106 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
ihai we come, perhaps, better prepared to under- 
stand this part of our subject than eitlier of the 
preceding classes. We have explained the 
principles which enable us to understand why 
it is t., at animal and vegetable substances pro- 
duce, by decay, identical matters. The only 
diflerence consists in the quantity of these mat- 
ters. Let me here, reader, call to your remem- 
brance the facts we stated respecting the two 
classes of food, and the two classes of substan- 
ces formed from that lood by animals. A cer- 
tain portion of that food contains none of that 
principle wiiich forms ammonia. This portion 
of food makes fat. Another portion ot food 
contains the substance which forms ammonia. 
This part of the food forms flesh and blood, and 
the otnei parts of the body, skin, hair, leathers, 
bristles, wool, horns, hoofs, nails and claws, 
thews and sinews. Now, when a body dies and 
decays, the mould which it forms will be rich 
manure, or poor manure, just in proportion ns 
it contains more or less of the substances form- 
ed out of that portion of food which furnishes 
flesh and blood. The fat, therefore, in animal 
mould, plays a very inferior part to that acted 
by the flesh and blood. In a word, asl wish to 
dismiss the fatty matters from our present con- 
sidera'ion, I may do this, reader, bv staling to 
you all that you need know, that in decay, fat 
forms chiefly carbonic acid. If, therefore, you 
call to mind what we have said about the action 
of that, you will see how fat acts in manure. 
But the flesh and blood, and the substances 
formed from it, give precisely the same things 
as vegetables do when they decay, that is, wa- 
ter, mould and salts. The great difference be- 
tween the decay of animal and vegetable mat- 
ters, is this : that as the animal bodies are far 
richer in the substance which forms ammonia, 
so they afiord a richer source of manure. The 
animal body contains that element, in quantity 
enough, not only to fill the pores of its own 
mould, but also enough to impregnate a large 
quantity of mould from other sources. The ve- 
getable body, on the contrary, contains scarcely 
enough ammonia to fill itsown mould. Vegeta- 
bles differ in the quantities of the elements of 
food which can furnish flesh and blood, and 
hence those vegetables are best for manure 
''vhich furnish most ammonia. We have alrea- 
dy remarked on the difference, in this respect, 
between straws, grasses, and clover. But with- 
out going further into this comparison, which 
can have no other practical bearing than to 
show you the immense difference in value, in 
animal and vegetable bodies, in forming ma- 
nure, we may here resolve the subject into one 
great principle. The substance which forms 
flesh and blood, whether derived from plants or 
animals, alone forms ammonia during their de- 
cay, and the mould thence arising, is rich or poor 
manure, just in proportion as it contains the 
substance fit to form flesh and blood. Starting 
from thL principle, we find that animal substan- 
ces, as flesh, fish, fowl, the body generally, in- 
cluding its various lorms of covering, hair, 
wool, feathers, nails, hoofs, horns, claws, &c., 
afford, in the process of decay, about ten times 
more ammonia than the straws and grasses usu- 
ally entering into the compost heap. 
The animal bodies give more volatile alkali 
than their mould can contain. It is given off 
in such quantity that decay is rapidly hastened. 
All the signs of putrefaction, therefore, rapidly 
take place. The quantity of mould being 
small, nothing holds the volatile parts — they es- 
cape and are lost. Now, common sense and 
practical foresight have stepped in here, from 
time immemorial, and taught mankind the ne- 
cessity and the utility ofpreventing the waste of 
the volatile and most valuable parts of the de- 
caying animal substances, by covering them in 
with earth, soil, &c. These imbibe the escap- 
ing virtue or strength, and become rich and fer- 
tilizing. It remainstostate, that every pound of 
animal carcass can impregnate ten pounds of 
vegetable mould ; o'', taking our arable soils as 
they usually occur, one pound of flesh, fish, 
blood, wool, horn, &c., can fertilize three hun- 
dred pounds of common loam. 
You will see, therefore, reader, how little you 
have now to learn of the necessity of saving eve- 
ry thing in the shape of animal mailers, and 
converting them to manure, by turning them in- 
to your compost heap. It is to be remarked, 
that the dry lorms of animal substances under- 
go the process of decay very slowly, vvdien left to 
their own action. Wool, hair, flocks, horn- 
shavings, &c., or even leather chips and cur- 
riers’ shai ings, bear long exposure, and seem 
quite indestructible. They yet are rich in all 
tne true virtue of manure. They want some- 
thing to bring this out, to set them a working, to 
bring on fermentation. Well, on this head we 
may lay down two rules; the first is, that if bu- 
ried among a heap of fermenting matter, that 
communicates a similar change to these dry, 
animal substances. This is slow work. The 
second rule is, that if these dry matters are bu- 
ried in the soil among the roots of growing 
plants, then these act more powerfully than fer- 
mentation, and the dry substances are converted 
to manure with a speed which may be called 
quick, compared to the fermenting process. 
The practical lesson to be drawn from the.se 
differences of action between the fleshy and hor- 
I ny parts of animals, is, that when you want a 
j quick and short action of manure, to use the 
fleshy and fluid parts : where you want a more 
slow and permanent action, to commence and 
long last after the first is over, to use the dryer 
and harder parts. 
If now we turn to the other division of mould, 
that from vegetables, we find it lacking in the 
very thing which was superabundant in animal 
mould. That thing is volatile alkali. The 
great mass of vegetable mould is always im- 
pregnated, but always slightly charged with vo- 
latile alkali. There is not enough of the flesh 
and blood-forming element in vegetables to has- 
ten the decay of vegetable matter, or to convert 
them after decay into rich manure. Now here, 
again, not science, but practical common sense 
steps in, and did step in long ago, and as she 
taught mankind the necessity of adding soil or 
mould to the decaying animal matter, so here, 
to enrich vegetable mould, she leaches that ani- 
mal matter, or that which is its representative, 
alkaline . salts, must be added to vegetable 
mould, to make it active. It is not the mould 
alone which plants want. We have seen all 
along how nature provides a certain amount of 
salts in her virgin mould : we, by cropping, ex- 
haust these la.sler than the mould. We have 
tons of that, yet our fields are barren. They 
want, as has been explained, salts. 
And now, reader, having been brought by this 
course of reasoning, to what the mould wants, 
(i. e. salts,) consider what tons and tons of use- 
less mould you have in your swamp muck and 
peal bogs, your hassocks, and your turfy mead- 
ows. All these, foot upon foot in depth as they 
lie, are truly vegetable mould, m a greater or 
less degree of decay. If you dig this up, and 
expose it to the air, that itself sets it to work, 
decay is hastened, volatile matters escape, yea, 
ammonia, the master-spirit among manures, is 
secretly forming and at work, warming and 
sweetening the cold and sour muck. Without 
further preparation, practice confirms what the- 
ory teaches, that this process alone furnishes 
from these beds of vegetable mould, a very good 
manure. It is already highly charged with all 
the salts which a plant wants. But experience, 
doubtless led by the light of the good results of 
mixing mould with animal mattei to preserve 
its strength, has also reversed the practice, and 
taught ihe utility of adding to vegetable mould 
quickening salts ; that is, either the volatile al- 
kali, by composting the mould with stable ma- 
nure, or alkali in the shape of ashes, or potash, 
or soda-ash, or lime, or a mixture of these. In 
lact, whatever substance can, by putrefaction, 
give off volatile alkali, will, and must, and does, 
convert vegetable mould, of itself dead and in- 
active, into a quick and fertilizing manure. 
If, then, reader, you pause here a moment up- 
on this fact, and then cast your eye backward 
over the principles we have endeavored to im- 
press on your memory, you will perceive that 
there is not, among all the classes and kinds o 
manure which we have shown you, one which 
may not be addeil, or, as is the phrase, compost- 
ed, with peat, meadow-mud, swan p-muck, 
poml-mud, or by whatever other name these 
great storehouses of vegetable mattei aie called, 
i'hese are the true sources of abundant manure, 
to all whose stock of cattle, &c., is loo small to 
give manure enough for the farmer’s use. 
It is the farmer’s business to make a choice, 
(il he has any but Hobson’s,) of what substance 
or mixture of substances he will use. W'ehave 
shown him how small a portion ot animal mat- 
ter, one to ten of pure mould, will im,-iegnate 
that suostance. Taking, then, a corn of this 
■swamp muck, we shall find it contains in round 
numbers, about one thousand pounds oi real dry 
vegetable mould. So that the carcass of an ani- 
mal, weighing one hundred pounds, evenly and 
well mixed up with a cord of fresh dug muck, 
will make a cord of manure, containing all the 
elements, and their amount too, of a cord of 
dung. 
But it is not from the carcasses of animals 
that the farmer expects to derive the quicken- 
ing salts for his muck. This can be tne source 
of that power only to the butchers, (what fat 
lands they all have!) orlo the dwelieis near the 
sea, where fish are plenty. A barrelof alewives, 
it is said, lerlilizes a wagon-load ot loam. The 
carcass of a horse converts and fertilizes five or 
six cords of swamp muck. A cord ol clear sta- 
ble dung changes two cords of this .same muck 
into a manure as rich and durable as suible ma- 
nure itself. These are all the results, reader, of 
actual practice. The explanation ot t ie princi- 
ple has only come in since the practice, and 
showed the how and the why of this action. 
But the merit of explaining this action, would 
be, is nothing, it it had not conducted one step 
further. The explanation ot the principle of 
the action of animal matters, animal manures of 
all kinds, whether solid or liquid, cn muck or 
peat, has led chemistry to propose, these 
cheap and common forms of quickeiiu g power 
are not to be had, to mix ashes, or poia- i, or so- 
da-ash with swamp muck. Now, re. -r, this 
is not an idle, visionary, book-farmin- :>cheme. 
It is perhaps one of the lew successlu hi ectap- 
plicationsof chemistry to larming, w..; ti speaks 
out in defence of such book-farming, in tones 
and terms which bespeak yourfave .c le con- 
sideration lor the attempt which science is mak- 
ing to lend you, reader, a helping hac This 
proposal, the offspring of science, bas en car- 
ried out successfully by practical me in our 
own country, and has made its wc .ibroad. 
Though this is not the place to give y the de- 
tai’s of their results, you may rely upm he fact, 
that alkali and .-wamp muck do form lanure, 
cord for cord, in all soils, equal to -stab dung. 
Well now, after your patience in g ■ ng over 
these pages, I hope you will find you i card in 
this statement. To be sure, it might i ve been 
said at once, and so have done witr i ; but I 
hoped, reader, and I am sure I have n been 
disappointed, that you liked to dive c tie into 
the reason of things, and felt that you i farm- 
ed too long by the rule of thumb, to i , -uisfied 
that it was the road either to impro’ i.ent or 
profit. And so among your first aiteu' - at im- 
proving your worn-out lands, always- posing 
you have not a barn-cellar, hog.s, an : swamp- 
muck, so aptly called by one of your wn self- 
made practical men, the “ farmer’s loc. .lOtive,” 
I presume you may like to know the y portions 
in whichyou may mix swamp-muck alkali. 
You can hardly go wrong here by ‘-ing too 
much; the greater danger is, you w: use )oo 
little alkali. But calculating on the • portion 
of mould in fresh-dug swamp-muck, peat, it 
may be stated as a rule, grounded or e quan- 
tity of quickening power in a cord oi ble ma- 
nure, that every' cord of swamp-mu c'- quires 
eight bushels of common ashes, orth pounds 
ot common potash, or twenty pom ^ 1 white 
or soda-ash, to convert it into ma- equal, 
cord for cord, to that from your staW Dig up 
your peat in the fall, let it lay ove- . inter to 
fall to powder, calculate your qua -iiy when 
