VoL. I. AUGUSTA, Ga., APRIL ao, A'o. 8. 
MR. FOOTE’S PRIZE ESSAY. 
“A good agriculturist will neglect no means of form' 
ing dung heaps; it ought to be his lirst and daily care> 
for without dung there is no harvest.” — Chaptul. 
PREMMI.VARY PROPOSITIONS. 
That vegetation annually appropriates to it- 
sell’ and thus removes IVom the soil, a certain 
amount of nuti ative principles; and that the re- 
moval of a succession of crops, without some 
compensation in the shape of manures, will 
gradually impoverish, and, if carried lar enough, 
ultimately exhaust the soil, are pi'opositions so 
manifestly true as to require no illustration. — 
We every where see that the progress last indi- 
cated, is .sure to be followed by a gradual change 
in the color and texture of the soil, and by a pro- 
portionate diminution of its vegetable products, 
until. If not arrested, the final result is absolute 
sterility. 
The truth of the converse of these proposi- 
tions is equally evident. Take an old field 
which has been reduced to l?arrenness by an un- 
relenting system of cropping without compensa- 
tion, and restore to it a portion of those vege- 
table matters by the abstraction of which its 
poverty has been occasioned, and amendment is 
at once the con.sequence. Repeat the operation 
and a further progress towards fertility is made; 
extend it sufficiently far, and the face of nature 
is entirely renewed, and every symptom ot a 
full recovery exhibited. 
From these, and other kindred considerations 
readily suggested to the reflecting mind, we 
draw the tollowing 
INFERENCES. 
1. That the appropriate food of vegetation 
is lor the most part, neither more nor less than 
the ultimate results of vegetation itself, modifi- 
ed by the action of the animal organism and the 
several processes of fermentation. 
2. That a limited amount only of the lood ol 
vegetation is contained in any given quantity of 
.«oil. 
3. That a single crop cannot be removed 
from the soil, without diminishing, to a certain 
extent, its capabilities for supporting vegetable 
life. 
4. That an uninterrupted cropping of any 
given portion ol soil, without remuneration, 
will at length infallibly reduce it to sterility. 
5. That the original fertility of any given 
portion of soil can only be maintained by faith- 
fully restoring to it, in the shape of manures, an 
amount of vegetable matter equal to that which 
is annually abstracted from it. 
6. That an impoverished soil can only be re- 
stored to its original fertility by the application 
to it ol an amount of vegetable matter greater 
than that which is annually taken from it. 
7. The most exhausted lands cannot only be 
regenerated, by sufficiently increasing the pro- 
portion of vegetable matter in the soid, but rai.s- 
ed above the highest point of their original fer- 
tility. 
8. That the deteriorated condition of the ma- 
jor part of our cultivated soil, is proof conclu- 
sive that all the resources of the farm have not, 
in general, been put in requisition. 
9. That the secret of all good farming lies in 
the skillful management and judicious applica- 
of home made manures. 
10. That it is ol the highest importance to 
the agriculturist to study more carelully the na- 
ture of the soil, the wants of vegetable life, and 
the mutual relations and dependances of the soil 
and vegetation; and above all to cast about him 
and explore the sources of those animal, vegeta- 
ble and mineral substances, the proper applica- 
tion ol which to his cultivated fields, is not only 
an indispensable prerequisite to their increased 
fertility, but the certain harbinger il coupled 
with economy, of competence at least, if not of 
allluence. 
DEFINITION OF MANURE. 
Manure is a term of almost unlimited appli- 
cation — embracing an immense number and 
variety of substances — including, indeed, v hat- 
ever can be named in the animal, vegetable and 
mineral kingdoms capable of improving and 
fertilizing the .soil. Says the author of British 
Husbandry, “Any thing whatever may be call- 
-ed manure, which, when applied to the soil, rec- 
tifies its defects, corrects any bad quality, or 
either stimulates it to yield or stores ii with nu- 
triment.” Any cla.ss of so heterogeneous a 
mass of sub.stances which should at once prove 
satisfactory to the agricultural chemi.st, and in- 
telligible to the merely practical lariner, cannot, 
in the present state of agricultural science, be 
attempted with any prospect of success. A 
practical cla.ssification alone, however, would 
seem to be called lor on the present occasion, 
and that which is regarded as the simplest will 
be chosen. 
CLASSIFICATION OF MANURES. 
From the earliest speculations on the nature 
of manures, down to a very recent period, ma- 
nures have been divided into two classes, nutra- 
tive and stimulative, or such as furnish the di- 
rect lood of plants, and those which act as stim- 
ulanls, or excite to take up and assimilate such 
kinds of food as is pre.semed to them. In (he 
first class have been placed all decayed and ve- 
getable matter, farm-yard manures, “animal ex- 
crements, night soil, and such other matters as 
having been derived from, are considered as ca- 
pable of being reconverted into vegetable mat- 
ter. In the second class it has been the custom 
to place gypsum, lime, .sueh salts as are found 
to produce a favorable effect on vegetation, as 
the phosphates of lime in bones, and the nitrates 
existing in saltpetre, soda, &c. — (Albany Culti- 
vator, vol. 8, p. 95.) To these may be added a 
third class, consisting of variable mixtures from 
the two former with several kinds of earth, and 
denominated eemposts. Thus we have the 
simple classification of all the manures into, 1st, 
Nutrative Manures, 2d, Stimulative Manures, 
and 3d, Composts. 
NUTRATIVE MANURES. 
The great depositories of the manure.s of this 
class are, the barnyard, the prggery and the privy 
vault — each of which will claim our attention, 
for a moment, in relation to the causes which 
operate to diminish the amount and value of 
their contents. 
CAUSES OF waste. 
How, then, are the contents of these deposi- 
tories chiefly liable to wastel We answer, 1st. ! 
By infiltration, or soaking away into the earth; 
2d. By evaporation, or being taken up by the { 
sun and winds; 3d. By exce.ssive fenv.ntation, 
in which the heaps accumulate so great a degree 
of heat as to dissolve the salts which they con- 
tain, and dissipate them in the form of gaseous 
exhalations; and Ilh, by drainage, or llowing 
away in the currents of water which are suftei- 
cd but too often to despoil our barnyards of their 
richest treasures, and to defile our highways, 
and clog up our ditches with that which might 
otherwise fatten our cornfields. 
REMEDV FOR DRAINAGE. 
To close effectually the last named wa.stegatc, 
it is only nece.ssary to excavate the central por- 
tions of the yard as to form a sufficient reservoir 
for the liquids that will naturally find their way 
into it, and carefully convej’ away the droppings 
from the roofs of the buildings, by good con- 
ductors, and to turn the course of any superflu- 
ous waters from liigher grounds, by effective 
trenches. 
REMEDIES FOR INFILTRATION AND EVAPORATION. 
To guard against infiltration, let the yard, and 
e.specially the excavated portions of it, receive 
a thorough coaling (if nature has not been be- 
forehand in supplying one,) of the purest day 
at command; and to escape the mischiefs of eva 
poration, furnish it with an abundance of litter, 
such as refuse straw, oats, weeds and leaves 
from the forest, together with muck, surface soil 
from the road sides, hedges and ditches, or any 
other convenient matters of a porous nature, to 
absorb the liquids, and protect the Avhole mass 
from the influences of the atmosphere. A fur- 
ther securit}’^ will still be found in occasionally 
strewing the yard with plaster, which, by com- 
bining with the volatile portions of the manure, 
and converting them into .salts not volatile, will 
rob the atmosphere of its prey. 
REMEDY FOR FERMENTATION. 
Having taken the above precautions, little 
danger need be apprehended from excessive 
fermentation, except in case of consic'erable 
piles of horse dung; and here it will be ver>' 
easy to avert the evil, either by occa.sionally 
spreading open the heaps, or, what is lar better, 
by interlarding them at proper intervals, with 
muck or surface soil, which will not only effect 
the object in question, but absorbing the juices 
of the pile, become of equal value with the 
dung. 
value of LIQ.UID MANURE. 
It will readily be perceived that the principal 
effort of the fanner, in the preseiA'ation of ni« 
manures, must be directed to their liquid por- 
tions — these portions not only being by far the 
most exposed to loss, but possessing a superiority 
in value which renders ttonr loss irreparable. I his^ 
last sentiment, involving as it does a subject ot 
vital interest in agriculture, we shall take the 
liberty of illustrating by the introduction of sev- 
eral authorities. 
“The greatest value should be attached to the 
liquid excrements of man and animals, when a 
manure is de.sired which shall supply nitrogen 
to the soil. The greatest part of a superabund- 
ant crop, or, in other words, the increa.-^ of 
growth which is in our power, can 1:^ obtained 
exclusively by their means. When it is consi- 
! dered that with every pound of ammonia that 
escapes, a loss of si.xty pounds of com is sus- 
I tained, and that with every pound of urine a 
' pound of wheat might be produced, the differ- 
ence with which these liquid excrements are re- 
garded is quite incomprehensible. In most pic- 
