The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1849-12-22
FERTILIZERS.

|
FERTILIZERS.
| Other portable manures are now offer
ed for sale called Fertilizers. which are
artificial. being cor pounded by the chem
ISIS of various materials, well Known to
science. They say that the fitness Of a
soil for producing wheat, or any other
plant, is determined by The fact OF its
containing the elements which science
has aacertained enter into the compost
ton o! such p'ants-that their ana ysis
demons rates that these elements or sub
stances are found in different proportions
in the seed, stalks, roots. &c.-that by
burning them and anal wing their ashes,
we Can determine which OF these sub
stances are requisite for their formation,
and in what proportion-that the sub
stances thus found in the ashes of plants
arc their true fool--and that to supply
them to he soil, is to make it fertile n
the production Of such plants. The
voldings OF men and other animals sup
! ply these elements. and manure is valua-
Il Die iusI in proportion as it contains them.
Upon this theory, which is certainly
very beautiful on, these chemists com
pound their fertilizers. using or profess
sing to use. the phosphate of lime and
ma@nesa. the sulphatps ofpotash. soda
and lime, animal charcoal, siicates of
: potash, alumna, sc, and also ammonia
in IA fixed state so as not to be lost bv
evaporation. all in the proportions which
analysis has shown to be proper. II
seems to me- that manure thus conpoun-
ded may answer the purpose OF restoring
to The soil all the inorganic materials re-
moved from Ii by vegetation. But the
purchaser should have entire faith in
'he integrity of the compounder, who
/ has every opportunity, and much tempt
alton to impose an inferior article upon
him. After all, il is very questionable
whether he intelligent farmer ought not
TO be his own comaounder OF artificial
manurPs. The valuable parts OF these
are all known articles OF commerce, 7 Pre-
sum-, which he can purchase for HIM
self; the dlvisor with which they are mix
ed up is some cheap material, either at
hand on his farm. or produced al little
cost; the skill requ red for componnding
NAV De easily acquired, and labor may
! thus be saved. ll'the farmer must buy
thein, however there should be- some srs
TEN Of inspection, by qualified and dis
interested analysis. TO guarantee the gen.
ulneness and quality ofthe article.
The inspection Of guano, TOOLS very
impostan; thing 10 tn" iarmer-sincc no
article vArirSso much in quality.
During the summer some oimy friends
in Kent county and myself purchased
cargo OF patagonan @uano. in Connects
cut. It y as analysed by Dr.. Higgins,
and ioLnd 10 contain ~ per cent of'he
phi >pla,es and nearly 4 pr cent oil
ammonia this was very well for Pata-
CONAN guano But me samples have
conta ed only about per cent OF ammo
MIA. and less than % per cent OF the
! phosphatgs y lille in Peruvian guano, the
ammonia varies from & to 10 per cent,
and tn" phospnatra have some times been
as much as GO per cent.
Yer all Peruvian guano sells, | believe
for the same price, without reference to
cUaltv--as the Patagonan does. What
SYSTEM ut inspection is pursued, | do not
know; but it is certainly worth nothing
to the farmer, who pays for it. if it does
not include an exact ana ysis OF fair sam
pies Of each cargo or lot offered in the
Inarkrt-and copies of these analyses the
seller lhouId always be prepared TO fur
nish TO the tnver. 1t would be well,
think to amend the act OF our Legisla-
ture establishing the inspection oil Suano
SO as 10 meet these SUGGESTIONS.
An intelligent and most respectable
citizen o: St. Nary's county informed me
this morning, that be purchased last
year 9 ho4shrads Of guano, which had
been inspected and marked Nc. 2; and
that these l9hoesheads OF inspected 2u-
ano of second quality y eded ) hogsheads
Of stones, OF what value is an inspection
which fails 20 guard against 80 gross an
abuse as this, and what guaranty have
we, when guano containing 16 per cent.
Of stone is considered second quality,
that the remainin-2 81 per cent. contains
a single part oiammona or OF the Phos-
phaies or indeed that it ever rested on
The rock. of Patagonia or the Chncha
Islands! /
do not recommend the purchase OF
manure as part OF good farmers perma-
n,nt system. Necessary asl conceive
them to he. to the rapid improvement OF,
+, our farms I look upon them as Only tenn
porary expedlents, to be adopted By the
iudicious rnprover, in the beginning OF
his efforts 10 restore fertility to his land;
or rather 10 be employed until he has re-
stored the elements which improvidcnt
lllage mas taken from it. When this is
accomplished, every one has in his hands
the means OF maintaining his land at