THE 




Scbotcto to &zvitulixvcz, horticulture, anB ths ggausehoiti arts. 


Agriculture is the nursiag mother of the Arts. — 
Xta&pkon. 


Tffiage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the 
State. — Sully. 


F. G. RUFFIX & X. AUGUST, Propr's.— PEAKS: G. EUFFIN, Editor.— T. BAILIE, Publisher. 


Yol. XVI. RICHMOND, APRIL, 1856. • No. 4. 



. "* 



For the Southern Planter. 

J. B. LAWES AMD JUSTUS VON LIEBIG. 
Neatly twenty years ago, an English land; 
owner; John Senxett Lawes, instituted on : 
his home farm, at Rothanistead, in Hertford- ! 
shire, some experiments on the action of dif- 
ferent chemical combinations when applied as! 
manures to the various crops of English agri- 1 
culture. In 1343, he secured the assistance of; 
Dr. J. H. Gilbert, and commenced on a large 
scale a series of experiments on wheat, turnips, 
beans, peas, tares, clover, &c. Dr. Gilbert, as- 
sisted by other able chemists, devoting his en- 1 
tire time to the work. 

A field of 1 4' acres, after having been im- 
poverished as much as possible by the growth ! 
and removal of four crops without manure, was 
divided into upwards of thirty plots, and set 
apart for a series of experiments on wheat. 

! Another field of eight acres, cf similar soil, i 
ras prepared in the same way, divided into a 
lumber of plots and devoted to a series of ex- 
)eriments on turnips. Another field of simi- 
ar soil wa3 treated in the same way and devot- 
;d to experiments on beans, peas, tares, &c. 
The various plots have been kept distinct to 
he present time, and in the wheat field each 
dot has been sown to wheat every year. In 
he turnip field, turnips have been grown on 
;ach plot every year up to the present time, 
so of beans, peas and tares. 

One plot in each field has been left without 
,ny manure since the commencement of the 
xperiments. The other plots were dressed 
rith some one or more of the organic and mor- 
onic elements of plants. The produce from 
ach plot was kept separate, add the weight of 
rain, straw, &c; and in the case of turnips the 
reigjjt of buds and leaves accurately ascer- 
iined. The increase -of produce over and 
bove that obtained from the continuously un- 
lanured plot was ascribed to the particular 
lanure used. 
Some of the results of these experiments 
vox,, xvi — i 



have been given to the public at various times- 
through the Journal of the Royal Agricultu- 
ral Societi/ of England, the Agricultural 
"Gazette, and the Journal of the English As- 
sociation for the advancement of Science, pe- 
riodicals which are seldom seen by American 
farmers; and it is to be regretted that, with a 
single exception, none of Mr. Lawes articles 
have ever been republished in this country. 

"When he associated himself with Mr. Lawes, 
Dr. Gilbert had but recently returned from 
Giessen, where he received the diploma of 
Doctor of Physolophy from Prof. Liebig, and 
it is not improbable that he entertained some 
of the views of this distinguished chemist in 
regard to the manuiial requirements of plants. 
Be this as it may, it is evident that the ma- 
nures used the first year on the wheat field 
were selected with reference to the "mineral 
theory.''' They were composed of the consti- 
tuents of the ashes of the wheat plant. They 
were applied in various quantities and combi- 
nations, but failed in every instance to in- 
crease the yield of wheat. On the other hand , 
where ammonia was used, the crop was greatly 
increased ; and this, in a word, has been the 
prominent result of the experiments on wheat 
every subsequent year throughout. 

These results were thought to be inconsistent 
with the mineral theory. They were supposed 
to prove, that although a soil abounded with the 
mineral elements of plants in an available con- 
dition, the atmosphere, rain and dews could not 
supply ammonia sufficient for a maximum crop 
of wheat. 

Prof. Liebig, on the point of editing a new 
edition of his "Chemistry in its Application to 
Agriculture and Physiology," has had occa- 
sion, as he tells ua, to examine the agricultural 
journals, in order to acquaint himself with the 
results of practical experience, that haye been 
published since the appearance of the last edi- 
tion of his book, in 1845. The result of this 
examination has ltd to the siraultaneotus pub- 



98 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Mcation in Germany, England, and the United 
States of a pamphlet entitled "The Relations 
of Chemistry to Agriculture, and the Agricul- 
tural Experiments of Mr. J. B. Lawes." The 
object of the pamphlet we will allow Liehig to 
state iu his own words: 

" The experiments of Lawes, of Rothamstead, are 
distinguished above all others by their extent and 
duration ; and since the conclusions that their au- 
thor has deduced from them stand in contradiction 
to the principles which I have taught in the above 
•work I consider his so-called practical Criticism 
of scientific views especially adapted to serve as 
am example to convince agriculturists how neces- 
sary it is to select a correct method of experiment- 
ing when, thereby, an opinion or doctrine is to be 
confirmed or refuted." . 

"All the experiments of Lawes prove precisely 
the aml~aru of that which, in his opinion, tluy shovld 
vrov I consider them, indeed, as the firmest sup- 
wort of the theory which they were originally in- 
tended to combat, and the facts which he has ascer- 
tained, teach so many important doctrines in refer- 
ence to the cultivation and manuring of the soil, 
that I hold them to be of very special value to the 
theory of agriculture.'' 



L 

port 



awes' experiments are "the firmest sup- 
««" of the "principles" taught by Liebig, 
and are of "very special value to the theory 
of agriculture," and calculated to teach "many 
important doctrines in reference to the culti- 
vation and manuring of the soil." "What, then, 
are the principles taught by Liebig, and what 
are the results of Lawes' experiments? 

It is by no means easy to answer the first 
question. An eminent German philosopher 
has paid that Leibig's writings '.'swarm with 
contradictions;" and Dr. Hugo Mold charac- 
terises his style as one "which leaves the reader, 
on almost every important topic, in perfect 
tincertainty what it really is that Liebig 

means." , „ ' rjr ,•'! 

The principal point 01 difference between 
Lawes and Liebig is in regard to the so-called 
"mineral theory," which Mr. Lawes thought 
embodied in the following sentence in Liebig s 
"Chemistry in its application to Agriculture and 
Physiology" : "The crops on a field diminish 
or increase in exact proportion to the diminu- 
tion or increase of the mineral substances con- 
voyed to it in manure." Liebig says Mr. 
Lawes appears to bo unacquainted with any 
other sentence in his book, "and this sentence 
he has entirely misunderstood" Again he 
aavs "His impossible to believe that he (Mr 
LaVee) had any knowledge of this theory or 
■ww acquainted with my doctrines, otherwise, 
how could he have declared my opinions to be 
inconsistent with his experimental results i 
Again "It is not difficult to refute the views 
of another, if we attribute to him false asser- 
tions which he has not made." Again, lhat 



the mineral theory of Liebig is a pure inven- 
tion of Mr. Lawes' might be clear to every 
one." Again, "My remark * * cannot be 
considered incorrect because Mr. Lawes has 
misunderstood its sense." 

Leaving out of the question the work on 
"Chemistry in its Application to Agriculture 
and Physiology," in which Liebig now declares 
he did not teach the "mineral manure theory," 
let us see what he has written elsewhere, and 
also what others, besides Mr. Lawes, have 
taken to be his meaning. In a letter to the 
Revue Scientifiquc et Industrielle, Liebig says: 
"In a short time I intend publishing a work which, 
I trust, will be interesting in the present state of ag- 
riculture. "Jou are aware of the great importance 
which theoretical persons attach to the presence of 
ammonia in manures ; so much so, that in Fiance 
their value is estimated by the quantity of azote or 
ammfonia they contain. For myself, for the last three 
years I have partaken of the common opinion, and 
regard the azote as not only useful but also neces- 
sary ; but my last experiment, as well as careful 
observation, have lately compelled me to alter my 
opinion." 

If we can understand language, Liebig here- 
plainly states, that he formerly thought ammonia 
"not only useful but necessary," but that experi- 
ments and observation have compelled him to alter 
his opinion. "In other words; he is now compelled 
to think ammonia neither necessary nor useful as a 
manure. 

"It has been demonstrated," he continues "that 
ammonia is a constituent part of the atmosphere, 
and that as such it is directly accessible and absor- 
bable hv all plants. If, then, the other conditions 
necessary to the growth of the plants be satisfied— 
1 if the soil be suitable— if it contains a sufficient 
quantity of alkalies, phosphates, and sulphates, 
nothing will be wanting; the plants will derive 
their ammonia from the atmosphere, as they do 
carbonic acid. We know well that they are en- 
dowed with the faculty of assimilating those two 
aliments; and I really cannot see why we should 
search for their presence in the manures wc tuter 

In other words, if plants are supplied with their 
appropriate mineral food, they will obtain ammo- 
nia from the atmosphere, and we need not care to 
apply it in manure. The following sentence also 
indicates that Liebig considers ammonia unne- 
cessary : 

"The question of the necessity for ammonia in 
our manures resolves itself into the question of the 
necessity for animal manures, and upon the solu- 
tion depends the entire future prospects of agricul- 
ture- for as soon as we can dispense with bulky 
farm-yard manure bv the use of artificial prepa- 
rations, the productive power of our fields is placed 
in our own hands." 

In an article "On the Principles of Artifi- m 
cial Manuring," written at Geissen, in 1845, 
occur the following sentences : 

"It results from this with certainty, that the min- 
eral substances which are furnished by the soil, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



99 



nnd which are found again in the ashes of plants, 
are their true food • that they are the conditions of 
vegetable life." 

"The fertilizing power of manure can be deter- 
mined by weight, as its effect is in direct ratio to its 
amount in the mineral elements of the food of plants.'' 

This' is certainly explicit. The following argu- 
ment is to the same effect : 



ministers to the nourishment of the plants; but if 
this artificial supply of ammonia is uot given, they 
can derive all the required nitrogen from the at- 
mosphere." — Ibid 517. 

These quotations require no comments. Mr. 
Lawes is severely censured for supposing that 
Liebig taught that theory which ascribes the 
effect and value of manures to the inorganic 
constituents ®£ plants which they contain. 
Liebig thinks Mr. Lawes has read only one 
sentence of his book', and misunderstood that 



"If these elements (the ashes of plants) are pres.- 
e:.t iu sufficient quantity and in appropriate pro- 
portions, the soil contains the conditions which 
reader the plant capable of abgi cbiug carbonic , 
acid and ammonia from the air, which is an inex- 1 one. Let us see, therefore, what others nave 
:.:--u.cible storehouse for them, and renders their \ understood Liebig to mean. 

Sullivan, in his Manures of the Farm, says : 
"The admixture of caustic lime with night soil 



organism. 

"If we do not restore to a meadow the elements 
withdrawn, its fertility decreases. But its fertility 
remains unimpaired, with a due supply of animal 
excrements, fluid and solid, and it not only remains 
the same , but may be increased by a supply of 
mineral substances alone, such as remain after the 
combustion of ligneous plants and other vegeta- 
bles, namely, aslies. Ashes represent the whole 
nourishment which vegetables receivefrom the soil. 
By furnishing them in sufficient quantities to our 
meadows, we give to the plants growing on them 
the power o! condensing and absorbing carbon and 
nitrogen by their surface." 

''Must not, we ask, the effect of the solid and 
fluid excrements, which are the ashes of plants and 
grains burned [the italics are Liebig's] in the bo- 
dies of animals and of man, be dependent upon 
the same cause 1 Must not the fertility resulting 
from their application be, to a certain extent,* 
independent of the ammonia they contain 1 Would 
not the effect be precisely the same in promoting 
the fertility of cultivated plants, if we had evapo- 
rated the urine and dried and burned the solid 
excrements before adding them to the soil 1 Sure- 
ly the cerealia and leguminous plants which we 
cultivate must derive their carbon and nitrogen 
from the same source whence the graminea and 
leguminous plants of the meadow obtain them. 
No doubt can be entertained of their capability to 
do so." Letters on Chemistry, last London edition, 
page 514. 

"Nothing can be more aertain than the fact that 
an exportation of nitrogenized products does not 
exhaust the fertility of a country ; inasmuch as it 
is not the soil, but the atmosphere, which furnishes 
it3 vegetation with nitrogen- It follows, conse 



has been objected to on the ground of the 
chemical decomposition which would thereby 
ensue, and the consequent evolution and waste 
of ammoniacal gas; but we have the high au- 
thority of Liebig for stating that the efficacy 
of 'human foeces as manure does not depend 
on their ammonia or nitrogen. Hence, in do- 
jurying night soil of smell, we do not diminish 
its value as a fertilizer." In other words, dri- 
ving off the ammonia of manure does not de- 
crease its fertilizing value. 

Dr. Wessenborn, writing from Weimar to the 
London Farmers'' Magazine, vol. 15, 373, 
says : 

" Tiie great rule of Prof JLiebig's new system of 
manuring is the following : Let the fields not be 
manured with stable dung, nor with any sort of 
dung whatever that contains organic (vegetable or 
animal) substances along with its organic (mineral) 
principles. This mineral manure the farmer lias 
to procure either by incinerating all the vegetable 
substances that he has reaped, and which he can- 
not profitably sell or consume on his farm, espe- 
cially by burning the s'traw; or by applying to a 
chemist with a view of having both he soil to be 
manured and the ashes of plants to be cultivated 
duly analysed, and of getting piepared, conforma- 
bly to the result of such analyses, an artificial ma- 
nure (mineral manure — manure of ashes) contain- 
ing the very mineral food that the plant wants, and 
that is not already contained in the ground. * * * 
The farmer saves (by the new system of manuring) 



quentfv, that we cannot increase the fertility of our almost the whole of the expenditure for transport- 

1 ing manure to the fields, as the weight of the mine- 
ral manure he wants is only 26 percent, of that of 
the stable dung hitherto used." 

In one of kislestures, Mr. Karkeek adverted 
"to the doctrine recently introduced by Prof. Lie- 
big, which under estimated the influence of organic 
manures in the soil and attached the more impor- 
tance to the inorganic constituents of plants, by 
keeping a supply of whjch in the soil, lie is of 
opinion that the carbon and nitrogen which are 
necessary for the growth of plants will be supplied, 
through the ah/iosp/iere. This is a theory altogether 
opposed to the experiments which he (Mr. Kar- 
keek) had placed before them that day, and it was 
also opposed to Liebig's previous teaching.' — Far. 
Mag., vol. xv. 2G0. 

Prof. E. N. Horsford while with Prof. Lie- 



fields by a supply 6f nitrogenized products, or by 
salts of ammonia alone rf but rather that their pro- 
duce increases or diminishes in a direct ratio with the 
supply of mineral elements capable of assimilation. 
* * * If we supply along with the ammonia ali 
the conditions necessary for its assimilation, it 

*We are now quoting from die last edition of Liebig's 
Familiar Letters on Chemistry, published in 1831, subse- 
quent to the publication of Mr. Lawes' results. \Tiii$ qual- 
ifying clau.se was riot in lite former editions, where the 
sentence reads "Should not the fertility resulting from their 
.application be allogetlier independent of the ammonia they 
contain? " 

fHere, a^'air., this qualifying clause was not in the for- 
mer editions, which read — "We cannot increase the fer- 
tility of our fields by a supply of nitrogenized -manure, 
or by salt of ammonia." TliFcaange of the word manurel 
to produeii is sbo significant 



100 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



big at Geissen, will be considered good authori- 
ty in regard to the views of Liebig on this point. 
In a letter to Prof. Webster, dated Geissen, 
May 1, 184G, he says: 

"You are aware that Boussingault has express- 
ed the opinion, after a variety of experiments, that 
the value of manure is in near relation to its per- 
centage of ammonia. Mulder has, you know, 
written much in support of the view that ulmic 
and humic acids, ulmates, humates, etc., in one 
form and another, minister largely to vegetation. 

* * Liebig differs from them all. * * He 
takes the position that the sources of carbon and 
nitrogen are carbonic acid and ammonia in the 
air. * * * 

"It is obvious (from analysis of soils 3,nd rain- 
water) that the ammonia spread on fields in the 
ordinary distribution of barn-yard products is of 
no moment. The quantity with usual falls of rain 
greaily exceeds, in Hie course of a season, any conceiva- 
ble supply by human instrumentality. * * * 

Careful and numerous analyses of rain water and 
snow by Boussingault, Lawes, Way, and others 
prove beyond cavil, that "with usual [or unusual] 
falls of rain" no such quantity of ammonia is con- 
veyed to the soil, as is here stated. We think 
that Prof. Ilorsford will now admit that "ten tons 
of ordinary barn-yard manure contain more am- 
monia than is carried to an acre of land in twelve 
months by usual falls of rain." This fact greatly 
weakens the force of Prof. Horsford's argument ; 
but one object in quoting his remarks is not to at- 
tempt to point out where they conflict with more 
recent investigations, but sinply to show that Mr. 
Lawes is not the only person who understood Lie- 
big to teach "the mineral manure theory." 

"But if in the manure heap and the liquid accu- 
mulations of the barn-yard, transported to the fields 
the ammonia be not the chief ingredient, or o im- 
portant one, to what are we to attribute the unques- 
tioned value of stable product? and night soil 1 
Prof. Liebig has shown tliat if plants be manured 
with the ashes of plants of the same species, as the 
grasses of our western country are when burned 
over- in the fall, they are supplied with their na- 
tural food. * * Let us consider what these ashes 
are, and what manure is. Horbivirous animals 
derive their nourishment from the vegetable king- 
dom exclusively, their food being grass, grain, 
roots, etc. These, with their organic and inor- 
ganic matters are eaten. A portion of them- is 
assimilated, becoming bone, muscle, tendon, fat. 
etc. Another portion is voided in the form of ex- 
crementitious matter. In process of time, the 
bones and tissue follow the same course. What to- 
day forms the eye, with its sulphur, aud its phos- 
phorous, and carbon, etc., will have accomplished 
its office, and left the organism to mingle with the 
excrements or escape as carbonic acid and water 
from the lungs. At length all the inorganic mat- 
ters will re-appzar in the voided products. * * 
The animal organism has performed the office of 
amill. Grain was supplied. Instead of appear- 
in"' as flour and bran and the intermediate meal, it 
appears after intervals of greater or less length, 
in soluble inorganic salts in the liquid excrements, 
in soluble inorganic saUs in the solid excrements. 



and in carbonic acid and water. Now, after burn- 
ing a plant, what remains 1 It contained when 
growing carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, aud oxygen, 
as organic bodies, and water. It contained also, 
invariable proportions, common salt, potash, soda,- 
magnesia, lime, iron, phosphorous, sulphur, and 
silica. The first four were expelled in the com- 
bustion. The remaining ingredients, for the most 
part, remained unchanged. Had the' plant gone 
into the body of an animal, and in the course of 
its evolutions through the organism lost its car- 
bon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, the remain- 
ing ingredients would have been the same as be- 
fore. In one case the plant would have been burn- 
ed in the organism ; in the other, in a crucible. 
The ashes and the excrements are substantially the 
same. * * Night soil and guano are the ashes 
of animal and vegetable organism burned in ani- 
mal bodies. They are the ashes of plants — the 
essential food of plants. H:nce their value as ma- 
nures." 

We might multiply such quotations from 
our agricultural literature of the past decade 
ad libitum, but the above are sufficient to show 
that Lawes and Wolf are not alone in ascrib- 
ing the "pure mineral theory to Liebig." 

His pupils and followers, as well as those 
who differed with him, evidently understood 
Liebig as asserting that if the inorganic consti- 
tuents or ashes of a given species of plants 
were supplied in sufficient quantity, and in 
proper condition, we should obtain a maximum 
yield ; that the crops on a field increased or 
diminished as these mineral elements were sup- 
plied or withheld ; that the mineral manure 
patented by Prof. Liebig, was an embodiment 
of his views ; and that "sooner or later, they 
(farmers) must see that in this so-called 'mine- 
ral theory,' in its development and ultimate 
perfection, lie the whole future of agriculture." 

Liebig, in his recent pamphlet, denies ever 
having entertained these views, and admits, 
very reluctantly, however, that Mr. Lawes' ex- 
periments prove them to be erroneous. He 
now says: 

" I consider ammonia aud its salts exceedingly 
useful, and indeed at present even, perfectly indis- 
pensable as a means of increasing the produce of 
our fields beyond a certain limit, without the use 
of stable manure." 

Surely there is some difference between this 
sentence and the following one, which will be- 
found in the first edition df Liebig' s " Letters 
on Chemistry," but which has been altered in 
the subsequent edition, published since the ap-. 
pearauce of Mr. Lawes' papers : 

" It follows consequently, that wo cannot ia- 
crcase the fertility of our fields by a supply of tii- 
trogenized manure, or by salts of ammonia ; but 
rather that their produce increases or diminishes, 
in a direct ratio with the supply of mineral ele- 
ments capable of assimilation." 

It is evident fromr these and other sentences 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



which might be cited, that Liebig has changed 
his views in regard to the value of ammonia 
as a manure ; but it is still very difficult to 
determine " what it really is that Liebig 
means." Perhaps he may accuse us, as he 
has Mr. Lawes, of having read but one sen- 
tence iu his book, so we beg leave to state be- 
forehand that we have read it over carefully 
several times, and that we are still in doubt 
as to the real position of the learned author 
on the subject it is the special object of the 
work to elucidate. He has made some " agri- 
cultural experiments " on a ten acre field, and 



ten acrc'field, '-' distinguished from all other 
land iu the vicinity by its almost pgigfect i&- 
capacity to support the ordinary cultivated, 
plants ; T do not believe that in an entire year, 
so much, grass and fodder grew upon it as 
would sustain a single sheep." This was, un- 
questionably, a poor soil ; and the mind reeaSk 
instances of similar soils having been rendered 
fertile by the ordinary processes of agriculture. 
The farms of the late Judge Buel, and D. IS. 
T. More, of Waterleit, N. Y., and many ia 
the county of Norfolk, England, were ones 
blowing sands, but now are as remarkable for 



in summing up his conclusions from them, i fertility as they once were for barrenness. 
says: "My experiments, which occasioned This result has been attained principally 
me an outlay of 8,000 florins, ($3,200,) or I through growing crops of clover and turnips. 
$320 per acre, show indeed that to make a i by plowing them in, or consuming them on the 



soil fertile, which is barren from want of activ 
(soluble) ingredients, and not on account of 
unfavorable physical condition, requires an 
outlay greater than the purchase of the most 
fruitful soil ; but in this I was in no way dis- 
appointed. What I wished to arrive at, was 
well worth the sacrifice. "What I have ar- 
rived at is, [now, surely, he will state his con- 
clusions on the value of mineral mauure ; but 
alas, no ! what he has arrived at is only] /he 
firm conviction that the time must come when 
agriculture iciU he carried on as an art, ac- 
cording to scientific principles, and not accor- 
ding to mere recipesP 

Liebig brings forward these experiments as 
practical evidence of the correctness of his 
opinions, and they are, therefore, worthy of 
attention. He says : 

:: In the years 1815-9, 1 instituted a series of ex- 
periments on the action of individual mineral ma- 
nures. * * Former experiments which I had 
made in my garden, gave no results; do and apply 
what I iron),'!, I teas, not able, to perceive any effect 
from a, tingle env: of rxy mixtures*"* 

The cause of this is ascribed to the richness 
of the garden soil. This led to purchase a 

'Prof. KcfiSFORD, in one of hi.s letters from Geissen, 
. {Cultivator, 1S16, page 139,) alludes to these experiments 
as follows: "In the »prm.g, (UBiffi preceding ray arrival 
in Geissen, the Professor planted some grape scions under 
'ae windows of the laboratory. He fed them, if I may 
asc such an expression, upon the ashes of Hie grape zins, 
or upon the proper inorganic food of the grape, as shown 
by analysis of its ashes. The growth has been enormous, 
&.C I was shown pots of wheat, in different ijtages of 
their growth, that had been fed variously — some upon the 
inoro-anic matter* they needed according to the analysis of 
their ashes — others had merely shared the tribute of the 
general soil. The results in numbers I don't yet know. 
In uppearanee, no one could: be at a loss to judge of what 
might be expected. * * The [experiments of Prof. L., 
v. hich I have alluded to, are full of interest not alone as 
sustaining the views he has expounded, [what views, if not 
th Se of t^je mineral theory?] but as a!:"o showing that the 
treasures in (ha shade of inorganic manures, heaped up in 
F.imo juart/To of the globe, taay be made to equalize the 
of tabor >?■ other re*ioaaf' 



farm, and returning the manure, thus supply- 
ing organic matter and especially ammonia-., 
from the atmosphere. This, however, is sim- 
ply a deduction from certain theoretical consid- 
erations, founded on "Mr. Lawes' experiments : 
and we have frequently expressed the wits?; 
that experiments with ammonia salts, organ;;; 
matter, and mineral substances, might be in- 
stituted on similar soils. By applying amass- 
nia on oue plot, organic matter on another, fee 
various mineral manures on others, and a 
mixture of these in different quantities an-i 
proportions on others, and reserving one pl«& 
without any manure at all, we might obtak 
decisive information on this interesting safe- 
jeet. Let us see what kind of experiment-- 
the great Geissen Professor instituted. 

No part of the field teas left u-iiliout ati% 
manure. A quantity of mineral manure was 
spread uniformly over the ivholc field, except- 
ing a piece of vineyard of about 2000 vines, 
each of which received at the time of planting 
one quarter pound of the same mineral ma- 
nure. " On separate divisions of the ' fich 
were cultivated wheat, rye, barley, clover, pot& 
toes, maize, beets, and Jerusalem artichokes."''' 
Would it not have been better, instead of hav- 
ing nine different crops and only one kind of 
mineral manure, to have had niue different 
manures, anjB ouly one crop ? If the ashes cA 
plants represent the manure best adapted foe 
their growth, no one compound of mineral ma- 
nures could be best suited to both wheat aa<£ 
clover, maize and beets. 

" Some patches received saw-dust, one nothiur- 
but stable-manure, another a mixture of the mix- 
era! manure with an equal quantity of sitbie-dtrag. 
Beside this stable-dung, no other animal substance 
no arnmoniacal manure wis used on the Whok 
field. One small plot had added to it several wajr- 
gon loads of soil from a fo.rost ; another "received 
the same' mixed with the mineral manure." 



*M2 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



.In other words, the whole field was dressed 

•ssn&b the same mineral manure. Some plots 

Issd staple-dung, and some forest soil with and 

"•mtiiout an additional quantity of the same 

■mineral manure. No purely ammoniaeal 

as : fcter was used. The poor impoverished soils 

gf Maryland; Virginia, &c, have been made: 

fbs yield afi excellent crop by the application 

; a small quantity of ammoniaeal guano. 

Who knows whether such would not' have 

I bh?e ease with ' : .Liebig's Heights?" 

' ■ rtainlv, in instituting scientific experiments, 

I'Svsre could have been no harm in trying. 

•"The crops the first year." says Liebig, 

' ; iirned out so moderate, so bad, in fact," that 

- i details are given. The yield of turnips, clo- 

s . it and potatoes, did not suffice for keeping one 

e^t, In every case, however, where organic 

EEajrares containing ammonia were used, the 

; qjps u were heavier than elsewhere." The 

a wfeeaii manured with " stable dung and mine- 

■■■x&ls was equal to any in the neighborhood." 

Why not have tried a plot with stable dung, 

Tjrifihoui any minerals ? 

It must be evident to all that the first 
(year's results of Liebig's experiments are 
dtediigly in favour of organic or ammoniaeal 
■.-as&mirea. ' We are told that in the second, 
x Hilrd, and fourth years the soil increased in 
■productiveness, though no details at all are 
sgiyeii. In 1849, Liebig's gardener " pur- 
chased the whole field, and the industrious 
saaan. who could not afford to buy manure, 
„ ^manages with profit the now well-conditioned 
liitk farm,; assisted, during the summer 
.snemths, by a little business, in selling re- 
:£reshments, he is able to support himself and 
Stmily, keeping two cows, and annually rais- 
in several head of cattle; aad he has ac- 
smred enough to enable him to enlarge his 
%>midinps; and all this without ammonia or 
.-ijamus, and ' only by help of mineral 
^Ktannres." 

This is eertainly a very gratifying result 

jiiier expending on ten acres of land $3,200 

§at mineral manures, &c.$ an industrious 

'ihitchman, by the aid of a little business, in 

ybash probably his wife and children engaged, 

was enabled to support himself; and all this 

guithout the aid of ammonia ! Was it ever 

Sne&rd before that a man could get a living 

m ten acres of land, in close proximity, to 

;iarse city? But let us see whether this 

■ ra.5 accomplished without the aid of ammonia. 

fffaj forest muck, saw-dust, and stable-manure 

seed the first year, all contained ammonia, 

.-.- 3 the crops were much the lest tvhere they 

were used. Liebig says : 

rince tlio present owner came into possession, 



the stable-manure and all the animal excrements 
produced on the premises, and especially ilvcvrhic, 
have been collected with the greatest care, and of 
course have been incorporated with the soil." 

In other words, great care has been used 
to save all the ammonia and incorporate it 
with the soil, and fair crops, after a period of 
eight years, have rewarded the care and skifl 
of the cultivator. Who knows but this same 
result might have been attained in one year, 
by an application of ammonia ? If the at- 
mosphere is capable of supplying all the 
ammonia that plants require, why was it 
found necessary on this field, which had been 
so lavishly dressed with ail the mineral ele- 
ments of plants, to save all the dung and 
" especially the, urine" and ineorp orate theia 
with the soil J Surely, the gardener evidenced 
little faith in the teachings of his great master I 
li these experiments prove anything, it is the 
verv reverse of what Liebig intended they 
should prove ; and they are the only experi- 
ments brought forward to sustain his position. 

After disparaging Mr. Lawes' experiments 
Liebig says : 

" 7 "Ae single problem, Kortky of scientific agricul- 
ture at the present time, is to establish in place of 
a change of crops, a change or succession of ma- 
nures, which shall enable the farmer to grow on 
his fields that crop, which, under the circumstances, 
will be most profitable. How simple a form would 
the labors of a farm assume, could he continuous- 
ly cultivate the same plant on the same field." 

This is certainly a good idea, though ah old 
one ; but how shall we ascertain what manures 
are best adapted for the same crops ? Liebig 
himself took out a patent for " a preparation 
of compounds, based upon analysis of plants ^ 
which were estimated to provide a given species 
of plants with a nourishment it would need 
throughout a series of years." That these 
compounds utterly failed in Germany, En- 
gland, and America, is notorious. The idea 
was a splendid deduction, but, unfortunately 
for the farmer, so far from ^revolutionizing 
agriculture, as was predicted, it proved what 
might have been foreseen, that deduction is 
not a safe guide in scientific agriculture. We 
shall probably incur Liebig's displeasure by 
referring to this unfortunate manure specula- 
tion. He has brought forward a number of 
sentences from his various works to show that 
he did not teach " the pure mineral theory;" 
but this patent mineral manure, which is a 
practical embodiment of the theory, is not so 
easily disposed of ; hence the bitterness man- 
ifested on the subject. 

Liebig's patent mineral manures have con- 
fessedly failed to solve " the single problem 
worthy of scientific agriculture." We can- 
not, by their use, " continuously cultivate the 



i — - 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



same plant on the same field." Now, though 
Mr. Lawes does not think it desirable to culti- 
vate the same crops on the same land, he has 
succeeded in doing so to an extent which one 
would suppose from the above sentence, should 
have secured the approbation of the great 
German' chemist. There is now growing on 
Broadback* the tivclfth annual wheat crop, 
and the crop of last year, (1854,) was the larg- 
est yet harvested from it ; one plot yielding 55 
bushels of wheat per acre. So with the tur- 
nips on Barnfield ; the thirteenth annual crop 
is now growing, and though the soil is rather 
too heavy to be well adapted for turnip culture, 
yet good crops are obtained, fully equal, as we 
know from our own observation, to those 
grown in the neighborhood, under the ordinary 
system of rotation. So in Geescroft, twelve 
crops of beans have been grown in twelve years, 
and removed from the soil, and yet as good 
crops are obtained as the farmers could desire. 
S© of peas and tares. Clover is an exception ; 
no matter how lavishly and variously it is 
manured, clover will not flourish continually 
on the same land. But with other crops, Mr. 
Lawes has ;; solved the single problem worthy 
of scientific agriculture. "' At the present 
price of wheat and ammonia, Mr. Lawes or 
any other intelligent agriculturist, can not only 
grow wheat continuously on the same land, 
but can also grow it with a profit. If his 
land, without manure, will produce 15 bushels 
of wheat per acre, he can make it produce 30 
bushels by an application of from §12 to §15 
worth of manure. If wheat sells for 80 cents 
to §1 per bushel, such a system will not pay ; 
if it is worth from §2 to $3 per bushel, noth- 
thicg can be more profitable. 
Liebig says : 

' : So to explain the actio:), and recommend the 
use of ammonia salts in the production of wheat, 
as Mr. Lawes has done, appears to be mockery of 
the present state of agriculture ; for all the salts 
now manufactured in Europe, are not enough to 
auppiy the fields of the kingdom of Saxony with 
the quantities Used by Mr. Lawes. : ' 

This appears to us a very lame argument. 
What if salts of ammonia are not now manu- 
factured in sufficient quantities ? If farmers 
can obtain what they want at present, shall 
they not use them ? The ammonia salts used 
in agriculture or commerce, are made princi- 
pally from the refuse liquor of the gas works ; 
and in nearly every city in Europe the greater 
portion of this liquor runs to waste. In this 
country, we know of but one establishment 

* Tivoodback i? the nance of Mr Lawes' experimental 
wbeatfield. All the fields in England are named. Barn- 
JUU/, Cr^ucroft, Uosr-fidd, are the names of the exper- 
imental rcirnip, v i r-n. pea, tare. p.nd clover field*. 



where ammonia salts arc manufactured feEiK 
gas liquor for agricultural purposes. Shaft *a 
condemn the use of ammonia salts, bec£;ia>~ 
J they are not at present extensively mamrfss-?- 
jtured, while we have the means of m'efeasi 
their production to an almost unlimited? 
extent ? 

But Mr. Lawes has not " recommended: .: 
juse of ammonia salts in the production ;■>' 
■ wheat." Mr. Lawes tells us, indeed, that&£&- 
monia is specially needed for the procluctioK @S 
wheat ; but he has never advised farmers "iffo 
use ammonia salts at their present price. Ilk- 
used them in his experiments because tfer 
enabled him, for a special object, to apply imz- 
monia free from the organic and mineral mas- 
ter united with it in barn-yard manure, gua^e/,.. 
rape cake, &c. These experiments led hisa &* 
the conviction that ammonia, in ordin'ary agri- 
culture, is greatly needed on all our whestfe 
soils, but he has never recommended farB&esr--- < 
to imitate his example, and purchase expeissim 
ammonia salts. He points to cheaper sour.eesF' 
of it. What these sources are, we shall' sss^y 
further on. 

Professor Liebig, in somo parts of his. laie 
work, appears to labor under the iiapresslffu 
that Mr. Lawes affirms that if ammonia h& 
present in sufficient quantity in the soil, tLV 
wheat plant can grow without miner &(s. W© 
cannot understand how any one could arrive.. 
at such a conclusion from Mr. Lawes' writing^-:. 
Certainly he has never written any thing whid.. 
favors such an idea; while he has repeated*'?: 
declared that the "growing plant must have 
within its reach a sufficiency of the miners?, 
constituents of which it is to be built tnx B 
He also fully admits that the atmosphere and 
rain-water ar e capable of supplying plants wittu ' 
a considerable quantity of ammonia. On thes*' 
two main points, Liebig and Lawes are agree<3L. 
In what, then, do they differ? It is obvi«i> 
that they do differ very essentially, Jktt 5 
what exact particulars, it is hard to say, sna- 
ply because it is impossible to determine vths£y 
Liebig at present teaches. From the genera.*' 
tenor of his works, we conclude that he- "&&, . 
lieves, or did believe among other things, thsisr 
the manurial requirements of a plant are re- 
presented by its ashes. In other words, thsfc. 
the proportion in which potash, phosphorfe 
acid, See, exist in the ashes of a plant, is ihi 
best proportion for them to exist in ttie ma* 
nure adapted for their growth. The astk©- . 
wheat contains 50 per cent, of phosphoric nsi& 
that of turnips only 10 per cent.; therefore, ; 
manure for wheat should contain five times 's* 
much phosphoric acid as a manure for tisrn-Fp*: 
That Liebig and Ids follower? have taught thv 



mi 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



■■feetrinc, cannot be denied. Mr. Lawes' ex- 
periments prove tliis idea erroneous. 

liicbig, we have shown, taught that if plants 
■skt supplied with a sufficient quantity of their 
;mh constituents, they will obtain all the am- 
::;::-usa they need from the atmosphere. Mr. 
Iiawes' experiments show this partly right, 
s '. mostly wrong. They show that wheat, 
TO&seh contains only a comparatively small 

sitity of uitrogeu, (ammonia.) requires for 
t amxiinum crop, very much more ammonia 
®aa the atmosphere and rain can supply un- 
:SiT the most favorable conditions. Ou the 

;r hand, they show that beans, peas, tares, 
■m& turnips, which contain much more nitro- 
■mm than wheaj, arc enabled to obtain nearly all 
aitrogep and ammonia they require, from 
$&)& atmosphere and rain-water. Mr. Lawes 
iSsioks it not improbable that the other cereals 

amohly cultivated require, like wheat, a 
[>. larger quantity of ammonia for their 
ssssiinuni growth than they can obtain from, 
is£u and air; and that, as these generally oom- 
sssad a high price, and farmers wish" to raise 
fcm as frequently as possible, every available 
aaeaas should be used to increase the supply of 
SBESonia on the farm. But, as Liebig denies 
.jfeai these experiments lead to any Buch con- 
aiasions, let us brienj glance at the principal 
3Ktults obtained. 

Three fields, with the general character of 
g >oil and previous treatment as much alike 
ossible, were set apart for these experi- 
saents, some 17 years ago. Four crops were 
ssowa without any manure, and removed from 
ifa fields before the experiments proper com- 
menced. One or more plots in each field were 
always left without any manure, and the others 
received a variety of the various organic and 
m rganic fertilizing substances. The first year, 
on the wheat field, 

The unmanured plot yielded 16 bushels per 
acre. 

14 Tons farm-yard manure, on a plot ad- 
joining, 22 bushels. 

The ashes of 14 tons farm-yard manure, 16 
bushels. 

Mean of 9 plots, dressed with artificial mine- 
ral manures, 164: bushels. 

Mean of 3 plots with artificial mineral ma- 
aures, and 65 lbs each of sulphate of ammo- 
ma, 21 bushels per acre. 

With turnips, the first year, the unmanured 
riot p-ave 4 1-5 tons of bulbs per acre. 

12 Tons farm-yard manure, 9-J tons. 



From these few experiment, which we se- 
lect from a large number giving similar results, 
it will bs 1 seen that even the first year shows a 
great difference between the manurial require- 
ments of the wheat and turnips. On wheat, a 
heavy dressing of superphosphate of lime, 
phosphates of magnesia and potash, and sili- 
cate of potash, gave an increase over the un- 
manured plot of Only three pecks per acre; . 
while on turnips, the superphosphate of lime 
trebled the crop. The 56 lbs. of sulphate of 
ammonia per acre, which had such a good effect 
on wheat, had little effect on turnips, giving 
only about half as large a crop as the super- 
phosphate of lime.'. 

The second > ear, the. same unmanured wheat 
plot gave 23 bushels per acre. 

14 tons farm-yard manure, 32 bushels; and 
168 lbs. each of sulphate and muriate of am- 
monia, 33^ bushels. 

One plot, which received the previous year 
superphosphate of lime without benefit, was 
this year left without any manure, and the yield 
was 22§ bushels, or half a bushel less than the 
plot continuously unmanured. 

The same unmanured plot the second year, 
on turnips, produced 2 1-5 tons of bulbs per 
acre. 

5 cwt. superpBobpha'le of lime, 8| tons. 

4 cwt. superphosphate of lime, with 56 lbs 
sulphate of ammonia, 5-]- tons. 

It is remarkable that while on. the unma- 
nured wheat plot the second year, the yield 
was 23 busheb, the crop on the unmanured 
turnip plot was only 2 1-5 tons of bulbs per 
acre; and while sulphate of ammonia is again 
so beneficial on wheat, it has no influence on 
turnips ; on the other hand, superphosphate 
of lime which is attended with little or no 
increase on wheat, gives a great increase of 
turnips — four times as much as the unmanured 
plot! 

The third year the same continuously un- 
manured plot yielded 1 ff bushels per acre. 

On another plot, from which, the previous 
year, a large crop was taken by the use of 
ammonia salts, but which was this year left 
unmanured, the yield was a little over 17J 
bushels. 

This is again nearly identical with the 
plot continuously unmanured, and shows con- 
clusively that the ammonia is all assimilated' 
the fust year. Does it not, also, on the other 
hand, discountenance the popular notion that 
ammonia is a stimulant, acting on the plant 



56 Pounds sulphate of ajnmonia, less than as alcohol on the animal organism ? 
r tons 224 lbs.' sulphate of ammonia alone, gave 

4| cwt. superphosphate of lime, 12$ tons. 1 27$ bushels. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



is: 



The ash of 3 loads of wheat straw gave 
19 bushels. 

The ash of 3 loads of wheat straw and 224 
lbs. sulphate of ammonia, 27 bushels, nearly 
identical with the yield obtained from the 
same amount of ammonia alone. 

448 lbs. of Liebig's wheat manure gave 
2#i- bushels. 

443 lbs. of Liebig's wheat manure, and 
112 lbs. each of sulphate and muriate of am- 
monia, gave 29 bushels. 

14 tons farm-yard manure gave 27 A bushels, 
or precisely the same amount as that ob- 
tained from 2 cwt. of ammonia salts alone. 

The third year, the same unmanured tur- 
nip plot produced only 13£ Swt. of bulbs 
per acre. 

6 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia, 31 tons. 

534 lbs. superphosphate of lime, nearly 
13 tons. 

3 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia, in addition 
to the same amount of superphosphate, gare 
bo more, but rather less, than the super- 
phosphate alene. 

1 1 cwt. of superphosphate of lime gave 1 4 J, 
tons. 

The same amount of superphosphate, with 
3 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia in addition, 
gave 14 tons and a half. 

We may here remark — and we call par- 
ticular attention to it, as showing that it is 
the phosphoric, and not the sulphuric acid, 
to which superphosphate of lime owes its effi- 
cacy as a manure for turnips — that 12 cwt. 
rf sulphate of lime gave less than 5 % tons; 
and the same amount of sulphate of lime, 
with 3 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia in addi- 
tion, gave only 4£ tons, while superphosphate, 
with and without ammonia, gives 14 £ tons. 

We might extract from these -extensive and 
long continued experiments many more sim- 
ilar results for other years, but surely we have 
given enough to show that 60 far as applied to 
wheat, the mineral theory, as taught in the 
extracts we have given from Liebig and his 
followers, is at fault ; and also that for turnips, 
while the rain and atmosphere are capable of 
supplying to a great extent the ammonia they 
require, and that it is partly true that the 
crop " increases or diminishes in a direct ratio 
with the supply of mineral elements capable 
erf assimilation •" yet it is evident that the 
proportion in which mineral elements are 
required, are precisely the opposite of what 
the analysis of the ashes of the turnip would 
lead us to expect.* 

* 0)r limited space has compelled o»; to Ic«7e out the 
riyt'.'y rS repeated applications (of potash.) of which the 
rnmip Bdb contains sortie <!0 prjr cect ,) eodn, magnesia, 
&-c , l.'jt we may renwV that they were a'wnded with 
fit'.e or r.o bear&. 



The experiments in Gcescrnft, on beans, 
peas, and tares, show that these plants, whk-k 
contain such a large amount of nitrogen, ar* 
benefited little if any by an application «f 
ammonia or nitrogen. The same, to a ccrtek 
extent may be said of clover. There is w 
clently great difference in the mammal m- 
cpiireineuts of wheat, and probably of tbe 
other cereals, and those of turnips, beans., 
peas, tares, and clover. The mineral theory 
of Liebig, indeed, points out a difference, hui 
it is the terry reverse of what the above ex- 
periments and others which might be brough?: 
forward, show to be the ease. 

Liebig claims these experiments as a prac- 
tical confirmation of his theory ; and by sup- 
pressing some of the principal facts, mistaking 
others, and seizing on one or two results thai 
are manifest exceptions to the general indica- 
tions of the experiments, and by a series <$. 
ingenious special pleadings, he endeavors as 
to twist the results as to make them sanctusj 
the mineral theory. Let us examine the ar- 
guments of the great chemist. 

From the facts that the unmanured whesSfc 
plot yields annually about 18 bushels of wheat 
per acre ; that the addition of a great variety 
of mineral manures gives little or no increase:: 
and that the addition of ammonia alone gives 
a great increase, we had concluded that thk 
field contained an abundance of all tlie min- 
eral clcme?Us of plants capable of assimila- 
tion, and that the reason why it produced IS 
bushels per acre, instead of 28, as when am- 
monia was used, was to be attributed to e 
lack of ammonia. In other words, that whea, 
on this soil, cultivated after the most ap*pro?©d 
methods, hand-hoed thrice in the spring, 
abounding in all the mineral elements of 
plants, was not able to obtain sufficient ammo- 
nia from the atmosphere for a maximum croft. 
Were this admitted, the dearly cherished 
mineral theory must be given up; and Liebig, 
therefore, endeavors to prove that the reason 
why 18 bushels per acre only were obtained, 
is attributable to a deficiency of available 
minerals He assei ts that the cause of the 
beneficial effect of the sulphate of ammonia 
is due to its solvent action on the phosphates 
of the soil ; and that it simpry or principally 
acted by rendering an increased amount of the 
mineral elements of the soil capable of as- 
similation. 

We would ask, in reply, if maximum wheat 
crops were not obtained from lack cf soluble 
phosphates, &c, why it was that an applica- 
tion of soluble phosphates, &c, did not in- 
crease the crop ? They were used in various 
forms and proportions, without stint, yet they 



THE 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



sfaare no increase, and Liebig's own patent 
w&eat manure failed. If, moreover, sulphate 
<s£ acimonia acts merely as a solvent of phos- 
lg&aies, &c, how does it happen that the 
Staijge amount used on some of the turnip plots 
5s attended with little or no increase, while 
jastaMe phosphates artificially applied, give an 
-aestenishing increase. 

IX is impossible to answer these questions, 
saaS accordingly Liehig endeavors to show 
£&&£ the increase of turnips, from an applica- 
■' m of superphosphate of lime, is not due to 
siJbs soluble phosphate of lime which it con- 
ftuas, butto the sulphate of" lime necessarily 
saa^Bciated with it. 

Stiglish farmers will be glad to learn that 
SLjs simply the sulphate of lime the superphos- 
^jjSaate contains that benefits their turnip crop, 
?&&&. that the} r can obtain the same effect very 
Keseh cheaper from gypsum or plaster. We 
'Tkmre no dottbt that half a million dollars 
^m&ztli of superphosphate was applied to the 
fkaralp crop of England last year, the greater 
ipeariion of which might have been saved by a 
ikaswlcdge of the fact discovered by Professor 
'Eiebig!! 

'.Some will ask on what evidence our author 
lasses this opinion. We answer, on one sol- 
2&sury result, taken from Mr. Lawes' experi- 
-•jj&eEts — a result in direct contradiction to the 
^general indications of the investigation, and in 
-sjspos'ition to the results of other experiments 
o& Gurnips, with superphosphate, sulphate of 
'lizse and sulphuric acid — a result, in shor 
which is simply a typographical mistahe.- 
Jjjiebrg says : 

" A like plot, in 1845, which received 12 cwt. of 
-gypaam, (residue from the preparation of tartaric 
s-dd,) and 10 cwt. of rape-cake, yielded IS tons, 1 

■ tewfc -fii' turnips, six tons 'More than those fields on 
wfcich -phosphoric acid was employed. * * What 
strange results do these facts offer, — in what in- 

• *«Baprchenslble contradiction do they stand to the 
•TMwsof ftjr. Lawes." 

■On referring to our copy of Mr. Lawes' pa- 
ipes, we found a marginal note, made years 
«go, stating that the 18 tons, 1 cwt., should 
Jke 10 tons, 1 cwt. It is much to be regretted 
Shat this mistake was not marked in the copy 
-sent Professor Liebig ; or that he did not dis- 
*»ver the error, as he might have done by re- 
,'ferring to the tables on the two following pa- 
Tpages. Few will be surprised, considering 
.-Hie immense amount of tabulation in Mr. 
.•Lawes' papers, that a printer, should in one 
iEstance, pkee an 8 instead of a 10, but it 
.■will astonish many to find that on this single 
vnisia/cc, Liebig should adopt a view which is 
■aofc only opposed to the general indications of 
ihe whole series of experiments, but is also at 



r 



variance with the experience of every farmer 
who has used superphosphate of lime and sul- 
phate of lime of lime as a manure for 
turnips. 

This error corrected, the opinion based upon 
it falls to the ground, and with it the idea that 
the beneficial effect of sulphate of ammonia 
on wheat is due to its rendering the phosphates 
of the soil soluble. Soluble phosphates great- 
ly increased the turnip crap, but the same sol- 
uble phosphates, on similar soil, did not in- 
crease jhe wheat crop ; sulphate of ammonia 
did not increase the turnip crop, but did great- 
ly increase the wheat crop ; therefore sulphate 
of ammonia does not act simply in furnishing 
to the wheat plants soluble phosphates. 

Mr. Lawes repeatedly alludes in his papers 
to the fact that though the increase of wheat 
over the unmanured plot was in pretty direct 
ratio to the quantity of ammonia applied to 
the soil, yet that the increase was never so 
great as theoretical considerations would lead 
us to suppose. Thus, estimating a bushel of 
wheat and its proportion of straw, to contain a 
pound of nitrogen, it might be supposed that if 
nitrogen was wanted, a pound. of nitrogen, ap- 
plied in soluble ammonia salt, would give an 
extra bushel of wheat; but this is not the case. 
Without making any pretensions to settle the 
exact amount, Mr. Lawes estimates, from the 
immense number of instances in which ammo- 
nia has been used, in various ways and propor- 
tions, in his experiments, that five times as 
much nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, is re- 
quired to produce a bushel of wheat, as it con- 
tains when grown. This estimate has stood 
the test of many trials, and is in accordance 
with the well-ascertained effects of Peruvian 
<;uano on wheat. Mr. Lawes founds on this 
fact some very important practical suggestions, 
but which we cannot at this time refer to. Lie- 
big takes no notice of this opinion, and refers* 
to the loss of ammonia in these experiments, 
as though it had escaped the attention of Mr. 
Lawes, and as though he were the first to peint 
it out. and he proceeds to show that the in- 
crease "bears no relation whatever" to the 
ammonia added to the soil. This is proving 
far too much, even for Liebig's own theory of 
the action of ammonia as a solvent; but let 
that pass. The method Liebig adopts to get 
at this result, is as follows: 60 lbs. of ammo- 
nia, say, give in 1S44. an increase on the un- 
manured plot of 10 bushels. This increase 
contains only 15 lbs. of ammonia, and there- 
lore Liebig estimates that "beyond all doubt," 
45 lbs. of ammonia are left in the soil for the 
next crop. In 1845, 60 lbs. of ammonia a<rain 
give an increase of 10 bushels; but Liebig ™ l! ' 
adds to this the 45 ibs. which he assumes re- HJ 
main in the soil from the previous year, making 
105 lbs.; and in this way he proceeds, adding 
the ammonia he supposes to remain in the soil 
to that applied each year, and from the. figures 
obtained proves that the increase bears no pro- 



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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



portion to the supply of ammonia ! We be- j would have shown a belter spirit, had h© r&sfc- 
Iieve this method of estimating the action of i the views of Mr. Lawes and Prof. Way en th:.s 
ammonia fundamentally erroneous. Certainly < point with some argument, rather than "by f»- 
we do not know of a single result, in these or'noring them altogether, and reasoning as- Sh« f 
any other experiments, that shows the ammo- nothing had been said in regard to it. 
nia of soluble salts to remain in the soil over j -phe whole question appears to us to turn m, 
, one year, when wheat is grown, and when euf-j (n j s ver y subject, which Liebig has entirety 
t ficient minerals are present to enable the plants : overlooked in his review of Lawes' exper»- 
: to take up all the ammonia they require. Let, mer its. If it be true that wheat and the stiver - 
♦ns suppose a case, and one whieh is clearly de-i cereal grasses need for their production a mwjtf* 
ducible from the experiments. The continu-j \ nrger quantity of ammonia than they cob tasa 
j ousiy unmanured plot gives 15 bushels ol j w h en growrj; an j ;i; on the other hand, turnips. 
' wheat per acre; a plot adjoining, dressed with; beans, peas, tares and clover do not. 'we fcsws 
30 lbs: of ammonia, gives 20 bushels per acre;j at once an explanation of those gradually o'i.- 
another lot, dressed with 60 lbs. of ammonia. ; veloped systems of rotation which an enlsghi- 
gives25 bushels: another, dressed with 90 lbs., ; ene j experience has proved judicious. We see- 
gives 30 bushels: and another, receiving 1201 a t once w hy two grain crops should not ibBawr- 
lb?., 35 bushels per acre. The next year. ai!: eacn other; why closer and peas and beaa* 
these plots receive no manure, and the produce | are ,h e best crops to precede wheat, and w6y 
is the same on each, neither more nor less than j t h e turnip, in the Norfolk system of Brttisfe 
that from the continuously unmanured plot. ; agriculture, is such an excellent crop to pre- 
What deductions should we make from such | ce " c | e barley. Indeed, we do not know of oo® 
facts? According to Liebig's view, the first ■ solitary well-established fact that is opposed 8» 
plot would contain, the second year, no ammo-! tn j s view ; and surely, if it be correct, nothing: 
nia; the second plot would contain 24 lbs. ol' can be more important to a correct under- 
ammoma ; the third. 4S fbs. ; the fourth, 72 lbs. ; ' standing of rational agriculture. It is trs*„ 
aid the fifth, 96 lbs. of ammonia per acre. : t hat it points to no revolution in our preset - 
Now, if this be true, surely the produce would ; svs , e ,n of culture, and in this respect will he. 
Dot be alike on all the plots ! A direct apphca-j ] ess acceptable to all ultra reform era'; but & 
tion or ammonia has always given a definite explains the rationale of the most approves® 
increase, and we cannot see why the ammonia ! 8ygteras f rotation and general farm rnanssgE- 
remamingin the soil from the previous year| men() confirms what practical farmers hays. 
should not also give an increased yield. The, previously but indistinctly perceived, and nj-g«a 
fact that it does not is clearly established, not ; them t0 carry out still further, and by taocer 
only by these experiments, but by the experi- 1 economical methods, a system of improved. 
ence of hundreds of practical farmers, who ' culture they have already commenced, 
have used salts of ammonia. Peruvian guano,! 

&c. ; and we feel warranted in concluding from j In Germany Liebig's pamphlet has prjn- 
these facts, that ammonia is all used up the first) duced considerable excitement. Dr. W&IS^ 
year— unless Liebig, or those who agree with i Professor of Chemistry in the celebrated Me* 
him on this point, can jbring forward better jhenheim Academy of Agriculture and E 



h 

argument to the contrary, than the simple, un- 
sustained assertion that it is "perfectly impos- 
sible." 

Is it not more consistent with the facts of the 



Academy of Agriculture and ForaaC - 
Culture, and a man who, in the language o£ 
Mr. S. W. Johnson, of Yale College, unites 
" eminent scientific ability with praetiea*' 
knowledge," has written a masterly reply &* 



&' 



ca«e : to .oppose that the ammonia, being noite| Libi ; D d enters warmly into the defeneeoS 

loluble. is all taken up the first year: and that I ,, to ' T „ ~,.„ / , . ,.,» 

in the growth of wheat there is, for some pur-j Mess, : s - L f wes & Gll J bert > who f Mifitifie ^ 
ose or other, a great destruction of ammonia? j Potation the great advocate of the minerat 
is well kBown that plants give off oxygen, ; theory" has savagely assailed. This^ ha® 
and in the absence of light, carbonic acid ; j called forth another paper from Prof. LieMg; 
why may tli^y not also give off ammonia?! and which has been translated by Mr. S. W, 
Chemists have always had a difficulty in ac-j Johnson, and will be found in the " County 
punting for the manner in which silica is de-j Geritleman » (0ct u Nov . 8) The ter 

posited on tne straw oi tne wheat plant. Prof. .- /• '. i i t v. • ° 

Way has shown that ammonia and silica, in fP^tionof lt ; has only a remote bearing ^poo, 
sertata double salts, form slightly soluble com- j the subject under discussion. Prof. Liebigr 
pounds, and he suggested that in this form the [appears to avoid, as much as possible, th& 
silica and ammonia is taken up into the plant ;jreal issues of the question. When the resclfi 
*nd th^t when the silica is deposited, the am-, of any of Mr. Lawes' experiments throw doo.bfc 
ncnia evaporates into the air. Our object is j on LJ c biV s views, he cries out, "Must not 

oV > every farmer see that conclusions founded 



we wi.-.h merely to show that Liebig has no 
•ight (o.assame, as he has done, that it is ^per- 
fectly impossible " for plants to take up more 
immonia than they contain- when grown, and 
ound a:l argument op the assumption. He 



upon experiments conducted in a manner so 
rough, so utterly lacking circumspection, are. 
utter/)/ valueless !" But when any of the re- 
sults of these same experiments confirm acj- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



A Ltebig's opinions, he tells us, " The facts 
sjhieh he" (Mr. Lawes) "has aseeiftainedj teach 
3© many important doctrines in reference to 
:'_,.■ cultivation and manuring of the soil, that 
I hold them to he of very special value to the 
aseory of agriculture. - ' And in another place 
jfc says of these "utterly valueless?' 1 experi- 
assentsj "It must he acknowledged, what I said 
sti first, that of all the investigations that 
hsve been made, none are so eminently adapt- 
«*l as his" (Mr. Lawes") "to advance tha 
r&ineral theory." "Mr. Lawes' experiments 
Sims demonstrate''' — ''• The trials' of Lawes 
aonfirm this view" — " Mr. Lawes has proved" 
— " But the experiments of Mr. Lawes furnish 
perfectly definite and reliable facts relative to 
l&is subject" — "The results of Mr. Lawes 
ilemonstrate precisely" — "From the result of 
Sr. Lawes it is perfectly certain" — &c. &c. 

To us it is " perfectly certain" that the 
same experiments cannot be " idterh/ value- 
i&ss" and of " very special value," and we are 
■milQ unable to understand how "experiments 
'oondnetcd in a manner so rough, so utterly 
isevoid of circumspection," can "demonstrate," 
oar "prove," or "disprove," or render "perfectly 
certain" anything at all; and yet " of all the 
liwestigations that have been made, none are 
30 eminently adapted to advance the mineral 
i&eor't/.* "Indeed," exclaims Liebig, in an- 
®'£her'place, "I consider them the firmest sup- 
fiQtrt of the theory." ' This is proving too 
araeh. The mineral theory is confessedly a 
Jedustion, and the inductive experiments 
^rhieh are its firmest support are " utterly 
raloeless." 

But to the question. As we have said, 
Mr. Lawes found a definite increase of wheat 
from an application of ammonia to a soil 
atooundiug in all the mineral elements of 
plants. But under the most favorable cir- 
Kimstances he. has never obtained as much 
aitrogen in the increase of grain and straw 
as was supplied to the soil in manure. He 
includes from this, that in the growth of 
wheat there is a great loss of ammonia. 
Without attempting to determine the exact 
proportion, he states that his experiments in- 
dicate that for one pound of nitrogen (am- 
monia) organized in the wheat plant, five 
pounds are evaporated into the atmosphere, 
and arc lost to the farm. On the other 
band, his experiments with turnips, clover, 
oeans, peas, and tares, prove that in the 
growth of these so-called " fallow crops," no 
3uch loss takes place. Liebig, as 'has been 
stated, took no notice of these views of Mr. 
Lawes, but Dr. Wolff has forced them upon 



his attention ; and in his reply to Dr. Wolff 
Liebig alludes to them as follows : 

" In the writings of experienced agriculturists, 
I find as quite a genera 1 rule, that they do not hold 
a field rich in ammonia (freshly dunged.) to be es- 
pecially adapted for the cultivation of wheat, but 
recommend some other crop (potatoes) to precede 
wheat on Mich soils. 

" But the experiments of Mr. Lawes furnish 
perfectly definite and reliable facts relative to this 
subject. lie has found that a field which bad 
previously received no ammonia nor ammonia 
salts, can yield a medium harvest of 1125 lbs. 
wheat and 17. 5G cwt. straw for seven years in suc- 
cession, without any artificial supply of ammonia, 
and in the last years the yield was greater than at 
first. 

" From this it is perfectly certain that a soil, oth- 
erwise good, will yield almost an average crop of 
wheat without an addition or excess of ammonia ; 
and that, no matter what quantity of ammonia 
may have been contained in the soil originally, 
and given up to the plant, or lost, this loss was with- 
out effect on the crops of the succeeding years. 

"It is therefore allowable to pronounce the as- 
sertions of Dr. Wolff — that wheat requires for per- 
fect development more ammonia than the soil 
contains in natural form— that the soil suffers a los6 
of ammonia by the cultivation of wheat, becoming 
in consequence less fertile — are wanting all found- 
ation in fact, because the results of Mr. Lawes 
demonstrate precisely the contrary. * * The 
erroneous assertion of Dr. 'Wolff rests equally upoa 
the. erroneous interpretation which Mr. Lawes has 
given of the fact that ammonia salts increased the 
yield of his wheat field. 

" While BIr. Lawes harvested 17 bushels wheat 
and 17 J cwt. straw from one acre of unmanured 
field annually for seven years, a plot of equal size 
and quality, which received in the first year 5 cwt.. 
of dissolved bones, and 2 cwt. of silicate of potasls, 
and in the following six years 32G lbs of ammonia 
salts (the average) annually, yielded 25 bushels, 
or a yearly increase of 8 bushels of wheat, and a 
corresponding larger produce of straw. 

" Now, since this plot, as a part of the same ex- 
perimental field, would undoubtedly have grown 
17 bushels without any manure, he ascribed 
the increase to the action of the ammonia salts, 
without taking any account of what had beea. 
added the first year. 

" Further, since in order to produce one bushel 
more of wheat than the unmanured plot would 
have yielded, Mr. Lawes added 41 \ lbs. of am- 
monia salt; and since one bushel of wheat con- 
tains 1.2 lbs. of nitrogen, and 42£ lbs. of ammonia 
salts .contain 6£ lbs. of nitrogen, he harvested in 
the grain and straw fire times less ammonia than 
he added to the soil. This is the fact. The false* 
conclusion that he deduces is, that the culture 
of wheat is accompanied by an enormous loss of 
ammonia, since, at the lowest estimate, 5 lbs. of 
ammonia must bs added to the soil in order to 
get one bushel of increase per acre. 

" In order to draw a general conclusion from 
the observed fact, i.e., to be able to speak of it 
as a matter of settled experience, Mr. Lawfes 
should have determined, in accordance with the 
rules of research, the general conditions which 
determine the production of one bushel of wheat 
and the corresponding amount of straw in a& 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



109 



cases, as well as the special conditions which 
caused the increase in his experiments. 

If no*.r it is true that 6 lbs. of ammonia were 
necessary to produce one bushel of extra yield, 
and that of this ammonia 5 lbs. were lost (evapo- 
rated through the plant), it must also be true 
that o lbs. of ammonia were removed from the soil 
of the unmanured plot, to produce every bushel 
of ordinary yield, and of this ammonia 5 lbs. also 
were lost to the soil by volatilization. 

" Since now the unmanured plot yielded in seven 
years 123f bushels of wheat, it follows that the 
soil must have contained, or received from the 
air or rains, 618| lbs. of pure ammonia, or 385U 
lbs. of carbonate of ammonia (salts of hartshorn), 
and that in seven years this quantity of ammonia 
was rendered useless for future harvests by the 
- wheat culture. 

" Such a conclusion it is impossible to support 
"by any fact. What we know with certainty is, 
that during seven years 21} lbs. of nitrogen were 
annually removed from the soil of the unmanured 
plot by the crop grown upon it, or 149 lbs. in total. 
But how much ammonia was contained in the soil, 
and was consumed in the production of 17 1 
bushels of wheat, we know nothing about. 

'•' Since, now, Mr. Lawes did not know how 
much ammonia the wheat plant 'requires from 
the soil in order to give one bushel of yield upon 
the unmanured plot, how could he know that for 
every bushel of increased yield (gain by ma- 
nuring) precisely six pounds of ammonia were 
necessary ? 

l! If it had accidentally occurred to Mr. Lawes 



are sorry to add, most unscrupulous of contro- 
versialists. He seems to "stick at nothing" 
that will help him to make out a case. Never- 
theless, we are glad that Dr. Wolff has suc- 
ceeded in forcing him to attack Mr. Lawes' 
main position. We have given Liebig's whole 
argument, and wiil now briefly examine it. 

It is true, as Liebig states, that Mr. Lawes' 
soil yielded 17 bushels of wheat per acre an- 
nually for seven years, without any manure ; 
and we may add, indeed, for thirteen years. It 
is also true that mineral manures — the ashes 
of the wheat plant — alone, do not enable it to 
produce any larger crop. It is further true 
that 17 bushels "is almost an average crop of 
wheat." On the other hand, it is also true 
that where this same soil has been annually 
supplied with ammonia ahn-c, much larger 
crops have been obtained — on an average of 
seven years, as Liebig admits, lialf as much 
again; and, we may add, last year (1354) as 
much as 34J- bushels per acre were obtained; 
and this, it must be observed, after ten suc- 
cessive crops had been grown (and removed 
from the soil) by the aid of ammonia alone. 
The province of Agricultural Chemistry, Lie- 
big tells us, is to produce more gram &nd more 



. meat, and not simply grain and meat, which 
to manure his field with four, five, or six cwt. of , \ j \ V° „„. • ..», . . 

ammonia salts, instead of with 8;- cwt... and if in **ave been produced lor centuries without aer 



those cases the yield was not increased (as we 
may with certainty assume would happen) then 
he might with the same justice assert that the 
loss of ammonia is 6, 8, or 10 lbs. for every bushel 
of increased yield. 

" Or if Mr. Lawes had applied ammonia salts 
at the rate of 2 or 1 cwt. instead of 3\ cwt. the 
acre, and then, after previous manuring with dis- 
solved bones and silicate of potash (whose action 
lie has not taken at all into account), had har- 
vested the same increase of 8 bushels, his con- 
clusion that the soil suffers a loss of ammonia 
would doubtless have t>eeri' vastly modified. He 
lias made the loss and not found it. The num- 
ber 5 for the amount of ammonia, and the quan- 
tity 1 bushel for the increased yield, are not ex- 
pressions for a natural relation between manure 
and crops. The first does not express the weight 
of ammonia necessary to produce a maximum of 
increase equal to 1, and ascertained by a series of 
observations, but is a mere stroke of fancy. It 
never seems to have occurred to Mr. Lawes to 
determine the minimum of ammonia which was 
effective upon his field in producing maximum 
crops." v 

The pith of the controversy lies here ; and 
Liebig puts forth his whole strength. We have 
rarely met with a finer specimen of special 
pleading. It is, however, the only portion of 
his lengthy paper which is to the point. The 
case against Mr. Lawes is stated in as strong a 
light as possible, and no doubt many who read 



aid. We fully agree to this ; the object of ag- 
riculture is not to maintain merely, but to in- 
crease the productiveness of our fields. How 
can this be done ? Liebig says truly that the 
1 7 bushels of wheat annually grown on Mr. 
Lawes' experimental field, by the aid of good- 
tillage alone, is "almost an average crop." 
But the object of Agricultural Chemistry, 
according to Liebig, is to increase the produc- 
tiveness of our fields. This Mr Lawes hag 
done. Instead of 15 or 20 bushels of wheat 
per acre, he has grown 30 and 40 bushels, 
and in 1854 as high as 55 bushels; and, in a 
private letter recently received, Mr. Lawes 
informs us that some of'the plots this year 
(1855) more than double the unmanured plot, 
the yield on which Ls still 17 bushe's per acre. 
On this soil, by good tillage alone, 1 7 bushels 
of wheat are annually grown. The objeot is 
to get a heavier crop. It was supposed that 
"as the crops on a field diminish or increase in 
exact proportion to the diminution or increase 
of the mineral substances conveyed to it in 
manure," superphosphate of lime, potash, 
soda, lime, magnesia, sulphuric acid, chlorine, 
and soluble silica, or the ashes of the wheat 
plant, would increase the crop ; hut they did not. 
Liebig's patent wheat manure was also tried 



only one side,.will be'deceived by the plausi-liu vain. But ammonia, in whatever form used 
ble sophistries of thin greatest, ablest, and, we \ increased the crop. .Six pounds of ammonia 



DO 



THE 



SOUTHERN PLANTEE 



gave an extra bushel of wheat. But this extra 
increase only contains nitrogen equal to one 
pound of ammonia, and it is supposed that the 
remaining five pounds are evaporated through 
the plant, and that this loss of ammonia is ne- 
cessary to the growth of the plant, or, at all 
events, there are at present no other known 
means of enabling the farmer to increase his 
wheat crop over 1/ bushels per acre. 

Liebig denies that auy loss of ammonia takes 
place ; but he has no evidence, aside from Sir 
Lawes' experiments, on which he bases his de- 
nial. His argument is this : — If the plot with- 
out manure produces 17 bushels of wheat per 
acre, and one with 102 lbs. of ammonia 34 
bushels, and if the increase is due to ammonia, 
it follows that the 1? bushels grown on the 
unmauured acre must also have required and 
removed from the soil 102 lbs of ammonia. 
This we must fully admit. But Liebig says : 
"Such a conclusion it is impossible to support 
by any fact." This is his whole argument. It 
is "impossible" that the soil should contain, 
or that the rain and air should supply, such a 
quantity of ammonia. A strange argument 
this, to be made by the very man who taught 
that if plants were supplied with a sufficient 
quantity of mineral elements in an available 
condition, they would obtain all the ammonia 
they required from the atmosphere ; and that, 
in the language of Prof. Horsford, "the am- 
monia spread on fields in the ordinary distri- 
bution of barn-yard products, is of no moment. 
The quantity with usual falls of rain greatly 
exceeds, in the course of a season, any con- 
ceivable supply by human instrumentality'''' 
Now that it suits Liebig's purpose, we are told 
that it is impossible that the soil, the atmos- 
phere, and the rain combined, could supply 
102 lbs. of ammonia — an amount contained 
in 600 lbs. of Peruvian guano, or in 5 tons of 
good, or 10 tons of poor, barn-yard manure ! 
Furthermore, Liebig, in his Clutrnistry in its 
Application to Agricultwe and Physiology, 
when speaking of the quantity of ammonia 
brought to the soil in rain water, says : "If a 
pound of rain-water contains only one quarter 
of a grain of ammonia, then a field of 26,910 
square feet must receive annually upwards of 
88 lbs. of ammonia." An English acre con- 
tains 43,560 square feet; arid according to this 
estimate, which we are given to understand is a 
low one, 142 lbs. of ammonia are brought to 
an English acre of soil by the rain which falls 
in twelve months. This estimate was made to 
8how that farmers need not bo at any pains to 
provide ammonia foi their crops, as the atmos- 
phere would supply a rich abundance — and, 
indeed, 142 lbs. of ammonia would provide 



I more nitrogen than the grain and straw of the 
I heaviest wheat crop contains ! Now, when Mr. 
! Lawes contends that the atmosphere and rain- 
: water cannot supply the wheat plant with suf- 
i ncient ammonia for a large crop, because it de- 
stroys ammonia during its growth, Liebig 
turns round and oracularly declare* this de- 
i struction "impossible," because "the soil" [of 
the unmanured wheat plot] "must have con- 
I tained or received from the air or rain, in seven 
\years, 618^ lbs. of pure ammonia." In other 
words, it is impossible this destruction should 
take place, because the soil, the air, and the 
rain combined, cannot furnish in a year 83J 
lbs of ammonia per acre, while, according to 
Liebig's own estimate, the rain-water alone 
furnishes 1 42 lbs. of ammonia. It is difficult 
to argue with a writer who resorts to such piti- 
able subterfuges. 

We have brought forward what we deem 
conclusive evidence, that there is a great loss 
of ammonia in the growth of wheat. Liebig 
endeavors to set it aside by saying that the 
ammonia in Mr Lawes' experiments acted bene- 
ficially because it rendered the phosphates of 
the soil soluble. "We conceive that we have 
fully answered this objection. Assuming that 
the action of ammonia is in rendering the phos- 
phates soluble, Liebig says : 

"If it had accidentally occurred to Mr. Lawes to 
manure his field with four, five, or six cwt. of am- 
monia salts, instead of 3£ cwt., and if in those 
cases the yield was not increased (as we may viith 
certainty assume would happen,) then he might 
with the same justice assert that the loss of am- 
monia is G, 8, or 10 lbs. for every bushel of increas- 
ed yield. * * * It seems never to have occur- 
red to Mr. Lawes to determine the minimum of 
ammonia which was effective upon his field in pro- 
ducing maximum crops-" 

We trust Liebig had not Mr. Lawes' papers 
before him when he penned these sentences, 
otherwise h o is inexcusable. Ammonia has been 
applied in these experiments in Imndreds of in- 
stances, and in various proportions ; and in all 
cases it has produced, where unaffected by mod- 
ifying causes, an increase, within certain limits, 
in proportion to the quantity of ammonia ; and 
in no single instance has an increase of wheat 
been obtained except by a great destruction of 
ammonia. Quantities of ammonia, varying 
from 14 lb*, up to 180 lbs. per acre, have- 
been applied ; and even in these extreme cases, 
the increase of wheat is in proportion to the 
ammonia supplied in manure : the former pro- 
duced 211 bushels, the latter 50 bushels of 
dressed wheat, or 55 bushels (of 60 lbs. per 
bushel) of total" grain, per acre. The amount 
of ammonia aoplied to this latter plot would 
be contained in about 815 lbs of commercial 



■ 

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



ill 



sulphate of ammonia. And yet Liebig says 
we may "with certainty assume 1 ' that it' Mr. 
Lawes had accidentally manured his field with 
4, 5, or 6 cwt. of ammonia salts, he would 
have obtained no greater increase than from 
3 1 cwt. Now, as we have shown, he did ap- 
ply — not "accidentally," however — more than 
4, 5, or 6 cwt., and obtained a proportional 
increase. We may "with certainty assume," 
therefore, that Liebig has made a great mistake 
on this point. 

The objections which Prof. Liebig has made 
to Mr. Lawes' experiments, are so utterly 
without foundation in jact, that nothing but 
his great reputation renders them worthy of 
notice. 

Our remarks are already far too extended, 
but we have just received the last Journal of 
the Royal Agricultural Society of England 
(Vol. XVI, Part 1,) in which we find a "Re- 
port td the Earl of Leicester, on experiments 
conducted by Mr. Keary, on the Growth of 
Wheat, at Holkham Park Farm, Norfolk, by 
J. B. Lawes," which affords much light on the 
subject under discussion. It is a report of 
an experiment in growing wheat four years in 
succession, by the use of the various organic 
and inorganic elements of plants, somewhat 
similar to that on the Rothamstead farm, with 
this important difference : The soil at Roth- 
amstead is a heavy wheat soil; this in Nor- 
folk is "alight, thin, and rather shallow brown 
sand loam," which, previous to the introduc- 
tion of turnipculture by the late Win. Coke, 
on this very farm, was considered incapable of 
growing wheat. A greater contrast than be- 
tween it and the Rothamstead soil could 
scarcely be imagined. And yet tlie results are 
the same. • 

The same manures were applied to the same 
acre each year, and the whole of the produce 
removed. We have not space for the details, 
but the following are the aggregate results of 
the four years : 

The first acre, on which no manure at all 
was used, produced in four years, 93£ bushels, 
or an average of a little over 23£ bushels per 
acre each year. 

The second acre, dressed each year with 300 
lbs. sulphate of potash, 200 lbs. sulphate of 
soda, 100 lbs. sulphate of magnesia, and 350 
lbs. of superphosphate of lime (200 lbs. calcined 
bone-dust and 150 lbs. sulphuric acid,) pro- 
duced, in four years, 92 bushels, or an average 
of 23 bushels per acre each year. 

The third acre, dressed each year with 200 
lbs. each of sulphute and muriate of ammonia, 
applied in the autumn, produced, in four years, 



1 125 J bushels, or a little over 31 j bushels per 
acre each year. 

On the fourth acre the same quantity of 
ammonia applied as a top dressing in the 

[spring, gave in four years, 124 bushels, or au 
average of 31 bushels per acre each year. 

On the fifth acre, the' same quantity of mina- 
ral manures (sulphates of potash, soda, and 
magnesia, and superphosphate of lime,) as ap- 
plied on the second acre, and 200 lbs. each of 
sulphate and muriate of ammonia, produced, 
in four years, 145 bushels, Or an average of 
064: bushels per acre each year. 

The sixth acre, dressed with a ton of rape- 
cake (2000 lbs.) each year, produeed, in four 

j years, 147i bushels, or an average of 36 £ 
bushels per acre each year. 

The seventh acre, dressed each year with 14 
tons of farm-yard dung, produced, in four 

1 years, 135^ bushels, or an average of 33£ 
bushels per acre each year. 

Without manure the soil produced 23 bushels 
of wheat per acre; the addition of mineral 
manures alone gave no increase - f ammonia 
alone gave an increase of 8 bushels ; ammonia, 
and minerals, an increase of 1 3 bushels. From 
this it is evident that the amount of minerals 
annually available in this naturally poor soil, 
were considerably in excess of the quantity of 
ammonia annually available from natural 
sources ; in fact, that there were minerals suf- 
ficient for 3 1 bushels, while there was only 
enough ammonia for 23 bushels. Rut the 
quantity of minerals annually rendered availa- 
ble by the disintegration of the soil, &c, al- 
though considerably in excess of the natural 
supply of ammonia, was not sufficient for more 
than an annual crop of wheat of 3 1 bushels 
per acre. To obtain more than this, it was 
necessary to supply, in addition to ammonia, 
a greater or less quantity of the mineral ele- 
ments of plants. When these were supplied, 
the produce rose to 36 bushels. 

The fact that, under these circumstances the 
mineral manures were taken up by the plants r 
and gave an increased crop, is conclusive evi- 
dence that they were in an available condition, 
and that their failure, when used alone, ia 
these and in the Rothamstead experiment!!, 
is attributable to a lack of ammonia in the sonV 
and not totfceir being in an unsuitable form 
or improper proportion. It demonstrates that 
although a soil abounds in the mineral ele- 
ments of plants in an available condition, suf- 
ficient ammonia or nitrogen can not be ob- 
tained from natural sources for a full wheat 
crop. It is additional proof, if such were 
needed, that ammonia does not act solely, or 



112 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



in any great degree, by rendering phosphates 
or other minerals soluble. 

The ton of rape-cake was calculated to . af- 
ford as much ammonia and minerals as were 
supplied in the artificial minerals and ammo- 
nia salts on plot 5. It also contained, in ad- 
dition, a large amount of carbonaceous matter. 
It will be seen that the increase of wheat is 
nearly identical in the two cases, and it follows 
that the avrlxmaceous matter had no beneficial 
effect on the wheat crop. This also is a result 
exactly in accordance with the Rothamsfcead 
experiments. 

Similar results t<j the above have also been 
obtained from experiments made on the farm 
of the Duke of Bedford, at Woburn, on a soil 
and subsoil naturally of the poorest -possible 
description. 

It will be recollected that Prof Liebig en- 
deavored to set aside the exceedingly impor- 
tant fact that turnips, which contain only a re- 
latively small proportion of phosphoric acid, 
require in the soil, in an available condition, 
more of this substance than wheat, the ash of 
which oontains five times as much as that of 
turnips. We showed that he founded his ob- 
jections on a single typographical error, which 
he might have discovered on the next page 
We shall not again allude to the results of 
Mr. Lawes, experiments on this point; they 
are so conclusive that he must be blind indeed 
who cannot sec that they explode the idea that 
we can tell what manure is best adapted to 
this or that particular crop from an analysis 
of its ashes. Our object in alluding to the 
matter, is to mention that, in the last Journal 
cf the Royal Agricultural Society, Dr. Au- 
gustas Voelcker, Professor of Chemistry in 
the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, 
England, gives an account of some experimen- 
tal trials made on the farm connected with the 
College, to ascertain "the comparative value 
«f different artificial manures for raising a 
crop of Swedes" or ruta bagas, the results of 
which also accord with those obtained by Mr 
Lawes. , We have not room for the details of 
the experiments, but will quote a few of the 
remarks of Dr. Voelcker : 

"An extended experience has proved, in the 
most positive manner, the specific action of phos- 
phatic manures, and the decided advantages which 
result from their application to root crops." . 

" Numerous comparative lield experiments have 
established the superior value of superphosphate 
of lime as a manure for root crops, and have shown 
likewise that the greatest fertilizing effect of 
g*ano is realized by applying it to a white crop 
or to grass land." 

" Ammonia does not exhibit the same powerful 

effect on other crops which it does on the cereals." 

" Ammonia 'does not benefit root Crops in an 

equal degree as white crops ; whereas, phosphatic 



manures exercise a specific action on roots, which 
causes them to swell, and thus to increase the 
crop." 

" Phosphoric acid applied in a form in which' it 
can be readily assimilated by the growing plant, 
more than any other fertilizing constituent benefits 
root crops." 

" On the whole, we may learn from these experi- 
ments, that the value of different artificial ma- 
nures for a crop of Swedes, and no doubt also for 
other root crops, principally depends on the 
amount of phosphoric acid contained- in them in 
a form in which it can be readily assimilated by 
the plants." 

The experience of practical farmers also 
agrees with these experiments, in according 
to available phosphoric acid a high value as a 
special manure for turnips. One manufac- 
turer alone sold, in Great Britain, last year, 
14,000 tons of superphosphate of lime, to be 
used as a manure for — what? For wheat, 
which contains so much phosphoric acid ? 
No ; but for turnips, which contain so little. 

To conclude, these resultspoint lono "revolution" 
in agriculture; they simply throw light on the 
rationale of systems of rotation and general (arm 
management, already adopted by practical agricul- 
turists. They say "_" underdrain your land, so that 
the rain water, as it filters through the soil to the 
drains, may leave its ammonia for the use of plants. 
Grow more clover, peas, beans, tares, lupines, tur- 
nips, and other plants, which will retain all the am- 
monia brought to them in rain and dews, or obtain- 
ed from the atmosphere, the soil or manure. In 
feeding cattle, use that food which, other things 
being equal, contains most nitrogen, for the excre- 
ments will be correspondingly rich in ammonia. 
In short, in everything you do, lei it be your aim to 
conserve as much ammonia on the farm as possible. 
In this you cannot go wrong, for there is no means 
of getting ammonia in any considerable quantity 
but what at the same time affords more of the 
mineral elements of plants, in proportion to the 
wants of wheat, and probably of Indian corn, barley, 
oats, and other high priced cereals, than it does of 
ammonia. To illustrate : good Peruvian guano is 
the most amtnoniacal manure in the market; and 
yet it c< mains generally as much phosphoric acid 
as it does of ammonia ; while, according to Mr. 
Lawes' experiment, a bushel of wheat removes 
from the soil five times as much ammonia as it does 
of phosphoric acid. In nearly all substances used 
as manure, the proportion of mineral elements 
relatively to the wants of the wheat plant is great- 
ly in excess of the ammonia which they contain. 

We cannot impoverish the soil of minerals, 
therefore, by growing large crops by the aid of such 
manures as are now in the market, if the straw and 
home sources of manure are properly husbanded. 

But, the reader will ask, If we obtain large crops 
of wheat, corn, &c, by accumulating ammonia in 
the soil by the growth ofturnips, peas, clover, &c, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



113 



shall we not in this cage impoverish the soil of 
minerals 1 Yes, it is possible to impoverish the 
soil in this way, bnt as turnips require for their 
growth more phosphoric acid than wheat and 
bean«, and clover more potash, the soil will refuse 
to grow these crops from lack of minerals much 
sooner than wheat. -As long as we can grow good 
crops of turnips, peas, beans, and clover, we may 
be sure there are sufficient minerals in the soil for 
the largest wheat crop. 

Were the '-mineral theory'' correct, man would 
possess the power of utterly exhausting the soil ; but 
according to the views we have set forth, this power 
has been wisely withheld from him. Impoverish 
it he can and does, but lo exhaust it by aBy nat- 
ural and economic means is beyond his power. 




THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



RICHMOND, APRIL, 1856. 



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THE OHIO FARMING AND STOCK BREEDING 
COMPANY. 

It strikes us that one of the most promising en- 
terprizes we have heard of for some time is the 
one which is described under the above heading 
in a late number of the Ohio Farmer. 

It seems that a company of farmers, with, we 
presume, ample means, and of considerable ex- 
perience, have formed a partnership for ten ycars;- 
renewable at the end of that time, for carrying on 
farming and stock breeding. The stock is made 
up of shares of $1,000, and the company will 
commence operations with $20,000, cash paid in. 
They have purchased some 8,000 acres of land in 
Dutler county, Iowa, near a railroad now' in pro- 
cess of construction. They will immediately 
commence building and cropping, and in about a, 
year will send out 50 or 60 brood mares, well se- 
lected and stinted to some of the best and most. 
fashionable horses in Ohio. A like number of 
shorthorns — cows and heifers — will be sent out at 
the same time. Then the superintendent, Dr. 
Sprague, at present corresponding secretary of 
the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, will take 
charge of the farm. He — 

'■ Will open a set of books, prepared with a 
vie.w to keeping a systematic account of opera- 
tions on the farm ; charging the farm vvith mo- 
neys invested in the land, in improvements, breed- 
ing stock, implements, labor, and all other invest- 
ments and expenditure's ; giving credit for all 
produce sold or consumed, pasturage, moneys ob- 
tained from sale of stock, and (at the expiration 
of ten years, this being the lifetime of the part- 
nership, but which may be renewed* at pleasure,) 
the worth of the land upon closing up the affairs 
of the company. An account will also be opened 
with each breeding animal when purchased, 
charging for investment and keeping from year 
to year, giving credit for produce sold or retained 
for breeding from time to time. No horse stock 
will be sold, until some fifty young horses have 
attained sufficient age for service. These will, for 
six months or more previous to marketing, be- 
thoroughly trained by a good horseman, gc.ited 



114 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 






and matched, and a guarantee for temper and 
speed furnished, when sold. A like number, or 
more, will thus he turned off each twelve months, 
together with a drove of fatted bullocks." 

In addition to the .superintendant, who is also 
secretary, the company have a president and 
treasurer. 

Wo do not recommend any such plan as the 
best for conducting farming operations for any 
length of time, or with a view to profit to be 
derived thereby. There is too much of the so- 
cialistic principle for that ; too much of the 
phalanx order. But we call attention to it as 
being a plan, if properly carried out, admirably 
adapted to bringing wild lauds into a productive 
condition in the shortest time, and promising a 
speculation by subduing rather than by tilling 
them. 

We know of several companies owning large 
bodies of land in western Virginia, who are ex- 
pecting to realize their profit on the advanced 
value of the unimproved lands. But it must be 
very evident that if in addition to the purchase 
money of the fee simple, an outlay was made for 
cleariag these lands at once, building on them, 
cropping and stocking them, and thereby render- 
ing them attractive to emigration, that a much 
higher profit would be realized, and in a much 
less time. It is probable that most of the individ- 
uals owning these lands, have no more money to 
spare in their improvement, and that many of 
them arc capitalists rather than practical fanners, 
And ignorant therefore of the means to be cm- 
ployed in reclaiming the territory. If which be 
•the fact, they might increase their capital stock, 
-even at low rates to incomers, in view of the 
speedy returns of the investment. ; 

The organization of such an enterprise it is not 
our business to discuss, certainly not here. It is 
merely our duty to suggest a plan which must pay 
those who will carry it out, and which will ad- 
vance the settlement of our wild lands by at least 
a quarter of a century. 



•: 



The Index for volume 15, Southern Planter, is 
now ready for delivery. Subscribers who wish 
them can have them sent, on application at this 
Ofiice, in person or by letter. 



EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM A 
SUBSCRIBER, 

{Published by request.) 

" Your article upon "Overseers" treats of a very 
important subject. One point I hope you will not 
overlook in your continuation of the article — the 
educsUion, of mersecrs. Not teaching them ''the 
languages," or even "the sciences," but removing 
from their rnincls the prejudices against the im- 



provements in agriculture. I know of no bett 
way of doing this, than by supplying them wi 
well conducted agricultural journals ; and by w; 
of setting an example to my brother farmers 
hereby order a copy of the "Planter" to be se | 

to my overseer, and request you 

charge me with the subscription. If our farme 
generally would do this, it would be ho very hea - 
tax upon them, while it would so increase yoiTl 
subscription list as' to enable you to enlarge til] 
size and extend the usefulness of the "Planter." »i 
id 



A FAMILY GROUP IN THE VALLEY 
VIRGINIA. 

If we do not in the following pleasing sketch J 
our friend J., recognise the individuals of the pi 
ture, we at least recognize the class as peculiar 
a portion of Virginia in which we have — though Jfl) 
a different locality — spent some of the happiest 
well as most instructive days of our lives. 

In our cattle forays into the great Valley, \ 
learned to appreciate and admire a people so diff 
ent. from our cis-montane fellow-citizens, that th n 
can hardly be knonn, and certainly not appreciaU | 
except in their own homes. Simple in tastes a 
unpretending in manners ; reserved but warm hea 
ed ; prudent but not cunning; cautious but not c d 
signing; frugal in expenditure and wary in ent' 
prise; manifesting most usually more of public spi I 
than of private generosity ; giving freely to t 
stranger of what they have, and making him 1 1 
rather than hear that he is welcome— this admiralf? 
population rose in our estimation and swelled 
our heart at each successive visit we paid the 
and we deeply regret that distance and differe 
pursuits will deprive us of future opportunities 
increasing our knowledge of them. 

Not to speak of the living, among whom 
think we can remember some few friends, we m 
say in gratitude to the late excellent M;ijor Rob 
Grattan, of the county of Rockingham, that it vt 
he who first introduced us to the Valley, and illijljf 
trated in his own person the virtues we revere 
his countrymen. 



k 



Near Brownsburg, Rockbridge, Va. 
February 20th, '56 

Mr Editor: — I have just read Mr Gilme 
communications in the Planter with pleasure, a 
I hope not without profit. I agree with him 
saying that the Planter should be in the hands 
every farmer in Virginia, and that through Lh> 
instrumentality, they could make it a source 
much valuable information. 

It is said that as a man rises in social importatn 
his dinner hour advances. Some men of hum! 
origin and great luck have eaten their way frc 
plebeian twelve, all down the hours of the afierno< 
and ended a glorious career by solemnly dini 
with royalty at eight o'clock. Splendid rewa 
this for the labors of a lifetime ! 

The papers tell us, that the Q.neen of Englai | ! 
dines at eight o'clock, P. M. ; the higher nobility 
seven; the ordinary country gentlemen at six; t 
professional people and richer classes of uierchar 
at four or five; the shopkeeper at two or threes 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



115 



■ks at one ; and working men at twelve. It is of 

latter class, ihe bone and sinew of oar happy 
d, that I will say something. 

recently spent a night with a very worthy man 
i old friend; and it is of him and his family I 
i write, as I consider them patterns for the 
icuitural community. 1 have known this fam- 

nearly forty years, and the picture is as near 

rect as 1 can draw it. 

The custom of this family has been, early to bed 

early to rise, and as a consequence, they have 
ome healthy, wealthy and wise, (as to general 
d management.) There are a half a score of 

dree, nine out of teD are married and well 
led. The boys, (as the old gentleman calls 
rn,) all men of fine common sense, strict integ- 
, and great moral worth. Generally members 
ihe church. 

"his fall, the heads of this family, if spared may 
?brate the fiftieth anniversaryof their marriage. 

flirty-seven years ago, I was first introduced to 
a, and from that time to this, have spent many 
its in their hospitable mansion. It was common 
hose days for almost every good farm to have a 
filer}-. There was one here, but the discrim- 
ting eye of the good father could not ask 
aven's blessing upon it, and it was abandoned 
I before the Temperance Reformation com- 
nced. 



25th. — I again resume my pen, to speak of my 
friend as a farmer. "When he commenced business 
his means were limited, but from close application, 
good economy, and strict integrity, he has become 
possessed of a good estate, and might now retire 
and live on the interest of his money; but he is still 
an active man, superintending his farm and work- 
shops, being by nature a mechanic. His horses 
are always in fine condition, as is his stock of every 
grade. 

His farming ntensils are of the best kind, and 
always in good order, his lands are well tilled, and 
in proper season; and as a consequence he rarely 
ever fails having good crops. His fields are well 
grassed, and his hay crops abundant and of fine 
quality. The products of the farm are wheat, corn, 
oats, grass, cattle, horses, pork, butter and other 
minor matters. Having always something on hand 
that would command a fair price, and as every 
thinghe offers for sale is in good condition, he rarely 
fails in getting remunerating prices. Everything 
passes under his personal supervision, and as his 
wish and prayer is to do what is right, he rarely 
does wrong; and I am satisfied never does so in- 
tentionally. 

As before remarked, his family are all married 
and settled, but the youngest. As they paired off, 
each one received some substantial aid. and all are 



comfortably settled. If not wealthy, they are well 

"he custom of the father of this family was lo]to do. and perfectly independent; owing no man 

household pverv mr.mincr <ho T-oor anything, but what can be paid when called for. 

This good old father informed me some years 
since, that his intention was, as near as he could, 
to divide his estate equally among his children. 

Yours, &c, 

J. 



up the household every morning the year 
pd between the hours of four and five. In the 
ter season, you might see the lanterns moving 
ut in different directions, to the stables, the 
1, the smith-shop, &c. At a quarter to six, the 
n sounds, and the family all come together for 
ily prayers, none are permitted to absent them- 
es, it in good health; a chapter is now read 
the Bible, a hymn sung, and a devout prayer 
red to the Father of all our mercies, for his 
ction and guidance in the duties and labors 
he day, with thanksgiving for mercies and 
efits received. Breakfast is now announced. 
! family surround the bountifully supplied table; 
Is blessing asked upon the provision of his 
nty Soon the laborers hie away to the fields, or 
work-shops. The father, the sons and servants 
joout to the different labors of the farm. All are 
' engaged till half past eleven or a quarter to 
Ive when the horn again sounds for dinner. 
\J the time the teams are properly cared for, and 
laborers' ablutions performed,' dinner is on 
table, say quarter to half past twelve. In the 
rf momhs - when the days are long and the 
t hard, an hour or two is spent in rest. About 
down the laborers quit work ; an early supper 
aten. The family aeain called together for 
ling devotion, before the children yet get sleepy, 
r which the familv generally retire to rest 
\lf later than nine P. M. 

'he father of this family has taught his sons and 
ghters to wait upon themselves, and never call 
rvant to do what they can do equally well them- 
es. They^ are models of industry, economy, 
thrift They are public spirited, charitable 
social; all owning servants, but not ashamed 
aoor with their own hands. Their general 
til is good, and I do not know that there has 
i a death in this family, ehiMien or grand chil- 
i, for near fifty years. Surely God hns watched 
r them, and kept them; has smiled on them 
approved their walk. 

he manners of the good old pair are primitive, 
r mode of living plain, but abundant and sub- 
'.iai. Their hospitality proverbial. 



MESSRS. LAWES AND GILBERT vs. LIEBIG. 

The article in this nnmber on the controversy 
between these distinguished experimenters will 
well repay the cost of perusal. It gives the sub- 
stance of the whole controversy, and some of the 
most important and practical results of Messrs. 
Lawes' and Gilberts' experiments. 

We are indebted for it to Joseph Harris of the 
Genesee Farmer, an agricultural chemist, whom 
we esteem and confide in as a candid, reliable and 
scientific man. 



RARE FLOWER SEEDS. 
We have recently received from Mr. James 
Vick, of Rochester, N. Y., proprietor and co- 
editor of the Genessee Farmer, a collection — not. 
for distribution — of rare and beautiful specimens 
of flower seeds. They are a portion of what he 
has just imported from France, and will be found, 
we think, of very superior quality. 



EXPLANATION TO SUBSCRIBERS. 

Several of oar friends' are surprised, and *some 
indignant, that their accounts are sent to them, 
when they have paid our agents. 

The reason we send the accounts is, that the 
agents have failed to make returns, and cannot now 
he got to do so, though written to repeatedly and 
urged to settle. We therefore are ignorant who 
have paid and who ha7e not. 



116 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Just now we are in a general muss with our 
subscribers in the Northern Neck, many of whom 
have paid our agent ihere, who has never paid us 
one cent. 

We except all amateur agents, if we may so call 
our personal friends, who have kindly consented to 
act gratuitously for us. . They have all, so far as 
we recollect, remitted punctually, and we are, the 
more indebted to them in that they are acting with- 
out any compensation and are taking a good deal 
•of trouble on their hands. 



As we have one or two rather length}- articles 
in this number, we shall defer the completion of 
■what we had to say about Overseen until our 
next. 



BLACKWOOD AND THE REVIEWS. 

We have received from the publishers. Messrs. 
Leonard, Scott &Co., 79 Fulton street, New York 
— Woodhouse, Richmond— the February number 
of Blackwood's Edinburg Magazine, containing a 
variety of articles, which we have not had time as 
yet to look into. 

We have also received the January number of 
the London Quarterly, containing Table Talk, Re- 
formatory Schools, Reviews of the Life of Fielding, 
Landscape Gardening, the Zoological Gardens, &c. 
The Table Talk is a good article, and the Land- 
scape Gardening, and Zoological Gardens, are both 
very instructive and entertaining. 

The Edinburg and Westminster for January 
have also come to hand. In the former the articles 
headed respectively, Rural Economy of France 
and Britain, and the Minister Von Stein, and the 
Life and Writings of Henri Bayle, will well repay 
perusal. 

In the Westminster we have only been able to 
read the article on German Wit, which is not parti- 
cularly witty; but quite interesting, as it gives a 
sketch of the great Henrich Heine, recently dead, 
and esteemed, next to Gcethe, the greatest literary 
writer of Germany. 



RELATIVE PROGRESS OF VEGETABLE FOOD 
IN THE UNITED STATES, AND THE IN- 
CREASE OF ANIMALS. 

In two or three articles recently prepared for 
the Record, we have shown, first, that the in- 
crease of the classes engaged in the varions 
branches of the arts and commerce was much 
more rapid than that of those engaged in agri- 
culture; and second, that the town or civic po- 
pulation, was increasing much more rapidly 
than that of the country, or rural population. 
In connection with these facts, we may remark 
en passant, and as intimately connected with 
them, that the prices of agricultural products 
have been for several years gradually growing 
higher, while, on the other hand, the prices of 



manufactured goods have generally declined. 
This rotation of prices is perfectly consistent 
with, and, indeed, is a direct consequence of, 
the former facts, which we have stated and 
illustrated in preceding articles. 

We shall now proceed to inquire whether 
vegetable food, which is the basis of all animal 
life, has or has not increased in the United 
States in proportion to the increase of popula- 
tion. If it has, we, at least, whatever ma»r 
be the case with others, have not lost ground 
in relation to the due support of animal life. 
If it has not, then all the boasts we so fre- 
quently see in the newspapers, about an un- 
limited power to supply Europe with food, is 
a mistake and a delusion. While we are 
obliged to use the returns of the census of 
1850 as a basis; we are well aware that the- 
crop of 1849, on which it was based, was com- 
paratively a bad one, and the present crop (55) 
is a • vastly better one. Nevertheless, it is 
probably true that the crops of 1854 and 
1855, taken together, would not make more 
than an average production. Comparing, 
then, the crops returned in the two censuses 
of 1840 and 1850, and the increase with the 
increase cf population, we shall get a very 
near approximation to the relative growth of 
food and population in the United States. 
In doing this, it is not necessary to give the 
smaller crops in detail, but only the large 
crops, which support men and animals, and 
with them the number of men, and the num- 
ber of animals which are used as food. The 
latter is n#t essential, for vegetable food of 
some kind is the basis of all animal life, and 
therefore to determine the crops is to deter- 
mine all. But the number of animals used 
for food will illustrate the conclusions, aad 
therefore .we give it. 

In the table below, the first column gives 
the number for 1840; the second for 1850; 
the third the ratio of increase; and the fourth 
the variation from what might to have existed 
in 1850, in order to be equal to the ratio of 
increased population : 









Ratio 






1840. 


1850. 


per ct. 


Variation. 


Population, 


17,069,453 


23,191,876 


36 


15,000,000 


Bushels of— 










Wheat, 


84,823,272 


100,485,944 


20 


76,00O,0«)O 


Corn, 


377,831,875 


592,071,104 


57 


76,000,000 


Rye, 


18,645,567 


14,188,813 


— 


11,000,000 


Oats, 


123,071,341 


146,584,179 


20 


20,600,000 


Hay, 


10,248,108 


13,838,642 


36 


— 


Cattle, 


14,971, 5S6 


18,378,907 


24 


1,800,080 


Sheep, 


1 19.311,374 


21,723,220 


13 


4,500,000 


Swine, 


26,301,293 


30,254,213 


15 


4,600,000 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



117 



Here it will be seen that there is a deficien- i indeed a probable cessation of the rise, till 



y in everything, except corn ; that is, there is 
!S5 than there should have been in order to 
Lake the amount correspond with the increase 

population. 

In "regard to corn, at least 3 5,000,000 of 
ash els of the increased product is used in 
hiokey, which enters not at all into food 
deducting this, we have the following results : 



DEFICIENCY. 



Wheat, 
Rye, - 



15,000,000 bushels 
11,000,000 " 

20,000,000 



. 



46,000,000 
61,000,000 
15,000,000 



" 



" 



orn crop of 1340, - 

1830, - -, - 
Annual increase, 6 pi 



■Em 

Increase of corn 
Apparent gain, 

Bat it must be observed that wheat is al- 
iost exclusively used among the white in- 
abitants for bread ; and that of eorn we are 
ow exporting (which we formerly did not) an 
mount equal to the apparent gain. On the 
hole, it is apparent that the increase of veg- 
table food, in the United States, has rather 
illen behind than kept up with the progress of 
opulation. It is also apparent that, in future, 
he great staple in breadstuffs for us, and for 
ae world, is the maize, or Indian corn. This 
i the only crop, even in our fertile country, 
duch keeps up and goes beyond the increase 
f population It may be well to look for a 
loment at the increase of this crop. We have 
le following date for a calculation, viz : 

377,531,875 bushels. 
592,071,104 " 
•ct cent. 

rop of 1935 calculated on this basis, 800,000,000 " 
robable crop of 1856, - - 1,000,000,000 " 

This increase, however, will not take place 
nlc-ss we find a foreign market, which we shall 
robably do. On this head we intend here- 
fter to give the data for supposing that the 
ipid increase of the corn crop will continue 

One of the most remarkable facts in relation 
) the diminution of the agricultural produc- 
on, is that of the diminished relative increase 
F animal}. 

Take the following proportions : 

crease of population, - - - 36 per cent. 

Do horses, - - - - 14 do 

Do cattle, - - . 23 do 

Do sheep, - - - - 13 do 

De swi«e, - - - - 15 do 

These are very instructive facts. They 
ach very distinctly some of the principles 
hich have been silently at work to raise the 
■ices of wheat, of beef, and pork ; nor do we 
e from this state of things any remedy but 
e increased application of labor to a^ricul- 



high prices react in producing a renewed at- 
tention to agricultural employments. 

There is another* question connected with 
the production and consumption of vegetable 
food, of great interest and importance. Other 
parts of the world are even less fortunate 
than ourselves. The result is that there iff 
a pressure upon this country to supply the 
wants of Europe. The export of breadstuffs 
at this time, is beyond anything this country 
has ever known. With high prices and a 
good harvest, this demand will be supplied 
for a time ; but, as the facts above stated 
prove that our surplus, especially of wheat 
cannot be very large, it follows that this de- 
mand, if continued, will so far exhaust the 
country as to make prices still higher, and, 
in fact, almost exhaust the home supply of 
wheat flour. If this be repeated from year to 
year, where will it end ? Can we increase the 
supply of wheat so as to meet a perpetual Eu- 
ropean demand for grain V or, must the people 
of Europe come here in still greater numbers? 
or, finally, as we just remarked, is not Indian 
corn the last resource and hope of nations? 
Our opinion on this subject is fixed; that, 
as corn is the great staple of our country — is 
easily raised, and may be indeSuitoly extend- 
ed, that this crop will go on increasing, at a 
very rapid rate, and it will be exported to 
Europe in immense quantities. In looking to 
the increase of vegetable food in the United 
States, we think it evident that the produc- 
tions which are likely to increase most rapidly 
are those of corn, potatoes, sugar cane, and 
grapes. If we are right in this supposition, 
the United States have yet before them a field 
of vast enterprise and profit in agriculture. 

Since the introduction of Texas, the land 
suitable for the cultivation of the cane has been 
greatly increased. We suppose there can be 
no doubt of the capacity of Louisiana and Tex- 
as to raise a million of hogsheads of sugar, 
without any great effort. This is equal to a 
thousand millions of pounds — quite a large 
item in the general provision of food. 

The vine is a recent and much smaller ad- 
dition to our agricultural list. But large 
parts of the United States, and especially the 
valleys of the Ohio and the Missouri, are ad- 
mirably adapted to the cultivation of the vine. 
The time is not distant when millions of gal- 
lons of wine will be made on the Ohio. 



The potato is a native of America, but has 
ire, and, as there is no power to enforce this been much les3 attended to in the United 
it the presence of a real scarcity, so we can States than it- ought to be. At 100 bushels 
e no permanent diminution of prices; nor! per acre, which with suitable soil and culture 



118 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTEE. 



is a email crop, it is one of the most profitable 
raised. 

We c-onc-lude, therefore, that while it is an 
entire mistake to suppose that the United 
States can supply the world with wheat, when 
the world has driven its agricultural laborers 
into the hot beds of cities ; yet, the United 
States has a staple grain in Indian corn, 
which can supply the world, and there are 
new crops with which America can enrich 
itself. — Railroad Record. 



Communications to the Virginia State Agricultural 

Society. 

ESSAY ON BLUE CLAY. 

By Robert Harrison, M D., op Princb .George. 

[A Premium, of T<m Dollars.] 

I design in this communication to present to 
the consideration of the Slate Agricultural So- 
ciety of Virginia, my experience in the use of 
blue clay and the effects resulting from its use. 

My farm is located in I he county of Prince 
George, three miles south of James River; the 
land is generally light, with a clay subsoil, but 
portions of it have no clay substratum. On 
portions of this farm marl is found varying in 
strength from 25 to 75 per cent. A 11 the arable 
land has been marled in the proportion of 300, 
or more, bushels to the acre. And the most of 
this marling was execuled at least fifteen years 
ago. 

This marl is about six leet thick, mostly dry, 
of a buff' color, containing clam shells, oyster 
and other shells, some perfect, others decom- 
posed partially; next to this marl is found 
a blue marl, inferior in quality, of a blue color, 
abounding in sand. This marl contains very 
large bone, some of the vertebral bones meas- 
uring eight or ten inches in diameter. This 
blae marl is about four feet thick. Immediate- 
ly subjacent is found this blue clay, of unascer- 
tained depth, but which has been excavated to 
the depth of twelve or fourteen feet. This clay 
in physical appearance presents a homogeneous 
mass, but by careful examination it is found to 
contain innumerable shining panicles. This 
clay is blue in its appearance, feels and cuts 
like soaj), tenacious but somewhat friable. By 
atmospheric exposure either at the pit or after 
having been applied to land it scon breaks 
up into small masses sufficiently fine to be 
spread with a spade or hoe, or even to be scat- 
tered with the hand, as 1 have sometimes used it 
as a top dressing to clover. Rain and freezing 
also sufficiently disintegrates it for agricultural 
purposes. I consider it one of our best fertil- 
izers, not inferior to lime or marl, abounding in 
carbonate of lime. Its use was commenced by 
me more than twelve years aeo. It was analyz- 
ed by Professor Hare, of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, but I have misplaced the report. He 
was of opinion that it possessed no fertilizing 
properly whatever. Professor Rogers, of the 
University of Virginia ; also subjected it to anal- 



ysis — "Composed, (he says) almost entirely of 
a silicious clay, having a few shining particles 
of rnica. 

' A . c '• ■ i almost entirely. 
Alumina, $ 

Oxide of Iron, about 7 per cent. 

Carbonate of Lime, a trace. 

Sulphuret of Lime, a trace. 

Carbonaceous Matter, a trace. 

It abounds in Alumina, Bisulphuret of Iron, 
Sulphuret of Lime, Acid, Ammonia, and some 
other ingredients according to another analysis, 
but many grains of allowance should be made 
for the present infancy of agricultural chemistry. 

The first experiment I made with this 
clay was upon a remarkably light piece of land 
that I was endeavoring to improve by the 
application of our common red clay ; at the 
same time I hauled out about twenty bushels of 
this earth. It was here spread, sown in oats and 
clover seed ; the clover vegetated upon all, 
but died out during the summer upon the land 
upon which the red clay had been applied, 
but continued to grow finely and luxuriantly 
where the blue clay had been applied ; and 
during this year some of the stalks of clover 
grew to be knee high, and was the best on the 
farm. After this, 1 have continued to use it 
from year to year, until I have nearly applied 
it to every part of the farm, and some portions 
twice, with very satisfactory results. Upon 
some portions of the light land I have known 
the blades of corn to turn yellow, but whether 
it was owing to a superabundant application of 
this earth or to other causes, I have not yet 
satisfied myself, but uniformly it makes the land 
produce more corn and the blades are of a 
deeper green. On wheat, the increased pro- 
duct, particularly on my light fields, has 
been very apparent, both in the growth of the 
straw and the number of bushels. This earth 
is particularly adapted to the growth of peas. I 
think I may safely say the growth of the vines 
have been nearly doubled since the commence- 
ment of its use. Now all my corn land is sowed 
down in peas, unless I am deficient in seed. 
•This gives me an additional product of wheat, 
that I estimate at four to five bushels to 
the acre. This mode of getting a green fallow 
with peas I consider to be the more economical 
with me, and I get a more luxuriant growth. 
I avoid the trouble and expense of fallow- 
ing land exclusively for peas, and the trouble 
•of getting in the peas is much les3 with the 
corn, for it is not necessary to give any addi- 
tional ploughing, and I am not yet satisfied 
that the pea crop produces any detriment to 
the corn crop. Eut I have now an experiment 
in progress lo ascertain the fact. 

I have taken some pain? to sow my land 
in eastern shore bean, and here again the value 
of this manure is very apparent, the beneficial 
effects being equal, if not greater, than when 
applied to peas ; but this latter plant belongs 
to the pea tribe. 

My usual mode of using it is by applying 
about a hundred and fifty bushels to the acre. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



113 



But this year 1 applied about two hundred 
bushels more to land that had had an applica- 
tion of an hundred and fifty bushels of this 
earth. My corn is decidedly better than it 
ever was on this field before] and the peas 
as luxuriant as if they had been heavily ma- 
nured ; but where this earth was applied this 
year the peas were much better than the peas 
on the land which had had an application of 
this earth three ysars ago. 

It is true, for several years I have been 
remarliug my lands, also with marked benefit; 
but it is only with the marl I remove to get 
access to the blue clay, as I consider I get more 
benefit from the latter than the former. This 
opinion is not peculiar to myself. Dr. A. Bry- 
ant, a farmer of Prince George, informs me 
that he has discovered greater benefit from 
the use of his marl than is manifested by that. 
of his neighbors, and he attributes the superior 
benefit to the fact that he is in the habit of 
mixing about four feet of this clay, which he 
finds at the bottom of his marl pits, .with his 
marl. So far as my experience .goes, I have 
never used this blue clay to lands that had not 
been marled or limed. I carried some a dis- 
tance of four miles, and applied it to land that 
had been limed — a close, stiff, tenacious soil; 
and applied it to clover with marked benefit. 

This earth act? promptly. On one occasion, 
the cloud? indicated rain; I ordered a boy to 
haul several loads and scatter it on clover, 
and in a very lew days the benefit from its 
use was very apparent in the increased vigor 
and greenness of the clover. This earth is 
soluble in water. Soon after a rain, if one 
rides or walks in a field on which this earth has 
been spread, a strong sulphureous odour is 
manifest and rather unpleasant; the same may 
be discovered at the pits. This is much more 
evident after a rain than at any other time. 

Again, another fact connected with the sol- 
vent powers of rain is, that vegetation is consid- 
erably increased in the direction of the descent 
of water v/here this earth has been applied on 
the aides of hills. 

It is beneficial to lands that have not been 
limed or marled, to our knowledge. . 

Mr. W. Gee, of Prince George, who lives 
twenty miles south of James River, has-used 
this earth, and also what ia called olive earth, 
with decided improvement upon lands that had 
had no lime or marl ; but this land may be nat- 
urally calcareous. Thi3 blue clay is found at 
the bottom of his marl pits; he applies about 
three hundred bushels to the acre. A por- 
tion of his land was remarkably poor and 
light; he observed it has been in succession of 
crops under the regular rotation, for a great 
number of years, and was unproductive, pro- 
ducing only about one and a half bushels of 
corn to the acre. After the application of this 
earth, without any additional manure, the same 
land produced about four barrels; wheat and 
clover also grew successfully. 

Another fact connected with this earth is of 
a very important character. The sheep sorrel. 



I a plant common with us and remarkable for the 
acidity of its leaves, generally disappears after 
land has been marled or limed ; but it reappears 
! after the use of this blue clay and grows more 
abundantly and luxuriantly, and this is the most 
serious objection to the use of this clay. Now this 
fact presents a stubborn reality against some, of 
the fashionable theories of the day. Hen peas 
are increased in quantity and are more produc- 
tive; the eastern shore bean becomes more 
abundant, and the clover increased in growth 
and improved in color ; corn and wheat increas- 
ed by the application of an earth that causes the 
sheep sorrel to reappear on land from which it 
had disappeared by the use of marl and lime. 
From this and other considerations, i should 
infer that acidity is not opposed to fertility. 

This earth also possesses the power of 
counteracting the injurious consequences result- 
ing from an over application of the carbonate 
of lime, or what is popularly called marl- 
burnt land. The bisulphuret of iron being 
placed in justaposition with carbonate of lime, 
chemical affinities may produce new combina- 
tions. Sulphuret of lime may result, and pro- 
ductiveness the ultimate consequence, or the 
caustic properties of the lime may be neutra- 
lized. On my farm an example may be seen of 
a piece of land in which all vegetation was 
destroyed, mould, &c, gone, and the land 
presented the appearance of worthless sand, 
which has been restored to comparative produc- 
tiveness by no other manure than this blue 
clay. This clay is usually hauled upon the 
land after it is broken up, suffered to remain 
until it breaks up into flakes or becomes 
somewhat pulverized, when it is scattered. 
Here we occasionally find round balls about 
the size of large marbles, presenting a dirty 
appearance on the exterior, but internallv these 
balls are crystaline. To what principle, to 
which ingredient in its constitution are we 
indebted for its fertilizing property ? Is it 
because its metallic oxide forms a base with 
which humic acid unites, and this combination 
is subsequently easily dissolved by rain water, 
and is thus assimilated by the growing crops — 
or may not this oxide form other combinations 
with lime or other inorganic substances — or may 
it not more properly be a positive manure, 
independent of chemical affinities or atmos- 
pheric combinations? 

We are thrown upon the ocean of conjecture; 
theory may be piled upon theory, and one 
hypothesis upon another without affording 
satisfaction to the man of science, or without 
materially benefitting the agriculturist. 

Professors Hare and Rogers inform U3 
that alumina abounds in this earth. Who knows 
the effects of whale oil, fish oil, &c, uniting 
with this earth ? It is impervious to water in 
its present condition in the pits. It may in this 
form refnin other organic animal matter. But 
it is not my object to discuss a theory or advo- 
cate a system, but to invite the attention of 
farmers to the use of this invaluable fertilizer. 

The effects of this earth on the appearance 



120 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



"! 



SB? 

: 






of my land, on my growing crops, upon peas, 
vegetation, clover and eastern shore bean 
are positive realities, and I shall continue to 
ase this earth so long as beneficial results follow 
its use. 

Blue clay is considered by some to be a peculiar 
deposit, but we consider its fertilizing property de- 
dends in a great degree upon the animal matter for- 
merly existing in the superincumbent marl, united 
with aluminous and ferruginous earth ; for we have 
never heard of its existence with us, without being 
accompanied with marl, or unmistakable evidence 
that marl pre-existed. Does this not go to render 
it highly probable that they are intimately connec- 
ted, and its efficiency dependent in a great degree 
upon the animal matter, previously existing in 
the marl above ; also, from the decay of large 
whales, the bones of some now remaining, and yet 
ibund in removing the marl. This clay consists 
of many of the ingredients of guano, phosphoric 
acid, soda, potash, ammonia, and sulphuric acid. 

Now phosphorus, sulphur, potash, and soda are 
fbund to exist in the ashes of plants. 

In this earth are many of the essential ingredi- 
ents of vegetable organizations ; ready when dis- 
solved to he absorbed, and assimilated by the 
growing crop, after its application to the soil. 

In Vol. XIII. No. 4 of the Southern Planter, page 
165, in an analysis of a line blue clay, from Marl- 
bourne farm, which consists of carbonate of lime, 
smlphate of lime, bisulphuretof iron, potash, soda, 
phosphoric acid, alumina, an oxide of iron, organ- 
ic matter and water, silica, ammonia from the 
crgauic matter. In appearance and physical pro- 
perties, Professor Gilham says: " This clay is like 
♦he blue clay mentioned in my essay, and I have 
but little doubt it is equally fertilizing." Agri- 
cultural chemistry has made rapid improvements, 
and yet the science may be said to be in its infancy. 
The agricultural community are under many ob- 
ligations to Professor Gllham, for his valuable con- 
tributions to agricultural chemistry. 

If the present surface of this earth was formerly 
the bottom of the antedeluvian ocean, which 
seems to be the fact from the discovery of marina 
shells on the Pyreunean mountains, 10,000 feet 
above the level of the sea, and other evidences of 
a deluge ; and the fact also established, from the 
discovery of the rhinoceros, an animal of the 
equatorial regions), and also the mammoth, in a 
frozen condition in Siberia and the arctic regions, 
this whole country must bave been submerged by 
sea water, abounding in muriate of soda ; and Sir 
Humphrey Davy informs us that muriatic acid, 
acting on animal or vegetable fibrine, albumen or 
easeine, changes it to a purple color. Therefore 
wo conclude, this blue clay owes its color to the 
action of sea water on these organic constituents 
o'f animal matter. So the color itself would go to 
prove the probable presence of either animal or 
vegetable matter, neither does its chemical analysis 
conflict in the least with this supposition, but rath- 
er goes to establish the probability, that animal or 
vegetable matter, or both, in a decayed condition, 
exists in combination with aluminous and ferrugi- 
nous earth. 

Red clay is immediately in contact laterally 
with this blue clay, and the lino of division is of 
an intermediate color. 

From the application of this earth to our soil peas 
are increased in quantity, and are more prpduc- 
live; clover b increased in gro«vih and improved 



in color; cora, wheat and vegetation improved 
the application of an earth, that causes the she 
sorrel to reappear on land from which it had d 
appeared by the use of lime or marl. From this fi 
and other considerations I should conclude tl 
acidity is not opposed to fertility or increased pi 
ductiveness. Now I do not think that sorrel see 
are carried in this earth, nor believe in spontaneo 
generations; but the lime having destroyed 
neutralized the acid, necessary for the growth 
sorrel, this blue clay restores it, or liberates 
either directly or by combination, and the sen 
having the elements necessary for its growth r ! 
stored, grows more luxuriantly after this eart 
than it did previous to liming or marling. 

I suppose the seeds of the sorrel had remain( 
in the earth for years, and it only required tl 
necessarj- material for its growth and developmen 

Now if the disappearance of sorrel is an eviden< 
of the correction of the acidity of the soil, ar 
the existence of a certain degree of alkalinit 
then the reappearance of the sorrel is the eyideuc 
of the restoration of the acidity, and increase 
productiveness is the consequence, going to proi 
that acidity in a soil is not the cause .of i 
poverty. 

It is the generally received opinion in our vichl. 
ity, that our lands that have had an application < 
marl or lime, in sufficient quantity, are not trouble 
with sheep sorrel after these alkaline earths ar 
fully incorporated with the soil.' There are somjl 
exceptions to this rule, but what are the modifyin. 
circumstances vre are unable satisfactorily t 
explain. 

The sorrel (Rumcx accla sella) is remarkable fo 
the agreeable acidity of its leaves, which is chierbj; 
dependent on the presence of the binoxolate o 
potash. Oxalic acid is formed in both the anima 
and vegetable kingdoms. It is found as an ox] 
alate of ammonia in guano, which accounts whj 
sorrel so frequently follows its use. 

Many other plants besides the sorrel produce it J 
such as rhubarb, valerian and lichen. It is also 
produced from a diseased condition of the kidneys 
of aninals. 

Now the sorrel does not grow on all soils, buti 
with us it generally grows on light and sandy soils, 
sometimes in isolated patches, again more general-l 
ly distributed Over a field. Now, this oxalic acid,! 
which predominates in the sorrel, it is fair to con- 
clude, must exist in certain localities favorable 
for its formation, and wherever it does exist we have 
a s*oil favorable for the growth of sorrel. But ox- 
alic acid has a very strong chemical affinity for 
lime, so strong that it will unite with the lime that 
is presented to it, in combination with sulphuric 
acid or gypsuni. Therefore whenever land is limed 
or marled, in which oxalic acid exists, an insoluble 
oxalato of lime is formed, and the necessary in- 
gredient for the growth of sorrel is neutralized by 
the lime, and consequently the sorrel ceases to 
grow, i This appears to our mind, a sufficient rea- 
son to account scientifically and satisfactorily for 
the disappearance of sorrel after liming or marling. 
Certain plants require particular, ingredients for 
their growth. It is an acknowledged fact, that 
marine plants will not grow without the presence 
of muriate of soda. Why will the sorrel again 
grow after the application of blue clay and guano, 
unless they abound in acids or favor the genera- 
tion of oxalic acid 1 It does exist? in guano as an 
oxalate of ammonia. We know, from the constitu- 






THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



121 



ot' oxalic acid, that vegetable decay and at- 
pheric air, would furnish carbonaceous matter 
oxygen favorable for the development of ox- 
acid. Thus we have attempted to account 
;he disappearance of sorrel by the union which 
is place with lime by one of its ingredients, 
ling an insoluble oxalate of lime. In confir- 
ion of the great value of blue clay, I send a 
:r directed to me by my friend and countyman 
a most excellent farmer, Mr. Gee. 
ails I think is demonstrated, that this earth, in 
quantity applied, is equal if not superior to 
iviaa guano. Poor land that originally pro- 
3d 4. bushejs per acre, afterwards produced 20. 
increase of 500 per cent. This earth, I con- 
r very imporcaat towards the renovation of 
i ou; land, and towards neutralizhig tUs aika- 
y arising from an excess of marl or lihifij 

Robert Haiif.ison. 
i;;;e George, Va. 

Sa.*ta Rosa, Prince George Coanry, Va. 

October 15th, 1655. 
R. Rossbt KaKSIsC". 

ir Sir : — In compliance wiih your request, I send 
tatement of ray experiments made '.villi blue clay, 
ubstance we find beneath our marl beds. &c. 
1349 I dug from pits about twenty thousand bushels 
r!, and in getting out this quantity, I concluded to 
ruent With the two substances usuaiiy found above 
e'ow the beds of marl, called red and blue clay. The 
r contains no shell, but bears the prims of every kind 
ly found in the m2rl bank; the latter contains neither, 
s the application of the strongest acids detect in either 
mallest portion of lime 

jaccnt to my pits, there is a piece of worn out land, 
y light soil, and of about eight acres, which had 
cultivated a greit number of years w'tbout any im- 
ment ; this 1 divided in'o two equal parts ; upon the 
I put three hundred bushels of the red clay per acre, 
a ih': other, the same quantity of blue clay; had it 
i brozdasi and ploughed under. In the spring I plac- 
'hole in corn ; it came up well and gfX;w off liaely, 
produced to iny astonishment, twenty bushels per 
each piece producing about the same quantity. This 
lad not produced mare than four bushels per acre, in 
e-.r, for the last twenty-two years to my knowledge. 
■■ fall, I seeded it in wheat, which grew oft finely, and 
a very laiuriant growth until the 14th day of May ; 
at day it was (together with all my crop of wheat,') 
:iy destroyed by a hail storm I had seeded the 
in clover, and such as escaped being destroyed by 
ail was of fine growth. After remaining one year in 
■, it wa3 put in corn again, and produced a crop 
equal to the first. I then put it in wheat again, which 
f fine growth, but owing to injury sustained by rust, 
duced a very indifferent crop. * * * * 

Your?, most truly, 

Win. Gee. 



For the Southern Planter. 

NEGRO CABINS. 

>itor Southern Planter: — I make no apology 
ffering you a few hints upon the construction 
management of "Negro Cabins," as thesubject 

important one, and the ideas I offer chiefly 
red from a medical friend, in whose sound judg- 

both yon and myself place great confidence. 

3 ends aimed at in building negro cabins 
Id be: First, the health and comfort of the oc- 
nls; Secondly, the convenience of nursing, sur- 

nce, discipline, and the snpply of wood and 

■-. and Thirdly, economy of construction. 

course, the convenience of locality must be 

d of by the builder. I only propose to consider 



the subject in its economic and healthful aspect, and 
to this end recommend that negro cabins should be 
built of plank, have, large glass windows and good 
chimneys ; should be elevated at least two feet above 
ground, and never placed within less than 75 or 100 
yards of each other. When inch plank is not worth 
above $1.25 per hundred feet, 1 consider the plank 
bouse cheaper than either log or masonry. At this 
price the cost of plank for a house 1G feet square 
will not exceed g 15, for which sum I would not 
furnish, hew. h3ui and put up logs to build a house 
©f the same size. The planking is put on up and 
down, and Fuse a double course of planking instea-d 
of narrow strips; this I find makes a very comfor- 
table cabin both for summer and winter, if the 
builder choose to incur a slight additional expense 
and should dress the outer course and give it a 
coat -of paint, this, with a projecting eave and some 
cheap ornamental cornice, m.-.kes a verv prettv 
house and obviates the ntcessicy for sticking the 
negrp cabin out of sight of the mansion. 

Plank houses are considered by P hysieians as more 
firvJihyfor cegraes Lhan log, -for the reason that 
there is constantly accumulating in and about the 
negroe's house a vast quantity of animal matter in 
the form of excrements and emanations from the 
human body, which has fewer places of lodgment 
and is more easily removed frem the plank than the 
log house. To form an idea of the strength of this 
matter, you have only to call to mind the odour of 
a sweating negro or il:e stench which pervades a 
room in which several of them are sleeping. The 
Doctors tell us that these smells are clouds of ani- 
mal matter, absolutely capable of being wciglud and 
seen as well as tasted and smelt, and ate constantly 
collecting in the walls and under the floors of negro 
cabins, and there rot and slink as any oiher putres- 
cible matter— (you must excuse an unrefined word 
now and then, for to tell the truth, I can't find a syno- 
nyme for that word which would at all convey the 
idea I intend.) This is beyond doubt the fre- 
qusnt cause of disease and should be carefully pro- 
vided-against, and hence I recommend the eleva- 
tion of the floor above the ground, with a view to 
the frequent cleaning up of this accumulated filth. 
On my own farm a few years ago, typhoid fever., 
a disease until then unknown upon it, broke out in 
an old negro cabin, closely underpinned, and which 
for many years had been used as a negro house. 
My family physician advised me to tear away the 
underpinning and have all the filth cleaned up. In 
doing so, I found an accumulation of foul matter iu 
layers almost denoting the number of years if had 
been collecting, which required six loads of a eom- 
mbn cart to haul off, and from which eame a stench 
equal to the concentrated essence of all bad smells 
put together. I would not if I could give you or 
any other friend of mine an idea of its faHidness. I 
tore down the house and found the old logs impreg- 
nated with foul smells, which continued in them 
long after they were exposed to winds and rains. 
The old house was like the "vase in which roses 
have ^once been distilled," except that it wasn't ex- 
actly the "scent of the roses" lhat hung round it 
stilly 

The floors of negro cabins should be of plank 
rather than dirt, and should be dressed and jointed, 
but not nailed down, that every plank might be taken 
up occasionally and cleansed of any filth -that may 
have settled upon them. Lime and other disinfecting 
agents should be freely used. Negroes should be 
well supplied with light. They "prefer darkness 
to light," and unless watched will exclude the light 
eniireiy from their houses. 






122 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Their howses should be provided with large glass 
windows, and when a pane is broken they should 
be made to replace it rather than fill its place with 
old rags. Light and air are necessary to the proper 
making of blood; and negro women and children, 
who spend so much time within doors, should be 
compelled to enjoy both these elements. They 
Lave to be forced to it, for in sleeping a negro will 
eover his head if his feet freeze, and thus breathe 
over and over again the same air, charged as it be- 
comes with carbonic acid and exhalations of the 
body, and deficient perhaps in oxygen, the element 
so needful in making good arterial blood. It is 
considered by medical men, 1 believe, that this bad 
elaboration of blood develops lurking scrofula and 
even generates it. 

Glass windows enable the negro to do much work 
"in doors," and are surely more convenient than a 
lightwood knot in enabling the physician or nurse, 
in case of sickness, to examine the patient or min- 
ister to his wants. I think a doctor has just cause 
of complaint when forced to burn a negro's eye- 
brows off with a pine torch before he can get a sight 
of his tongue at mid-day. 

Negro houses should be provided with chimneys 
that don't smoke. Air-tight stoves are liable to give 
negroes cold from the extremes of temperature they 
produce and are objectionable 1 in that they give no 
light. The Franklin stove is well adapted to negro 
cabins, and was used by yourself while you lived in 
Albemarle. Any thing is better than a smoking 
chimney. On many of our Virginia Farms, 1 
doubt not there is lamp-black enough accumulated 
in the breathingtubesof the negroesduringthe night 
to black the master's boots in the morning. 

Cabins should not be placed at a less distance 
than from 75 to 100 yards from each other, for the 
reason that it is highly probable that infectious dis- 
eases, such as scarlet and typhoid fever, measles, 
whooping cough, and even small pox may not be 
eommcnicaled at that distance. 

Yours truly, 

R. W. N. N. 

iiLBBMARLE, Feb., 185G. 



For the Southern Hooter. 
CORN PLANTERS. 

Mr. Editor :— I have tried several kinds of corn- 
planters. The first was made by Sinclair & Co, 
Baltimore, which has received the premium at the 
two last fairs, but which I think is a very indiffer- 
ent machine in many respects. It is so top-heavy 
that it will take one ltand to keep it in proper posi- 
tion, and a more awkward implement I have never 
seen. After using this one probably in all one day, 
I laid it aside, and having an oppoitunity to get 
Emery's Planter, which was highly recommended 
to me, I purchased it and used it a good deal. The 
performance of the machine is very good, and 1 
could recommend it, if it were made in a style to 
suit our latitude; but this is not the case. The 
gentleman from whom 1 got it commenced ta re- 
pair his before getting it to the field. 

If some of our Southern Manufacturers would 
make them in as durable manneras they make other 
implements for a home market, I do not doubt but 
what it would be used very extensive!)', especially 
by farmers who own large fields, free of stumps 
and roots. 

In haste, yours truly, 

Richard Iret. 

NorrovTii-. V.i . Mar. 14th. 1856. 



For the Southern Planter. 

BELLS ON SHEEP. 

February 6th, 1856. 
Friend Ruffin : — In the January number of the 
Planter I ;eaw an article upon bells " to prevent 
dogs from killing sheep. " When a boy, I passed by 
Mr. Richard Sampson's farm, of Goochland county, 
late in the evening, and saw his servants penning 
his sheep with his cattle. I asked the reason. The 
boy said it was to protect the sheep from dogs. I 
remembered it, and have practised it ever since I 
have owned a sheep, which has been twenty odd 
years, and have never had a sheep killed or attack- 
ed by dogs ; whilst my neighbors have sustained 
great damage, and some have had their entire flock 
destroyed. I have told my plan and my luck, and 
strange to tell, I do not know a man who thus pens 
his sheep ; and there is not a man in Albemarle 
county, who has lost fewer sheep from any and all 
the evils to which this valuable stock are subject, 
than I have. Sheep cannot stand dirt, in or out of 
a pen ; my cow pens are frequently moved or well 
littered', and the sheep always turn out the first 
thing in the morning, and after a little practice 
will come to the pens everj* evening themselves, as 
if for protection. 

Yours respectfully, 

G. C. Gilmer. 

P. S. My sheep boy would not hire for five 
dollars per year. This winter sheep have suffered 
much for shelter and for water. To do well, sheep 
must have water every day. 



For the Southern Planter. 
DITCHING. 

February 7th, 1856. 
Friend Rui-fin : — Yours of the 8th of January 
was received, and should have been answered, had 
this been the season for such work. You ask if I 
have ever tried ditching with the assistance, of a 
horse and coulter. I have for years done much of 
this work with two horses, a coulter and plough, 
then scrape out with a cast iron two horse scraper, 
by which I easily and quickly remove all the dirt 
from the channel I wish to make, end deposit it in 
some washed or sunken place, thereby killing two- 
birds with one stone, lean, and have done more 
work of this kind per day, with one man thus 
equipped, than could have been done in the old 
fashioned way of spading and shovelling by fif- ' 
teen if not twenty as good hands. I do all of" 
ray straightening of my creeks, clearing Out my 
mill race, and removing the sand bars, shoals, and ' 
obstructions in my creek with ray horses and 
scraper. It is a great labor saving machine. I 
have never tried it upon the narrow or common 
ditches of the farm, but will try it as you adyise, 
and inform you of its result and my opinion. 
Yours, truly, 

G. C Gilmer. 
Ingxewood, near Cartersbridge 
P. 0., Albemarle co. 



For the Southorn Planter. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH MANURES. 
In April 1,8-53, I made a compost of one ton Pe- 
ruvian Guano, half ton of Plaster, and two tons of 
leached ashes. I applied this mixture in the hill . 
to corn on about twenty acres of land, ten acres- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANT Ell, 



123 



low grounds and ten acres high land (or hills) 
This experiment paid a larger profit than any 1 
have ever made on corn. The distance was four 
feet by two, furrows for planting opened with a 
two horse plough, the corn dropped, and the compost 
upon it, and eo-vc-red with a coulter; on the high 
land one stalk. in the hill, on -the low-gicuuds one 
and two alternately. The low grounds averaged 
about twelve barre Is. and the high laud about s\x 
barrels perac re. I lajfnk the yield in both cases 
was doubled by. tile application. 

About the Gt-'a of June, 185o ; I applied two tons 
of Peruvian gnrtiio en corn at the rare oi ISO 
pounds per acre, sow.e<l in. -a narrow string about 
the corn and c'< vefecf immediately wifh' ;r raouid- 
board plough, the drrt thfb'wri to the ecru. Thi j ap- 
plication, was on low gpcftinds, and increased the 
yield per acre, i suppose. from two to three barrels. 

Experiments wiih Guano and Ksitlewdl's Rt ■iuia- 
tor. — On a pieca of poor low grounds, containing 
2200 square yards, I applied between the 5th and 
10th of June, 1353, 75 lbs. P. guano, sowed close 
to the eora and covered immediately with the dirt 
thrown to the corn; gathered and measured three 
barrels and three pecks, making about eight bar- 
rels per acrg. On the same quantity and quality 
of land, and immediately adjacent. I sowed and 
covered in the same way one barrel of Kettlewelfs 
Renovator, costing here within a fraction of 84, 
and gathered and measured two barrels and four 
bushels cf corn. Difference in favor of guano, four 
bushels and 3 pecks. 

4| bushels corn at 70 cents S'3.32i 
75 lb3. Peruvian guano at 2-J cents 2.06} 

Nett gain $1.26| or about 

$2.75 per sore. 

I do not conceive that the Renovator increased 
the yield at all, and! am led to this conclusion froai 
other experiments 1 mads with it. I sowed seven- 
teen barrels of it on tobacco land in 1853, at the 
rate of one and a half barrels to the acre, costing 
per acre here nearly six dollars, and if it benefitted 
the erop I am entirely igDorant of it. In order to 
give it a fair ;riai, I reserved two barrels and ap- 
plied it in the hill to corn in 1851, according to Mr. 
Kettlewell's directions, and L could perceive no 
benefit whatever. Mr. Kettleworth advised its ap- 
plication with Peruvian guano if I had it, and with- 
out the guano if 1 had not. In my experiments I 
preferred to try it alone, and let it stand or fall 
upon its own merits. 

In 1851 I used about four tons of Peruvian guano 
on corn land, sowed broad-cast and in the drill from 
150 to 200 lbs. per acre ; very little benefit was re- 
alized from this application, in the increase of graiD, 
except oh damp spots, but a decided increase in 
the quantity of fodder. I also applied two tons 
Peruvian guano on tobacco land, 300 lbs. to the 
acre, in 1854, without any decided advantage in the 
growth of the plant, but I perceive it thickened 
and ripened faster in the Fall and was ready for 
the knife earlier than that upon which the applica- 
tion was not made, thus avoiding any risk of frost. 

In 1855 I selected damper land (but not subject 
to inundation) for the application of guano on (To- 
bacco, ant applied froai 30J to 400 lbs per acre in 
the drill. Tbfefcxperitffe it succeeded admirably, and, 
should the tobacco bring a reasonable price, a good 
per cent will be realized. Tnc same year [ mea- 
sure! !.ne acre of poor (and, very slightly manured 
with sjm.nfif c r .w pens in 1851, and aprlied tothis 



piece a compost of 200 lbs. Peruvian gaano, 200 
lbs. leached ashes, 100 lbs. plaster, and one bushel 
table salt, costing about $7, sowed in a drill, and 
the hills made upon it. This was a remarkably 
good piece of tobacco, and paid better for the out- 
lay than any other experiment, 

I h <ve used stable (horse) manure with and with- 
out paster in the hill for com with beneficial re- 
sijTfs, especially so in a wet season* I consider 
there is but a slight difference in the yield of corn 
in favor of guano over this manure; but gnano has 
the advantage i:i the smaller bulk to be carried to 
di'tnnt parts of the field and the greater rapidity 
and less labor in its application. 

In my experiments with wheat, I have not been 
very successful, owing measurably to the advice of 
your contributors end farmers with whom I have 
conversed, as to the quantity to be used, fiom which 
;b.e largest per centum could be realized. Taking that, 
advice I used it at. fir U ioo sparingly for this region 
to counteract the ravages of the joint-worm. From 
experience and observation I have learned that in 
this section of country, on pom land, unaided by 
other fertilizers, less than 300 lbs. Peruvian guano 
per acre will not pay well, and then the farmer 
may not calculate on much clear gain, unless he 
sell at high figures. 

In 1853, I matlea trial of one ton Peruvian gtaano 
on oats, sowed on high land, and have cot since re- 
pealed the experiment; that being a dry season 
and the experiment consequently not succeeding 
well. 

In dripping seasons gaano acts charmingly on 
spring and summer crops. But the farmer will be 
disappointed in dry seasons, unless be be very cau- 
tious in the selection of the land for its application. 

I agree with Mr. Noland, that rolling the seed 
corn in guano is worth the trial, if only to accele- 
rate the growth of the young plant, so as to push 
it out of the way of worms and other pests; and 
moreover the great advantage, in my opinion is, to 
enable the farmer to Work it earlier and get it in 
good order by harvest ; for my little experience 
teaches me that in the main the working of the 
corn crop must cease then, unless the farmer has an 
extra force to keep his ploughs running in harvest 
time. Robert N. Trick. 

Mychustk, near Keswick Depot, 

Albemarle Co. 



For the Southern Planter. 
ROLLING SEED IN GUANO. 

Editor Planter : — As there seems to bo 
some diversity of opinion as to the effects of 
guano upon the germination of seed when the 
two are brought in* immediate contact, I take 
leave to report my experience, which has been. 
sufficient to satisfy my own mind upon the sub- 
ject. I have practiced roiling grain in guano 
— both corn and wheat — for several years and 
have always found it to act beneficially, when 
the grain is planted immediately after the ap- 
plication is made. Last fall, however, I had a 
small quantity of rolled wheat leftover from the 
day's sowing, which remained during the night 
in the guano. This failed to come up — not one 
grain in an hundred germinating — while the 
reM of the jrop came up well. The contact 
with the clay, I prerume, destroys the caustic 
property of the guano, which otherwise, if the 
article he good t is sufficient to prevent the ger- 



124 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



mination of seed. The guano I used, I pur- 
chased of Fowle & Co., of Alexandria, and 
proved to be a very superior article, being per- 
fectly dry and giving out a strong ammoniacal 
smell. The guano we buy, varies as much in 
quality as does the whiskey we drink, (that is 
not we exactly, but some of our friends.) and 
. the article I got last fall was as far superior to 
the lot sent to this county from Baltimore, as 
"old Bourbon" is to S. & B.'s "Blue head." 
Good guano is dry and strong-scented, not wet 
and inodorous, as is much that is offered in our 
market. The farmers of Virginia need no in 
spection of guano. They should either judge 
for themselves, or deal only with merchants in 
whom they can place confidence. 

It is the business of the commission merchant 
to acquaint himself with the means of judging 
of the quality of guano, just as he learns to 
distinguish between good sugar and bad. The 
loss to the State, from the use of inferior guano, 
is incalculable. The first cost of the article, 
is as nothing compared with the" failure of 
crop from the application of worthless guano, 
for it seems now that wheat will not ripen well, 
even upon our very best lands, without the use 
of this fertilizer. Our farmers should be more 
particular in testing the quality of guanq, and 
think less of economising a dollar or two in the 
price, for they may rest assured that a good ar- 
ticle is cheaper at $00 a ton, than some we* use 
as a frae gii't. It may be true that " eggs is 
eggs," but it it does not follow that everything 
sold under the name of guano will make a 
wheat crop. The best tests I know are older 
and odour. If guano be perfectly dry and give 
out a good strong smell, it may be depended 
upon. Clean bags usually contain the best 
guano, as any addition of water, either from 
sprinkling or atmospheric absorption, shows it- 
self in the staining of the bags. 

I take occasion, while upon this subject, to 
mention that I have experimented in a small 
way with Mexican guano, on tobacco, corn, and 
wheat, alone, and mixed with Peruvian, atid 
have yet to seethe slightest effect from it. My 
experiments have not been made with sufficient 
accuracy to demonstrate to others its worthlcss- 
ness, but has satisfied roe tiiat that it is not 
quite equal as a fertilizer to common Ivy creek 
sand. 



guano to two acres of land then being fallo 
ed with a two-horse plough for wheat ; the r 
mainder of the field was fallowed in the san 
way, but no guano was applied until Octobc 
the time of seeding, when about 150 lbs. p 
acre was sown, the guano and wheat bo 
turned under with a one-hori=e turning ploug 
a portion immediately adjoining the firs 
mentioned two acres, and so nearly alike th 
I could not perceive any difference. T' 
wheat was sown on both fields about the sac 
time — perhaps the fame day. The wheat 
the first two acres was covered with a twent 
four tooth harrow. Throughout the seasi 
and at present the difference in faror of so' 
ing guano and wheat at the same time was 
four to one. 

I would, as one of the committee appoint 
to test the value of guano applied to co: 
broadcast ,at the time of planting, and oc 
half the same quantity applied in the dri 
the other half broadcast at the last ploughin 
report that, in April, 1854, I measured ts 
cor.tiguous spaces of land, about 70 yar 
square each, of as nearly equal fertility ai 
texture as could be obtained. To one acre 
applied 3£ bushels (estimated to be 200 lb: 
guano broadcast, and turned it in with a od 
horse plough ; to the other acre I applied 
bushels guano in the drill at the time of plar 
ing. The drills were opened by throwing o 
one furrow each way with the single ploug 
the guano sown in the drill and closed Ij 
throwing back two furrows with the sau 
plough. The drills ior planting were open 
with a trowel hoe — both pieces planted £ 



From the Papers of the x Noiioway Farnurs Clvb. 

COMPARATIVE EXPERIMENTS WITH 
GUANO. 

Fallowing it in and putting it in along with 
tub Wheat : — Drilled and Broadcast on 1 
Corn. 

In compliance with the constitutional re- 
quisition of our club, making it obligatory 
upon each member to report in writing the 
result of some operation or experiment made 
daring the year, I report that, in the month 
of August, 1853, I applied 300 pounds of 



same day and in the same way, ezcept 
above — the land inclining to sandy. At t] 
last ploughing of the corn, I applied Is- bus 
els guano broadcast to the drilled acre; — wo: 
done with the cultivator. The broadcast ac 
produced 4 barrels, 4 bushels and 3-1G of 
bushel. The drilled acre, 4 barrels and 
bushels corn. Both acres in all respec 
alike, planted at the same time, worked on i 
same days and with the same implemen 
Both suffered from drought, as did the rt 
of my crop. Wh, R. Bland 



Best Mode of applying Guano to Coax. 

Mr. President : In accordance with a ] 
quest of the club, the following experimer 
were made with guano on corn, in order to s 
certain the best made of its application 

I selected four acres of thin land, about t 
same quality. On the first I applied £00 11 
of guano broadcast, and turned it under t 
1st of March with a double plough. 






THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



125 



On the second acre, I applied 200 lbs. gua- 
no in the drill, in the following way : The land 
having been previously fallowed with a double 
plough, furrows were made at the time of 
planting by running twice in a place with a 
single plough, in which the guano was drilled; 
a harrow was tien run over it, which covered 
it two or three inches deep ; the corn was then 
dropped and covered with harrows. 

On the third acre, I used no guano. 

On the fourth, I applied 100 lbs. of guano 
in the drill, in the same way as on the second 
acre ; and at the second ploughing I applied 
100 lbs. in furrows made by a single plough 
on each side of the corn, and covered with 
single ploughs. The results were as follows : 

1st acre, 200 lbs. broadcast, produced 
4 barrels, 4 bushels, and 3 pecks, at 
S3 50, $17 44 

2d acre, 200 lbs. in tile drill, produced 

3 bbl3., 4 bushels, and 3 pecks, at 

$3 50, 13 95 

3d acre, nothing used, produced 1 b'ul., 

4 bushels, and 2 pecks, at S3 50, 6 75 
4th acre, 100 lbs. in- drill and 100 lbs. at 

side, produced 5 bbls., 2 bushels, and 

1 peck, at S'3 50, 19 16 

In the ahove there is nothing said about 
short corn, as it was put at half price, and 
carried out in the estimate of each acre. 

By adding to the product of the unimprov- 
ed acre, which was §6 75, the cost of guano 
and interest thereon for one year, (say $5 30) 
and deducting the amount, $12 0.5, from the 
product of the first acre, the remainder ($5 39) 
will show the profit by the use of guano, ap- 
plied broadcast. In the same way, $1 90 is 
the profit by its use in the drill, and $7 1 1 is 
the profit by its use as applied on the fourth 
acre. 

But in order to ascertain more accurately 
the profits by the use of guano, w.e should 
charge for cultivation, which I will put down 
down at $5 per acre, which is moderate, sup- 
posing the laborer to find himself and horse ; 
also $5 30 per acre for guano when used. By 
this estimate, it will be found^ that the nett 
profit on the unimproved acre is $ I 75; on 
the 1st acre, $7 14; on 2nd, $3 65; and on 
the 4th, $8 86. The result of the above ex- 
periments Is decidedly in favor of using half 
the guano in the drill at the time of planting, 
and half at the second ploughing. I will 
state, in connection with these experiments, 
that the corn on the acre on which the guano 
was applied broadcast-, looked decidedly better 
than any other until it was about three feet 
high, about which time that on the acre on 
which the 200 lbs. guano was used in the drill, 
overtook it. This acre, during the summer, 



and even after the tops were cut, I thought 
would have produced at least a barrel more 
than any other, but to my surprise I found the 
ith acre produced the most. This is an ex- 
emplification of the fallacy of judging as to 
the results of experiments by the eye. 
Respectfully submitted. 

Wm. Irby. 



Comparative Effects of 300, 200, and 100 
lbs. of Guano on an Acre of Cohn. 

As one of a committee of three appointed 
to make experiments with guano upon corn, I 
have performed, very satisfactorily to myself, 
the duty assigned me by the club, and hereby 
report the results to which I have come. 

The object of the experiments was, to test 
the comparative effects of 300 lbs., 200 lbs., 
and 100 lbs. of guano, on an acre of corn. 

Being unfavorably situated, however, for 
executing my task, I have conducted the ex- 
periments only in a pro rata form ; that is, a 
half acre of ground was selected and divided 
into four parts, or lots, each containing five 
rows of corn. , 

• As late as about the 15th of May last, this 
plot of ground, which was poor and had been 
seeded to oats with guano the year before, was 
thrown into 5 feet beds with the single dasron, 
and planted with corn at 2 feet distance. Be- 
fore fallowing, three of the lots had been 
dressed respectively with 38 lbs., 25 lbs , and 
and 13 lbs. of guano each, while the fourth lot 
was left undressed, for comparison. 

Besides being planted late, the crop was 
badly worked. It suffered, also, from the 
depredations of birds, especially the lot which 
was undressed — being an outside one, and re- 
motest from the houses. 

On the 30 th of November, the ,corn was 
gathered and measured, as follows, (at the rate 
per acre :) 

Lbs. guano. Bbls. Bush. 
1st *cre, 300 2 4, exclusive of nubbins. 
2d acre, 200 2 2, 
3d acre, 100 2 

4th acre, - - 4, " 

Estimating corn to be worth $3 50 per 
barrel, and putting guano at $50 per ton, we 
arrive at the following results in gam and 
loss. Deducting in each case four bushels as 
the unaided product of the land. 

Bbls. Value. Cost of guano. G&in. Loss. 
1st acre, 2 $7 $7 50 50 els. 

2d acre, 1 3-5 5 GO 5 00 CO cts. 

3d acre, 1 1-5 •! 20 2 50 S ; l 70 

On giving credit to the guano only for the 
increased crop produced by it, and allowing 1 



126 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



barrel per acre to the unaided powers of the 
land, the result will he : 

1st acre, loss, $4 00 

2d acre, " 2 10 

3d acre, '• 1 80 

Respectfully submitted. 

Nottoway, April 12, : oo. Gr. FlTZGERALB. 



AGENCY. 

For the celebrated Manney Reaper and Mower, 
which possesses advantages overall other Reapers. 
Full irifofinatiori, or machines furnished upon early 
application to the undesigned, Special Agent tor 
the counties of Loadon, Fauquier, Clarke, Frede- 
rick, and Warren, andGeneral Agent for the Str.te. 

White Post, P. O. " J. J. HITE. 

Clarke Coithiy, Va. apr 2t. 



CONTENTS OF NO. IV. 

J. B. Lawos and Justus Yon Liebig 

The Ohio Farming and Stock Breeding Co... 
A Family Group fn the Valley of Virginia 
Relative Progress of Vegetable Food°in U. S 

Essay on Blue Clay ' ' . , 

Negro Cabins , 

Bells on Sheep 

Corn Planters 

Ditching t 

Experiments with Manures 

Rolling Seed in Guano 

Comparative Experiments with Guano 

Be.st Mode of applying Guano to Cora, 

Increase the V/heat Crop 

Prince George of Cambridge, 



LIST OF PAYMENTS 
From 1st to VMh March. 18-56. 



S S Alsop, Jan 1857 
Dr W T Banks, Jan 1857- 
Wra HiU, Oct 1856 
B Hiner, Jan 1857 
J A Montague, Jan 1S57 
T H Montague, Jan 1857 
Jos C Eubank, Jan 1857 
W A Street, Jan 1857 
WC Stribling,.Jan 1857 
Gen \V H Richardson, Jan 
A E Sinith'e, July 1850 • 
H Handlcy, Apr 1857 
R V Lockhart, July 1809 
Geo Johnson, Nov 1350 
.las C Kasey, Jan 1857 
Dr G G Minor, Jan 1857 
C H Winfree, Jan 1857 
W W Harris, Jan 1S57 
D B M'Gehee, Mar 1857 
L A Crenshaw, Jan 1857 
W P Wajighj Jan 1857 
Dr W E Dodson, Jan 1857 
Dr T B Anderson, Jan 1357 
O Moore, Jan 1857 
B W Bellamy, Jan 1857 
R T Pleasants, Jan 1857 
Dr If Wood, Mar 1855 
W Frazier, July 1856 
W F Earner, Jan 1857 
Sam'l A Griater, Jan 1857 
J E Smith, July 1S56 
L Burruss, Jan 1857 
A Meandon, Jan 1857 
A Pointer, Jan 1858 
E Cunningham, Jan 1857 
W II Roy', Jan 1856 
T L Hundley, Jan 1857 
Jno W Paxton, Jan 1857 
Col Geo Townes, Jan 1861 
Jno N Griffin June 1856 
O C Fowler, Jan 1857 
Jas D Gibson, Jan 1857 
Jno N Rylarid, Jan 1857 
W D Blanton, Oct 1856, 
Jos Janney, July 1856 
\V Logan, Jr Jan 1857 
Col W Rison, Jan 1857 
S Gouldin, Jan 1857 
W F Lc-.vjs, Jan 1857 
Jno Phillips, 
W F Hobbs, July 1857 
AV R Scarlett, Jan 1857 
S Dickson, Jan 1856 
Jos Reunie, Jan 1857 
S B Major, Apr 1856 
J P Cocke, Jan 1S57 
J Michaux, Jan 1857 
F B Welton, Jan 1857 



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1 00 
3 50 

2 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 

1 00 
1357 1 00 

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2 00 
5 00 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 



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5 00 
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2 00 

3 00 
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2 00 

3 00 
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C C Hightower, Jan 1857 
E Hancock, Feb 1857 
L H B Whitater, Jan 1857 
W J Lawrence, Jan 1357 
M Cason, Jan 1857 
VV Turnbull, Nov 1855 
S L Lewis Jan 1857 
Rev P Cleaveland, Jan 1857 
J H Carrington, Jan 1857 
Mrs L P Miller, Jan 1857 
R C L Moncure, Jan 1857 
R L Rudusilla, Jan 1857 
Jas Harding, Feb 1857 
■X Hurst, Feb 1857 
T Dunawav, Feb 1857 
C Harding",' Feb 1S57 
TH Finckard, Feb 1S57 
Dav Graham, Jan I860 
J M Fray, July 185/ 
R B BurrusS, Jan 1857 
Dan'l Jones, Jan 1857 
J B Whitehead, Jan 1857 
A Phillips, Jan 1857 
I J W Reese, July 1856 
i J D Massenburg, Jan 1857 
A J Greene. Apr 1857 
R Robinson, Jan 1857 
S D Watkins; Jan 1857 
Jno F Lynk, Apr 1856 
S P Mitchell, Jan 1857 
Maj C Yancey, Jan 1857 
3 Petty, Jan 1856 
A R Stringer, July 1856 ' 
W P Tatum, Jan 1857 
S Rixey, jr Jan 1857 
T Michau.v, Jan 1857 
Capt T Nelson, Jan 1857 
L N Dagis, Jan 1857 
S B Jones, Jan 1857 
J M Taylor, Jan 1857 ' 
J F Greenlee, June 1856 
R J Davis, Jan 1857 
Judge W Daniel, jr Jan 1857 
T B Robertson, Jan 1857 
A W Womack, Jan 1857 
N Piggott, Jan 1857 
Jno C Bell, Jan 1857 
R Wilkinson, Jan 1857 
T J Hoduet, Jan 1857 
S C Townes, Jan 1857 
C T Sutherlin, Jan 1857 
W Woodson, Jan 1857 
R N Hudson, April 1857 
YVS Carter, Jan 1857 
W B Aston, July 1356 
W C Rives,, jr. Jan 1857 
V Markham, Jan 1857 
B L Walker, Jan 1857 
H I Opie, Sept 1S56 
A W Cousins, Jan 1857 
W C Cai-uugton Jan 1657 



OCiJas MM' Cargo, March 1857 
00 Gen W T Bailew, Jan 1357 
fjO W Dupuy, Jan 1857 
00 J H Knight, Jan 1857 
00 R V Watkins, Jan 1337 
50 J J Scott, Dec 1858 
00 B S Scott', Nov 1856 
00 FP Wood, April 1857 
75 .1 D Lison r May 1857 
00 Jas W Walker, July, 1S56 
00[Maj J H Lee, July 1357 
G Hairstun, sr Jan 1857 
L Hundley, Jan 1637 
J J Ewin, Jan 1357 
Dr C M'Dowell, Jan 1857 
T E Shannon, Jan 1857 
Dr G S Newman, Jan 1857 
Jno Grasty, Jan t€51 
E R Coke, Jan 1657 
Dr TJ Williams, Jan 1857 
J S Quisenberry, Jan 1858 
F Jones, July 1857. 
J Y Hardy, Apr 1856 
G R Trant, Jan 1857 
W B B Walker, Jan 1856 
Jos Rock, Jan 1857 
Col T J Randolph, Jan I85G 
A. G Moody, Jan 1857 
K. S Nelson, Jan 1857, 
Dr C D Evereit, Jan 1857 
Mrs S J Colston, Sep IS56 
VVm Eddins, Apr 1857 
J W Mason, Jan 1857 
Fl Gwathmey, Jan 1857 
W- C Tucker, Jan 1857 
ET W Ashton, Jan 1857 
ft H Carter, Jan 1857 
J Ferreyhough, Jan 1857 
Jos Alsop, Jan 1857 
A P Rowe, Jan 1857 
Thos Yerby, Jan 1857 
Wm Carter, Jan 1857 
C Morgan, March 1857 
M Wallace, Jan 1857 
A H H Bernard, Mar 1856 
A P Stroiher, Jan 1859 
A G Binford, Jan 1857 
R L Brown, Jan 1857 
Geo Jones, April 1856 
E C Turner, Jan 1857 
VV J Webb, April 1856 
M R H Garnet, Jan 1858 
Jos B Howe, April 1856 
Jno Sclater, Jan 1857 
E T Douglass, March 1857 
Col T Brown, January 1856 
L C Berkeley, April 185G 
B L Cason, March 1S57 



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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



127 




DOUBLE SCREENED ROCKAWAY, 

E GREAT PREMIUM FAN STILL VICTORIOUS. 

Invented and Manufac- 
tured by J. MONTGOM- 
ERY & BRO., at No 
135 North High Street, 
Baltimore. Patented Dec. 
20th, 1S53, and June 9lh, 
1S55. This Fan lias taken 
the First Premium at all 
the leading Agricultural 
Shows of Virginia, Mary- 
land and North Carolina; 
We haTe never been 
ten since we improved our Fan, and we do not think 
tbere is any Fan in the United States that will do its 
rk as fast and clean as our Rockoway. They are 
rked easy, are very simple, can be rigged for cleaning 
an intelligent farmer, are very durable, and when out 
>rder can be repaired with great ease, by any Mechanic 
nd they are adapted to cleaning all kindd of grain, 
have had ample opportunities to test our Fan, during 
present harvest, with several of the latent improved 
is, and our experience is, that we can clean nearly, if 
quit", as fast ami clean, as any two of them in the 
ae time. We think we know what the farmer wants 
1 needs, and that our experience enables us to suit them 
ter than any other person in the Fan business — and 
y may rest assured that no pains will be spared to gue 
m the best machine in the market. Our Fan has gained 
present popularity entirely in consequence of its merits 
iur sales have increased 50 per cent, in our old dis- 
ts, showing that those sold heretofore have given full 
isfaction. We have sold over 550 Fans this season, and 
) will not more than supply the demand from present 
>earances. It is an easy matter to puff up an article 
"ore the public, through the Journals as some have been 
season — but for a Fan to retain its popularity, and to 
rea^e in demand, as ours has done in the same Coun- 
i and districts for 3 and 4 years, is the best evidence of 
value. Oar sales are extended over six States, namely, 
.ryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
laware and Georgia. Having secured Letters Patent 
our Fan, in 1853 and 1855, we are now prepared to 
Rights far any State or County not mentioned above. 
offer a good chance to any enterprising mechanic 
> desires to go into business — a business that can be 
ried on a small capital and yield as fair profit as any 
know of. \V§ will give all the Patterns and any 
(ruction requisite. 

!)ur Fans, delivered on board the vessel in Baltimore 
S3). All orders, by mail, as promptly attended to as 
made in person. 

[t is deemed almost nnnecsesary to give certificates or 
;renc.-s, as to the superior qualities of our Fan, as they 
so universally known — but for the information of those 
o have not as yet used them, we subjoin the following: 

Charles County, Md, 1855. 
iVe have tried Montgomery & Bro's improved Double 
■eened Rockaway Fan, and find it to be the best \ve 
id ever seen. It cleans cleaner, faster, and works 
ter, in general, than any we have ever tried. We 
ominend it to all our friends. John Wise, 

m'l Cabhington Joseph Young, Jos. H. Cooksev. 
This i< to certify that I purchassd of Messrs J. Mont- 
nery & Brother, one of their wheat Fans, the 17th of 
ly, 1893, and I consider it an excellent fan. It is now 
ning wheat this day, and I think it is as perfect as 
en I first purchased it, except the usual wear and tear, 
vould recommend them to the public. Dan'l NawsAM. 

Rockfield, Nelson Co., July 23d 1835- 
*8sra. J. Montgomery &. Bro : 

[ am more than pleased with your Rockaway Fan ; had 
beamed your.; in time on my last year's third and inferior 
klitied wheat, (the remnant) I could have saved $150. 
H. N. Coleman, sr. 
Ml orders addressed to the undersigned, at Baltimore 
./ (Md.) Post oftUe, will be promptly attended to. 

J. MONTGOMERY & BRO., 
; >' Hig^i ■•., bet HilSen and Gay, Bil'o. April 185G. 




i'-x-.-.N'--;-. /y r \-x-.:iiAX "/}jMfe> 




AGRICULTURAL WAREHOUSE. 

The Subscribers are prepared to receive Orders 
for all kinds of Agricultural Machines and Im- 
plements of the latest and most approved patterns, 
which will be made of the best materials and of 
superior workmanship. They ask attention- to 
" Card well's Double and Single Geared Horse 
Powers and Threshers," which have taken a Pre- 
mium at every Fair at which they have been ex- 
hibited. Also, to"Croskill's Clod Crusher;" "Man- 
ny's Patent Reaper and Mower," the best in use ; 
Fawke's Patent Lime and Guano Spreader, highly 
approved; Whitman's Corn Planter, a superior 
machine ; Rich's Patent Iron beam Plow, of various 
sizes, &c. They subjoin the opinion of the Hon. 
Wm. C. Rives of these Plows. 

BALDWIN, CARDWELL & CO. 

Richmond, February 27th. 

Castle Hill, Dec. 15, J&51. 

Col. Wm. B. Stocciiton: — Dear Sir: I take 
pleasure in recording here my impressions of the 
performance of your Plow (Rich's Iron-beam Pa- 
tent) at Cobham to day. The work was far more 
thorough and complete than that of any plow I ever 
saw in operation before. The furrow opened by it 
was very generally 13 inches deep and about 30 
inches wide in hard close land, and most effectually 
snd perfectly cleaned out, none of the sod earth 
falling back into it. 

The trial of the plow was witnessed by many of 
my neighbors, among whom I will mention Messrs. 
Frank K. Nelson, J. H. Genell, J. H. Lewis, C. B. 
Hopkins, Thomas Watson, of Louisa, &c, all prac- 
tical men and most excellent judges of agricultural 
implements, and there was but one opinion among 
them as to the superiority and unexceptionable per- 
formance of your plow. 

Wishing you equal success elsewhere in making* 
this valuable implement favorably known to our 
agricultural brethren, I remain yours, truly, 

aplt WM. C. RIVES. 

OUR CATALOGUE OF AGRICULTURAL, 
BOOKS, 

COMPRISING SEVENTY-FIVE DIFFERENT 
BOOKS ON AGRICULTURE, 

Will be sent postage free to all who will favor us 
with their name and address. 

Among the books recently published by us are: 

Chorlton's Grape Grower's Guide. , COc. 

Reemeline's Vinedresser's Manual. 50c. 

Cranberry Culture. 50c. 

Strawberry Culture. COc. 

Elliot's American Fruit-Grower's Guide. 
81 '25. 

The Stable Book. $1. 

Boussingault's Rural Economy. £,1 25. 

Thompson on pood op Animals. 75c. 

Practical Land Drainer. 50c. 

For sale by all To ksellers, or sent by us .'re's of 
postage on receipt. < f price. 

C. M. SAXTON & CO., 
Agricultural Book Publishers, 

ap-It No, 140 Fallen St., N. Y. 



128 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



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