166 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



what source the 41 pounds were derived hy the 

 animal, which had taken only 6 pounds into its 

 system in the food consumed % It could not have 

 been derived from the food, because that contained 

 less than one-sixth of the amount found in the de- 

 jections. If growing vegetables possessed this 

 power in an equal degree to that of the cattle, then 

 there would be no longer any necessity for the nu- 

 merous appliances which have been brought into 

 requisition to collect and preserve this indispensa- 

 ble element ; but they might be dispensed with 

 without any detriment to the interests of agricul- 

 ture. The reviewer does not seem to be fully ap- 

 prised of the importance of this discovery, nor of 

 the superior advantages which his cattle possess, 

 and by which their intrinsic value is greatly en- 

 hanced. For they must be essentially different in 

 their physical organization from the ordinary kinds, 

 and are a thousand times more valuable than the 

 most improved breeds of the British Isles, or those 

 of any other country known to us — there may be 

 such in the unexplored regions of the antarctic 

 circle. All other kinds, however, with which we 

 are acquainted, are consumers, instead of being 

 producers of nitrogen — while these are endowed 

 with some peculiar and extraordinary power of di- 

 gestion, by which their physical organism is ena- 

 bled to create and return to the earth in their de- 

 jections, nearly seven pounds of this important 

 element for every pound of it which is introduced 

 into their systems in the food consumed. A small 

 stock of such cattle as these upon each farm in 

 our country, with an adequate supply of wheat 

 straw, would, in a very few years, make all the 

 barren old fields of America richer in nitrogenized 

 substances than the fertile valley of the Nile. But, 

 unfortunately for this theory, the researches of 

 physiologists have abundantly proved, by well 

 conducted and satisfactory experiments, that the 

 animal body is absolutely incapable of creating an 

 elementary substance, such as carbon or nitrogen; 

 and finally, that no nitrogen is absorbed from the 

 atmosphere in the vital process. Whence, then, is 

 the excess of this element derived by cattle fed 

 upon wheat straw % We have seen that it could 

 not have been absorbed from the air, neither could 

 the cattle have created it by the process of diges- 

 tion ; because either of these conclusions would be 

 in direct conflict with the natural laws of nutri- 

 tion. How, then, is this seemingly inexplicable 

 mystery to be solved'? Simply by denying the 

 correctness of the conclusions, to which the re- 

 viewer has arrived by his elaborate calculations. 

 For a theory that involves the singular absurdity, 

 of ascribing to the excretions of an animal, more 

 than six times as much of the chief element of 

 nutrition as was contained in the food to which it 

 was indebted for its subsistence, is not only oppos- 

 ed to the dictates of reason, but is subversive of 

 the laws of nature. May we not respectfully sug- 

 gest, that a theory which stultifies itself contemns 

 the universal experience of mankind, and makes 

 such a foul infraction of the laws of nutrition, has 

 somewhat the appearance of an " oddity let loose — 

 a theory run mad," or rather a mad theory, in the 

 sense in which the ancients were accustomed to de- 

 fine anger. 



. If the reviewer's calculations were correct, and 

 we question not their accuracy, his premises must 

 have been wrong. The latter, no doubt, was the 

 source of the fallacy by which he was entangled 

 in this singular paradox. If he will review his 

 review, he may probably find that the data upon 



which he based his calculations are altogether ir- 

 relevant to the question at issue. In short, we sus- 

 pect that the cow whose solid excrements furnished 

 two and a half per cent, of nitrogen by the analy- 

 sis of Boussingault, instead of being fed upon wheat 

 straw alone (a substance containing but three- 

 tenths of one per cent, of this element) was sup- 

 plied with clover and oil-cake ad libitum, substan- 

 ces very rich in azatized principles— the latter 

 containing some 5 or 6 per cent, of nitrogen. Of 

 course the dejections of any two animals of the 

 same species, supplied with food possessing such 

 different qualities, would, upon analysis, present a 

 very marked difference in their composition. And 

 it is well known, that the animals themselves, after 

 the lapse of a few weeks, would present a differ- 

 ence in their external appearance no less striking. 

 The one furnished with a sufficiency of food, rich 

 in azatized and carbonaceous compounds, would 

 speedily improve its condition. The muscles and 

 all the organic tissues would undergo a rapid de- 

 velopment, and a large accumulation of fat would 

 be deposited in the cellular tissue. The other be- 

 ing fed upon wheat straw, a substance containing 

 less than one-half of one per cent, of organized 

 nitrogen, would not derive sufficient nutriment 

 from its food to maintain its condition — the mus- 

 cles and cellular tissue would shrink away, and 

 the blood and fat, and all the parts of the body ca- 

 pable of entering into the state of motion, would 

 be consumed in furnishing auxiliary support to the 

 vital process ; and if no better nourishment than 

 wheat straw was supplied, the animal would perish 

 from starvation, after a time more or less prolonged. 



It is well known that a certain amount of organ- 

 ized nitrogen in the food of animals, is indispensa- 

 ble to the maintenance of* health and the continu- 

 ance of life. The small quantity of this element 

 found in wheat straw is insufficient for these pur- 

 poses, and animals confined to this kind of food 

 alone, would inevitably perish in a few months — 

 the time being more or less protracted according 

 to the condition of the animals when placed upon 

 it, and other collateral circumstances. The amount 

 of nitrogen which may be contained in any given 

 quantity of wheat straw, is consumed by the pro- 

 cess of digestion — or in other words, it is assimilat- 

 ed ; that is, it is converted into an integral part of 

 the animal body. And the small quantity of this 

 element contained in straw is insufficient to repair 

 the daily Avaste occurring in the organized tissues ; 

 much less to impart two and a half per cent, to the 

 excretions. And yet we are informed that the pro- 

 cess of digestion adds seven hundred per cent, to 

 the fertilizing power of wheat straw. And the ad- 

 vocate of this theory also informs us that this im- 

 pression is very prevalent, so prevalent that he 

 "hopes Mr. E., distinguished for good manage- 

 ment, yields, in his practice at least, to the pre- 

 vailing impression." If such an impression does 

 prevail to the extent supposed, it indicates a la- 

 mentable and wide-spread ignorance in relation to 

 one of the most interesting processes of animateo" 

 nature. And any experiments having a tendency 

 to dispel this delusion, might be acceptable to th« 

 reviewer and all those w r ho concur with him in 

 promulgating an opinion that comes in direct con- 

 flict with the established laws of nutrition. With 

 this view, we will present them with the leading 

 results of an experiment reported in the J ournal of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and 

 we will endeavor to condense our remarks as much 

 as may be compatible with a full apprehension of 



