THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



ttf JLiebig's opinions, he tells us, u The facts 



mAWk he" (Mr. Lawes) "has ascertained, teach 



■m m&ny important doctrines in reference to 



&2 cultivation and manuring of the soil, that 



1 hald them to be of very special value to the 



-(feorj of agriculture." And in another place 



j&g says of these "utterly valueless" experi- 



:m$Mts } "It must be acknowledged, what I said 



aft -first, that of all the investigations that 



Hftape been made, none are so eminently adapt- 



as his" (Mr Lawes') "to advance the 



aBaneftd theory." "Mr. Lawes' experiments 



3&as demonstrate" — " The trials of Lawes 



^m$rm this view" — " Mr. Lawes has proved" 



— *< Bat the experiments of Mr. Lawes furnish 



jssrfectly definite and reliable facts relative to! 



1 erwise«good, will yield almost an average crop of 



his attention ; and in his reply to Dr. Wolff 

 Liebig alludes to them as follows : 



f la the writings of experienced agriculturist, 

 I find as quite a general rule, that they do not hold 

 a field rich in ammonia (freshly dunged) to be es- 

 pecially adapted for the cultivation of wheat, but 

 recommend some other crop (potatoes) to precede 

 wheat on such soils. 



" But the experiments of Mr. Lawes furnish 

 perfectly definite and reliable facts relative to this 

 subject. He has found that a field which had 

 previously received no ammonia nor ammonia 

 salts, can yield a medium harvest of 1126 lbs. 

 wheat and 17.56 cwt. straw for seven years in suc- 

 cession, without any artificial supply of ammonia^ 

 and in the lass years the yield was greater than at 

 first. 



From this it is perfectly certain that a soil, otb- 



I wheat without an addition or excess of ammonia; 

 toiODStrate precisely" — '\ferom the result of and that, no matter what quantity of ammonia 



■Am subject" — "The results of Mr. Lawes 

 'From the 



Wt Lawes it is perfectly certain" — &c. &c. j may have been contained in the soil originally 



To us it is "perfectly certain" that the at f * M plai ^if * 



L .. 7 , out eiiect on the crops of the succeeding years. 



-mmQ experiments cannot be " utterly value- \ "it is therefore allowable to pronounce the as- 

 JSsss" and of "very special value" and we are • sertions of Dr. Wolff— that wheat requires for per- 

 *$QJ$e mpable to understand how "experiments fret development more ammonia than the soil 

 -.••ttsndttcted in a manner so rough, so utterly 



■ifevoid of circumspection," can "demonstrate," 



if "prove," or "disprove," or render "perfectly 



©srtam' 1 anything at all; and yet " of all the 

 .•mv estimations that have been made, none are 



m eminently adapted to advance the mineral 



tkeory" "Indeed," exclaims Liebig, in an- 



*f&&s place, "I consider them the firmest sup- 

 •jgort of the theory." This is proving too 

 aBStaclu The mineral theory is confessedly a 

 deduction, and the inductive experiments 

 ■.which are its firmest support are 11 utterly 

 valueless." 



contains in natural form — that the soil surfers a loss 

 of ammonia by the cultivation of wheat, becoming 

 in consequence less fertile — are wanting all found- 

 ation in fact, because the results of Mr. Lawes 

 demonstrate precisely the contrary. * * The 

 erroneous assertion of Dr. Wolff rests equally upon 

 the erroneous interpretation which Mr. Lawes has 



ven of the lacf 

 eld of his whej 

 " While Mr. L 



that a: 

 t field, 

 iwes hi 



led i) 



bushels wheat 



But to the question. As we ha 

 Er. Lawes found a definite increase 



•or re; 



cwt. 

 uallv : 

 iity, w 

 ved bo 



jpnding largci 



fVein an application of ammonia to a soil -f^Y , 



I • ■ li .1 • i i » 11 ou 



j&frouoamg m all the mineral elements oilthn iri 



rbm one acre of immanured 

 m years, a plot of equal siae 

 i.eived in the first year 5 cwk 

 d 2 cwt. of silicate of potash, 

 ix yekrs 326 lb;-* of ammonia 

 itiiially, yielded 23 bushels, 

 8 bushels of wheat, and a 

 >roduce of straw, 

 ot. as a part of the same ex-' 

 idoubtedly have grown 

 manure* he ascribed 

 : of the ammonia salts, 

 tint of what had been 



a u: 



ital field, woui 

 btels without 

 increa.se to the a 



.•plania. But under the most favorable cir- 1 without taking any . 

 fcnamatanees he has never obtained as much j added the first year; 



rAtrogm in the increase of grain and straw I " Further - dnce ln order to * iTodace one bnsh * 

 sss was supplied to the soil in manure. He i 

 sj®ncMes from this, that in the growth of! 



grow m 



waeai there is a great loss of ammonia. 

 Without attempting to determine the exact 

 proportion, he states that his experiments in- 

 dicate that for one pound- of nitrogen (am- 

 .snoaia) organized in the wheat plant, five 

 pounds are evaporated into the atmosphere, 

 and are lost to the farm. On the other 

 &.&ttd, his experiments with turnips, clover; 

 fse&ns, peas, and tares, prove that in the 

 growth of these so-called " fallow crops," no 

 sach loss takes place. Liebig, as ha3 been 



| more of wheat than the unrnanured plot would 

 have yielded, Mr. Lawes added 4H lbs. of am- 

 monia salt ; and since one bushel of wheat con- 



stated, took no notice of these 



Mr. 



isL&wes, hut Dr. Wolff has forced them upon an a 



tains 1.2 lbs. of nitrogen, and 42£ lbs. of ammonia 

 salts contain 6| lbs. of nitrogen? he harvested ia 

 the grain and straw five times less ammonia than 

 he added to the soil. This is the fact. The false 

 conclusion that he deduces is. that the culture 

 of wheat is accompanied by an enormous loss ©f 

 ammonia, since,, at the lowest estimate, 5 lbs. of 

 ammonia must bo added to the soil in order to 

 get one bushel of increase 'per acre. 



t: In order to draw a general conclusion from, 

 the observed fact, i.e., to be able to speak of it 

 as a matter of settled experience, Mr. Lawes 

 should have determined, in accordance with the 

 rules of research, the general conditions which 

 determine the production of one bushel of wheat 

 the .corresponding amount of straw in all 



