82 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
intelligeni author of tiie Report thinks a very 
important one — namely, the construction ol 
cheap cottages of unburnt brick. Unburnt 
bricks have been found undecaved and sound in 
arches in Egypt which have eyen stood the lapse 
of 2000 years. The cottage erected by himself 
at Washinston, in view of the Capitol, and 
which is two stories in height, stands well, ap- 
pears as handsome as the best houses built ol 
burnt brick, is warm in winter and cold in sum- 
mer. The experiment has been successlully 
trieti in Canada. 
BANA’S PRIZE ESSAY QN MANURES. 
Section Fifth. 
Qf the Action of the Salts of Cattle Dang. 
Here it is we find ourselves thrown on a sea 
of opinions, without chart, compass, or pilot, if 
we trust to the conflicting theories which have 
been set up for land marks and light houses. 
Let us therefore, reader, trust to ourselves, aided 
by the little chemistry we have learned from 
the preceding remarks about the composition ol 
salts. 
I have endeavored to impress on your memo- 
ry, that the term sa^ Is very coinp.fehensive. 
But then, to encourage one, it is also to be re- 
membered, that salts are cotnpounds of alkalies, 
earths, and metals with acids. the earths, 
alkalies and metals, may be united to each of 
the known acids, (and their name is legion,) 
yet you may not, by this change of acids, alter 
the nature of the earth, alkali or metal. That 
always remains the same; every time you 
change the acid, you alter the character of the 
salt. °Tbus soda may be united to oil of vitriol 
and form Glauber’s salt, or to aquafortis and 
form South American saltpetre, or to muriatic 
acid and form common table salt. The soda 
is called the base or basis of this salt; that is 
always soda — you do not change its character 
by changing the acid. To give another exam- 
ple; lime may be united to carbonic acid and 
form chalk, or marble, or limestoae^ or p may 
be united to, o-il of vitriol and lorm piaster of 
Jtaris, or to phosphoric acid and form bone-dust. 
Now,’ in each case, the base of the salt, that is. 
She lime, remains unchanged; but, changing 
She acid, we change the natureof the salt, and of 
course its effects will be different. Now it is 
plain, that where the base of the salt remains the 
same,’ that will always act the same, but differ- 
ent effects will be nroduced by different acids. 
Each base acts alwmys one way, but each has 
an action similar to every other. Each acid 
acts also one way, but egch has an action dis- 
tinct from every other: impress this on your 
mind. Reflect upon it a moment, and you will 
perceive that salts produce different effects ac- 
cording to the nature of their acid. Now this 
may be illustrated thus: you take every day, 
probably, with your everv meal, common salt, 
that is, soda, a base, united ta muriatic acid. 
Your digestion and health are all the better for 
it. You give your cattle a little salt: ii does 
them good. Suppose now you chrnge the acid 
of that salt, leaving soda, its base, in th^same 
quantity you daily take. Instead of the muriat- 
ic, mppose you substitute the nitric acid, of, 
w’hal is the same thing, suppose you use saltpe- 
tre, from Peru, instead of common salt. You 
need noth' told that you would poison yourself 
and your cattle by so doing. You can drink, I 
dare say you have, cream of tartar punch. You 
feel the better for it. It is refreshing, cooling, 
opening. Now, cream of tartar is a salt of pot- 
ash: it is potash and tartaric acid. You have 
a fever; your doctor gives you a sweat with 
Silvius’s salt, that is, acetate of ammonia, a salt 
composed of that and vinegar; or you take per- 
haps an effervescing draught, formed of lemon- 
juice and pearl-ashes. Ali does you good : but 
suppose now you change these cooling, vegeta- 
ble acids for a mineral acid, say oil of vitriol. 
You may not take potash united with a dose of 
oil of vitriol equivalent to the tartaric acid m 
the cream of tartar, without serious injury. 
So is it, reader, in (arming: the acidsof some 
salts are npt only harmless, but beneficial to 
plants ; others are actual poisons. In the first 
case .salts help to nourish plants, as common 
salt helps to nourish yourself; in other cases 
they poison plants, just as they would Impair 
your eanstitution, perhaps kill you. Rut it is 
to lie yeniembered, as in our own case, even 
those that poison, in a small dose become medi- 
cines, so, in plants, a small dose is not only 
good, but truly essential. Now, if ve divide 
the acids into two classes, the nourishers and 
the poisoners, such will also be the nature of 
the s Its. When we therefore attempt such a 
general division of the salts, it mav be said that 
all the acids derived from the vegetable king- 
dom are harmless; so are the acids called min- 
eral, yet whose components are in part like 
those o: the vegetable acids; for instance, aqua- 
fortis or nitric acid. Rut the true mineral acids 
are poisonous, such are oil of vitriol and spirits 
of salt. One thing is hereto be borne in mind : 
It must never be out ol sight, in trying to under- 
stand how salts make plants grow. You cast 
your salt upon the ground, it lies there, no ac- 
tion occurs. It rains. Your salt is dissolved 
apd disappears ; it seems to do no good. Cast 
your salt now among sproi ting seeds, and 
growing roots; hereislite; well, now, life is 
just as much a power or force as electricity is. 
It exerts its force, no matter how, that is quite 
another consideration. 1 say, life exerts its 
force here to separate the acid and the base of 
a salt, just like a chemical force. We can and 
do separate tne components of salts by other 
substances, nay, we do it by electricity alone. 
Now this is all which it is nece.ssary for you 
to know, and to understand about this action of 
plants upon salts: it does disunite the compo- 
nents of the salts. What is the consequence ? 
The alkali, earth, and metal act as such, the 
same a§ it no acid was present. Th© acid also 
acts by itself; ii it is a nourisher, it help§.lhe 
plant; if it is a prisoner, it hurts it. it produ- 
ces either a healthy, green crop, the effect of al- 
kali, or a stunted yellow, sickly plant, the effect 
of acids. Now, neutralize this acid — kill it — 
apd you see your crops start into luxuriance, 
and you reap where you hayg strewed. So 
much for illustration. 
Let us now apply this view of tbs action of 
salts to those contained in cattle dung. In the 
first place, we have salts of potash, of soda, of 
lime; these are the most abundant and active. 
Then we have salts of iron, manganese, of clay 
and magnesia. These last, existing in small 
proportion, may be thrown out of the account, 
bearing ip miqd, howey^r, that, though we set 
these aside, a plant does not; they enter equally 
with the others into its composition. Let us be- 
gin with the salts ol potash It is found com- 
bined in cattle dung, first, with a vegetable acid, 
the acid of mould. It is a nourisher of plants. 
Secondly, with sulphuric acid or ^he apid of 
sulphur, called oil cf vitriol. This is one of |he 
poisoners, existing only in small proportion in 
pow dung: it ministers to the wants ofa healthy 
plant. The same is true of the common salt or 
the muriate of soda of dung. If it existed in 
larger quantities it would poison the plants to 
which it might be applied. The next salts are 
tho§e o|^ lirnp, phasp'qate and sulphate of lime, 
or lime unibdto sulphuric and phosphoric acid, 
forming pla-ster and bone-dust. The acids here, 
if abundant, would have a decided ba I influ- 
ence — they are poisoners: but the carbonic acid 
in the carbonate of lime, is a nourisher. Now, 
from the small quantity in which these all px^ 
isl in cattle dung, they act only heneficiaily. 
Rut if you apply a great excess, even ol cattle 
dung, you may be sure of an unfavorable re- 
sult. It will b ' produced by the acids of those 
salts which we have called poisonous. Tocon^ 
tinue our remarks on the acids of salts ol dupg, 
it is to be observed that they act also upon the 
soil. 
They decompose that. That is, they extrac^^ 
from the soil alkalies or other subst -nces, like 
those in the original salt. Now, though a;i 
plied, as they must be, in very small doses in 
cattle dung, yet, because of their decomposing 
action on soil, they continually renew them- 
selves, they last till all their acid is taken up to 
supply the wants ofgrowing plants. 
Let us now, reader, if you understand how 
the acids ol the .salts of dung act, turn to the ba- 
ses or the alkalies and metals and earths ol these 
salts. What is their action I What puipose 
do they serve in dung applied as manure'? 
First, they enter into and form a part of the liv- 
ing plant : they form a part of its necessary 
food as much as do the constituents of mould. 
Secondly, when these alkalies and metallic ba- 
ses are let loose, by the disuniting power of a 
growing plant, then they act as alkalies upon 
mould. 'I'hey hastendecay, lender mould more 
soluble, fit it to become food for plants. 
This account of the action of mould and salts 
in cattle dung, may appear to you, reader, long 
and hard to be understood. I do request you 
not to pass it oyer on that account, A patient 
reading — perhaps some may require two or 
more readings — will put you in possession of 
all you need to know, to understand the why 
and the wherefore of the action of mould and 
salts of whatever manure may be used. What 
has been said of the action of mould and salts 
in cattle dung, is equally applicable to all ma- 
nures. If, t' en, you bend y-'ur bones to this 
subject, and master it, yourlaborof understand- 
ing the action ot other manures, will be r- duced 
to the mere statement of the several substances 
which they may contain. We therefore pro- 
ceed to point out oiher manures, conjposed of 
the droppings of animals. 
Section Sixth. 
Of Night Soil, Hog Manure, Horse and Sheep 
Dung. 
These have not all been analysed with the 
same degree of care, and as often, as has cattle 
dung. Some, as for instance, night soil, have 
been examined thoroughly but office. Now, it 
is not quite fair to base our reasohing^ upoa 
these single analyses, and say that this or that 
manure contains this or that salt in gieatero? 
less quantity than another. 
The quantity and kind of salts are materially 
affected by several circumstances, which will 
be considered in the next section. An analysis 
made when the animal is fed and worked on© 
way, will vary from the resup which yauld be 
obtained when the circumstances are varied. It 
is, therelore, quite useless, in the general con- 
sideration of the composition of manures, to en- 
ter upon the details of each. General results, 
general expressions of facts, are sufficient for 
understanding the natureof animal droppings. 
It is well ascertained, however, that all these 
droppings, ofvariousanim ds, contain e.ssential-> 
ly ihe same salts as does cattle dung. They all 
contain portions of each ofthe substances which 
form plants It will be enough for the purpose 
of this Essay, to present to your eye, reader, a 
table, showing the proportions of water, mould, 
and -•salts, which the dung of yourself and your 
stock contain 
Water. Mould. Salts. 
Night soil & hog mapure, 7&30 23.50 1.^ 
Horse dung, 7120 2700 .96 
Sheep dung, 67.90 22.50 3.(16 
(To be continued.) 
From the American Farmer. 
ROOTS vs HAY. 
We take the following from a report made to 
the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, by the 
Messrs. Colts, ol Pittsfield, Rerkshire Go., and 
we do it to show the imtnepse advajjtag© made 
in substituting roots lor hay in teedjPo ^s 
well as in the quantity ol ground peeessary to 
produce a given quantity of food. 
The writer says — “ My stock now consists ol 
1000 sheep, 8 young oxen, ficows, a j\air of hor- 
ses, and a single horse. 1 have raised thjs sea- 
son for the use ol my stock 5544 bushels cf vege- 
tables, and all to be grated and led out with cut 
straw, the cattle constantly, the sheep one feed a 
day, which seems to be a necessary food in our 
long cold winters: it keeps them in health and 
also in flesh. As to Ihe respective value ol the 
vegetable Ibod, the following statement will per<? 
