaius a small quantity of fixed earthy and Ifllii 

 substances, wi h all kinds of vegetable or animal matter 

 contain. The chemical elements of ordinary manure are 

 certain compounds of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, 

 and sulphur, and fixed salts. 



The rotting of vegetable substances in manures is just 

 the reverse of what takes place when plants grow, as they 

 are gradually se para t ed again into those very substance's 

 from which the plants were originally formed. In con- 

 sequence of the many abundant sources of those g B, 

 which form part of the food of plants, that exist all over 

 the globe, it follows that the air always contains a small 

 portion of them diffused throughout it, and hence phots 

 can always obtain from it the reasons substances which 

 they require ; nevertheless, SS the quantity present in the 

 air is always very small, the addition of "manures, which 

 ) Id more of these gases to growing plants than they 

 could otherwise obtain, is always useful. With regard to 

 the ear: and alkaline salts which plants contain, the 

 case is very different ; when we remove a crop, we take 

 away a quantity of these salts, and the soil, of course, 

 then contains less of them than it did before. There are 

 not the same means naturally provided to restore to the 

 soil these salts, as there are to restore to the air those 

 gases which are essential to the growth of plants. It is 

 true that fallowing does, to a certain' extent, restore the 

 soil to its original state, but without going into that sub- 

 ject, it is evident that it is even more important to supply 

 saline, than gaseous matter to plants. Both are import- 

 ant elements of manure, but the former is the most im- 

 portant, because the natural means which exist for keep- 

 ing up a regular supply of them to plants are less com- 

 plete than those which regulate the formation and distri- 

 bution of the gases. 



The old chemists of by-gone times used to marvel 

 greatly whence animals obtained the earthy substances 

 which constitute their bones; it is now known that all 

 animals which feed on plants obtain the phosphate of 

 lime, which conititutes the greater part of bone, from 

 plants. AH plants contain phosphates of lime and mag- 

 nesia, hence these are important constituents of manure. 



The manufacture ofpearlash and potash from plants has 

 existed for a very long time. Plants are burnt merely for 

 the sake of their ashes, which being rich in potash are 

 valued as a source of that alkali. AH plants contain 

 alkali, either potash or soda ; hence salts of these alkalies 

 are constituents of many of the best manures: and the 

 ashes of plants, rich in alkali, have always a beneficial 

 effect when applied to land. The earthy phosphates and 

 alkaline salts are the most important of the saline con- 

 stituents of manure. 



Looking at ordinary manures in a chemical point of 

 view, we may divide them into those which supply the 

 gaseous matters on which plants feed, those which supply 

 alkaline salts and phosphates, and those which supplv 

 both at the same time. Farm-yard dung is of the be S "t 

 kind and therefore it is adapted for all soils ; it contains 

 all that plants can want. Soot acts principally from the 

 gaseous matters which it supplies to plants ; whilst bones, 

 and more especially burnt bones, mav be taken as an 

 example of a manure which supplies earthy phosphates 



Bearing these facts la mind, it becomes of the first 

 importance to inquire what are the cheapest sources of 

 these substances, and how they can be furnished to plants 

 in the most economical and uniform manner.— E Solly 



great error, as to the quantity of seed m , n . 



tain extent of land. I have seen from three to four hlS* 

 of \\ t sown where three or four pe, would havT2? 

 sufficient j four or five bushels of Barlev sown where ri!2 

 or ten pecks would have sufficed, andfrora six to 

 bushels of O its where only two or three were requk!? 

 In this way a loss of a great quantity of seed is sustaS 

 by many farmers of the present day. ^* 



The crop of Wheat, I think, depends much upon tk 

 distance between the plants. In the experiments wkicU 

 ive made, I found that eight grains to a square foot »* 

 the quantify of seed which produced the best crop; then 

 were planted three inches apait in rows six inches wide, 

 and they produced from three to five large productive ** 

 each, with scarcely any abortive ones. I found, also, th* 

 this quantity of seed yielded 28 to 38 productive ears per 

 square foot, each ear thus having about four square inch^ 

 to grow in. When more than this numbergrew on a squut 

 foot, some of them were abortive and many of them small- 

 when a smaller number grew on that extent, they were loot 

 and coarse, there was a tendency to straggle over the grou3 

 annual seeds sprung up, and the Wheat was more liab*' 

 to disease, mildew, blight, &c. It may be said that 30 

 grains, each producing one stalk, might yield the same 

 number of bushels per acre as the 8 grains which produce 

 30 stalks; but in the one case, each plant lias only 4 

 square inches of ground for its roots to spread in — extend- 

 ing only 1 inch on each side of the plant, while in the 

 other each plant has 18 square inches of ground to supply 

 it with nourishment. In consequence of want of room 

 the plants are unable to throw out offsets in tiie spring; 

 the leaves being crowded, the straw gets soft and feeble, 

 and ultimately becomes laid, and then yields a crop defi- 

 cient both in quantity and in quality. Land that is in 

 >od condition always produces the best crop when the 

 plants appear thin in spring. I have found a bushel of 

 Wheat to contain 570,000 large healthy grains. Tha 

 estimate was made from the red- straw-white Wheat, 

 cleaned and prepared for seed, weighing 04 lbs. per bushel. 

 Now, there are 43,500 square ft. in an acre, and multiplying 

 this by 8, we have 348,480 grain*, or 2} pecks of Wheat, 

 as seed sufficient for an acre of land. To this, however, 

 should be added 1 or 1} peck as the quantity which we 

 may expect to be destroyed by birds, &c. We believe 

 that if firmer s were to reduce, on their good laud, the 

 quantity of seed Wheat they now use per acre down to 

 1 bushel, and if they were to dibble this in, their crop 

 would be increased in productiveness. — John jl/or.'o/*, 

 Chester-hill, Stroud. 



On the QUANTITY of SEED-WHEAT Per Acre. 



IT is quite necessary for us to be acquainted with the 

 habits of the plante we cultivate, before we can determine 

 upon the degree of closeness with which thev should s'and 

 together, so that, on soils of various fertility, the greatest 



would be totally impossible for him to apply; and on the together 10 th7nn Z • r ! e ' T> r ,,d « ! « n « 1 by their external appearance alone, from the siliceous 



other hand, to instruct him ia what is commonly called crop mai ^ and other 8tones * ith which *ey * re min § led ' ° f 



J crop may be obtained. Ignorance on tins point leads to six or seven of them given to me for Coprolites, thr* 



COPROLITES. 

 Coprolites are supposed to be the fossilised excre- 

 ments of animals, possibly of antediluvian origin. Mauf 

 specimens exhibit on their surfaces convoluted marks or 

 impressions, counterpart as it would seem to the internal 

 surface of the intestine, and they are rounded oif at the 

 extremities in such a form as shows that they must hare 

 been produced in the manner alluded to. But if the ex- 

 ternal evidence upon this point be strong, that afforded by 

 chemical analysis is conclusive. This reveals to us the 

 fact of their entire coincidence in composition with faeces of 

 animals now living, allowance being made for those changes 

 which the lapse of so many ages must necessarily produce. 

 j We have in them the earthy phosphates in much the 

 same proportion as they occur in bones, accompanied 

 sometimes by organic matter, though at other times this 

 seems to be wanting; this depending no doubt on the 

 greater or less exposure to the action of the elements. The 

 same circumstance is noticed with respect to fossilised 

 bones, which, having been protected by a strong envelope 

 from the causes of decay, have their organic matter (gela- 

 tine) intact, so that this may even b» extracted as from the 

 fresh bone, and soup prepared from these remains of a 

 former world. 



Bones, however, of far less antiquity than these, if ex- 

 posed to the air and the action of moisture soon rot, as 

 the farmer well knows ; their gelatine being converted into 

 gaseous compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and ni- 

 trogen. The bones which are imported from abroad into 

 the ports of London and Hull have lost much of their 

 organic matter, so that their action upon crops must be 

 attributed almost entirely to their phosphate of lime. This 

 view is corroborated by Mr. Hannani's experiments on 

 bones, burnt and unburnt, in which he obtained the same 

 weight (within a fractional quantity) of Turnips frgai ft 

 quarter of each. Thus the opinion of Professor Liebigas 

 to the r 1st importance of phosphates as a manure for the 

 soil of Great Britain, is borne out by experiment, and it 

 would appear that they are still more essential than even 

 ammonia itself. 



Coprolites then, if they could easily be had in sufficient 

 quantities, and could be reduced economically to a fit 

 state for the purposes of the agriculturist, would be to 

 him a treasure indeed. I am sorry to say, however, that 

 with Professors Buckland, Henslow, and others, I fear the 

 sanguine statements on this subject, of the great German 

 chemist, will never be realised. 



The specimen upon which I operated was sent me by 

 Mr. Deck, of Cambridge, a very clever geologist and 

 chemist. He exhibited, in conjunction with Prof. Hen' 

 slow (who read a paper on the subject), a nnmber of 

 Coprolites obtiained from the Suffolk crag. They were 

 found embedded In the cliff, at Felixstow, and numbers 

 more were found mixed with the pebbles on the beach, 

 where they had been exposed, as the rounded form 

 bespeaks, to the same rolling process. t 



The Coprolites are thus difficult to be distinguished 

 by their external appearance alone, from the siliceous 

 and other stones with which they are mingled. Of 



