THE 



,^-nTniTLTURAL GAZETTE. 



ov. i 



~. v by-^fcSSnrS^SSdpto. of modern science 

 U1 - ' U J .. • • - *+^f^n in aiiv new discovery 



= ^J^r^m^fthe notions so gravely i "*"";'' ^ ie time inviting attention to any new uihtuv^ 



Lht is considered as especially conhned to vi , 



riffht is consiaerea as ^p^'«»v ~~; p . n( j 



W to b. foand in Tippj^ U* J Og^ 



Csvan, and principally on the estates oi 



Mr K.N.-.UD, one of the most extensivejand agents 



riband, accounts for ^.-jJ^'thS 

 the comparative lownes. of the rent, charg 



^^^^ * ^science; yet it may 



%" ti0 aUllXCo 8 ing no important omissions to 

 J^JZS in the S3, out of ) the outhm , I had 

 originally sketched, the pupil will thus have ha 

 an opportunity of obtaining some acquaintance with 

 an opponu j agriculture, as bear 



such departments, at ieas>6 01 "& , , '. „ r^™ 



sum " f . . , admit of any elucidation irom, 

 any connection with, or aumu in <" / 



fairly ascribable to the formermay iurDisiTS 

 like a T "~"'-""" "*" * u " -._.— -r ,i P 



which 



measure of the value of those scientificiS? 1 

 the latter were deficient. nc *"» * 



r not be amiss occasionally to take up 



the subject in a different point of view, by bringing 

 together within the scope of a single lecture some of the 

 ^reTmportLnt inventions .and discoveries .by meansof 



w£ dEm^ haTlStai the art of culture ; thus 

 1 ul I? P n,oura<rement to the further prosecution of 



holding out encourag 

 science, by an 



estimate of what lias been already accom- 



clairas of old and industrious tenants. 



The authors very forcibly expose the extrav agance 

 of tn datr ^forward" in manj ro*»» >, and 



StnTTre to3 thJt they' have prescriptive JE^&~^ instrumentality. 



2X5 totho aoT for which they perhaps pay no rent P Tliis indee l is the professed aim of those able 



«d that they are entitled to compensation for 



£££* which exist hut in i-gi-tion -d 



SSch there is not even the intention of effecting, it 



certainly time to put a stop to such unreaso-b 



deficient . 



It must moreover be recollected, that the val 

 diffusing sound scientific information amongst tfijf 

 cultural public is felt, not merely i a the attainmeafrf 

 truth, but likewise in the exclusion of error • aid 

 it does, our progress in the right direction, 'and r 

 same time guarding us against being led away U tk! 

 ignis fatuus of quackery and fanciful hypothesk. I 

 as in medicine, a contempt for scientific prindpU^ 1 

 apt to engender a belief in homoeopathy, m< 



reviews 



and other mystical departments of the craft • so * 

 ignorance of the true principles of scientific husbai^ 

 leaves the mind open for the reception of anyo2 

 hypothesis in vogue at the time, which may chanetfr 

 take hold of the imagination. m 



This indeed, is the pro. ... 



deSSg the progress" of agricultural _ knowledge, jhicli 



chimeras by legislative authority, and yet to secure 

 concession by the landed proprietary of tenants 

 claims of recompense for real outlay on permanent 



mprovements. „ _ , . . , . 



The authors are of opinion that the tenant-right 

 of Ulster is the effect and not the cause of the tran- 

 quillity of that province ; that it has arisen from the 

 mutual confidence which has subsisted between 

 landlord and tenant in that province— where there 

 is generally such moral and social superiority— that 

 it is unsuitable for other parts of Ireland differently 

 circumstanced j and in fact " incapable of existing 

 elsewhere," because in Ulster alone there is a great 

 number of small manufacturing capitalists, who are 



. .1 ' .'_ ♦Urx «-i.-iv>nllOC£k At 



have from time to time emanated from the pen of Mi. 

 Pusey tlTe latest of which appeared in the « Journa of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society," about the close of the 



tne xv y g ^ ^ ^.^ ^ m ^ sal f that 



^S/SSorC which rentes to the scientific part of 

 fembt, I can understand, that many have gathered 

 „ I amlold has been the case, from the general tenor and 

 spirit of his remarks, an impression, that chemistry has 

 in fact done but little for the improvement of agricul- 

 ture ; and I therefore am not surprised, that a foreigner, 

 who stands confessedly foremost amongst the cultivators 

 of that science, and especially of that branch of it which 

 has the nearest relation to agriculture, should have at 

 first taken umbrage at certain passages, which, viewed 

 by themselves, seem to convey a meaning which 1 leei 

 convinced would be repudiated by scientific farmers m 

 general, and by none more than by the distinguished 

 editor of a journal, whose motto is - Practice with 



S7to^inv^t'tireir savings In the purchase of Sci | nce ^ , gee no t reason to object to 



« tenants' good will," in little farms suited to ^eir Jo^^ ^ ^^^^ rfghtly understood 



and regarded with reference to the purely practical 

 object which its framer professesto have in view, except 

 only that I should be unwilling to admit that the mineral 

 theory of manures has "broken down," because the par- 

 ticular mineral specific founded upon that ^theory may 



if the 



means. 

 But some of the people of Ulster are not now 



satisfied with the liberal treatment they have so 

 long received from their landlords, who— we have 

 Lord Londonderry's authority for this 

 tenants desired to quit a farm, received full com- 

 pensation at a valuation, open to public opinion, for 

 any outlay, and liberty to substitute another tenant. 

 They are agitating for fixity of tenure, and a right 

 (instead of permission to do ao), of disposing of their 

 holdings to the highest bidder— with other extrava- 

 gant demands, which are utterly incompatible with 

 the inherent rights of property, and would, if con- 

 ceded, transfer the real interest in the soil from the 



landlords to the tenants. 



If inconveniences of tenant right are experienced 

 by the best landlords in Ulster, a fortiori, they 

 would press much more heavily upon the owners of 

 the soil in those parts of the kingdom where a less 

 educated, orderly, and thrifty class of tenants are 

 in occupation. We think it is satisfactorily shown 

 in the work to which we have so cursorily invited 

 attention, that the tenant right of Ulster ought not 

 to be extended to new district and that " to legalise 

 it on the terms which its advocates propose is a 

 pure impossibility, until it shall have acquired some 

 •nbstantial embodiment and uniformity;" nor do 

 we see any reason to dissent from the opinion 

 expressed by Sir George Qrey in the House of 

 Commons, that " it is undesirable to interfere with 

 any custom that has been in existence in any part 

 of the country.and that is not positively mischievous ; 

 and where Landlord and tenant agree to be bound by 

 such a custom the law should not interfere." 



On a review of all the bearings of the case, the 

 learned authors of the work before us, in adverting 

 to the lecal Dart of 



have proved a failure. 



Whilst, 'however, I do not come forward to contro- 

 vert the opinion of so high an authority as Mr. Pusey, 

 when he asserts that Liebig's suggestion for dissolving 

 bones with acid and Sir Robert Kane's for using h lax- 

 water as a manure, are the only new processes in agi 1- 

 culture arising out of chemical discovery, I may 

 at least remind you, that agricultural chemistry 

 embraces a much wider field of utility than is comprised 

 under the category of the invention of new processes, in 

 the limited sense in which the term is employed in the 



passage before us. ^ 



One of the most beneficial aims, indeed, of that 

 science, is to impart greater precision to known 

 and familiar methods of culture, by pointing out 

 the causes upon which their efficacy depends, and 

 thus to enable the agriculturist to employ 

 'greater discrimination in their use; whilst another 

 not less important practical end is that of fur- 

 nishing a clue to the discovery of new and more 

 economical sources for materials of acknowledged utility 

 in husbandry, and of instructing us how to preserve, in 

 all their integrity, the constituents on which their virtue 



depends. 



I believe, indeed, that by taking a somewhat larger 

 view of the subject, it would not be difficult to show, that 

 there have been few improvements in practical agri- 

 culture, in the first suggestion, the final development, 

 or the judicious limitation of which to their appropriate 

 objects, chemistry has not been more or less instrumental. 



Nor would it be fair to confine ourselves in this enu- 

 meration to points upon which the minds of men of 

 science are already made up, leaving out of the account 

 those which are still under debate, but which do not 

 seem susceptible of a perfect solution without the aid of 

 chemistry. 



The controversy, for instance, with respect to the 

 importance of mineral manures, is one which can only 

 be settled by the joint efforts of practical and scientific 

 agriculturists ; and therefore, may fairly be included 

 amongst those questions of importance on which the 

 services of chemists are demanded. 



Nor is it material, with reference to the present argu- 

 ment, whether the scientific principles which serve to 

 regulate the present practice of agriculture have been 



I have myself seen the very farmers, who would tn 

 aside, with incredulity or with indifference, from m 

 sober exposition of the chemical considerations whkh 

 were to guide them in the selection and management of 

 their manures, in the rotation of their crops, and in 

 other every day operations of husbandry, eager to try 

 the effect of encircling their fields with a cordm of 

 wires, intended either to draw down, or to draw off 

 electricity from the ground, they knew not exactly 

 which ; but, at any rate, to benefit them in some m 

 accountable manner, by a new distribution of this 

 mysterious agent over their crops. 



I conceive, therefore, that even those who disbelim 

 in science, might find reasons for promoting its cnltiTv 

 tion, if only to prevent the greater evil of an indulgewe 

 in crude and absurd hypotheses ; just as those who ha*e 

 no faith in medicine, may nevertheless recommend tUr 

 invalid friends to resort to a physician, in order to pit- 

 vent them from falling into the hands of a quack. 



That many benefits, however, have resulted from the 

 application of science to agriculture, beyond those nep- 

 tive ones which alone, perhaps, would sufficiently vindi- 

 cate its study, will appear, I think, from a few exampb, 

 taken, as I feel myself quite justified in doing, from™- 

 where something, indeed, had been contributed by 

 enlightened experience, but where science aftenm* 

 stepped in to take advantage of the lucky accident* 

 communicated the first impulse. . 



It had been known for a long period of tun e. M 

 certain parts of England were peculiarly weU ad^A 



for dairy husbandry ; and in consequence, %hm 



been set apart as permanent P^j^JS 

 to the maintenance of cows whose milk : « ^4 

 converted into cheese, and sent : off to a &**£ 

 fast it was produced, to supply the large citi«ia&e 



empire 



After a lapse of years it wm observed that ££>■ 



natural consequence, <** — r ^ mt 



the fact, that the soil, from the surface ^^ ^ 

 to^hich the roots of the Grasses P^fi^ 

 only a limited quantity of phosphates, "^JJfc 

 plants could not grow ; or if they did, wouK 1 be -Mg 

 of supplying to the animals fed upon them the m 



for their milk. 



The exhaustion, therefore, of this ^JJfc 



at present to be a natu^onsecjue. 



is seen 



constant drain made upon it by the sj j rf ^ 

 ™^ an a to entail of necessity the iau 



therefore, but (Wj 



pursued, 



crop. 



'ihere can be 



little doubt, 



would have 



sugg** 



part of it, suggest a consolida- 

 tion of all the statutes affecting the relations of 

 landlord and tenant, and desire only to introduce 

 «ach changes as have stood the test of experience in 

 tfcis country; they believe that one act might em- 

 brace " all statutable powers with respect to leasing 

 and making improvement contracts, and that the 

 Knmedies of both landlord and tenant might be con- 

 tained m another." They give very pertinent legal 

 reasons for this opinion, which we need not add : 

 but this sentiment is too important to be omitted— 



" To the uncertain condition of the law may be > , . . „ • - , - M t . - , x . x 



traced most of the unsettled notions of the "Irish lon S established, or are of ^^^ 



were pointed out by Sir H. Davy in the last age, or by 



chemistry of the present dayjjj^ no* *» 

 the remedy, had the evil remal ^S,d, ** * 

 dressed ; but it must be * «*d«nr£ji '^ h* * 

 application of bones to the «tai*ted ^ rf ^ 

 Cheshire was, in the first instance the 



accident, or of observation ""Jf^Sest the r*** 

 Yet, although chemistry did «**?«« ^ rjetf» 

 :. „„„L„,,.^ °fnr it* oneration, and t>y _*» ^ ^ 



in 



That the extraordinary efficacy wlu^ ^ ^ , 

 of bones has been shown m some , c ^ ^g» 



it accounted for its operatio 



clue by which otne 

 discovered, and improved means ot app; 



for its operant, — - , ^gm »• 

 furnished a clue by which ^J*^tg* 



to 



restoring fertility to exhausted P^tof 6 j^ W WJ 



B the very » at . eri3 J,,L erop^ * <** 



ccessi ve Grass c ^ ^ 



their containing 



removed by a number of s u --- , fMtne r »-— •, - 

 regarded as so self-evident, that the s tt ^ . ^ 

 hif obligation to chemistry for PomW ^ ^^ 

 within "ten years a standard J^« **•£*£ 

 chemistry* expressed Ins ™?r to tfe& a^X 

 efficacy of bones being ^ b ^? ru ° rni p hu^^ 

 dientsf and considered that "V^aneut »» *" 

 organic part constituted the ^ ^ pOS ition. _, 

 immed 



peasantry as to property, and its rights and duties, 

 and the agrarian outrages that have disgraced the 

 country, and no substantial improvement can be 

 effected for the people until the principle is recog- 

 nised m its fullest integrity, that the vindication of 

 rights should be speedy, cheap, and certain." 



WHAT HAS CHEMISTRY DONE FOR 



AGRICULTURE- 



A LECTURE 



.OnmnD at the Botanic Gabdem, 0x , iaD, Oct. 30, 1851 



Bj Chasiles Daubekt M.D., P.R.S., Professor of Rural 



Economy, &c 



I* the lectures delivered in this place 



Baron Liebig in the present ; or whether, as often 

 happens, they have resulted from a number of indepen- 

 dent investigations, of many of which it is difficult to 

 determine the exact parentage. 



In order to estimate the services rendered by science 

 to agriculture, the fairest plan perhaps would be to con- 

 trast its present condition, in which scientific principles 

 are often unconsciously adopted even by th e who repu- 

 diate .science altogether, with that in which it existed, 

 after centuries of eivihsation, amongst nations like the 

 Romans, where the light of physical science had never 

 penetrated. 



j • Compare the modern systems of husbandry, as adopted 



iaE ■ uSul par. of tfS'^jJ 

 If the animal matter of the b° ne _„„ 1(l 3 ns« e1 ' Tt* 



Now 



tion as this is not a matter of mere spe^ ^ ^ ^ 



useful portion of the manure, ,~ _ irre specii"- 

 spread over our land unburnt hot ies, m m 



r . • _a: n« CT ofhpr sucii exyc.„ . -ranee 1 * 



matter oi »"• - . ld 3 ns^ ^ 

 of the nianur^t -ul ^*J 



price, rejecting altogether ^ h " P eci fic in^ * 

 which Mr. Pusey singles out as a ^p ^ence, ««£* 

 benefits rendered to agncult^ ' °7 „ hie b j£^ 

 acid is added to the bones ; i£»£* ... «-t*H^ 

 portion, indeed, is rendered ^ m«r 



lulll* 



but 



a- «.» iccimta ueiiverefl m mis place on th<v an »,; M , • l«. si. s . — .— •" * 



of Rural Economy, it has been my endeavour ^ to eSaTn T * he , mor \ enl, £ h en ^ countnes of Europe, with that 

 4. rationale of practices ordinarily employ^ ?t « d - J° W ? £ ( 5 lamella durin S the =»?»* flourishing 



must be' carbonised and destroyed^ ^ *&>^ 

 Under such circumstances we ni. ^ w^ 



the method of manuring, J" i»P^ ie M 

 adopted by some larmer, deei » } of the ^ , 



notion of the superior value to •J^.Hy 

 matter of his bones, *n fl Wl 



period of the Roman empire; and the superiority 



• See Professor Johns »■»'• 



work. *»* 



Editi" 



