424 



Tlie Neglect of Chemistry hy Practical Farmers, 



each portion by itself might be identically the same, and vice 

 versa. — {^See Example.) 



Form 2. — The second form is useful from the facility it affords 

 of calculating the composition of any given weight of the crop by 

 means of decimals. — (ySee Example.) 



Form 3.— The object of the third form is so obvious as to 

 require no comment. It is the one that will probably be most 

 serviceable to the farmer, enabling him to determine the number 

 of pounds of any ingredient contained in a ton of produce, and 

 thence, by a simple calculation, the number of pounds per acre 

 when the amount of crop is known. — (^See Example.) 



Form 4. — The intention of the fourth form is more to show, 

 by example, the method of comparing the average composition of 

 crops with one another, or with the manure supplied to them, 

 than to infer that such are the actual fixed quantities on an acre 

 of ground, for every farmer must be aware that it would be ma- 

 nifestly impossible to give such an amount of produce to each 

 crop as would suit every locality and every season. My aim has 

 been to give what I consider an average good crop under high 

 farming and in a suitable climate, &c. By the preceding part of 

 the table, however, the farmer will have no difficulty in calcu- 

 lating the amount contained in any acre of his crops, according 

 to his own experience of their produce. 



In explaining the terms used in these tables I intend taking 

 them in the order in which they appear in the headings. 



Class. — In arranging the order of the various crops I had a 

 choice of three methods of classing them, viz., the alphabetical, 

 the botanical, or the agricultural. I have adopted the latter' 

 course as possessing manifest advantages over the other two, in 

 enabling the farmer to see at a glance the difference in composi- 

 tion of . crops that are often substituted for one another in a 

 rotation. 



General Division — Water, Organic Matter, Ash. — This is the 

 first and simplest determination of the three parts that all plants 

 are composed of, and may easily be performed by any farmer, 

 with the aid of a good pair of scales. The specimen to be 

 analysed is supposed to be perfectly dry and clean, as far as any 

 accidental moisture or dirt is concerned. If it be then subjected 

 to a boiling heat, in an open vessel, from which the steam can 

 escape, until it lose no more weight, the loss incurred is the 

 weight of water natural to that quantity of the specimen operated 

 upon ; and if the now dry specimen be burnt (taking care not 

 to lose any of the ash), the difference between its weight before 

 and after combustion is the amount of organic matter con- 

 tained in the specimen, the remainder being the ash, or inorganic 

 portion ; and of course the three quantities obtained will, when 



