Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1845-06-07
GRAFTON.

I ~ 2 w HFHA GAtobtEbtttgk ~
I0u1Siaaag on The l2M May, 1916,
Mr. President and Gentlemen ofthe Agri.
cultural and Mechanics Association.
In rising to perform the duty which it has
been your pleasure TO assign to me on this in.
t~eresting occasion, ! ain aware that you do
not expect from me an academicai discourse
upon The Importance and The dguty OF Agfi-
culture. Planting is mol carried on with rhef.
nric, and if bur occupations be worthy Of
praise, it is in good taste to let others speak
It. You want faC,s, aieful observations aud
practical results, you are in search Of know
ledge. | am bound 10 say that | have little
to lmpart, but ! am willing 10 converse with
you on the subject Of our common pursuits,
TO direct you to the sources from which | de-
rive the limited information ] possess, and 10
state the experiments by which / have at
tempted TO apply that information to The Az.
r~iCultufe of Louisiana, and the manufacture OF
~" rr,dsaaA : t, AertorrF, dgSIFe you
to take my Results rs Jules Of action, till YOU
have verified them, and if | can succeed in
awakening q spirit Of inquiry which will in.
dure you 10 do so, their accuracy is of no
consequence, the discovery that / was in er-
ror will be as useful to you, as the certainty
that | vas not.
IN o paper which / had the honor to %contri~
bule to the labours Of the association, last
year, ! stated that the modern improvements
IN Agriculture, were the result OF recent and
more accurate knowledge on draining, plough.
ing, tnanurtDg and interchange of crops. |
thch gave a description OF lbe process OF
thorough draining as p~ractised in Gre 1t Bri-
tam and Of subsoiL ploughing which is the
complement Of It. 1t Is unnecessary to re-
vert to the subject here, except for the pur~
pose Of stating that this process is being rap
IDLY introduced IN The British West Indies,
and That II has proved as beneficial, there as
ID Europe, So much 50, that, although by the
present modes OF cultivation, the average Of
ratoon5 aud plants is seldom two thousand
POUNDS Of sugar per acre, 1t is confidently be-
lieyed That III lands thoroughly drained and
SUBSIDIZED, the average will be FIVE thousand
pounds per acre. have no doubt Of if, ard
when That system Is introduced here, the pro.
duct Of a depth Ot sixteen inches Of dry ailu-
Wal soil cannot be predicted; nobody knows to
what SIZE cane may be made 10 grow, and
how much sHgarlt can yield. But, Sir, the
process is expensive and can only be introdu-
ced gra iually. We must for the present 20 on
With our open drains and we can do Dassably
web "ith them, provided we have them not
over one hundred ieetyapari, and not less than
three feet in depth, win such drains, made or
thoroughly cleaned when the land is planted
in corn, the harvest ciays, if not too low, VIII
be found in The subsequent years TO drain as
we'll, 10 plough as deep and TO pulyerise
as fine as light soils they will moreover
yield greater returns in sugar.
Connected with the subject Of draining. is
that OF draining swamps and low lands, so as
TO render them fit for cultivation, a subject Of
high Importance, since besides the vast GUAM
ttty Of public lands of that description in Lou.
%isiand, there are few plantations on which the
proportion OF those lands is not greater than
that Of the cultivated fields. Some abortige
attempts at draining low lands had before
been made, but within the last year, a few III
~telligent planters below New Orleans have
taken the leadin good earnest. Their drain.
ing machines are the most perfect of the kind,
aud they have succeeded IN obtaining solid
foundations for their locks. After the heaviest
rains, they dry their lands in an incredibly
short space Of time, and their crops Of corn
are now growing in marshes below the level
of the tides. Their success establishes The
fact that the low lands may be efRec1ually
drained in large tracts, at an outlay which
with the congress price Of those lands would
not exceed fifteen dollars per superficial
acre.
The food@of plants and their modes of ex-
lsieuce form the subject of a very remarka-
BILE worh, bat of Justus Liebig, upon organ
jc chemistry applied TO Agriculture. Others be
fore him had submitted to analysis trees, plants
and the earths in winch they grow. Count
less results Of isolated experiments had been
collected, but they were rather perpIexinQ
hon, Drarttca1Iu r,.aFuI IN! ~, 800 III
of Liebig. constructed out of hem a rational
and simple theory of vegetable life. He had
not all the facts necessary to make his thee
ry perfect he was not aware, for instance,
Of the action of galyanism and electricity upon
growing plants. But he did for Agriculture
what Lavoisier had done for chemistry he
systematised what was known, and pointed
out TO his successors the true path Of dIscove-
ry. Taking for granted that the substances
which are invariably. found in a plant, are ne
cessary to its perfect Development, he has
shown which of those substances were sup
piled by the earth, by the atmosphere and by
r~ain-water; he has proved that pure vegetable
mould, which has been considered as the only
agent Of vegetation, had in it but a secondary
and not an indispensable agency, and that
the results assigned 10 it were produced by
carbonic acid, water and ammonia, or rather
nitrogen, and certain mineral salts which the
earth supplies he has discovered that in SUI
gar bearing plants, carbonic acid is the source
of saccharine matter. / cannot enter into a
detailed examination of this authors views,
but | will attempt to show you some of the
results to which his theory would lead in the
cultivation of The cane, and you will be pleas
ed TO find, that the practice of our good plan.
tiers fulflIs all the essential requisites of
science.
Sugar cane Analysed with great care and
in various seasons by Mr.. Avequin, a person
fully competent TO the task. is found to con-
tain in proportions, not material to the pres
ent inquiry, the following substances which |
according to Liebig are supplied exclusively
by the earth, acetate of potash, phosphate of
lime, silica, suIphate of potash, phosphate Of
potash, chloride Of potassium, acetate of lime.
These as well as carbenic acid, ammonia and
nitrogen are hard names, names new to most
of US we must learn their import. Tween
ty-fve years ago, we knew not the meaning
of piston and cylinder, of steam. chest and
safety valve. We all know it now, and as
the application of steam TO the mechanical
arts has not wrought a greater change than
the recent discoveries in Agriculture are des-
tined to effect, we Wilt have 10 sharpen our
intelIeets once more and raise them to The lev
ell OF the times. Upon this, however, | do not
at present insist, and if you are disposed to be
very obstinate, take the mineral salts | have
mentioned. as things, which, being invariably
in the cane aud never In the atmosphere,
or in rain water, should exist in the soil in a
fit for assimilation by plants; your lands
must contain in that state, potash, silica, lime
chlorine, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid and
substances yielding ammonia, and should any
of these be wanting, they must be supplied