THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
a? 
From the So. <Ja Temperance Advocate. 
Dr. Porclier’s Report ou AJauiires. 
Black Oak Agricultcral Society, ) 
Novenberiy, 1844. 3 
R>’solved, That the Report of the Cuairaiitee 
on Manures, ihis day read, be communicated 
to the Stale Ai^ricultural Society, to be read be- 
foie that body. — From 'he Minutes. 
H. W. Rayenel, Sec’ry. 
REPORT. 
The Committee on Alanures, in pursuance ot 
the Resolution under which they are required, 
at the mil meeting ol the Society, to report, con- 
cerning “the best and most economicai mode ot 
collecting and preparing manures; the time and 
manner oi their application ; the adaptation ot 
certain manures to certain crops, with a detail- 
ed account ot all experiments on the subject, 
which have been caretully conducted and the 
results accurately noted;” beg leave to ob- 
serve, that the wide range of duty committed 
to them requires more time than has elapsed 
since their appointment. Sensible, however, of 
the vast importance of the subject, they have 
entered seriously and faithfully into the dis- 
charge of their duty, and offer the following as 
a Report only in part : 
It is due, however, to the Society, to premise 
that the direction which has been given to our 
labors, is one which can hardly be said to be 
comprehended in the resolution under which this 
report is presented. Believing, however, that the 
points to which we are desirous of drawing the 
attention of the Society, are of vital importance 
to our interests, we offer no apology lor our ap- 
parent deviation from the letter of'the :hart laid 
down for our governance. 
It is but a very few years since, within the 
limits of this Society, the benefits of manures 
were mooted at e ery social meeting; and even 
now, though no one is so outwardly heietical as 
to question their ability, there are yet many who 
have derived so little practical benefit from their 
application, that their faith in their efficacy, is 
rather a confi lence in the testimony ol others, 
than the result of their own observation and ex- 
perience. 
Believing firmly as we do, that on the judi- 
cious use ol manures, depends the prosperity, 
not only of our Society, but ot our State, we 
have devoted our labors to an investigation of 
the causes ot the failures of manures, and have 
endeavored, with the aid of our piesent state of 
knowledge, to point out the remedies. 
The great object of all farmers, both practical 
and theoretical, has been to accumulate and be- 
stow' upon the land a quantity ol animal and ve- 
getable matter, in the state of progressive decom- 
position, This manure, called compost, has been 
for many years the only sort applied to cotton 
husbandry in ihf inland disiricts. Its value de- 
pends upon its origin; that from the stable be- 
ing always much more highly esteemed than 
that from the cuw'-pgn. These w'ere the ma- 
nures universally applied to all soils, whatever 
their condition. Limited, how'ever, as was the 
range of our manuring resources, our know- 
lede ot the soil as cultivated, was, and even now 
is, still more contracted. No idea what ver 
was entertained of their chemical composition. 
A brief inquiry into their physical condition 
was all the investigation bestowed upon them. 
A new light has recently dawned upn us; and 
it becomes us peculiarly as cultivators ol pro- 
ducts unknown to other portions ol Caucasian 
civilization, to embrace and improve it to the 
highest possible d gree. This light is the tho- 
rough application of chemistry to agriculture. 
The cultivators of other pro ducts have for their 
guides the experience of ages, and of the whole 
extent ot civilization. VVe stand, as agricultu- 
rists, isolated from ihe mass ol mankind; their 
practice is to us a mystery, their experience to 
us useless. Let us hail, then, as the opening of 
a ne w era in mr agriculture, the scientific dis- 
coveries which enable us to apply to practical 
farming the mysteries of the laboratory. 
The doctrine of the necessity ol furnishing fo 
plants, either as native constituents uf the soil 
on which they are required to grow', or in lorm 
of manure, c/Z the componenis,,boih organic ami 
inorganic, of which they are constituted, and 
which are necessary to their healthf ul existence, 
was fiist di'-tinctly announced by Liebig, the 
fiublication ol Whose.Cook torms an interesiing 
epoch in the history ol agriculture. But whilst 
announcing the important fact, he seems to have 
regarded it rather as an axiom, incontrovertible, 
than as a new trutli whose importance was to 
have been enforced upon the attention of agri- 
culturists. Hence most readers ol his w'oik 
are conscious ol no operation of husbandry so 
important as the collection and supply ol nitr-o- 
gen to plants. Indeed the philosopher seemKto 
snuff ammonia in every breeze. All the plea- 
sing impressions w'hich others derive from the 
sight ol a herd of cattle going to market, are lost 
to his imagination. He sees in them nothing 
but a mass ol nitrogen unfairly abstracted from 
its native soil; and w’hen man himself has fi- 
nished his work and given up the ghost, hisonly 
concern is that the nitrogen ol his composition 
is laid down too low to be made available to ve- 
getation. 
Bullet us do justice to Liebig. He is not 
one-sided in hia views. He dwells, it is true, 
particularly upon one subject, but his love of a 
theory does not lead him to strain every point 
to susiain his views. Another class of philoso- 
phers have ridden a hobby which they call 
geim, to which they attribute all the virtues of 
manures. It would be best, we think, before 
going into the modus operandi ol manures, to in- 
quire first into the whole condition of the pro- 
ducts of the soil, — let us first know what they 
are, and we shall be unfortunate indeed, it we 
do not find out wbat is good fur them. 
It is one ol the blessings wherewith our lot is 
tempered, that all genuine v.'ork, all honest la- 
bor, is productive. 80 we have been benefiued 
by every class of philosophers who have applied 
their industry to the consideration of agricul- 
ture. VVe are still hampered in our re.^ean hes 
afier truth, by the obtrusion of their fancilul 
theories; but a mass ol light has been shed on 
the subject, from which we are confident of de- 
riving vast benefit. 
All plants, we may say all vegetable products, 
are composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen ; 
in addition to these, some have nitrogen. Ol 
these constituents, the soil is composed chiefly 
of carbonaceous matter; the atmosphere we 
breathe consists of oxygen and nitrogen in a 
state of meciianical combination; and v'ater is 
the chemical union of hydrogen with oxygen. 
Thus it IS obvious, the sources of these organic 
constituents are inexhaustible. But there is 
another portion of vegetables which has hither- 
to b en overlooked. It is the incombustible or 
inorganic structure; that which after co nbus- 
tion remains in the lorm of ashes, and to which 
the general and unsalistactory name of salts is 
applied. Now, in our system ot making ma- 
nures, we have regard chiefly to the collection 
of organic matter, and we are surprised and dis- 
appointed when the application of this matter 
fails to produce the required effect. Vve shall 
try to show that the cause of this failure is to be 
attributed to 014 ? n -glict in providing for the in- 
organic constituents of the plants loe cultivate. 
It IS a rule which cannot now be disputed, 
that wherever the analysis of a vegetable product 
yields, as a constant quality, an inorganic con- 
stituent, how. ver small, such inorganic body is ab- 
solutely necessary to the heallkfiil condition of the 
plant; and it will follow, as a necessary conse- 
quence of this '•ule, that wherever the soil on 
which it is attempted to cultivate a plant, is desti- 
tute of any one of its invrganic constituents, it 
will be vain to attempt to grow ih” plant upon it. 
If the material exist in loo small a qunntiiy in 
tne soil, the crop will be correspondingly short 
and siclfly. 
Regarding this rule as an axiom in enlighten- 
ed agriculture, w'e shall draw a tew practical re- 
sults therefrom, in relation to our own pursuits. 
The first step necessary towards productive 
agriculture, and one which falls within the pro- 
vince ol our agricultural Societies, is to have 
vigorous and accurate analysis made, not only 
of the crops we cultivate, hut of the soils on 
which we raise them, and of me manures which 
we employ in their cultivation. 
Our own Society has the honor of having 
made one of the first moves in this enterprise, 
and has furnished an analysis of her principal 
products. As cotton is our staple, we have de- 
voted this Report exclusively to a consideration 
of manures suitable for its production. In the 
analysis ol this product, including the wool and 
the seed, we find the following inorganic consti- 
tuents: 
Carbonate of Potash, with Sulphate of Potash, 
traces of Soda. Chloride of Potassium. 
Phosphate of Lime, with Chloride of Magnesium, 
traces of Magnesia. Sulphate of Lime. 
Cai donate of Lime. Phosphate of Potash 
Carbonate ofjMagnesia. Oxide of Iron and Manga 
Silita nese. 
Alumina. 
Ur, by reducing these compounds to simple 
forms, we find, in the indestructible portion of 
cotton, potash, lime, magnesia, silica, alu- 
mina, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, iron, and 
manganese. This is the general result ol the 
analysis, made lor this Society by Professor 
Shepard. As the same general result was ob- 
tained by Dr Ure’s analysis, we have every 
reason to believe that the before named ingre- 
dients are all necessary to the perfect develop- 
ment of cotton. Let us now examine the ma- 
terial or soil upon which, and the tools or ma- 
nures with which, we operate. 
The analysis ol our soils is yet to be made. 
The Agricultural Society of St. John’s Colle- 
ton, enjoys the honor of having taken the lead 
of her sister Societies in this enterprise. She 
has furnished an analysis of six specimens of 
soils taken from a cotton plantation on Edisto 
Island, of which the following is the general re- 
sult: 
Silica, alumina, peroxide of iron, carbonate 
of lime, and phosphate of lime. 
It would thus appear that the soil of Edisto 
Lsland is deficient in four of the nine inorganic 
(constituents ol cotton, viz: potash, magnesia, 
sulphur, and chlorine. 
It is to be observed, however, respecting this 
analysis, that it was made before the publica- 
tion of Liebig’s vvork on Agricultural Chemis- 
t.'v, and belore the important doctrine, laid down 
in this report, was even partially recognized. It 
was made loo, at a time when the attention of our 
planters was just beginning to be directed to- 
wards the use of lime; and the respectable che- 
mist, by whom the analysis was made, aimed 
rather to establish the amount of lime existing 
in the soil, than to demonstrate rigorously all 
the material, or, as they were then considered, 
the immaterial parts of which it is composed. 
Among the soils sent for analysis was a spe- 
cimen ol marsh mud, mat agent which has so 
Nignally contributed to renovate the soils of the 
iffands on our coast. Its component parts aji- 
pear to be silica, hornblende, feldspar, alumi- 
na, iron, lime, and phosphorus. The horn- 
blende and feldspar ot this mud furnish potash, 
lime, soda, magnesia, manganese, and fluorine ; 
so that with the aid of this manure, the soil is 
furnished with every constituent of cotton ex- 
cept chlorine and sulphur. It is difficult, how- 
ever, to conceive how either of these elements 
can be absent f om a mud. which is twice daily 
flowed with sea water. It is rather to be sup- 
posed that they are not enunierated, as being too, 
obvious to require a special miice. 
Having now ascertained, as lar as checaical 
operations have gone, the general composition 
ofour cotton, and the soils upon which, we raise 
it, let us now inquire what are the ingredients 
wherewith we propose to amend our soils, so 
as to increase their productiveness,. 
The cow-pen and stable havehliherto furnish- 
ed all our manures. The droppings of our cat- 
tle and horses mixed up with the leaves of trees 
form our composts. Of these, the product of 
the stable is generally found to be beneficial, 
while that of the co.w-.pen is often of so little va- 
