IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MUSPRATT, of Liverpool, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of April, in the eighth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James
Muspratt, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said James Muspratt, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Muspratt, my exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF MANURE," communicated from Doctor Liebig, of Giessen, in Germany; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said James
Muspratt, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
annear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said James
Muspratt, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
It has been ascertained that the growing of any crop on land in a state of
cultivation, and the removing and consuming of such crop wholly from the
land where it was grown, takes away certain mineral compounds, and it has
been suggested by Professor Liebig that in cultivating land and applying
manure thereto, that the manure should be such as to restore to the land the
matters and the quantities thereof which the particular plants have abstracted
from the soil during their growth. It has been observed in the chemical
examination of marls and vegetable ashes, that the alkaline carbonates and the
carbonate of lime can form compounds, the solubility of which depends on
the quantity of carbonate of lime contained in the particular compound. It
has further been found that the said alkaline carbonates can form a like com-
pound with phosphate of lime, in which the carbonate of potash or soda is
partly changed into phosphate of potash or soda. Now, the object of this
Invention is to prepare manure in such manner as to restore to the land the
mineral elements taken away by the crop which has been grown on and
removed from the land, and in such manner that the character of the alkaline
matters used may be changed, and the same rendered less soluble, so that the
otherwise soluble alkaline parts of the manuro may not be washed away from
the other ingredients by the rain falling on the land, and thus separating the
same therefrom. And it is the combining carbonate of soda or carbonate of
potash, or both, with carbonate of lime, and also the combining carbonate of
potash and soda with phosphate of lime, in such manner as to diminish the solu-
bility of the alkaline salts to be used as ingredients for manures suitable for
restoring to land the mineral matters taken away by the which
crop
may have
been grown on and removed from the land to be manured, which constitute the
novelty of the Invention. I would here state that, although the manures made
in carrying out this Invention will have various matters combined with the
alkaline carbonates, no claim of Invention is made thereto separately; and
such materials will be varied according to the matters which the land to be
manured requires to have returned to it. In addition to the mineral substances
above mentioned, the quantity of carbonate or phosphate of lime used with
carbonate of soda or potash may be varied according to the degree of solubility
desired to be obtained, depending on the locality where the manure is to be
used, in order to render the preparation less soluble in localities where the
average quantity of rain falling in the year is great; but as in practice it would

page_text: be difficult to prepare manures to suit each particular locality with exactness,
I shall give such average preparations as will suit most localities; and as lands
differ very greatly, it would be impossible to give directions in this Specification
for making manure according to this Invention which would produce the best
results on all soils, I shall, therefore, only give such average preparations as
will suit most soils as manure, and I will afterwards give such information
as will enable parties (desirous of applying the Invention under the most
advantageous circumstances) to have manure manufactured for their particular
cases.
In making manure according to the Invention, I cause carbonate of soda
or of potash, or both, to be fused in a reverbatory furnace (such as is used
in the manufacture of soda ash) with carbonate or phosphate of lime, and with
such fused compounds I mix other ingredients as hereafter mentioned so as to
produce manures, and such composition when cold being ground into powder
by edge stones or other convenient machinery, the same is to be applied to
land as manure; and in order to apply such manure with precision, the analysis
and weight of the previous crop ought to be known with exactness, so as to
return to the land the mineral elements in weight and proportion in which they
have been removed by the crop. Two compounds are first prepared, one or
other of which is the basis of all manures, which I shall describe as the first
and second preparations.
The first preparation is formed by fusing together two or two and a half
parts of carbonate of lime with one part of potash of commerce, containing on
an average sixty carbonate of potash, ten sulphate of potash, and ten chloride
of potassium or common salt, in the one hundred parts, or with one part of
carbonate of soda and potash mixed in equal parts.
The second preparation is formed by fusing together one part of phosphate
of lime, one part of potash of commerce, and one part of soda ash. Both
preparations are ground to powder, other salts or ingredients in the state of
powder are added to these preparations, and mixed together, or those not of a
volatile consistency may be added when the preparations are in a state of fusion,
so that the manure may represent as nearly as possible the composition of the
ashes of the preceding crop. This is assuming that the land is in a high state
of cultivation; but if it be desired to grow a particular crop on land not in a
high state of cultivation, then the manure would be applied in tho first instance
suitable for the coming crop, and then in subsequent cases the manure prepared
according to the Invention would, as herein described, be applied to restore to the
land what had been taken therefrom by the preceding crop.
Preparation of manure for lands which has had a wheat crop grown on and

page_text: removed therefrom:-Take of the first preparation six parts by weight, and of
the second preparation one part, and mix with them two parts of gypsum, one
part of calcined bones, silicate of potash, containing six parts of silica and one
part of phosphate of magnesia and ammonia. And such manure is also
applicable to be used after growing barley, oats, and plants of a similar
character.
Preparation of manure for land which has had a crop of beans grown
thereon and removed therefrom:-Take fourteen parts by weight of the first
preparation, two parts of the second preparation, and mix them with one part
of common salt (chloride of sodium), a quantity of silicate of potash (con-1
taining two parts of silica), two parts of gypsum, and one part of phos-
phate of magnesia and ammonia. And such manure is also applicable for
land on which peas or other plants of a similar character have been grown
and remove:l.
Preparation of manure for land on which turnips have been grown and 1
removed therefrom:-Take twelve parts by weight of the first preparation, one
part of the second preparation, one part of gypsum and one part of phosphate
of magnesia and ammonia. And such manure is also applicable for land
whero potatoes or similar plants have been grown and removed.
I would remark that I have selected the above cases because they represent 2
the chief of the products cultivated in this country, and in doing so I have
given such average preparations as will be beneficial in most, if not in all, cases,
as manure to be used after the different crops mentioned; but manures may be
prepared according to the Invention for other plants than those mentioned, and,
if desired, manures may be made with greater exactness for those plants which 2
have been mentioned for particular cases, if the matters of which the plants are
composed and the quantities are first ascertained by burning the plants and ana-
lysing the ashes, and then combining the manure according to the analysis.
The manure so made is to be applied to the land in quantities as great or
greater than the quantities of the elements which have been removed by the 3
previous crop. It should be stated that where the straw of wheat and other
similar plants (which require much silicate of potash) is returned to the land
as manure, that is considered to be the best means of restoring the requisite
silicate of potash to the land, in which case, in preparing the manures above
mentioned, the silicate of potash would be omitted.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would wish it to be understood that what I claim is the
preparing and applying in the manufacture of manure carbonate of potash and
carbonate of soda with carbonato and phosphate of lime in such manner as to
8

page_text: render the alkaline salts in manufactured manure less soluble, and therefore less
liable to be washed away by rain before they are assimilated by the growing
plants.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Muspratt, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
JAMES
MUSPRATT.
Taken and acknowledged by James Muspratt
(party hereto), at Dresden, in the Kingdom
of Saxony, this 4th day of October, 1845,
before me,
FRANCIS R. FORBES.
Enrolled the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-five.