The Charlotte journal. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1835-1851, 1841-07-29
RUR.fL ECONO.NY:
From the CuLtipntor.
THEORY OF MANUREs.

From the earliest speculations on the IA.
ture Of manures, down TO a very recent Pc
Rod, manures have been divided into two
classes, nutriiive and simuative, or such as
furnish the direct food OF plants. and such as
act US stimulants or excite plants TO take up
and assimiate such kinds of food as is pre-.
sen.ed 10 them. In the first class has been
placed all decayed vegetable matter, farm
yard manures, animal excrements, nigh,
soil, and such other matters as having been
derived from plants we're considered as ca.
pablo of beng recouvcrted into vegetable
matter. la the second i, has been the Gus.
tom to place gypsum, lime, such salts as
are found 10 produce favorable effect on
vegetation, as the phosphates Of lime in
bones, aud the nitraies existing 10 saltpetre,
soda, &c, Recent discoveries, howetsr,
serve 10 render il probable, tina, the whole
system so constructed Of the action Of ma.
nures must undergo some essential modif
cations, If moi total reconstruction. 1t is
now maintained with great plausibility,
that dung itself acts no. by any power
which it possesses, as having formerly been
part Of living bodies, animal or vegetable,
but as uniting those chemical elements
some of them mineral, which constitute the
food o. plants and that q compound Of these
elements, arliGcially brought together
would act precisely IN tho same manner as
dung.
Thus the potash contained in a sol, or
anpt,pl III a,t tho F~-rx as ,Cbao 10,
the sick into a silicaie Of potash, and IN
the form of a solution Of that Substance, acts
most decidedly 10 promoting tho groath Of
all the grasses, corn, wheat, and indeed all
plants that contain sllex IN their stensor 10
their grain. To make grain perfect, now
ever, other substances than those required
TO create straw are necessary. II is bund
BY experience, that great growth Of araw
may be produced in wheat, while the graip
will be very imperfect and inferior. Farm
yard dung will make as much straw a. the
farmer ploases, but there must be al The
elements required to perfect tho berry, or
straw will be all he will gain. Ammonia
has been found to be one Of The most eff
clent OF fertilizers, and as ibis substance is
a compound Of nitrogen and hydrogen, and
as the gluten Of whea, is manly ptrogan,
It was reasonably nterrod that ammonia or
such agcots as would furnish il TO plants,
would aid wheat crop materially. Here
gypsum, burnt clay, and other things thai alb
sorb ammonia from the atmosphere rapidly,
are found to produce good effect, giving
a t:lore perfect grain than could have been
expected without the use oil such aiticles.
Such disorders OF ammonia are indeed lsa-
lul 10 other respects, than the perfection Of
single crop Of grain, as by tho cdi.patIon
Of clover and other green crops 10 be fed %
90 the ground, or left TO decay there, hu.
mus or in other words a supply Of eatlonie
acid, so Indispensable TO the formation Of
the carbon Of plants, or their woody fibre,
is thus provided. II is thus by simplifying
the elements Of nutrition, and shown, the
manner 10 which this important function
Of plants is performed, that science is con
lerring the greatest practical benefits upon
agriculture.