The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1854-03-04
Agricultural.
State Chemists Report.


Annual Report of Doct. Higgins, the State
Agricultural Chemist. We agree with the
Baltimore American in saying:
"'We accept this laborious compilation of
the character of our soil, and the extent of our
mineral deposits, as an evidence of the qualifi-
cation of the incumbent, and as an evidence
that Department so indispensable to the in
terests ofthe State, ought not to be discon-
tinued''
TILE EFFECT WHICH HAS BEEN PRoDUcED BY
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY.
"a spirit of inquiry and investigation, of
research and labor, has been infused into the
community which it has never before felt, and
the result has been that agriculture has i'm
proved more in the period of the last five years
than in the fifty preceding it. This spirit of
inquiry needs the sober influence of proper
knowledge to confine it in its proper channels,
crit will be followed by re action as injurious
as its effects have hitherto been beneficial.
So long as the farmers of our country were
satisfied with working their fields year after.
year, with no other manurcs than that which.
they could raise themselves, they needed moth
ing but their own experience to guild. them
or so long as their only advance consisted in.
improving implements or improved modes of
cultivation, their own observations could sup
ply them with I'll necessary information. But,
when to the valo,,s different soils Of Tie Garth =.
formed in various ways, from rocks Of varied
composition, manurcs Of unknown COMPOST
ton and varying constituents, had to be ap1
piled, some other source of knowledge wa5
needed than experience or observation. Whcu
manurcs, such as Mexican Guano, Plaster of
Paris, Bone Dust, Salt, Potash, Mineral Phos1
phate ofLme, or Lime had to be used, somt
other avenue Of informatiun was necessary
than mere obsevcd. effects particular places
different in their composition from other
soils.
On different soils, every body will acknow-
edge that the same manurcs could not act
alike; nor on the same soils would different
manulcs act alike these are axioms which
every one will acknowledge. Reason and
common sense tell us what cxI ericnce and
practice bear witness t., that no one thing
will produce the same effect every where
under all circums arces. Reason and com.
mon sense tell Is what practice and cx
pcricncc has abmdantly proven, that the same
manure docs not sct alike en- all soils, and ii
equally tells us flat we must ascertain the
composition of each before we can safely ap.
ply the one to the other; manures only act as
such when they supply deficiencies in the soil
or when they change the nature of substan-
ccs which may be present, but not in form
to be used by vegetation. Thus bone dust
can only act as a manure to soil deficient
in Phosphoric Acid, its chief valuable con-
stituent. Lime can only act as manure to
soil which is either deficient in lime or has
in it minerals containing Potash, Soda or Mag.
nosia in an insolublc form; or large quantities
of organic matter. To knew the soils to
which lime should be applied, We must as
certain the substances which compose it, and
their properties. No one can d.ny this. But
to obtain this knowledge, it is plain we must
resort to Chemistry, the science which tcach4
es us the composition and properties of bodies4
PERUVIAN GCANo.
sIIowevcr valuable this manure may be, it
should always be accompanied with other
substances, which substances must depend on
their absence or deficiency in the soil. To al
soil deficient in phosphoric acid, Bone -dust
Mexican guano, or Mineral phosphate oflime
Should lie al pied with Peruvian guano. If
chlorine be deficient, then Common Salt should
be used with the guano. Ifpotash lie want
ing, then Ashes should be applied some time
before the guano, or Pearlash should be uscdl
as a top dressing in the spring. Two hun
drcd pounds of Peruvian guano, can only pro- /
dnce as much Of a crop as its least mineral
constituent can supply: if that mineral consti-s
tucnt be absent in the soil, or even present in
an insolublc form, the full effect of the guano
will not be experienced. To prove this, let
us consider the composition of wheat. BY the
table on page so, we perceive that whcats
crop ofthirty-two bushels, weighing sixty-twos
pounds to the bushcl, will remove from the
soil, in its grain, straw and chatf more than
twenty-nine pounds of potash, (oxide ofpo;as-
sum- A crop of fifteen bushels will remove
about fourteen pounds and a half of oxide of
potassium. Two hundred pounds of Peruvian
guano, therefore, on poor soil, may produce
fifteen bushels Of wheat per acre; but in this
production the land is deprived gilmore than
fourteen pounds of the oxide of potassium
The applied guano only supplies about seven
pounds, the soil therefore furnishes the re-
naming scvclt necessary fer the crop of fifteen
bushels. Now it is plain that to a soil def
cicnt in potash, whether from its absence or,
its insolublc form, the application oftwol I'm.
dred pounds of Peruvian guano can only pro-
duce as much wheat as its potash can supply
or about seven bushels. The continual use Of
Peruvian guano then on this soil, will, even
tually, so far diminish the quantity of potash
that two hundred pounds will only produce
eight bushels of wheat, and only three bushels
of potatoes inasmuch as n GOOD cron Of nota!A