THE CULTIVATOR. 
281 
NEW SYSTEM OF MANURING. 
A singular idea has just been suggested in Scotland, in 
relation to the nutrition of plants. It may be summed up 
in a few words, thus—that a sufficient quantity of the el¬ 
ements of nutrition may be absorbed into the seed of 
wheat, oats, barley, &e. to ensure a very large produce 
at harvest, without any other manure. The gentleman 
that suggested the idea made experiments at two success¬ 
ive seasons, (in 1842 and 1843,) with complete success, 
and the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland, have 
published in their Transactions, a detailed account of the 
whole affair. The experiments were tried on oats and 
barley, and the produce, especially the oats, were exhi¬ 
bited at the Society’s exhibition last fall, and were of re¬ 
markable quality. In their Transactions, the Society 
speak of them in these words:—“There was perhaps no 
object in the exhibition of plants in the Society’s Show 
at Dundee, in August 1843, which attracted such general 
attention as the remarkably strong and vigorous oats, 
growing in soil, exhibited by Mr. James Campbell of the 
Educational Seminaries of that town. The soil in which 
they grew, possessed no peculiar property, except that it 
had not been manured for eleven years. The vigor of 
the plants, according to Mr. Campbell, was entirely to be 
ascribed to their seed having been subjected to the pro¬ 
cess of soaking in certain chemical solutions.” Mr. 
Mr. Campbell, himself, describes the result of the expe¬ 
riment thus:—“ The greater number of the stems of the 
oats are as thick as small canes, and the leaves from one 
inch to one inch and one-seventh in breadth, of a vigor¬ 
ous dark green color. The seed was very light, not ex¬ 
ceeding 37 lbs. per bushel, and consisted of grains set 
aside for feeding poultry. The average number of stems 
from thirty-three seeds, is eleven or twelve to each seed 
sown, and the gross apparent produce between five and 
six hundred fold.” The solution in which these oats 
were soaked, was that of sulphate of ammonia. He pre¬ 
pared it from the carbonate of ammonia himself. He al¬ 
so used solutions of nitrate and muriate of ammonia, and 
nitrate of soda and potash, and all these in combination; 
but he seems to think the sulphate the best, though all 
the others produced favorable results. As these experi¬ 
ments cost but little, and can very easily be tried, I would 
recommend all farmers to make them with at least one 
acre. The simplest method is to take one pound of car¬ 
bonate of ammonia and dissolve it in five pints of pure 
rain or river water. Then take one pound of finely 
ground gypsum (or plaster of Paris,) and stir it into the 
solution of ammonia, and let it stand twenty-four hours, 
stirring it occasionally. When the lime of the plaster of 
Paris has completely settled at the bottom of the vessel, 
pour off the clear liquor into another vessel, and add four 
pints of water to the lime, stir it well, let it settle, and 
then pour off the clear liquor into the other vessel as be¬ 
fore; then put three pints more of water to the lime and 
stir it well again; let it settle and pour off as before into 
the other vessel. The object of these successive wash¬ 
ings is to secure all the sulphate of ammonia that may be 
in the lime. The result will be, that there will be in the 
twelve pints of solution just one pound of sulphate of am¬ 
monia, which is the strength of the solution directed by 
Mr. Campbell. And these twelve pints, or one gallon 
and a half is the quantity required for one bushel of seed. 
The cost of the carbonate of ammonia is about 30 cents a 
pound at retail; the plaster costs comparatively nothing; 
therefore, if Mr. Campbell’s theory be correct, it will 
cost but 30 to 63 cents to manure an acre of ground for a 
very large yield of wheat, oats, &c. The length of time 
Mr. Campbell left the oats, barley, &c. in soak, varied 
from fifty to ninety-four hours, at a temperature of 60 
deg. Fahrenheit. Barley did best when steeped 60 hours. 
Rye grass, and other graminous seeds, do with soaking 
fifteen to twenty hours, and clover from eight to ten 
hours. He does not mention the time required for the 
steeping of wheat. Of course a much shorter time will 
be required than that for barley or oats; probably ten to 
fifteen hours would be sufficient. 
Having stated Mr. Campbell’s theory and given his 
practice with the results, I must be permitted a little cri¬ 
ticism. It appears to me that the theory itself is a kind 
of condensation of the old and very deservedly exploded 
practice of manuring in the hill, without some of its most 
important advantages. Suppose a small quantity of this 
same sulphate of ammonia were placed in the hill with 
the seed, the moisture of the earth and the rain would 
gradually dissolve it, and the seeds would readily absorb 
it to the full extent of their capacity, and the growing 
plant would take up as much of what was not absorbed 
by the seed, as its future growth required. But it is obvi¬ 
ous that this would only be of much advantage during the 
very young state of the plant. Its roots extend every 
way, far beyond the small place where the salts are: 
What for ? Are we to be informed that the roots are thus 
sent out in search of inorganic matter, air and water on¬ 
ly? Again, does sulphate of ammonia comprise all the 
elements of nutrition that compose the food of wheat, 
barley, oats, kc. ? Let us see. Straw contains 38 per 
cent of carbon; that is, one hundred pounds of straw con¬ 
tain 38 pounds of carbon; and one hundred pounds of 
wheat contain 43 pounds of carbon. Sulphate of ammo¬ 
nia can only furnish the necessary (but absolutely essen¬ 
tial,) nitrogen, nothing more. If, therefore, as Mr. 
Campbell asserts, oats soaked in a solution of sulphate of 
ammonia, and planted in a tilly subsoil, taken six feet 
from under the surface, and in which there is no humus 
or organic matter of any kind, produced from five to 
eight stems of prolific oats, then we must conclude that a 
sufficient quantity of carbon and organic matter to supply 
the plants with its other elements must have been suppli¬ 
ed through the medium of rain water, atmospheric air, 
&c. It may be safely admitted that the plants do obtain 
from these sources, an abundant supply of carbon; but 
that they do not thence obtain their potash, phosphorus, 
magnesia, silica, &c. is well known. Again, supposing 
there is no magnesia in the soil, whence will the wheat 
plant obtain phosphate of magnesia, which is an essential 
portion of all the graminese ? Whence, also, will it ob¬ 
tain the silicate of potash, if there be neither potash nor 
silicic acid in the soil ? Will sulphate of ammonia alone, 
in a soil taken six feet below the surface, and in which 
there is no humus or organic matter of any kind, furnish 
all these or any of these essential elements of vegetable 
organism? As hinted above, ammonia furnishes to 
plants nothing but nitrogen; nitrogen does not enter into 
the composition of any one of the above named elements, 
plants receive much, if not most of their carbon from the 
atmosphere; and why may they not also receive their 
nitrogen from the same source, as atmospheric air is com¬ 
posed of oxygen and nitrogen, the latter being four-fifths 
of its bulk. We all know that they do take carbon from 
the atmospheric air, throwing off the oxygen, and it is no 
more than reasonable to conclude that they appropriate 
the nitrogen to their own use.* If this hypothesis be 
admitted, the application of ammonia to soils is superflu¬ 
ous. But again, and I will have dona with this criticism. 
Can it for one moment be supposed that a grain of wheat 
can take up by absorption, a sufficient quantity of ammo¬ 
nia to supply the whole plant, seeds and all, with all the 
nitrogen required for its perfection ? It must be borne 
in mind, while considering this question, that twelve- 
thirteenths of the bulk of the solution absorbed by the 
grain, is simple wafer, and therefore that but one-thir¬ 
teenth of the same bulk is sulphate of ammonia, that but 
one-third of this is ammonia, the other two-thirds being 
water and sulphuric acid, that about five-sixths of the 
weight of ammonia is nitrogen, the other sixth being hy¬ 
drogen. Hence, wheat steeped as directed by Mr. 
Campbell, and absorbing the whole of the solution, will 
contain only one two-hundred-and-thirteenth of its own 
weight of nitrogen, a portion so inconceivably small, as 
to entitle the theory of Mr. Campbell to the appellation 
of the Homeopathic practice of agriculture. It is pretty 
well known to chemists, that grass, hay, &c. contain one 
per cent of nitrogen, that is, that one hundred pounds of 
hay contain one pound of nitrogen. I have not been able 
* I am fully aware that chemists deny that plants derive any benefit 
from the nitrogen of the air, because, say they, “ nitrogen cannot be 
made to enter into combination with any element except oxygen, even 
by the most powerful chemical means.” Are there not many other 
combinations in the vegetable organism, that the same powerful means 
cannot produce, but that the chemical means of nature can and doe* 
continually 1 
