1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
283 
also, inches of rain water in each month, and aggregate 
for the year. 
Labor. —Cost of, with and without boarding, and 
cost of boarding. 
Tar and Turpentine. —Quantity and value of, 
produced per hand. 
Plaster and other Fertilizers. 
Lime. —If used as an improver in your State, how 
much is thought to be best per acre, and how often ap¬ 
plied ? 
Orchards: fruits, transplanting of trees, §c In¬ 
formation on these and kindred matters will be of uni¬ 
versal interest. 
On the cultivation of the Vine, on Grapes, and 
American Wines, communications are particularly so¬ 
licited. 
P. S. Please answer this as soon as convenient after 
you procure the information, and before the 1st of De¬ 
cember; and, in the mean time, please name any one to 
whom this circular may be sent in the hope of fuller in¬ 
formation. It not room on the circular, please reply 
08 a separate paper, referring distinctly to the queries. 
Phosphate and Carbonate of Lime. 
The favorable effects of phosphate and carbonate of 
lime on vegetation, have been shown in repeated instan¬ 
ces; and it has been considered important to ascertain 
by what means these substances find their way into ve¬ 
getables. M. Lassaigne, a French writer, has publish¬ 
ed the details of some interesting experiments made by 
him in reference to this point, a translation of which we 
find in the London Farmer’s Magazine. The experi¬ 
menter directed his investigations to the following in¬ 
quiries: 
1st. If phosphate of lime, such as is found in bones, 
can be dissolved in water containing carbonic acid. 
2nd. In what quantity it can be so dissolved. 
3rd. If this solution can or cannot favor the germi¬ 
nation and vegetation of cereals. 
4th. Lastly, if in different parts of the fully grown 
plant, we could detect a certain quantity of this same 
phosphate. 
First Experiment. —The phosphate of li?ne, (as 
found in bones ) is soluble in water saturated with car¬ 
bonic acid, at ordinary pressure and temperature. 
This proposition, which wc have deduced from experi¬ 
ments, has been by Dumar and Gasparin asserted with¬ 
out proof experimental. It is in this state of things 
that in 1846 we announced to the academy of sciences, 
that water saturated with carbonic acid, at the tempe¬ 
rature of 50°, and at the mean pressure of the atmos¬ 
phere, dissolves of the phosphate of lime of bones 
76-10000 parts, or 1-1333 part of its weight. We 
6tated this solution is decomposed by heat, and that the 
phosphate is also thrown down by adding potash or am¬ 
monia to the solution, so as to saturate the carbonic 
acid. We also found that water containing carbonate 
of lime in solution by carbonic acid had, likewise, the 
power of dissolving small quantities of the bone phos¬ 
phate. After settling these points we tried several ex¬ 
periments on fresh bones, and on bones which had lain 
in the earth for some time. The result is, that the 
latter, when reduced to the size of a nut, and brought 
into contact with water saturated with carbonic acid, 
yielded at the end of eight or ten hours, a certain quan¬ 
tity of the inorganic bases, that is to say, of the car¬ 
bonate and phosphate ot lime. This quantity we find 
to be increased by reducing the bones to powder. An 
experiment to ascertain the relative proportion in which 
the phosphate and carbonate of lime are dissolved gave 
results differing but little from those obtained by Berze¬ 
lius. Our results may therefore be considered to have 
established the fact that the salts of lime of the same 
chemical composition as bones, after being allowed to 
decompose for some time in the soil, can be dissolved in 
rain water in consequence of the carbonic acid it eon- 
■tains in solution. 
Second Experiment. —The preceding experiments 
naturally lead us to inquire what effect this solution of 
phosphate and carbonate of lime could produce on ve¬ 
getation. Before studying this question, which is inter¬ 
esting both in an agricultural and physiological view, 
we thought it advisable to place ourselves in the most 
favorable situation to answer it correctly. 
1st. We sowed four grains of wheat in two glass 
vessels of the capacity of about 25 cubic inches, each 
containing about 4,000 grains (?) of sand, purified by 
washing with muriatic acid. Each vessel was watered 
so as to render the sand moist, the one with water con - 
twining cai bonic acid alone, and the ot her with the same 
water also holding in solution the phosphate and car¬ 
bonate of lime. 
2nd. The two vessels were then placed on a porce¬ 
lain plate, and covered with a large bell glass, in order 
to preserve them from contact with any dust floating in 
the air. This apparatus was so placed on a wooden 
stand that if, might be placed in the sunshine; the tem¬ 
perature of the room kept as nearly as possible at the 
50°. The wheat all vegetated in ten days, the plu¬ 
mule was developed as usual, and gave two leaves to 
each plant, of the most beautiful green color. After 
this the development of the two sets of plants were as 
follows: The growth of the grains of wheat watered 
with a solution of carbonic acid, and phosphate and car¬ 
bonate of lime, was much more rapid than those wa¬ 
tered with the solution of carbonic acid alone: the 
leaves furnished by the former grains were generally 
larger, stronger, and of a deeper green. But 25 da}'s 
after germination, the vegetation of the plants, placed 
in such abnormal conditions, languished, the leaves as¬ 
sumed a yellow color at their extremity, and this alter¬ 
ation was gradually propagated through the whole 
plant. At this epoch, the height of the leaves produ¬ 
ced by plants watered by carbonic* acid alone was from 
to 2| inches in height, whilst the leaves produced 
by the grains grown in the sand watered with the solu¬ 
tion of bone earth were from three to four inches high. 
The plants were drawn out of the sand as soon as ever 
they appeared to lose their vigor, and after being wel) 
washed with water, they were dried to ascertain the 
quantity of dry matter they contained. The leaves 
grown with the solution of bone-earth contained 0.193 
grammes, while those from the other experiment con- 
tained only 0.153 grammes of dry matter. Thus giv¬ 
ing, in both eases, the advantage to the experiment with 
the bone-earth. 
Third Experiment. —The results of this agreed 
with the preceding. The vegetation caused by the so¬ 
lution of bone-earth again exceeded that caused by the 
carbonic acid alone, in the proportion of 12 to 8. The 
development of the roots of each lot of plants, was al¬ 
so in the same proportion. It was not sufficient to 
have shown by these direct experiments the stimulat ng 
effect of the solution of phosphate and carbonate of 
lime: it was also requisite to ascertain whether these 
substances had been absorbed during vegetation. To 
ascertain this, we burnt off the dry leaves in a platina 
crucible, and obtaineil from the leaves of the wheat 
grown with the solution of bone-earth, four or five 
times as much inorganic matter as from those giown 
from the solution of carbonic acid alone. And the 
further analysis of these ashes has shown the presence 
of phosphate and carbonate of lime in much larger 
quantities than in the other experiment. These results, 
by positively demonstrating the special influence of 
these salts of lime, also enable us to explain the aetion 
of certain manures. Besides the gaseous and amraoni- 
acal products which are yielded by the decomposition 
