The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-05-24

Agricultural Chemistry.
When Il man buys clean copies of Liebi2
and of Boussingault, and walks into posses
sion of his land with the books under his
arm and an assured conviction that with
their aid he is about to >upplant altogether
the old practice. and commit havoc with old
theories, and raise Stupcndous crops. anc
drive all his old-tashioncd ncighhorS TO the
wall, he is laboring under mistake. His
calves will very likely take the" scolr>," the
cut-worms will slice off his phosphated corn,
the Irish maid will pound his cream into Il
frothy chowdcr; in which events he will
probably lose his temper, or, if Il cool man,
will retire under tree, and read n fresh
chapter ont of Liebg.
There are a great many contingencies about
farming which chemistry does not cover,
and probably never will. People talk OF
agricultural chemistry is il it were Il special
chemistry for the farmers advantage. The
truth Is (and it was we'll set forth, rcmcm-
Der. in lecture of Professor JOhmson's)
there is no such thing IA agricultural chem
iStry and the term is not only Il misnomer,
but misleads egregiOuSly. There is M more
IL chemistry OF agriculture than there is Il
chemistry of hor>c-tlcSh. or u cUnchology of
cgg.sheii,. Chemistry concerns all organic
and inorganic matters. and il YOU have
any of these about your harn-yardS ii
concerns them. 1t tells you-if your
observation and experience can't deter
mine-what they are. OF cuursc it may
be an aid to agriculture; and so are
wet weather and Il good hoe and grub, and
common sense and industry. 1t may explain
things YOU would not otherwise understand +:
fr., .,Y,t
protect YOU from harpics who vend patented
manllre-- not because it is agricultural chem
iStrv, but should say rather. looking to II
good deal Of farm practice, because 1t is not
agricultural. and because it deals in certain
ties and not Probabilities. There is such a
thing a> religion, and it helps sometimes TO
purity Democrats, and sometimes Republic
cans; but who thinks Of talking, unless his
head is turned, about Democratic religion or
Republican Christianity:
The error of the thing works i'll, rs I'LL
errors do in the end. II indoctrinatcS weak
cultiyatorS with the belief that the truths
they lind set down in agricultural chemistric'
are agricultural truths as we'll us chemical
truths; and thcreupOn they mount Il prom
iSing one rs II hobby and 20 riding 10 the
wall. Chemistry is an exact science, and
agriculture is al experimental art, and
always will be until rains stop and bread
grows full baked 4 chemical truth is IL
truth for all the world and the ages to come,
and if YOU can Use it in the maxim" OF shoe
backing, or to dye your whlskerS, DO so )
but don't for that reason call 1t WhlSkef-
chemistry. 81,
1t is chemical truth that an alkaIl Will
neutralize an acid if you furnish enough VI
ii: and if, with that truth fostering IN your
brain, YOU can coutriye to ncutlal!Ze your
entire fund of oxalc acid, so that no Sorrcl
shall thcncetofth grow, pray do SO. But l
do not think you can; and first, because the
soil-to which quartcryOu would very natll-
rally direct your alkaline attack-may be ut
tcrly free of any oyalic acid whatever; lis
presence in the plant is no evidence of its
presence in the soil. Pears have modicum
of poetic acid ut Il certain stage Of their ripe
ness. but suspect it would puzzle IA sharp
chemist to detect any in the soil OF pear
orchard. And even if the acid were a
mineral acid, and were neutralized-lt
must be remembered that to neutl7llZe
is only to establish change of condl-
ton, and not to destroy; how know
YOU that the little tibrous rootiets VIII
not presently be laying their nne mouths To
the neutral base, and by subtle alchemy
of their own work out such restoration rs
shall mock at your efforts-in all their ram
pant green, and their red t;lsscls of bloom !:
The presence of any particular substance in
"A crop does not ipSo fNctO warrant the appll-
cation of the same substance TO the soil As
thr condition of increased yigor. The man
who, having retired to the shade for Il fresh
CHAPTER of Licbig, finds that cclulose enters
largely into the structure of his plants. and
thcreupOn gives his crops IA dressing OF cleal
pine sawdllst. would very likely have his
labor for his pains. That wonderful vital
laboratory of the plant has its own way OF
cflccting combinations and stealing, as it
does, the elements OF It's needed ccllulose,
in every laughing toss of is leaves it scorns
your Offering.
1t is Il chemical truth that the starch in
potatoes or wheat is the same thing with
The woody fibre of a tree; but it is not m
agricultural fact--ditlers rs widely from it,
in short. rs Il >titlcned shirl.cOlar from the
mainmast of IL three-decker ship. a farmer
comes to the chemist with some dust or
boIlls from flr-away place, and as Ks what
is i'm it; he can tell upon examination, ana
if. after such examination, he tnds II 10 pos
scss a large percentage of soluble phosphorIc
acid he will advise its use as u manure, an
can nromise that it will contribute largely
10 the yigor of wheat crop. All this, not
simply because phosphoric acid is constitll-
emit Dart of the grain, but because he
knows that other dressings containing
a like element have invariably so con-
tributed, the fact being established by re-
ncstcd farm trials. But ii is not Il result
deter,ninable, SO far AS a field crop is con-
cerncd, BY simple chemical investigation
nor could Is be 80 determinable unless
YOU could establish the crop and feed i,
Under those conditions of alienation from
all other influences by which or under
which alone the chemist is enabled 10 esiab-
lish the severity OF bis conclusions,
The power Of the chemist to deeompose