A NEW OR IMPROVED DESCRIPTION OF MANURE
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Adolphe Francois Mineur, of Treguir, in the Empire
of France, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
DESCRIPTION OF MANURE."
Sealed the 18th May 1866, and dated the 20th January 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Adolphe Francois Mincur
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th January 1866.
I, ADOLPHE FRANCOIS MINEUR, of Treguier, in the Empire of France,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW
OR IMPROVED DESCRIPTION OF MANURE," to be as follows:-
The efficacy of marine plants in agriculture has long been admitted,
unfortunately the bulk of the matters to be transported and their high price,
resulting from the competition of iodine manufacturers, has limited their use
to persons possessing considerable capital and to places sufficiently near the
coast to make the cost of carriage unimportant when compared with the value
of the manure.
To remedy this state of things I propose, after having extracted from these
marine plants the components hurtful to the soil, and at the same time precious
to commerce, namely, iodine and bromine, to restore to cultivation, but under
a considerably diminished weight and bulk, all the active principles of the,

page_text: marine plants, the azoted matters included, and thus to render them trans-
portable to great distances while preserving their fertilizing power and in
addition the phosphates of lime which they contain in very small quantity. I
propose to use and mix with the soda rests the residium of the washing of
the wrack ashes or kelp, the salts extracted from these ashes or similar salts
obtained from other sources; phosphates of lime obtained from asphalt, or
bones in any form, ammonias, whether in the state of alkaline, nitrate, or of
acids, azoted matters, organic or inorganic, and to use them together or
separately and in such proportion as I may deem suitable. It will be seen
that I propose to deliver to agriculture sea weed or wrack in the shape of
ashes after having restored the azote which they have lost by combustion and
a certain dose of phosphate of lime of which these ashes contain too small a
quantity, so that with the residuums coming from the manufacture of iodine
and bromine I prepare a very fertilizing manure, which I call a natural
manure.
Two general processes of manufacture first present themselves:-Pound the
sodas or kelp and lie wash them thoroughly as when with a view of separating
the salts, evaporate the solution and precipitate the salts without regard to
their separation, purify them by several washings and carry on the con-
centration of the liquors until they are saturated with iodine and bromine,
which are extracted by the ordinary processes. The salts freed from the two
metalloids are mixed as intimately as possible with the buck ashes, the
residuum of the lie washing, and will constitute a mixture having the same
composition as wrack ashes, less the iodine and the bromine.
The second process consists in reducing the sodas or kelp into fine powder
and lie-washing them by means of solutious saturated with the different
salts freed from iodine. It is evident that these solutions would have no
action on the salts, with which they are saturated, and would only dissolve
the iodines and the bromines, which will be afterwards separated by the
ordinary processes. The sodas or kelp must be lie washed until the last
solution will no longer permit the precipitation of iodine by the reactives. Thus,
not having been isolated from the sodas, of which they form an integral part,
the ashes will be much more homogeneous, and further as it will have been
necessary to reduce them to powder they may be spread over the soil with as
much equality as facility. The ashes deprived of iodine and bromine are the
basis of the manure, to which it is necessary if cereals or cruciform plants are
to be cultivated to add azote and phosphoric acid. The azote is furnished by
ammoniacal salts or by azotate of soda, this latter being much preferable to the
others, 1, because its azote is fixed; 2, because it transforms into azotate of

page_text: potash a quantity of muriate corresponding with the quantity of azotate of soda
used. Organic matters are also used with success, only it must not be forgotten
that one-third of the azotate disengages in the elementary state and does not
profit the cereals. The quantity of salt to be used varies from 661 lbs. to
1,102 lbs. for every 2 acres, or thereabout, according to the nature of the
soil, and of the cultivation to be carried on, thus, when one has sodas con-
taining 40 per cent. of salt and 60 per cent. of insoluble residuums, if it be
desired to have 1,102 lbs. of salts, 2,735 lbs. of soda must be used; with 50 per
cent. of salt 2,204 lbs. will be required, and so on. Therefore a knowledge of
the alkaline richness of the ash will always be indispensable, in order to be
enabled to give the exact quantity of salt required or that may be deemed
necessary. For cereals, cabbages, rape, and analogous crops 661 lbs. per
2 acres will suffice, whereas 1,102 lbs. will be required for leguminous roots,
clover, and lucern. The quantity of pure phosphate of lime varies between
220 lbs. and 440 lbs. If the phosphate of lime contains only 40 per cent. of
pure, 560 lbs. will be required to be equivalent to 220 lbs. ; and if it contains
30 per cent., then 440 lbs. will be required. The quantity of azotate of soda
also varies between 380 lbs. and 660 lbs. per 2 acres according to the richness
of the soil in azote.
It is needless to state that leguminous plants do not require azote in the
manure, because they draw from the air all the azote which they require, and
experiments have demonstrated that the azotate of soda which had tripled the
production of cereals had produced no effect upon clover, beetroot, turnips,
potatoes, and analagous plants may also dispense with azotate of soda, although
it produces marked effects upon these plants, but it is not indispensable. As
regards cereals it is different, and unless the soil has been analysed and azote
found it must always be added. The dose of ammoniacal salts is about the same
as that of azotate of soda, although they contain in equal weight more azote
than the latter salt; but if an ammoniacal salt is used the action that the
carbonates coutained in the sodas exercise on this salt must not be overlooked.
It should, therefore, be spread separately and mixed as closely with the earth
as possible after having first mixed with this earth soda and phosphate of
lime, a few days after this work the field will be ready to receive the seed.
When azotate of soda or organic matters are used soda, phosphate, and azote
will be mixed together, or soda, phosphate, and organic matters; they will be
left in contact during 24 hours and then spread upon the soil.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Adolphe François Mineur in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ADOLPHE
FRANÇOIS MINEUR, of Treguier, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Adolphe François Mineur, Her special licence that I, the said Adolphe
François Mineur, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Adolphe François Mineur, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time.
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should, and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED DESCRIPTION OF MANURE," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Adolphe François Mineur, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar mouths next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Adolphe. François Mineur, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The efficacy of marine plants in agriculture has long been admitted, unfor-
tunately the bulk of the matters to be transported and their high price,
resulting from the competition of iodine manufacturers, has limited their use
to persons possessing considerable capital, and to places sufficiently near the
coast to make the cost of carriage unimportant when compared with the
value of the manure. Several attempts have been made with the object of
reducing the cost of carriage, the plants have been dried in the sun, and they
have been pressed by powerful machines which have reduced their bulk, but
nevertheless they could be carried but short distances, and places more than

page_text: forty miles from the coast have been completely deprived of these fertilizing
plants. But I repeat that the principal obstacle to a more extended use
of marine plants is the competition of the makers of iiodine with the agri-
culturist.
Hitherto, in fact, wrack has been the only source of iodine from which
medicine and commerce have drawn the enormous quantity of this product
which they consume. :
To remedy this state of things, after having extracted from these marine
plants the components hurtful to the soil, and at the same time precious to
commerce, namely, iodine, and bromine, I restore to cultivation, but under a
considerably diminished weight and bulk, all the active principles of the
marine plants, the azoted matters included, and thus render them transportable
to great distances while preserving their fertilizing power and in addition the
phosphates.of lime which they contain in very small quantity. I mix with
the soda rests the residuum of the washing of the wrack ashes or kelp the
salts extracted from these ashes or similar salts obtained from other sources,
phosphates of lime obtained from stones containing phosphate, and carbonate
of lime from asphalt from bones or otherwise ammonias, whether in the state of
alkaline nitrates or of acids, azoted matters, organic or inorganic, and use
them together or separately and in such proportion as I deem suitable. Thus
it will be seen that I deliver to agriculture seaweed or wrack in the shape
of ashes or kelp after having restored the azote which it has lost by combus-
tion and a certain dose of phosphate of lime of which these ashes contain too
small a quantity, so that with the residuums coming from the manufacture of
iodine and bromine I prepare a very fertilizing manure, which I call a natural
manure.
Since agriculture has passed from routine into the domain of science it
has occupied the attention of a great number of scientific men, and amongst
the results of their labours it has been ascertained that in order to arrive at
a complete developement all plants require a certain number of elements,
first amongst which rank azote, phosphorus, potassium and sodium, calcium
and magnesium.
'
· Several experimentalists have devoted their attention to each of these
agents, and it has thus been ascertained that azote and phosphoric acid are
the dominants for cereals, potash and phosphoric acid for cruciform plants,
and potash and lime for leguminous plants. Further endeavours have been
made to specify the action of each of these agents, and M. De Liebig, has
ascertained the dissolving action of the chlorures of sodium on the fossil
phosphates, M. Ville, the necessity of the presence of potash in the soil, and

page_text: the impossibility of replacing it by soda, as may be done for most manu-
facturing purposes. These data and the beneficial effects of sea wrack in
agriculture suggested to me the idea of applying to cultivation the ashes of
sea wrack from which I would previously extract the iodides and the bromides,
compounds rather hurtful than useful to the earth, yet nevertheless very
precious to commerce and manufactures.
Two general processes first present themselves:-Pound the sodas or.
kelp and lie wash them thoroughly as when with the view of separating the
salts, evaporate the solution and precipitate the salts without regard to their
separation, purify them by several washings, and carry on the concentration
of the liquors until they are saturated with iodine and bromine, which are
extracted by the ordinary processes. The salts freed from the two metalloids.
are mixed as intimately as possible with the buck ashes, the residuum of the
lie washing, and will constitute a mixture having the same composition as
wrack 'ashes, less the iodino and the bromine.
The second process consists in reducing the sodas or kelp into fine powder
and lie washing them by means of solutions saturated with the different salts
freed from iodine. It is evident that these solutions would have no action on
the salts with which they are saturated, and would only dissolve the iodines
and the bromines, which will be afterwards separated by the ordinary processes.
The sodas or kelp must be lie washed until the last solution will no longer
permit the precipitation of iodine by the reactives. Thus not having been
isolated from the sodas of which they form an integral part the ashes will
be much more homogeneous, and further as it will have been necessary to
reduce them to powder they may be spread over the soil with as much
equality as facility. The ashes deprived of iodine and bromine are the basis
of the manure, to which it is necessary if cereals or cruciform plants are to be
cultivated to add azote and phosphoric acid. The azote is furnished by
ammoniacal salts or by azotate of soda, this latter being much preferable to
the others, 1, because the azote is fixed; 2, because it transforms into azotate of
potash a quantity of muriate corresponding with the quantity of azotate of soda
used. Organic matters are also used with success, only it must not be for-
gotten that one-third of the azote disengages in the elementary state and
does not profit the cereals. The quantity of salt to be used varies from
661 lbs. to 1,102 lbs. for every 2 acres, or thereabout, according to the nature
of the soil, and of the cultivation to be carried on, thus with sodas or kelp
containing 40 per cent. of salt, and 60 per cent. of insoluble residuumns, if it be
desired to have 1,102 lbs. of salts, 2,755 lbs. of soda must be used; with 50 per
cent. of salt, 2,204 lbs. will be required, and so on. Therefore a knowledge of

page_text: the alkaline richness of the ash will always be indispensable in order to be
enabled to give the exact quantity of salt required or that may be deemed
necessary. For cereals, cabbages, rape, and analogous crops 661 lbs. per 2
acres will suffice, whereas 1,102 lbs. will be required for leguminous roots;
clover, and lucern. The quantity of pure phosphate of lime varies between
220 lbs. and 440 lbs. If the phosphate of lime contains only 40 per cent. of
pure, 560 lbs. will be required to be equivalent to 220 lbs. and if it contains
50 per cent. then 440 lbs. will be required. The quantity of azotate of soda
also varies between 330 lbs. and 660 lbs. per 2 acres according to the rich-
ness of the soil in azote.
It is needless to state that leguminous plants do not require azote in the
manure, because they draw from the air all the azote which they require, and
experiments have demonstrated that the azotate of soda which had tripled the
production of cereals had produced no effect upon clover. Beetroot, turnips,
potatoes, and analogous plants may also dispense with azotate of soda although
it produces marked effects upon these plants, but it is not indispensable. As
regards cereals it is different, and unless the soil has been analyzed and azote
found it must always be added. The dose of ammoniacal salts is about the
same as that of azotate of soda, although they contain in equal weight more
azote than the latter salt. But if an ammoniacal salt is used the action that the
carbonates contained in the sodas exercise on this salt must not be overlooked.
It should, therefore, be spread separately and mixed as closely as possible
with the earth after having first mixed with this earth soda and phosphate
of lime; a few days after this work the field will be ready to receive the seed.
When azotate of soda or organic matters are used soda, phosphate, and azote
will be mixed together, or soda, phosphate, and organic matters; they will be
left in contact during 24 hours, and then spread upon the soil.
It is needless to dilate upon the economy resulting from the use of this
manure,
1. To agriculture by its cheapness, by the great facility with which it may
be used, by the enormous decrease in the cost of carriage, by an increase in
the yield of the soil proved by scientific agriculturists, and, lastly because with
this manure no land need remain uncultivated.
2. To soda refiners by an improved method of production enormously
reducing the consumption of fuel, the labour, packing, and carriage, while
insuring a certain and ready sale to those salts, the price of which has hitherto
been constantly lowering. As to the insoluble residuums, composed in great
part of carbonates of lime and magnesia, their virtue as restoratives has been
sufficiently established by many years practical experience.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the means
by which I carry it into practical effect, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise proportions of parts herein given as such are
only stated approximatively and together with other details may be modified
without departure from my Invention, but that I claim the exclusive use of
manure prepared from the ashes of marine plants from which the iodine and
the bromine have been previously extracted, by restoring to such ashes ond or
more or all of the salts extracted therefrom together with phosphate of lime
in proportions varying with the destined use of the manure.
In witness whereof, I, the said Adolphe François Mineur, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
AP. MINEUR. (L.S.)