The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-08-23
Fertilizers.

Iractlce mas lully SallSieu eApcrl-
menters that if any of the elements of
which plants are composed be absent
from the soil, they will not grow to per-
fiction, and that the most perfect result
can only be obtained from soils in exact
balance. Qualitative and quantitative
analyses of plants and soils have cast
much light on these important features
of the subject. The old notion that
plants can create food is now abandoned
by every intelligent mind, An animal
fed on hay and oats will not furnish in
its excreta the precise constituents in
the same relative proportions to each
other as they exist in the food.
All the most valuable, most needed,
and READY-To-BE easily assimilated por-
tions, such as are in an advanced con-
dition, go to increase the size or bulk of
the animal, or to make up for the vast
age of the system. All that part of the
food known as starch and gluten, or a
very large portion of it, is not to be
found in the eXcreta, unless the animal
be overfed. The elements of farm-yard
manure are not in as advanced a condi-
ton as many Of the crops to which
they are applied, but many of them are
on the very next plane of existence in
the scale of progression, and must,
therefore, be particularly suited for the
production of the same plants as those
from which they arise, and for all others
of an analogous newness of creation.
This principle must be clearly under
stood, and admitted, before the reader
will be prepared to comprehend our "a
tionale, or method of treating manures.
Every vine grower knows that the inor-
ganic substances of the soil that go to
make up the wood of this year, will be
rendered fit pabulum for the fruit of
next year, if made soluble by natural
processes.
Thus the vigneron cuts the trimmings
of his grape vines with an ordinary
straw cutter, and after having buried
them in damp soil during the Winter,
applies them in the Spring around the
roots of the growing vines, and increases
the amount of fruit by so doing
Now, it must be evident, that when
these cuttings are applied to the root of
the same vine from which they were
removed, that no new inorganic matter
is added to the soil, but it is simpl,
that the same inorganic substances are
replaced in the soil after having been
progressed by once assuming the form
of wood, and that therefore without anv
increase in quantity, but only from
superior condition, that the increased
amount of fruit occurs If this princi-
pie be correct, hay crop undergoing
decay beneath soil where hay is in
tended to be raised for its seed, the
quantity would be greater than from a
less advanced manure, and simply be-
cause the constituents of the hay were
ready for re-assimilation, and it is to
this fact that stable manure in no small
degree, owes much of its value.
Lcibig, on strictly chemical basis,
truly says, that "The solid and liquid
excrements of an animal are of the
highest value as manure for those plants
which furnished food for the animal"
For full understanding of the value
Of farm-vard manure, it will lie neces-
sarv to consider its source and compost
ton, and causes, for the changes it I'M
dergoes as compared with the integrants
of the materials from which it arises
Plants receive support from the soil
they nourish animals; but certain por-
tions, not appropriated, are known as
liquid and solid excrements.
Tie analysis of any specimen of
barn-yard manures cannot be viewed as
universal standard of comparison
The peculiaritics of animals as mere
machines, the quantity and kinds of
food consumed by them, their age,
amount of exercise, climate, season of
the year, the bearing of young, the Civ
ing of milk, and variety of other cir
cumstances, have great influence on
the composition of manures The
drainage of some compost heaps is cx-
posed to rains, evaporation, or permitted
to flow away to creeks Others are
carefully protected; but parts of them
may abound in straw Occasionally |
farmers permit their cattle to roam and
feed in the farm-yard; and they often
waste as much food as they consume.
How difficult, then, is it to select a sam
pie for chemical examination, the anav-
sis of which will be an exact represen-
tation of farm-yard manures in general. |
The loss of ammonia during the prepar-
alton of barn-vard manures, has been
and is attracting much attention. The
pungency of the odor given off from
substances, is no indication
of the quantity of ammonia liberated.
Many agricultural writers give Doctor
Eoelcker the credit of having M AIDE
this discovery.
The value of the Doctors experiments
consists chiefly in following out the de-
tail of a principle, the credit of which
is entirely due to Baron Won Liebig.
1t is no new information to the agri-
cultural world to be told that decaying
animal substances, in addition to elim-
rating ammonia, also give off sui
phuretted and phosphoretted hydrogen
and a great variety of gaseous mat
ters, )" to which the pungency of odor
referred to is due, to a very considera-
BILE extent. But it is quite novel that
agricultural writers should dcduce from
DR.. Noelcker's researches that manures
may be exposed on the surface of soil
loss, and especially because his
analyses show, with great clearness, the
loss that must necessarily arise from
drainage by water on account of the
great solubility of some of the com
pounds. In commenting on the analy-
sis of drainage from dung heap, he
says: at will be seen that these drain
ngs contain a good deal of ammonia,
which should not be allowed to run to
waste" They also contain phosphate
Of lime. The fermentation of the dung
heap brings a portion of the phosphates
in the manure into a soluble
,t,t Al I