Arkansas intelligencer., 1843-05-06
cultivating Ground without Manure.

cultivating Ground without Manure.
The London Gardeners Chronicle, conducted
by Prof. LindIey, brings to notice in the follow.
ing article the recent discovery in Germany of
plan OF superceding manure in cultivation:
Communication on the Art of Cultivating the
Ground without Manure.) By F. H. Bickes,
Frankfort on the Maine, ls42, PIP. 81. r
Wonders ,oiH nerer cease!-While our agricul.
turalists are eagerly discussing the comparable
advantages of particular soils, and studying the
theory of manures propounded by Sprengel
and Liebig, a countryman Of these distinguished
professors comes forward to proclaim that their
labors vain; for, are to believe him, he has
discovered the art Of growing luxuriant crops on
the poorest land, and without any manure what
soever; and the cost Of the process is so triAing,
that for the acre Of Wheat or Maize, it does not
exceed five pence sterling; and for Rape, Cabbage
&C., amounts to only about half that sum. AT
first we were disposed to consider such extraor-
binary pretensions as an effusion of quackery;
and entitled to little or no credit but our incre.
dulity has been somewhat shaken by the numer-
Gus and respectable attestations which the author
has appended to his pamphlet, and which tend to
prove that this method has been practced with
success, during the last twelve years, in various
parts of Germany and Holland. Thus the cer-
tificates from Vienna, dated in 1929 and 1880,
declare that Mr.. Bickes's process, which would
seem to consist in some preparation of the seed
"renders all dungng unnecessary, is applicable 10
the poorest soils, and to all sorts of plants, and
mparts to them a wonderful degree of vegetation
and fulness;" and they gave the results Of the ex-
perments in the Imperial Garden of Chateau,
from which it appears that Wheat raised from
seed sown by Mr.. Bickes had larger ears and
more grains than that produced from unprepared
seed; that the barley showed ears with four rows
and larger number of grains, while that from
unprepared seed had only two rows and smaller
proportion Of grains on each stock and the Indian
Corn exhibited a larger number of much stronger
and thicker heads. .-...
AT Budingen, again, some plants of the Sun.
flower, treated according to Mr.. BIS method, grew
to the height of ten or eleven feet, with woody
stems of eight and half to nino inches in crcum-
ference. Ten or twelve Potato plants, Of large
yellow sort, called Marburger, yielded each, on
the Average, thirty good sized tubers, with stem
and branches seven feet long; and Maize, which
grew partly singly and partly in rows, had from
two to five, and in some instances, as many as
eight ond nine heads. These crops were obtain
ed in the garden of Count Isenburg; and we ure
further assured by the certificate, to which arc
attached the signatures of two burgomasters, the
Court gardener, grand ducal councillor, and
other official personages that they were raised in
ground but partially dressed, and in the midst
of tall weeds! The trials of this method in Hol.
land, made in the summer Of 1884, were attend
ed with results not less astonishing; prepared
Wheat and Rye, though sown thick, gave from
so to 60, and even 80 stocks from one grain; and
a plant eff Barley bore 8 large ears. Buck Wheat
rose to 44 and S feet; Flax had and stems
from one seed, and Indian Corn grew frcm 9 TO
10 feet in height, with to 5 heads from single
corn. The greon crops we're equally luxuriant.
Liebig's Agricultural Chemistry, which has
been refublished in one of the cheap editions of
the New World, teaches us that Ammonia is the
great stimulant to the growth of plants. At ono
of the late agricultural meeting in London, Dr..
I. c. Jackson suggested that seeds might be coat
ed with some gurnmy substance, and then rolled
in Guano, enough of which would readily adhere,
to produce oil the effects ascribed to those foreign
prepared seeds,-the new plan being secret.
A more tea spoonful of Guanoapplied to new.
ly struck rose cutting Of few inches in length
had been sufficient, the following spring, to pro-
duce bush some six feet in height. 1t is the
received opinion that the nourishment on ycgeta
BILE life is derived from tho atmosphere.