12 



NEW-YORK PARMER AND 



made in summer, and the product of hia hogsty. With 

 this he may manure annually, ten or twelve acres of 

 corn, potatoes, &c. and manure it well. And if a pro- 

 per rotation of crops is adopted, he will be able to keep 

 in good heart, and progressively to improve, sixty 

 acres of tillage land, so that each field shall be manured 

 once every four or five years, on the return of the corn 

 and potatoe crop. 



—••.»►©©©«.— 



[From Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening.] 



ART. 9. — Of the specific Application of fermenta- 

 tive, and Fossil or Saline Manures. 



Grisenthwaite is the first to have generalized the 

 fact of peculiar substances being found in plants, in ad- 

 dition to the common elements of oxygen, hydrogen, 

 carbon, and nitrogen ; and though his examples, like 

 most of Sir H. Davy's, are taken from agriculture, yet 

 we deem the subject of more than sufficient importance 

 to gardening to warrant us in placing his theory before 

 the reader. 



" Elements of primary principles," he says, " admit 

 of no alteration but as regards magnitude and figure. 

 Hence, when one substance composed of certain ele- 

 ments is designed to be transmuted into any other sub- 

 stance ; as sugar, by fermentation, into alcohol or 

 acetic acid, or manure into grain, it is obvious, that the 

 elements of the second must necessarily be contained 

 in the first, for if they be not, the transmutation cannot 

 take place. This will render it evident that a know- 

 ledge of the elements or constituents of bodies which 

 are intended to be changed into each other by certain 

 processes, should be previously possessed in order 

 that the processes may be conducted with a probability 

 of success. We are therefore led to inquire into the 

 nature of certain crops, and to consider whether their 

 peculiar elements be provided for, in the manure as it 

 is now prepared by agriculturists. If they be not, it is 

 but reasonable to infer, that the failure of many crops 

 may be referred to the deficiency of certain elements 

 in the manure. 



" If all crops were composed of the same elements, 

 this discrimination would not be needed ; and upon 

 such a supposition the practices of husbandry have 

 been uniformly conducted, and are now conducted ; 

 with what disadvantage will perhaps appear in the se- 

 quel. 



" To illustrate the preceding reasoning, the wheat 

 i rop may be selected with considerable advantage, as 

 it is that which is not only the most important to the 

 interests of mankind, but because the presence of par- 

 ticular substances in it are better known and more 

 generally acknowledged. If we examine the straw of 

 wheat, we shall find it composed of what may be con- 

 sidered common vegetable matter, or matter composed 

 of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, with a small quantity 



of carbonate of lime ; so also, if we examine the con- 

 stituents of the grain, we shall find them distinguished 

 into starch and gluten ; and if we carry our researches 

 still farther, we shall find that the elements of the starch 

 are precisely the same with the elements of common 

 vegetable matters ; but the elements of the gluten will 

 be found analagous to those of animals ; or in addition 

 to oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, there will be found 

 nitrogen. The production of this nitrogen, as has 

 been already observed, cannot be effected by mere 

 common vegetable matter, and, therefore, the manure 

 employed in the production of the straw and starch, 

 could not produce the gluten also. If the presence of 

 gluten were accidental, or the value of the flour did 

 not depend on it, then little care need be taken to pro- 

 vide for its formation ; but as it is required to be con- 

 stantly present, and the value of the flour does essen- 

 tially depend on it, therefore a provision ought to be 

 made for it. In quantity it is not inconsiderable, but. 

 it composes nearly one-third part of the grain. That 

 the operations of husbandry as regard wheat, should 

 be conducted without any reference to this peculiar 

 substance, is very remarkable. That the failure of 

 crops has never been ascribed to its deficiency, is still 

 more wonderful. What has been advanced concerning 

 manures in general, may afford some explanation of 

 the cause of this neglect. The processes of vegetation 

 and the constituents of vegetables, are not known to 

 the practical farmer, because they have been difficult 

 to ascertain ; and the nature of his manure is involved 

 in the same obscurity. He supposes it to contain ev- 

 ery tning needed for every crop. 



' That the gluten of wheat-flour may always be pre- 

 sent, it is necessary that a quantity of animal substance 

 should exist in the manure applied to the land, where 

 the wheat crop is intended to be raised. That a certain 

 portion of such animal substance is applied, is proved 

 from the fact of gluten being always found to exist in 

 that grain ; but, it is highly probable, that the quantity 

 is not always sufficient ; and if not sufficient, the crop 

 will be defective either in quality or quantity. If we 

 pursue our investigations a step farther than we have 

 done, we shall discover that phosphate of lime is as 

 constant a constituent of wheat-flour as gluten itself. 



Phosphate of lime, therefore, is as much needed for 

 the production of a crop of wheat as the substances 

 which supply the starch and gluten. It is not a little 

 remarkable, that this phosphate of lime, is soluble in no 

 known fluid, except through the medium of an animal 

 substance, as gelatine, &c. and consequently the same 

 animal substances which furnish the elements of (he 

 gluten, will also furnish a medium for the phosphate ot 

 lime ; which appears to be equally indispensable to the 

 formation of a perfect grain of wheat. It not only fur- 

 nishes a medium, but generally a quantity of the phos- 

 phate itself. 



