I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



489 



medium price of 300 farncs per ton — 

 nearly sixty dollars. 



By experiments in tlie field with these 

 substances, as well as by many others on a 

 smaller scale, by distinguished farmers, 

 chemists, and physiologists, it has been fully 

 demonstrated, that the elements found in 

 the vegetable composition, whether the at- 

 mospheric elements or those of a fixed na- 

 ture belonging to the soil, (although more 

 of some is required than of others), are all 

 equally necessary and essential, and that in 

 the absence of any one of them all the 

 others become useless, and, as it were, par- 

 alyzed in their action, until the missing ele- 

 ment is supplied. Hence, the apparent 

 great efficiency in some cases, of lime, plas- 

 ter, bone-dust, ashes, &c., to some soils, and 

 their seeming inertness in others. And, 

 hence, the capability of production of a soil 

 * is limited by the quantity of the smallest 

 proportion of any of its essential elements, 

 however rich it may be in the remainder of 

 these important substances. 



Common sense has long since appreciated 

 a fact, about the priority of the discovery 

 of which some of the French savans have 

 been making their reclamations in the 

 Academie des Sciences, viz., that the fertili- 

 ty of a soil depends not only on the mere 

 presence in it of the nutritive elements, but 

 also on their being in an available condition. 

 Modern science has been busy within the 

 last fifty years in ascertaining what these 

 essential elements are, and modern husban- 

 dry has aided much in showing how they 

 are to be brought to that soluble condition, 

 in which only they are available for the 

 rapid growth of crops. It is found that 

 many substances promote the growth of 

 ' plants in two ways : First, By giving to 

 them, elements necessary to their composi- 

 tion ; and. Second, By acting as solvents to 

 other elements which, without their aid, 

 could not be available for vegetable nourish- 

 ment. We may particularize water, car- 

 bonic acid, salts of ammonia, nitrates, hu- 

 mus, &c., all of which aid in the solution of 

 the earthy phosphates, the carbonates of 

 lime and magnesia, the oxides of iron and 

 manganese, silica, &c. This is one reason 

 why so high a value has been attached to 

 ammonia and its salts as fertilizers, because 

 they not only yield the essential nitrogen, 

 but render the phosphates and other earthy 

 materials soluble in water. But most of the 

 manures which contain ammonia, such as 



guano, urate, poudrette, &c., also contain 

 the phosphates and other essential materials. 

 Indeed, were the supply of good guano un- 

 limited, and the too great waste of the alka- 

 lies of the soil avoided, we need not fear 

 the total exhaustion of the soil ; for, at the 

 worst, the profits of agriculture would be 

 the excess of the price of the products of 

 the land over the cost of the guano neces- 

 sary to their production, added to that of 

 the usual cost of labor and the interest of 

 capital, &c. But the stores of this valuable 

 fertilizer (which is usually deficient in no 

 essential but potash) are becoming rapidly 

 exhausted, and the political economist who 

 is convinced that the ordinary system of 

 agriculture is one of spoliation of the land, 

 must look forward to some other expedient 

 than this to keep up its fertility, on which 

 the very foundations of society are sup- 

 ported. 



■ As no element in nature is ever destroyed, 

 or really lost, it might seem, theoretically, 

 that this might be a very easy matter. The 

 atmospheric elements, carbon, hydrogen, 

 oxygen, and nitrogen are, by known physi- 

 cal laws, constantly present everywhere on 

 the surface of the earth, and need but little 

 care on the part of the agriculturist, except 

 to bring them to their most available condi- 

 tion ; but the fixed elements — the mineral 

 elements so called — which are carried off 

 from the soil in the crops, are usually accu- 

 mulated in and around cities, in the vaults 

 and sewers, or drained off in the streams, to 

 be finally lost in the ocean ; and immense 

 difficulties surround any effectual project for 

 their restoration to the land. Yet the eye 

 of the philosopher and the teachings of ex- 

 perience show us, that to some plan of this 

 kind must we come in the end if v/e would 

 avoid starvation; and it remains for practi- 

 cal men fully impressed with this great ne- 

 cessity, to show how it is to be done. 



A very great prejudice exists in the pub- 

 lic mind, in this country especially, against 

 the use of such fertilizers on the garden or 

 farm ; but a little reflection would show that 

 this is unreasonable. It has been in a great 

 measure overcome in many parts of Europe, 

 in some countries of which the contents of 

 the privies are amongst the perquisites of 

 the sovereigns; and in China (we quote 

 from the work before us) " the estimation in 

 which it [hun]an excrement] is held is so 

 great, that everybody knows the amount of 

 excrements voided per man in a day, month, 



