I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



675 



Fine portion passing a sieve of 20 holes 



per inch. , . . . 



Lumps easily reduced after drying,. . . . 

 Pebbles, 



results of Dr. Stewart, chemist to the Mary- 

 land Agricultural Society, and of Dr. Deck, 

 of New York, by way of comparison. I 

 should say, with regard to its texture, that 

 at first sight it is rather unpromising, 

 containing some genuine stones and a good 

 many hard lumps that are difficult to crush 

 unless they are dried. 



A mechanical analysis gave per cent. 



The analysis of the whole, rejecting the pebbles only, is given under I 

 are figures from Dr. Stewart's, and under III. from Dr. Deck's analysis : 



74 



22 

 4 



100.00 



When dried, however, the whole is as 

 easily crushed as Peruvian guano, the peb- 

 bles of course excepted. 



Under II, 



Water, .... 

 Organic and volatile matter, 



(Yielding ammonia.) . 

 Phosphoricacid soluble in water, 



" " insoluble in water, 



Sulphuric acid, 

 Lime, ... 

 Potash and a little soda, . . 

 Sand and insoluble matters, 



Calculated value $46.60. or includ 



27.60 

 38.75 

 (10.06) 



5.31 



25 



27.34 

 39.20 

 (10.00) 

 5.07 

 6.46 



4.94 

 9.67 9.36 



5.52 

 2.50 2.52 

 ng the potash $50. 



II. 



in. 



18.90 



22.64 



43.30 



43.53 



(9.39) 



(11.46) 



11.00 





9.60 





4.70 



3.24 



The high per centage of soluble phospho- 



The specimen I have analyzed is consid- 

 erably cheaper than Peruvian guano. It 

 remains to be seen, however, whether other 

 cargoes or other lots are equal to this, before 

 the reputation of the Elide guano can be 

 established. 



ric acid depends upon the presence of pot 

 ash and soda. 



It must be borne in mind that this ma- 

 nure is considerably variable in composition, 

 and is so moist that it may easily deterior- 

 ate by keeping. 



SUPERPHOSPHATES OF LIME. 



But four specimens of this manure have been analyzed this year. Two of these, I. 

 and II., were from the store of Messrs. Backus and Barstow, Norwich ; the others, 

 III. and IV., from Win. Kellog, Hartford : 





Pike & Co. 

 av. 10 bags. 



Coe «si Co. 

 av. 25 bags. 



Greene & 

 Preston. 



Coe's. 



Water, organic and volatile matters, 



Sand, 



Soluble phosphoric acid, . 

 Insoluble '" " 

 Ammonia, ..... 

 Calculated value, . . . 



38.50 38.50 

 28.85 28.80 

 1.98 2.22 

 2.29 2.08 

 2.44 2.45 

 $14.00 



36.55 36.15 

 2.70 2.80 

 2.85 2.92 



18.13 17.78 

 3.14 3.11 

 $32.00 



32.96— 32.28 

 2.45— 2.80 

 2.28— 2.43 



19.12— 17.64 

 1.39— 1.39 

 $26.31 



40.85- 41.25 

 6.05— 5.95 

 2.62— 1.70 



15.76— 16.30 

 2.97— 2.74 



$37.81 p ton. 



I. Is seen to be a very inferior article j 

 more than one-quarter of it (28 per cent.) 

 is sand! This fact indicates that it is most 

 probably some manufacturing refuse. The 

 calculated value will give the farmer an idea 

 how much he can afford to pay for it; but 

 manures so largely mixed with sand, cannot 

 be carefully prepared \ and as other samples 

 may contain much more sand, it is best not 

 to buy this manure at all unless on an 

 analysis. 



II. III. and IV.' are all fair samples of 

 u superphosphates," as that word is now 

 used, though none of them contain appre- 



ciably more soluble phosphoric acid than 

 Peruvian guano It seems, as yet, impossi- 

 ble to find a real superphosphate (yielding 

 10-15 per cent, of soluble phosphoric acid) 

 in the Connecticut market. 



The above analyses do not accord very 

 closely in some particu ars. This is due to 

 the fact that the samples were too moist 

 to allow of intimate mixture. The slight 

 differences are, however, of no importance 

 in estimating the value of these articles. 



All these specimens were in good mechan- 

 ical condition. The first sample of Coe's 

 superphosphate is of the same quality which 



