The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-11-01


The following letter was published in tn
Copiahan few weeks since, but as there
considerable interest now on the subject, W
republish it
Eaitor Goptahdn II trouble you will
n few lines in reference to an arllcl
published in til Meridian Homestead of tn,
18th inst, ON MARI rs Fertilizer,
and which also alludes to m article OF mln'
published in the Times on the same sub
iect | stated in that letter that ! had mndt
a compost of the Byram mari, to which was
added cotton seed meal and sulphate OF
lin :, bagasse and other vegetable matter
The Homestead says : "Ihe correspond
ent says that he has been composing it will
cotton seed meal and sulphate OF lime, the
result will be that the lime in the mari will
destroy great deal of the tertilizing quail
tiles Of the cotton seed meal, and the com
post will be of less value than the mari itself.
lie would do better to compost the cotton
seed meal with stable manure, or even scrap
ings from the woods.'
| As Prof. Hilgard is very good authority,
we will copy what he says on this SUBJECT
He says: Few subjects can be better to
the purpo OF composing than the calct-
reous, and no less the gypseous marls before
described. The mode Of action OF gypsum
in fixing the ammonia of the atmosphere,
has already been referred to; and its effects
when used as composing material are
equally favorable. In many cases, where
the direct application Of gypsum to land is
too expensive in proportion to the effects
produced it may be made to pay exceeding
" well when used rs u composing material,
not only with stable manure, but also with
cotton seed, that peculiar Southern tertil-
izer. BY proper intermixture of the seed
with some plaster, when piled up for pre-
servation as manure, the ammonia may be
retained, and effective value of the material
essentially increased.
With res ect to the use of lime or the
carbonate in composing stable manure it Is
true that on chemical grounds its use has
been discouraged on account of its property
of decomposiug the salts OF the ammonia,
as to allow the latter substance to escape i'll
the atmosphere. While this is strictly true
of an excess of lime which effec ually ex-
pels all the ammonia not combined with the
humus, later experiments have shown that
a certain moderat amount Of lime added to
stable manure, tayors the retention OF these
NOIllllG llSfGtlltulS. l)ul III VIC SuoS Va oui
calcareous, the favorable action is exercised
not only by the mari, on the stable manure,
but also gice ge,'sa. by the decaying manure
on the alkaline ingredients vi the mari.
which are rendered more soluble and, there
fore, more rapidly available to plants by
the con. bined action If caIbonic acid and
ammo MA"
Such high authority as Hilgard is conc u
sive proof that the tertilizing properties OF
our compost are not lost, but even improv-
ed. If the cotton seed meal had been COM
posted with the mari without the addition
OF sulphate Of lime or landplaster, then we
admit that the ammonia would have been
lost, but the object of the andplaster was
to fix the ammonia. Johnstons work on
agricultural chemistry says: ut is a chem>
zeal law of apparently extensive application
that when one elementary substance IS I'M
dergoing a direct chemical union with a
second in the presence Of a third, ten
tency is impaired to the third to unite also
with one OF both Of the other two, although
in the same circumstance, it would not
unite with either, it present alone Of
course then, when the ammonia is liberated,
it unites with the sulphuric acid of the sui
plate of lime and forms new compound
sulphate of ammonia, which is not set forth.
| could deduce other equally reliable author
tiles to substantinte what [ have already
said, but it is not necessary.