THE 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



BefcoteH to ^Hcuimm gQortfculture, m% the ©ousdioia &vtx. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of 



State. — Sully. 



F. G. RUFFLN & N. AUGUST, Propr's. — FRANK : G. RUFPIN, Editor. — T. BAILIE, Publishhr. 



Vol. XVI. 



RICHMOND, APRIL, 1856. 



No. 4. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 J. B- LAWES AND JUSTUS VON LIEBi'G. 

 Nearly twenty years ago, an English laud 

 owner, John Bennett Lawes, instituted on 

 Lis home farm, at Rothamstead, in Hertford- 

 shire, some experiments on the action of dif- 

 ferent chemical combinations when applied as 

 manures to the various crops of English agri- 

 culture. In 1843, he secured the assistance of 

 Dr. J. H. Gilbert, and commenced on a large 



have been given to the public at various times 

 through the Journal of the Royal Agricultu- 

 ral Society of England, the Agricultural. 

 Gazette \ and the Journal of the Jmglish As- 

 sociation for the advancement of Science, pe- 

 riodicals which are seldom seen by American 

 farmers; and it is to be regretted that, with a 

 single exception, none of Mr. Lawes artiokf* 

 have ever been republished in this country. 

 When he associated himself with Mr. Lawefl, 



scale a series of experiments on wheat, turnips, j Dr. Gilbert had but recently returned from 

 beans, peas, tares, clover, &c. Dr. Gilbert, as- ' " 

 listed by other able chemists, devoiisg his en- 

 tire time to the work 



A field of 14 acres, alter having been im- 

 poverished as much as possible by the growth 

 and removal of four crops without manure, was 

 divided into upwards of thirty plots, and set 

 apart for a series of experiments on wheat. 

 Another field of eight acres, of similar . soil, 



was prepared in the same way, divided into a 

 number of plots and devoted to a series of ex- 

 periments on turnips. Another field of simi- 

 lar soil was treated in the same way and devot- 

 ed to experiments on beans, peas, tares, &e. 

 The various plots have been kept distinct to 

 the present time, and in the wheat hold each 

 plot has been sown to wheat every year. In 

 the turnip field, turnips have been grown on 

 each plot every year up to the present time. 

 So of beans, peas and tares. 



GiesGcn, where he received the diploma of 

 Doctor of Physolophy from Prof. Liebig, and 

 it is not improbable that he entertained some 

 of the views of this distinguished chemist in 

 regard to the manurial requirements of plants. 

 Be this as it may, it is evident that the ma- 

 nures used the first year on the wheat field 

 were selected with reference to the u m$nera$ 

 theory v' They were composed of the consti- 

 tuents of the askes of the wheat plant. They 

 were applied in various quantities and combi- 

 nations, but failed in every i?utancc to in- 

 crease the yield cf wheat. On the other hand, 

 where ammonia was used, the crop was greatly, 

 increased ; and this, in a word, has been the 

 prominent result of the experiments on wheat 

 every subsequent year throughout.. 



'These results were thought to be inconsistent 

 with the mineral theory. They were supposed 

 to prove, that although a soil abounded with the 



One plot in each field 'has been left without | mineral elements of plants in an available cos 



any manure since the commencement of the 

 experiments. The other plots were dressed 

 with some one or more of the organic and inor- 

 ganic elements of plants. The produce from 

 each plot was kept separate, and the weight of 

 grain, straw, &c; and in the case of turnips the 

 weight of buds and leaves accurately ascer- 

 tained. The increase of produce over and. 

 above that obtained from the continuously un- 

 manured plot was ascribed to the particular 

 manure used. 1 



Some of the results of these experiments 

 vol. xti — 4 



dition, the atmosphere, rain and dews could no* 

 supply ammonia sufficient for a maximum <srop 



of wheat. 



Prof. Liebig, m the point of editing a new 

 edition of his "Chemistry in its Application to 

 Agriculture and Physiology," frag had occa- 

 sion, as he tells us, to examine the agricultural 

 journals, in order to acquaint himself with the 

 results of practical experience, that have been 

 published since the appearance of the last edi- 

 tion of his book, in 1845. The result of this 

 examination baa Ud to the simultaneous pufc- 



