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CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 
 DELIVERED 
 
 AGRICULTURAL-^ iffiQTJJRE^ 
 
 AT THE EXPERIMENTAL FARM 
 
 AT VmCENNES, IN THE YEAR 186Y. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE VILLE. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY MISS E. L. HOWARD, 
 
 NEAR KINGSTON, 35ARTOW COUNTY, GA. 
 
 TBCIE.I> EJI>ITI01Sr, 
 
 ATLANTA, GEORGIA: 
 PLANTATION PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
 1871. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 
 
 MISS E. L. HOWARD, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 ihi'jZ 
 
 Westcott & Thomson, 
 Stereotypers, PMlada. 
 
Chemical Manures. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 These admirable lectures of George Yille were originally 
 translated from the French by Miss E. L. Howard for the 
 columns of Tlie Plantation, a weekly agricultural paper pub- 
 lished in Atlanta, Georgia. 
 
 This was, perhaps, the first instance in this country in which 
 an agricultural paper had ventured upon the translation of a 
 foreign scientific work to be published in its columns. It was also, 
 ])erhaps, the first instance in which a scientific agricultural work 
 had been translated by a Southern — we may add an American — 
 lady. It was a task of much difficulty, requiring not only a 
 thorough knowledge of the French language and familiarity with 
 scientific terms, but a change from French weights, measures and 
 currency to our own. The whole work has been patiently and 
 skillfully execi^ted. 
 
 So great was the impression made by this translation that the 
 State Agricultural Society of Georgia, at its recent Convention, 
 held October 8th at Rome in Georgia, took the following com- 
 plimentary notice of it : 
 
 " Mr. Barnett, of Wilkes, offered the following preamble and 
 resolution : 
 
 " WhereaSj The exceedingly interesting work of George Yille, 
 wUo has done so much to advance the science of Agriculture 
 among mankind, and to promote it almost to the rank of an 
 exact science by his wonderful combination of skill, knowledge 
 and common sense, has been translated by a Southern lady — a 
 native Georgian — in a style of great elegance and perspicuity ; 
 
6 PIIEFACE. 
 
 " Resolved J That this body, in the event of the publication of 
 the translation, earnestly recommend its circulation, as furnish- 
 ing the means of enlightenment to the most advanced farmers, 
 both in the knowledge of facts and of the principles of investigation 
 and experiment leading to the further increase of knowledge.'' 
 
 The resolution was adopted by a rising vote of the Convention, 
 " as a mark of respect for the fair translator." 
 
 Mr. Fannin, of Troup, offered the following resolution, which 
 was adopted : 
 
 " Resolved y That we, as representatives of the County Agri- 
 cultural Societies, will endeavor to promote the circulation of the 
 work of the distinguished agricultural writer and thinker, George 
 Ville, and will recommend to the societies to subscribe liberally, 
 and to take not less than six copies each ; that in addition to 
 this, the County Societies, instead of offering cups for premiums, 
 will offer a copy of this work or a year's subscription to some 
 good agricultural periodical." 
 
 After this strong endorsement by one of the most numerous, 
 dignified and intelligent assemblages which has ever met in 
 Georgia, it is unnecessary for the writer to add further remark. 
 
 H. 
 
; i. 1 B K A K V 
 
 I UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 LCAIJFOKNIA. i 
 
 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 A TRANSLATION OF AGRICULTURAL LECTURES GIVEN BY 
 GEORGE, VILLE, IN 1867, AT THE EXPERIMENTAL FARM OF 
 VINCENNES. 
 
 LECTURE FIRST. 
 
 GENTLEMEN" :— Since 1861 I have been in the habit of giving in 
 a series of lectures the results of my studies on the means of 
 husbanding and increasing the fertility of the soil, outside of those 
 traditions consecrated by the experience of the past. My method 
 belongs essentially to science, both in character and origin. From 
 the beginning it has been conceived in the hope of giving a guide to 
 Practice upon which she can safely rely. My efforts have been 
 directed to freeing it as much as possible from all theoretic formulae 
 which are not imposed by the nature of the subject. 
 
 Since commercial liberty has become the economy of nations, we 
 feel with added force the importance of agricultural questions. 
 Under this new rule a nation can have a sound prosperity, but in 
 proportion as it surpasses those nations to whom its interior is thrown 
 open, it must produce more and more cheaply. 
 
 By what process can we obtain this end ? 
 
 We will now seek it together, building upon the facts to which I 
 here bear witness. Entering on my subject under its new aspect 
 carries my thoughts back, and not without emotion, to the time when 
 my labors were first thought worthy of encouragement by his gracious 
 Majesty. Many doubted the results, as my efforts were founded on 
 the studies of the laboratory. The emperor thought differently, and 
 the founding of the experimental farm at Vincennes is an additional 
 proof of the enlightened solicitude of our sovereign for our agricul- 
 tural interests. 
 
 As I have already said, our Agriculture must increase her products 
 if she would reduce their cost. The laws which permit her so to do 
 require me to begin with the most intricate problems of vegetation — 
 in a word, to unveil to you the very elements of which plants are 
 composed, since it is to these she must have recourse if she would 
 increase her returns. 
 
 In the composition of plants nothing is permanent. Their ele- 
 ments experience, in different organs, certain movements, veritable 
 migrations, whose order and succession are regulated by fixed laws. 
 
8 CHEMICAL MANUJKES. 
 
 The structure of a plant depends on imponderable agents — light, 
 heat, electricity. Now, to use these as auxiliaries it is absolutely 
 necessary we know the effects of each. This can only be known by 
 basing our deductions and laws upon the theories which precede 
 them. 
 
 The first question is : Of what is the substance of plants formed ? 
 From whence comes it? How do the combinations of elements 
 which chemists show, operate ? 
 
 Upon this point Chemistry is as clear as decided. 
 
 She answers : Of fourteen invariable elements, w^hich, for conveni- 
 ence, are arranged in two parallel series : 
 
 Organic Elements. Mineral Elements. 
 
 Carbon, Phosphorus, 
 
 Hydrogen, Sulphur, 
 
 Oxygen, ' Chlorine, 
 
 Azote. Silicium, 
 
 Iron, 
 
 Manganese, 
 Calcium, 
 Magnesia, 
 Sodium, 
 Potassium. 
 
 Why are tlie first elements called organic and the second mineral? 
 Because the first are found combined only in living beings, and the 
 second belong by their nature to the solid crust of the earth. 
 
 But how is it, we ask, that so limited a number of elements suffices 
 for so many dissimilar productions ? 
 
 The answer is very simple : Because they possess the power of in- 
 definite combination, like the letters of the alphabet — though small in 
 number, yet enough to form all the words of a language. 
 
 Another question arises : Is the composition of a plant the same in 
 all its parts ? Do its varied organs differ but in form ? Are the 
 stem, the bark, the leaves and the fruit l)ut different impressions of 
 the same substance ? 
 
 Far from that. In a certain degree, each organ has its own com- 
 position. But these variations, the result of conditions absolut(^ly 
 necessary to the reproduction of the species, can be reduced to a few 
 simple propositions. 
 
 We begin with the mineral elements. In general the leafy parts 
 of a plant contain more minerals than do the tougher parts. This is 
 only because the aqueous parts of tlie sap evaporate quickest in the 
 first organs. 
 
 Evaporation is active in proportion to looseness of tissue and 
 directness of contact with the atmosphere. Thus we find more min- 
 erals in grasses tlian in trees, more in leaves than in bark, and more 
 in bark than sap-wood or in heart-wood. 
 
 In the fruit of a leguminose there are two distinct parts — the shell 
 and the pea. The shell, which is in more immediate contact with 
 the atmosphere than the pea, contaiiis most minerals. Following 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. U 
 
 the same order, the leaves of an evergreen hold fewer minerals than 
 do those of a deciduons tree, being renewed at a season least favor- 
 able to evaporation. 
 
 The following figures show the proportions : 
 
 Driod Vegetable Matter, 
 Coutaiuiiig KX) parta Mineral. 
 
 Grasses 7.84 
 
 Trees 0.94 
 
 Wood 0.55 
 
 Sap-wood 2.65 
 
 Bark ' 7.47 
 
 Leaves 14.20 
 
 Deciduous leaves 6.60 
 
 Evergreen " 2.00 
 
 Pea-shells 5.50 
 
 Peas 3.10 
 
 If we make as exact a study of each mmeral element as we now 
 do of the whole, we will arrive at an analogous conclusion, to find 
 that by a species of election each of these elements centres by prefer- 
 ence in a certain set of organs. Thus we find more silica, lime, 
 oxide of iron, sulphates and chlorides in the stem and leaves than in 
 the fruit and seed, where, on the contrary, suli)huric acid, potash and 
 magnesia become the predominant elements. 
 
 Take wheat for example. In the ashes of the seed there is 46 
 per cent, of phosphoric acid, in the chaff, 2.54, in the straw, 2.26, and 
 only 1.70 in the roots. 
 
 What I have just said of phosphoric acid is equally true of mag- 
 nesia and potash, the proportions of which change from one organ to 
 another, as will be seen by the following table : 
 
 IN 100 PARTS OP ASHES OP ' • ' 
 
 lloota. straw. Seed. . . 
 
 Phosphoric acid 1.70 2.20 46.00 • 
 
 Magnesia. ,.... 1.97 3.92 13.77 
 
 Potash 2.87 15.18 32.59 •/ 
 
 Lime 0.88 3.00 1.19 , 
 
 The differences here found in wheat exist in all plants without 
 exception. 
 
 Thus, the distribution of minerals is not left to chance, but is sub- 
 ject to fixed laws ; all aid in the general structure of the plant, but 
 each centres in a fixed organ or system of organs. We will now find 
 the cause ofHhis unequal distribution. 
 
 In the economy of living beings all the functions, varied as they 
 are, tend to one end — viz., the reproduction of the species for all 
 time. They are ordered with a view to this important result. But 
 to gain this object, the embryo contained in the seed must have 
 within its reach all those minerals necessary to the first acts of 
 vegetable life. Hence, the seed is so abundantly supplied with 
 phosphoric acid, potash and magnesia. It is a kind of reserve laid 
 by for the first movements of the embryo. , 
 
10 CUKMICAL MANURES. 
 
 If you carefully read the preceding table, you will be struck by 
 the contrast between the potash and phosphoric acid. 
 
 Phosphoric acid is pretty uniformly distributed through all the 
 organs, the seed excepted. Not so with potash. The concentration 
 of phosphoric acid in the seed is sudden ; the proportions of ])otash 
 increase by degrees, and, you will observe, in proportion as the organ 
 nears the seed. Why this sudden increase on the one side and 
 gradual progress on the other? 
 
 An old remark of Theodore de Saussure informs us : 
 
 The phosphates of lime and magnesia are insoluble in water; but 
 there is a double phosphate of potash and lime, and a double phos- 
 phate of potash and magnesia, both of which are soluble in water. 
 
 Potash — or, to speak more exactly, alkaline phosphates — favors, if 
 it does not determine, the change of terraqueous phosphates into 
 tissues. Now, at the time the seed forms vegetation is retarded and 
 the organs begin to dry. It is evident, then, that the superabundance 
 of alkaline salts must favor the passage of terraqueous phosphates ; 
 therefore, the nearer the seed the greater the quantity of potash, and 
 consequent increase of terraqueous phosphates. 
 
 Let us look, now, to the distribution of the organic elements. 
 Here a fact strikes us. These elements, four in number, represent at 
 least ninety-five per cent, of vegetable matter. Here let me say that 
 although the minerals do not figure largely, wt may not from that 
 conclude they are less important than the organic elements. Want- 
 ing them, vegetation would be impossible ; it would be languishing 
 and uncertain if the soil were not sufficiently supplied with them. 
 In their distribution through vegetation the organic elements present 
 another contrast to the mineral elements ; three of them — carbon, 
 hydrogen and oxygen — are exhibited in almost unvarying propor- 
 tions. All plants and all organs, without distinction, contain the 
 same quantities of these. Trees, shrubs, simple plants, roots, stems, 
 barks, branches, leaves, fruits and seeds maintain an invariable 
 balance in proportions of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. 
 
 AVith azote it is different. We may say of that what has already 
 been said of phosphoric acid potash — fruits and seeds contain more 
 of it than the other organs, because during germination the embryo 
 lives on the seed, and within its small circumference it must find 
 azote as well as minerals. 
 
 In vegetable matter carbon and oxygen are exhibited, each at 40 
 to 45 per cent., hydrogen from 5 to 6 per cent., and azote from 1 to 
 2 per cent. 
 
 I have promised to define vegetable composition with exactness and 
 clearness. It seems to me that the preceding data do so. 
 
 But it is not enough to know what composes vegetable matter ; we 
 must also know how it is formed, and how those elements combine 
 which shape and increase its organs. 
 
 Here the process differs at all points from that proper to minerals. 
 If a solution of marine salt is exposed to the sun, as tlie liquid 
 evaporates crystals are deposited too fine to be seen but with a mag- 
 nifying glass. Soon, however, their forms become visible, and we 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 11 
 
 can watch their growth from day to day, which we will soon find is 
 governed by a geometrical regularity not to be thrown off. 
 
 Here the growth is .made by successive and continued deposits of 
 salt, the first crystals being centres of attraction for the molecules of 
 sugar and salt diffused through the liquid. 
 
 The work of vegetable growth is not so simple, though the phases 
 through which a vegetable passes before its full development have a 
 character of fixedness and persistency which excludes all idea of 
 chance and whim. The laws governing it are not less inflexible than 
 those governing minerals, and their principles and details are equally 
 well known. 
 
 I have told you that plants owe their formation to fourteen different 
 elements. I now add that some of these elements are in the form of 
 aerial gases, while others, liquid or solid, issue from the soil. The 
 first are absorbed by the leaves, the second by the roots. Thus, 
 plants are formed from many and very different principles, drawn 
 from varied sources. But these principles do not at once build up 
 tissues and organs ; they first pass through a stage belonging rather 
 to inorganic than to organic nature. 
 
 The formation of a plant is, then, in reality an operation of two 
 degrees. 
 
 These compounds of uncertain form are divided into two groups, 
 the one comprehending those compounds into which only carbon, 
 hydrogen and oxygen enter ; the other, those in which most azote, 
 sulphur and phosphorus are found. 
 
 Here is a list of these products, which I will call traiuitory 
 products of active vegetation, to recall at once their origin, principal 
 character and true distinction. • 
 
 Transitory Products. 
 
 Hydrocarbonates. Azotes. 
 
 I"^"'"''^^^"^^*''"-' lAmWoT(starch). Fibrin. 
 
 r Gum-dragon, 
 Semi-solubles, -< Pectin, 
 
 y Inulin. Casein. 
 
 I Gum-arabic, 
 Mucilage, 
 Grape sugar. 
 Cane sugar. Albumen. 
 
 We will take first the products of the first group. All these pro- 
 ducts, to which we will give the name hydrates of carbon, have a 
 common character ; their composition is the same. For greater dis- 
 tinctness, we will express them by the common formula, C12 (HO)n. 
 
 In all there are tw^elve equivalents of carbon, always in combina- 
 tion with hydrogen and oxygen in proportions to form water. 
 
 Although unlike in appearance, all these bodies are, in reality, but 
 reproductions of the same type. The proof of this is the impossi- 
 bility to draw a line of demarkation between them; so, instead of 
 taking them separately in a single plant, we will notice the variations 
 
12 CHEMICAL MANUKES. 
 
 they exhibit in plants in general. A deeper study of these products 
 shows us the point at which it is impossible to make clear and exact 
 distinctions between them. 
 
 We have placed the cellulose (so called because it forms the warp 
 of vegetable tissue) at the head of the first group ; immediately after 
 comes the starch or amidon, then the gums, and lastly the sugars. 
 
 Between the cellulose and the sugar there are great and numerous 
 differences, and if one did not know the other terms of the series — 
 pectin, inulin, gums, etc. — it would not occur to one to see in these 
 two bodies dissimilar forms of an unique type. 
 
 Cellulose is insoluble in water — the sugar, on the contrary, melts 
 away in it. 
 
 Cellulose is not easily attacked by acids or alkalies slightly diluted. 
 Sugar is easily changed by both. Su^ar has a sweet taste, cellulose 
 no taste. 
 
 How did we get the idea of assimilating these two bodies, so as to 
 make of them one and the same body ? 
 
 The identity becomes manifest, and almost forces itself upon us, if 
 we do not confine our observations to the cellulose of woody tissue, 
 but look also at the properties of the other terms in the series, and at 
 the changes to which the cellulose itself is subject. 
 
 Cellulose in the form of woody tissue is insoluble in cold water, 
 and even in boiling water. But in Iceland moss cellulose, being less 
 compact, jellies as soon as boiled. Hard as ivory in the kernels of 
 some fruit, it becomes edible in the mushroom. There is no greater 
 difference between the edible part of the mushroom and a piece of 
 the wood of an oak than between the sugar and cellulose of the 
 lichen. 
 
 The cellulose in the tubercles of the Irish i)otato is in isolated 
 grains, formed by concentric layers fitting into each other. 
 
 Between the amidon and the cellulose there is little apparent 
 analogy ; but if we add that the amidon swells in boiling w^ater to 
 such a degree as to form a true jelly, like Iceland moss, the analogy 
 between the two products becomes incontestable. 
 
 Amidon swells in boiling water without dissolving; but inulin, 
 which is found in the tubercles of the Jerusalem artichoke, and which 
 is a species of amidon, dissolves in boiling water, from which it sep- 
 arates itself in independent grains as the water cools. 
 
 If we add that gum-dragon forms jelly in cold water without dis- 
 solving, and that gum-arabic swells and dissolves in it, and has a 
 slight taste of sugar, the change of the gum into sugar becomes 
 evident, and the analogy which joins the sugar to the cellulose, 
 though at first concealed, can no longer be doubted. 
 
 To prove this conclusion, I will add, that the cellulose itself, even 
 when most compact, can be changed into gum and to sugar, and to 
 do this it is only to be treated with sulphuric acid — that it is the 
 same with all the other terms of the series, which can all be turned 
 into sugar by the same means. These transformations are incessant 
 in vegetation ; the economy of vegetable nutrition depends upon them, 
 as I will show when I come to speak of albuminous substances. The 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 13 
 
 materials which form the second group of transitory products of 
 vegetable activity are three in number ; they are distinguished from 
 the hydrates of carbon by the azote, sulphur and phosphorus they 
 contain, which are wanting in the first. 
 
 Their composition is then one more degree complicated. We will 
 observe the same of them as has already been said of the hydrates of 
 carbon : in spite of their dissimilarity, they are in reality the same 
 body under three different conditions. Their composition is the same 
 and is expressed by the same formula. Cm, Hm, Az^g, S2, O44. 
 
 Is it objected that fibrin is insoluble in water while casein and 
 albumen are soluble ? But I say. Bring water to the boiling point 
 and these two bodies will be equally insoluble. 
 
 But you will say. Heat does not dissolve albumen as it does casein — 
 that albumen coagulates in masses, while casein coagulates but in 
 part, in the form of a skin on the surface of the liquid. To refute 
 this objection, we need only communicate the properties of whichever 
 one of these materials we please to the other two. 
 
 Fibrin is insoluble. To make it soluble we have only to pound it 
 in a marble mortar and add a fiftieth part of its weight in caustic 
 soda. The dissolution thus produced possesses all the properties of 
 albumen, and its most characteristic one, that of coagulating in a 
 mass under the action of heat. 
 
 If you pour a few drops of caustic soda into a solution of albumen, 
 it will acquire the property of coagulating in parts and forming a 
 skin like casein. 
 
 If I add finally, that these bodies, like the hydrates of carbon, are 
 continually changing into each other during the periods of vegetable 
 life, you will agree with what I have already said, that they are varied 
 forms of the same type. 
 
 Let us pause a minute at these transformations, which make the 
 very essence of vegetable life. 
 
 Wheat, before germinating, contains from ten to fifteen per cent, 
 of fibrin and one or two per cent, of albumen, more or less. As soon 
 as germination begins, the proportion of fibrin diminishes and that 
 of albumen increases. Beans and lentils contain no fibrin, but casein 
 has, like cheese, a very little albumen ; now during germination the 
 casein disappears and the albumen takes its place. It is the same 
 with amidon, contained in abundance in seeds : it is changed into 
 gum and sugar, and they in their turn become cellulose in the leaves, 
 branches and roots. 
 
 The plant in its first period is but the seed transformed. After 
 germination, when vegetation may properly be said to commence, it 
 receives more and more albumen until the time of flowering, when in 
 wlieat the albumen becomes fibrin, and casein in beans and lentils. 
 
 Let us return to the hydrates of carbon, taking the beet fi)r ex- 
 ample. Before flowering it contains eight or ten per cent, of sugar ; 
 after the seed is formed the sugar disappears, amidon having taken 
 its place. 
 
 I therefore repeat, vegetable nutrition is a phenomenon of two 
 stages, the first corresponding to tho formation of transitorjr pr6- 
 
14 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 ducts ; the second, to their transformation into vegetable tissues and 
 organs. 
 
 Lastly, I add that the mechanism of vegetable nutrition rests en- 
 tirely on these two orders of phenomena, which are both independent 
 and united. 
 
 From the foregoing it results that plants are known to be under 
 the double relation of their composition and manner of formation. 
 
 To complete this general view of vegetable production, I must 
 show you the conditions which regulate its movements, and which, in 
 practice, make their cultivation certain or precarious, expensive or 
 remunerative. 
 
 These conditions are three in number : 
 
 1st. Climate. 
 
 2d. The nature of the soil and the choice and quantity of manures. 
 
 3d. The choice of seed. 
 
 The influence of climates. That is indisputable. "VVho has not 
 marked the changes of vegetation in passing from the foot of a moun- 
 tain to its summit ? At the distance of a mile or two we distinctly 
 see the bands of verdure on the inclinations of the Alps, contrasting 
 through thickness and coloring as well as by difference in flora. 
 
 The same thing takes place on a grander scale in going from the 
 equator to the poles. At the equator, vegetation is marked by an 
 appearance of vigor and majesty which strikes a European traveler 
 with admiration. The number of trees, compared to that of the 
 grasses, is greater than in Europe. The trees are also remarkable for 
 height and the size of trunk, as well as for richness and variety of 
 foliage. 
 
 Seventy degrees of latitude from the equator we see only small 
 trees, shrubs and grasses ; and near the pole plants are represented 
 by a few brittle byssus and lichens creeping over the surface of the 
 ground. 
 
 Climate, therefore, exercises a considerable influence on vegetation, 
 and he would be wanting indeed who ignored it in practice. 
 
 Would it not be folly to cultivate the vine at Dunkirk, maize at 
 Valenciennes, and the olive on the plains of Beauce? These are 
 exaggerations, I know, but under them there is a truth it would be 
 well to remember, that in our day agriculture tends to specializations, 
 and we should always have the climate in our favor. AVith a free 
 commerce and facility of exchange, each region should create a mo- 
 nopoly of its products in which it may defy competition. 
 
 The English, an enlightened people, understood this long ago: 
 wherever too great moisture of climate made the cultivation of grain 
 unprofitable, they have substituted grasses and herds. 
 
 Among the conditions acting on vegetation we have placed the 
 composition of the soil, and in the same order of ideas the choice of 
 manures in the second rank. 
 
 You know that two fields touching each other may often be of 
 unequal fertility. The cause of these differences is in the presence 
 or absence of certain agents. Add to the one the elements wanting, 
 and it will become as fertile as the other. Under this view, by the 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 15 
 
 use of manures man acquires an almost limitless control of nature. 
 It is to the study of this second condition that the teaching of Vin- 
 cennes is especially devoted. 
 
 As to the second condition, that is regulated by the vegetable itself. 
 All species are subject to certain variations, which may become 
 hereditary. Races, varieties of small importance in a botanical 
 point of view, but of great import in agriculture, have often the 
 same origin. Under the same conditions of soil and manures one 
 variety will often yield double the quantity of another. I will show 
 you a remarkable example of this. 
 
 For three years I have had blue wheat and English wheat (with 
 red straw) under parallel culture, the soil and manures exactly alike. 
 The blue wheat did not succeed at all ; the English wheat grew 
 wonderfully. In autumn the blue wheat has a marked advantage 
 over the English wheat, but in spring, affected by late frosts, it is 
 also violently attacked by rust, while the English wheat, being more 
 backward, escapes both entirely. 
 
 There is, then, a means resting entirely upon ourselves, and to 
 which w^e have perhaps not given sufficient attention. For myself, I 
 believe our vegetables are susceptible of as varied changes as are our 
 domestic animals. 
 
 But I repeat, gentlemen, that of the three conditions which rule 
 the activity and the products of vegetation, we should occupy our- 
 selves solely with the second — the choice and the quantities of 
 manures. I have recalled the other two, but to show the subject on 
 all sides, and to leave nothing in obscurity, I promised you an 
 analysis of vegetation, its agents and cause. I think I have fully 
 kept that promise. Are you tempted to reproach me with the too 
 scientific character of my study ? Our path was traced out by the 
 light of these ideas. Henceforth there can be no question of empiric 
 results. Besides, if practice is our object, science should be our 
 guide, its methods our auxiliaries, and its principles the foundation 
 of our deductions. 
 
 Until the last twenty years it has been asserted that the farmyard 
 was our agent " par excellence " of fertility. We maintain that to 
 be erroneous, and that it is possible to produce better and cheaper 
 artificial manures than can the farmyard. 
 
 It has been said : The meadow is the foundation of all good agri- 
 culture, because with the meadow we have cattle, and with the cattle, 
 manure. These axioms are now veritable heresies. I hope to show 
 you that agriculture to be remunerative must be founded on artificial 
 manures. With farmyard manures it is now but a question of con- 
 venience and cost. 
 
 To determine these important views with certainty we must remain 
 faithful to the plan traced out. 
 
 In the first place, we must define the degrees of utility of the 
 different elements of which vegetation is composed, seek the forms 
 under which their assimilation is easiest and the useful effects the 
 most certain, and last, form from them rules by which we may 
 associate them to make the most powerfVil manures; 
 
16 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 In our next we will broach the subject under its new view, which 
 , . ?vill bring us into the domain of practice. 
 
 L 1 11 11 A l\ f 
 
 FNITER'^JTY <M 
 
 CALIFOJliNlA. LECTURE SECOND. 
 
 GENTLEMEN: In our first meeting I endeavored to show you 
 the nature cif the elements composing vegetation. You remem- 
 ber that these elements are very unequally distributed in the different 
 organs, or rather between those forming ephemeral combinations 
 before passing into the state of tissues and organs. 
 
 To complete this almost preliminary study, we must now ask in 
 what state we find these elements of nature, the source and cause of 
 fertility of soil, under what form plants absorb them, and to what 
 degree w^e can, by their aid, act upon the products of vegetation. 
 
 I begin with carbon. 
 
 The quantity of carbon which enters into the composition of plants 
 is, in round numbers, from 40 to 45 per cent. Carbon, then, plays a 
 prominent part in vegetation. If, however, I add that in agriculture 
 it is not necessary — that it may be entirely excluded from manures 
 without affecting the fertility of the soil — I will appear to contradict 
 myself. 
 
 The contradiction is but apparent, and to prove it, permit me to 
 remind you that the carbon of plants has its origin in the carbonic 
 acid of the air, and the atmosphere is an inexhaustible source of it. 
 
 I need not, therefore, treat of the assimilation of carbon ; in many 
 respects this omission will not be inconvenient ; nevertheless, I have 
 determined to stop here and make this the object of a deep study. 
 Why ? For two reasons — because the explanation of this phenom- 
 enon marks an era in the history of science, but particularly because 
 its study will help us to show clearly the essential characteristics of 
 vegetable productions. 
 
 The act which determines tlie assimilation of carbon is a simple 
 phenomenon. Carbonic acid, formed from carbon and oxygen, is ab- 
 sorbed by the leaves, where it is decomposed. The carbon remains in 
 the plant, while the oxygen, being freed, returns to the atmosphere. 
 Here is produced a truly extraordinary phenomenon, and one which 
 we cannot imitate in our laboratories without calling to our aid the 
 most powerful means of analysis at the disposal of chemistry ; this 
 phenomenon the delicate tissue of the leaf performs without affecting 
 its organization. 
 
 You will see, farther, that vegetable respiration produces effects 
 opposite to animal respiration. Plants borrow carbonic acid from 
 the air and return oxygen to it, while animals, who borrow^ oxygen, 
 return carbonic acid. This explains the reason why the composition 
 of the atmosphere m not changed by the incessant drain made on it 
 by plants and animals. 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 17. 
 
 Under this continued though unseen conflict there is an order of 
 phenomena still more profound and mysterious, which I would like 
 to show you, because to my eyes there is nothing more fit to unveil 
 to you the true character of agricultural products, and to show you 
 how this grand act of vegetable life, to which are most intimately 
 joined the most essential conditions of our existence, diifers from all 
 other products of human activity. 
 
 GENERAL RULE. 
 
 All work of production presupposes two equally indispensable 
 things — a first cause and a source of force. 
 
 Without these two conditions nothing can be produced. 
 
 Whatever we do, the material in use experiences a diminution 
 which we strive to prevent, but cannot entirely avoid. The same in 
 regard to the force expended. We make use of but a part of it — the 
 rest is unavoidably lost. I repeat, then, the product, which is the 
 material representative of the work, is unequal to the first cause and 
 the force employed. Take, for example, any industrial labor you will 
 — metallurgy, weaving, the mechanical arts. The work is always ac- 
 companied by a double loss of the first material and vital force, 
 produced by friction of intermediate organs and imperfection of 
 apparatus. 
 
 In agriculture the character of the production is different. The 
 earth, through her harvests, returns ten times the value of what we 
 give her by our fertilizers, and every harvest supposes an expendi- 
 ture of force at least five hundred times greater than the sum of the 
 efforts which produced it. 
 
 How can we explain these two opposing facts ? The economy of 
 the assimilation of carbon will teach us. 
 
 All vegetables, as we have said, contain from 40 to 45 per cent, of 
 their weight in carbon. Now, if the carbon comes from the air and 
 is added to the agents which we give the earth to fertilize it, we imme- 
 diately perceive why the earth gives more than she has received. It 
 is the same with regard to oxygen and hydrogen, which represent 
 more than 50 per cent, the weight of vegetable matter, and which are 
 given out by water. 
 
 From this, then, it follows that 95 per cent, of vegetable matter is 
 provided by sources difietot from the soil, and that the amount fur- 
 nished the soil by human industry is but a fraction of the harvest 
 we draw from it. But this fraction is indispensable, for without it 
 the carbon of the atmosphere, the oxygen and hydrogen of water, 
 would remain in their primitive ' state in the domain of inorganic 
 matter, and could not have entered the current of vegetable life. 
 Here is explained the first characteristic of vegetable life. You know 
 now why the earth gives more than it receives. The excess comes 
 from the air and the rain. 
 
 The following table is an undeniable demonstration of the fact. It 
 is understood that what I say of wheat is equally applicable to other 
 plants : 
 
Here, 3.386, with which the soil is 
 abundantly supplied, and which we 
 need not give to it. 
 
 18 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 Composition of Wheat {Straw and Grain). 
 
 In 100 parts. 
 
 Hydrogen 554 I ^^^^^' ^^-^^ come from the air and 
 
 oxygeS...*.'.\'.'.":;'.v.:'.r.::4o:32 y'^^ '^^'''' 
 
 Soda 0.09 
 
 Magnesia 0.20 
 
 Sulphuric acid 0.31 
 
 Chlorine 0.03 
 
 Oxide of iron 0.006 
 
 Silica 2.75 
 
 Manganese (?) 
 
 Phosphoric acVd.\\\\\\ ^45 1, ^ere, 3.00, with which the soil is 
 
 Potash ore f poorly provided, and we must give 
 
 Lime...'.*.'.'.*.'.V.'.V.'.'.V.'.'.'.'.^0!29 J ^^ '^ ^^ manures. 
 99.93 
 
 We will now pass to a second characteristic of agricultural pro- 
 duction, although of the same order as the preceding, yet more diffi- 
 cult to understand. 
 
 Until the last twenty years we believed that the phenomena of 
 nature were due to different causes, because they affected different 
 organs in ourselves. 
 
 Under this impression of diversity a more perfect analysis ended 
 by discovering that this multiplicity of causes was but apparent, and 
 that in reality all physical phenomena are the result of a sole cause — 
 motion. 
 
 Let us follow the consequences of this fundamental cause. You 
 all know that the combustion of a body is followed by an elevation 
 of temperature. For example, the combustion of 2 pounds of carbon 
 produces heat enough to raise 16,000 pounds of water one degree. 
 If I add that which we call the quantity of heat necessary to raise 
 2 pounds of water one degree calorie, we may say that the combus- 
 tion of 2 pounds of carbon produces 16,000 calories. 
 
 You know that mechanical force is engendered by heat. There is 
 an immutable correlation between the weight of the body burned, the 
 temperature produced and the force made by it. 
 
 We know that one calorie equals a force sufficient to raise a weight 
 of 2 pounds to the height of 1389 feet, and we call the force necessary 
 to raise 2 pounds to the height of 3 feet 3 J inches a kilogrammetre, 
 or a dynamic unity. 
 
 It follows, then, that one calorie, or the quantity of heat which will 
 raise 2 pounds of water one degree, is sufficient to raise the same 2 
 pounds 1389 feet high — or, in other words, 1 calorie is equivalent to 
 424 kilogrammetres. 
 
 Let us follow the results of these facts. The work of a horse in 
 harness is expressed by 540,000 pounds the hour — that is to say, that 
 the efforts he puts forth will raise 540,000 pounds to the height of 3 
 feet per hour. We estimate the day of a horse at eight hours' effect- 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 19 
 
 ive labor; the day's work is then expressed by 4,320,000 pounds. 
 So, if we concentrate the labor of a horse for a day to one point, we 
 will say he raises 4,320,000 pounds to the height of 3i feet. 
 
 But if one calorie equals 424 kilogrammetres or dynamic unities, 
 and if the combustion of 2 pounds of carbon produces 16,000 calories, 
 it results that 2 pounds of carbon correspond to 10,416,000 feet, or, in 
 round numbers, .to one and a half day's labor of a horse, the day 
 being fixed at "eight hours' effective work. 
 
 By the light of these facts, which may seem far-fetched, but which 
 are necessary, the most hidden peculiarities of vegetable life will be 
 unveiled to us. 
 
 The combustion of carbon engendei^ carbonic acid and produces 
 heat, which may be expressed by dynamic unities. If you should 
 attempt to turn back this current, and to undo what combustion has 
 done, to separate the carbon from the oxygen in carbonic acid, you 
 will not succeed, unless you return to the carbon and the oxygen a 
 quantity of heat equal to that born of their combination. 
 
 This fact leads us to the following result : that every 2 pounds of 
 carbon which settles itself in vegetable matter requires 16,000 calo- 
 ries, equivalent to 10,416,000 feet, and they equal a day and a half 
 of a horse. Now, as the harvest of 1 acre may be fixed at 8888 
 pounds of vegetable matter, containing at least, and in round num- 
 bers, 4444 pounds of carbon, the settling of which has required 
 50,000,000 calories, we find that this quantity of heat corresponds 
 to 17 kilogrammetres — that is, 6660 days' work of a horse. The 
 harvest of 1 acre is only obtained at this price. 
 
 If, then, the preparation of 1 acre by the plough, the harrow, etc., 
 requires the same of a man as of a horse — viz., 15 days' labor — we see 
 that when man puts forth one mechanical effort, nature adds 444 by 
 the unostentatious means of light and heat. ♦ 
 
 But what is the source of this enormous consummation of forces 
 always in action and never exhausted ? You have already known 
 it : the rays of the sun, in whose absence plants cannot assimilate 
 carbon. If wood and vegetable products give out heat while burn- 
 ing, it is but what they have drawn from the sun, and which passes 
 by combustion from a latent state to a state of liberty. It is, in 
 reality, but an act of restitution. 
 
 These explanations are sufficient, it seems to me, to demonstrate 
 tlie peculiar characteristics of vegetable products. 
 
 I repeat that vegetation alone possesses the power of adding to the 
 first material used, which in all other cases is subject to waste, and 
 of giving a relatively enormous yield by the intervention of an un- 
 seen force. 
 
 Here is shown the marvelous instinct of the people, who, outstrip- 
 ping science, recognize prosperity as durable only when founded on a 
 flourishing agriculture. It is for this reason that certain economists 
 of the last century, Quesney among others, conceived the idea of 
 laying taxes exclusively on the products of the soil, for it is they 
 only which yield an excess in the net produce. 
 
 Gentlemen, you perhaps think I have let myself be drawn too far 
 
20 CHEMICATL. MANURES. 
 
 in this train of ideas ; I would not retrench my words, 'for I believe 
 to act intelligently we must have a clear idea of the principles upon 
 which we act. But I hasten to return to the practical in the assimi- 
 lation of carbon. 
 
 The assimilation of carbon is included, as we have said, in two 
 facts : Plants absorb carbonic acid from the air, and decompose it. 
 
 To prove that leaves absorb carbonic acid, introduce the leafy 
 branch of a vine into a globe of glass, making a current of air to 
 pass through it. 
 
 Before entering the globe, the air will contain from three to four 
 ten-thousandths of its volume in carbonic acid ; when it comes out, it 
 will contain but two ten-thousandths, more or less. The leaves have 
 acted like a crucible. All plants and trees effect by their foliage 
 what you see this branch of a vine produce under your own eyes. 
 
 But for this three conditions are necessary : 
 
 1st. The plants must receive the direct action of the sun. 
 
 2d. The temperature of the atmosphere does not descend below ten 
 to twelve degrees above zero. 
 
 od. The plants must be provided with leaves. 
 
 The suppression of one of these three conditions is enough to stop 
 the phenomena, and measurably to strike the plant with inertia. 
 
 Leaves lose the power of absorbing carbonic acid in the dark. As 
 soon as light fails, the leaves, in direct opposition to what they had 
 done before, absorb oxygen and give off carbonic acid. 
 
 In xour climate the assimilation of carbon ceases almost entirely 
 below ten to twelve degrees. It would be imprudent to make this an 
 absolute rule, as all plants are not affected in the same degree by the 
 lowering of temperature. 
 
 The leaves are essentially the seat of the assimilation of carbon ; 
 neither roots, trunk nor brauches share in this important office. 
 
 AVe will now proceed to a more practical order of ideas, and one 
 pertaining especially to agriculture. 
 
 The quantity of carbon that plants fix during the season the acre 
 reaches as high as 8888 pounds. 
 
 Here arises a new question. All plants do not attain this standard. 
 Whence comes the difference ? The leaves do not present the same 
 amount of surface. 
 
 If, from this point of view, we compare some of the plants in 
 which we are most interested, such as the sweet potato, the beet, the 
 Irish potato and w^hfeat, we find that the sweet potato, which fixes 
 7111 pounds of carbon the acre, gives a leaf-surface fifteen times 
 that of the soil cultivated ; that the beet, which fixes 1776 pounds 
 of carbon, gives a leaf-surface five times that of the soil. The same 
 remarks are applicable to the Irish potato and wheat, which absorb 
 but 1511 and 1244 pounds of carbon, and give a much reduced leaf- 
 surface. 
 
 Lastly, to complete the study of the assimilation of carbon, I 
 must add, that if the atmosphere is the principal source from which 
 plants derive it, they, however, draw a certain quantity from the 
 
CHEMICAIi MANURES. 21 
 
 depths of the soil, which the leaves decompose and assimilate. The 
 carbonic acid of the soil is provided by the decomposition of vege- 
 table matter which is wanting. Thus, the economy of the origin of 
 carbon in vegetation is summed up in three facts : 
 
 It is always absorbed in the form of carbonic acid. 
 
 The leaves digest it. . 
 
 The sun's rays are necessary to determine it. 
 
 Let us proceed to the origin of oxygen and hydrogen. I could 
 tell you the same of these two bodies as I have already said of car- 
 bon. Their functions in the economy of vegetation have but a 
 theoretic interest. 
 
 Both come from w^ater, and plants, as regards the source of oxygen 
 and hydrogen, receive more through the rain than they can make 
 ifee of 
 
 Is it certain, you will probably ask, that oxygen and hydrogen are 
 derived from water ? 
 
 No question easier to determine than this. 
 
 Cultivate burnt sand, and let the plant receive oxygen and hydro- 
 gen only through distilled water ; you will see how the water changes 
 its condition under your eyes, and enters into the composition of the 
 plants. 
 
 We come now to azote. 
 
 The question changes its character with azote. The origin of this 
 body in plants opens to us a problem of the first order. 
 
 Now, this problem may be resolved in two different ways — by 
 science and practice. 
 
 I prefer to demonstrate by practice. 
 
 I lay down as an axiom that plants can assimilate azote in three 
 different forms : 
 
 In the form of ammoniac or salts of ammonia ; 
 
 In the form of nitrate ; 
 
 In the form of gaseous azote. 
 
 And I add, that each of these three forms adapts itself by prefer- 
 ence to certain lists of plants — ^the ammoniac to wheat, the nitrate to 
 beets, while the legumes absorb azote, especially under the form of 
 elementary gas. 
 
 This point admitted, I ask if harvests in general contain more 
 azote than the manures which produce them ? 
 
 Facts prove this unanimously ; there is always an excess of azote 
 in the harvest. 
 
 We find, for example, that the excess (and this is the minimum 
 value) in sweet potatoes rises to 38 pounds, and in lucerne to 151 
 pounds the acre. 
 
 Here a new question arises : From whence this excess of azote ? 
 From the soil ? Evidently not, for it is a permanent and continued 
 phenomenon. This excludes the idea of its coming from the soil, 
 since its resources are limited and it yields yearly, through its 
 harvests, more azote than it receives by manures. 
 
 We cannot doubt, then, that the excess of azote comes from the 
 air. But here another difficulty : In what form has the azote beeli 
 
22 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 absorbed? Is it in the ammoniac, nitrate or elementary form of 
 azote ? 
 
 Before pronouncing with certainty with regard to this, we have a 
 question difficult of solution. We must know if the air contains the 
 ammoniac and nitrate forms, and if so, in what proportions. 
 
 There is no doubt on these two points. The air contains both the 
 ammoniac and nitrate forms, but so feeble, so weakened, that they 
 belong to the infinitely small. 
 
 The proportion of ammonia is comprised between 
 0.000,000,017 and 
 0.000,000,032. 
 
 This corresponds to nearly one half ounce of ammoniac for 
 2,000,000 pounds of air. A thimble by the side of the Pantheon ! 
 The air, as Ave have said, contains nitric acid in infinitely reduced 
 proportions, hardly equal to that of ammoniac. In the face of such 
 small quantities it is not possible to attribute to them the enormous 
 mass of azote that plants draw from the air. To escape this diffi- 
 culty, the nitrates and salts of ammonia being very soluble in water, 
 we admit it is the office of the rain to condense them and bring them 
 in a feeble volume to the plants. But this suj)position cannot sustain 
 itself when we examine things a little nearer. 
 
 Rain water contains at least 0.0005 ammoniac and the same quan- 
 tity of nitre to the 2yV pints. Now these quantities correspond to a 
 deposit of 2.66 pounds of azote the acre per year, which is evidently 
 insufficient to explain the excess of 38.03 pounds shown by the sweet 
 potato, and still more so for that of lucerne, which reaches 151 
 pounds. Neither the ammoniac nor the nitrates of the air can 
 account for the excess of azote which harvests yield. 
 
 We are then led to attribute to the elementary azote of the air an 
 excess which would otherwise be inexplicable. , 
 
 Is this view admitted w^ithout dispute? No; and these are the 
 objections raised to it. 
 
 It is unanimously agreed that a part of the azote of a crop is 
 drawn from the air, but the assimilation of elementary azote is denied. 
 It is supposed that, before being absorbed by the plant, azote passes 
 into the soil as a nitrate. The soil then becomes the seat of a uni- 
 versal and permanent nitrification. • 
 
 Thus announced, this opinion does not bear an instant's examina- 
 tion. If azote enters lucerne but in the form of a nitrate, is it not 
 evident that in a crop of it we ought to find the corresponding basis 
 to nitric acid, the supposed source of azote ? Now, there is none to 
 be found. Now, in a crop of lucerne gotten here and on the farm of 
 Vincennes, azote surpassed its corresponding basis by 120 pounds the 
 acre ; 120 pounds have therefore not entered the plant in the form 
 of a nitrate. This 120 pounds is but one-third the real quantity of 
 azote the acre that lucerne draws from the air, seeing that in the 
 example just cited azote in the form of nitrate of potash and nitrate 
 of soda were intentionally introduced in the fertilizers ; and it has 
 been shown me since that equally large returns may be obtained by 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 23 
 
 substituting carbonate of potash for the nitrates — that is to say, alka- 
 line and azotic products by a fertilizer without azote. 
 
 I hasten to arguments drawn more directly from practice. 
 
 Suppose you enrich peas, clover or lucerne with nitrate of soda. 
 The effect is radically nothing, if it is not decidedly injurious. Now, 
 how bring out in behalf , of these plants the good effects of a spon- 
 taneous nitrification in the soil ? 
 
 We may make the argument more general. 
 
 Try two parallel experiments : in one let the soil be enriched by a 
 fertilizer composed of phosphate of lime, of potash and lime without 
 azote ; in the other, add to these three agents some azotic matter. 
 Under these two conditions different effects will be shown according 
 to the nature of the plants. 
 
 The clover, peas and legumes will thrive as well on the ground 
 which has not received the azote as on the other. With the grain, 
 the colza, the beet and tobacco the result will be different. Where 
 the azote is wanting the yield will be more than mediocre, while it 
 will be excellent from the soil supplied with it. 
 
 What must w^e conclude from this contrast ? That plants form 
 two distinct groups : the first comprising those which draw azote 
 from the soil ; the second, those which take it in preference from the 
 air. 
 
 Do you doubt it ? Here are other facts in support of this distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 Every one knows that culture without fertilizers soon becomes un- 
 certain. The returns are never absolutely nothing, and the quantity 
 of azote corresponds in importance. 
 
 According to Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert it reaches — 
 
 To 17.9 lbs the acre per year for wheat. 
 " 24 " " " barley. 
 
 " 39.1 " " " the meadow. 
 
 " 47.1 " " " beans. 
 
 We see by this table that the meadow and beans fix more azote 
 than barley and wheat. Shall we say that the azote of the beans 
 and the meadow comes from the soil ? We would thus raise a very 
 embarrassing difiiculty. If you sow grain after beans, the return is 
 better and the quantity of azote fixed greater. On the other hand, 
 however, we maintain that the beans contain more azote than the 
 wheat. Is it not evident, then, if they had taken it from the earth 
 the yield from the wheat would show it ? 
 
 Conclusions : 
 
 Azote is absorbed under different forms : for legumes the elementary 
 azote, for wheat and colza the ammoniac, and for beets the nitrates, 
 are the most suitable forms. But we again repeat that all vegetables, 
 without distinction, show an excess of azote for which neither fer- 
 tilizers nor soil can account, and which can only be explained by 
 attributing it to the elementary azote of the air. 
 
 Permit me to sum up the question in indisputable figures, to deter- 
 mine the importance of the quantity of azote plants draw from the air ; 
 
24 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 Excess of azote in crop 
 over amount contained 
 
 in fertilizer. 
 
 Wheat 53.33 lbs. 
 
 Peas 62.22 " 
 
 Colza 115.55 " 
 
 Beets 115.55 " 
 
 Lucerne 266.66 " 
 
 In the preceding examples the fertilizer contains from 44 to 53.33 
 pounds of azote, per acre. As to lucerne, I have taken the excess 
 from a purely mineral fertilizer, and from a yield fixed at 7111 
 pounds. 
 
 You see, then, by these examples, that though all vegetables show 
 an excess of azote, this excess is far from being of the same import- 
 ance to each. 
 
 There is still a distinction to be made with regard to the conditions 
 under which it is produced. 
 
 There are plants which contain a great deal of azote, though we do 
 not furnish them by manures : peas, beans, clover and lucerne come 
 under this head. There are others which show a considerable excess 
 of azote, but which must have it given them by fertilizers containing 
 azote ; such are in particular beets and colza. Lastly, there is a third 
 list of plants which require a great deal of azote in the soil, and 
 wl)ose crops yield relatively but a small excess, such as wheat. 
 
 These differences have a practical signification, which it is of the 
 last importance we should not misunderstand. Who cannot see im- 
 mediately, and from these simple general facts, that there is an advan- 
 tage to be gained under the double relation of returns and improve- 
 ment of soil, by alternating wheat with beets, and above all with 
 legumes ; that is to say, the plants which draw their azote from the 
 soil with those which draw it from the air ? 
 
 Experience confirms, this anticipation on all points. 
 
 You all know that wheat succeeding clover yields more than when 
 preceding it. Who does not know how favorable it is to the culture 
 of wheat to turn under the leaves of the beet ? There is still an im- 
 portant remark to be made concerning those plants (like the beet) 
 which demand large quailtities of azote in the soil ; that is, that the 
 excess of azote in the crop is somewhat proportional to the quantity 
 the soil has received. It results, then, that those plants are not most 
 beneficial to the soil which require the least azote in their fertilizers, 
 but those which exhibit the greatest excess of azote at the expense 
 of the atmosphere. This relation, this correspondence between the 
 richness of the fertilizer and the benefit to the plant receiving it, of 
 which science now gives us the explanation, has long been confirmed 
 by practice, as the w^ords of Matthew de Dombasle testify. It is a fact 
 generally observed, says he, that the functions by which plants appro- 
 priate the nutritive elements contained in the soil and air are corre- 
 sponding functions, so that an increase in the quantity of the principles 
 which they draw from the soil can alone fit them to appropriate a 
 greater quantity of atmospheric food. For this reason plants are 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 25 
 
 most beneficial which draw most from |;he air, and the more fertile 
 the soil the greater the amount they draw from the air. 
 
 This theory of high culture may be explained in a clearer and 
 more scientific manner. Suppose, for example, a plant is cultivated 
 in burnt sand, receiving nourishment only from air and water, and 
 produces 20 leaves in 15 days after germination. If the leaves give 
 nutriment to the plant sufficient to form a new leaf every fifteen days, 
 at the end of three months and a half the plant will have produced 
 2460 leaves. 
 
 On the other hand, suppose another plant cultivated in manured 
 soil, and we admit that the manure determines the formation of only 
 five leaves every fifteen days, besides those that the air and water had 
 supplied in the preceding experiment. After the lapse of the same 
 time the plant will have produced 3475 leaves ; -that is, nearly twice 
 as many as in the first case, although the manure alone has deter- 
 mined the formation of but 35 leaves. This result you justly think 
 very singular ; it is, however, easily explained, when we reflect that 
 the first leaves formed by the manure aid not only in numbers, but 
 by the formation of other leaves, drawing their food from the atmo- 
 sphere. 
 
 I have told you that the quantity of azote must be proportioned to 
 the nature of the plant cultivated. 
 
 To show you how necessary it is that nothing be left to chance, I 
 will cite the report of an eminent agriculturist, Monsieur Cavallier, 
 from the farm of Mesnil-Saint-Nicaise. 
 
 It is on the beet, cultivated in four difierent ways by mineral fer- 
 tilizers without azote, and the same fertilizers with increasing quanti- 
 ties of sulphate of ammonia : • 
 
 With mineral fertilizers without azote the return was 32,741 
 pounds the acre. 
 
 With the same fertilizer, phos. 71.11 pounds azote, the return was 
 42,066 pounds. 
 
 With the same fertilizer, phos. 88.88 pounds azote, the return was 
 45,333 pounds. 
 
 With the same fertilizer, phos. 106.66 pounds azote, the return was 
 53,021 pounds. 
 
 If we take as a basis 32,741 pounds obtained from fertilizers with- 
 out azote, we find (the sulphate of ammonia being deducted) the fol- 
 lowiug increase : 
 
 With 71 pounds of azote $5.73 
 
 With 88.88 pounds of azote ^ 9.13 
 
 With 106.66 pounds of azote 19.30 
 
 From this you see that azotic fertilizers play a prominent part in 
 the economy of vegetation. In practice we find the greatest advan- 
 tage in using the salts of ammonia ; the certainty of their action, their 
 ease^ of assimilation, give them a marked superiority over all other 
 azotic compositions. 
 
 I am accustomed to employ from 53 to 80 pounds of azote the 
 
26 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 acre for wheat ; for the colza and the beet you may go as high as 88 
 to 177 pounds without injury. 
 
 The sulphate of ammonia contains in round numbers 20 per cent, 
 of azote, and the nitrate of soda 15 per cent. 
 
 As these compositions are very powerful, too much care cannot be 
 taken in spreading them equally. This is easily done by mixing 
 them with four or five times their weight of dry earth. They should 
 be used after the last working, and then harrowed, to mix them well 
 with the surface soil. 
 
 From tlie ideas presented to you, gentlemen, we gather that, in 
 an agricultural point of view, there is a great difference between car- 
 bou, oxygen and hydrogen on the one side, and azote on the other ; 
 and it is this : that Nature furnishes the first three in superabundance, 
 and Ave need not occupy ourselves with them, while she gives azote 
 -only exceptionally and under certain conditions. 
 
 The secret of successful culture consists in alternating those plants 
 which draw azote from the air with those which find ' it in the soil, 
 and in reserving for these last all the azotic compositions we can 
 procure. 
 
 The nitrates and the salts of animonia are not the only azotic com- 
 pounds to which we have recourse. We may use animal matter. 
 During putrefaction it acts as salts of ammonia. But I prefer the 
 -ibrmer, for they admit of direct assimilation, and because of 100 parts 
 )f azote which organic matter contains, at least 30 are lost to vege- 
 tation. This loss proceeds from the decomposition to which this 
 matter is subject ; 30 per cent, of all its azote escapes in the form of 
 elementary azote, under which form the atmosphere already contains 
 ftiore than vegetation can make use of. 
 
 I cannot too frequently repeat one of the great secrets of remuner- 
 ative culture — viz., to draw as much azote as possible from the air by 
 un alternation of crops. 
 
 The eflTorts of all agriculturists should tend to this end, and the 
 most useful aid Science has given them has been to show this truth as 
 clearly as possible. 
 
 If Science is a guide which we must sometimes follow with caution — 
 for moneyed questions are involved in agricultural operations — we 
 must not forget that all our useful facts are conformable to her laws, 
 and if we would accomplish a progress superior to all the conquests 
 of the past, it is still to Science we must turn. 
 
 In our next lecture we will treat of the office of minerals in the 
 econoiny of vegetable productions. 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 27 
 
 LECTUEE THIED. 
 
 GENTLEMEN: You know that the minerals entering into the 
 composition of plants' are ten in number — namely, phosphorus, 
 sulphur, chlorine, silicium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, 
 iron and manganese. But you will be surprised to find that we are 
 almost entirely ignorant as to what form these enter into the organ- 
 ization of vegetable tissues. We know that it is in the form of 
 binary or ternary compositions, without being able to exactly deter- 
 mine their nature and composition. The imperfectness of our know- 
 ledge on this head will astonish you less if I add that, to acquire the 
 least idea of their presence, we must begin by burning the tissues 
 which contain them. But if science shows a lamentable gap in this 
 respect, we at least know with certainty under what form and what 
 conditions the minerals can be made extremely efficacious agents of 
 fertility. If phosphorus is in question, we employ it in the form of 
 phosphate of lime ; potash, in the form of a carbonate, a nitrate or 
 a silicate ; and lime, in that of a carbonate or a sulphate. We are, 
 then, perfectly fixed on this second point, which is much more import- 
 ant than the first — namely, the form most favorable to the good 
 effects of minerals as agents of fertility. But here a most unex- 
 pected question presents itself. 
 
 I have just told you that ten different minerals enter into the 
 composition of plants, and now I am forced to add that three of 
 them, with the aid of some azotic matter, are sufficient to increase 
 and maintain the fertility of the soil, and that the agriculturist need 
 not occupy himself with the seven others. 
 
 Does that mean that these last do not affect vegetation ? No ; 
 they are not less necessary than the first three, and if practice can 
 pass them over, it is only because poor soils are abundantly provided 
 with them. I 
 
 If the facts which I have just shown are exact, the conclusion is 
 forced : we ought by their aid to obtain from burnt sand, inert of 
 itself, as prosperous a growth as from the most fertile alluvial soil. 
 For that we only need ten minerals and azotic matter. From these 
 fundamental facts it equally results that from a natural soil we 
 should obtain the same growth by the addition of azotic matter and 
 three minerals— phosphate of Ijme, potash and lime. Experience 
 confirms these two provisions of theory. 
 
 We may go still farther in the same train of ideas. If it is true 
 that each mineral fulfills a duty proper to itself, and that the useful 
 effects of the whole be in a measure dependent upon the presence of 
 each of these elements in particular, we ought, by the suppression of 
 one or several of the parts of this fertilizing mixture, to determine a 
 series of gradations running from the most doubtful to the highest 
 yield. Experience again confirms this new anticipation of theory ; 
 but as this is touching a very grave question, we will put our con- 
 
28 CHEMICAL MANURES, 
 
 elusions above all dispute by showing the experiments in burnt sand, 
 ■which contains nothing not well known and defined. 
 
 In burnt sand, free from all additions, but moistened with distilled 
 water, wheat acquires but a rudimentary development — the straw 
 hardly attains the dimensions of a knitting-needle. In this con- 
 dition, however, vegetation follows its usual course ; the plant blooms, 
 bears grain, but in each head there are but one or two dwarfed, 
 badly-formed grains. Thus, without soil, the wheat finds in the 
 water it receives and the carbonic acid of air, aided by the substance 
 of its grain, resources sufiicient — sorrowfully, it is true, but at last — 
 to run through the entire cycle of its evolution. 
 
 From 22 grains of seed, weighing nearly 18 grains, we obtain 108 
 grains of harvest. Add the ten minerals to the sand, excluding the 
 azotic matter, and the result is but little more. 
 
 Under these new conditions the wheat is a little more developed 
 than in the preceding case, but the harvest is still more feeble ; it 
 reaches 144 grains. Suppress the minerals and add only azotic 
 matter to the sand ; the growth will still be mean and stunted, but 
 the harvest will slightly increase, as it reaches 162 grains. Let us 
 follow^ the changes. In pure burnt sand, 108 grains ; with minerals 
 without azotic matter, 144 grains; with azotic matter alone, 162 
 grains. 
 
 In this last case a new symptom is shown. As long as we operate 
 only with minerals the plants are diseased, the leaves show a yellowish- 
 green color. As soon as we add azotic matter to the sand the leaves 
 change their color, becoming a dark green. It seems as if vegetation 
 would take its usual course, but the appearances are deceitful ; the 
 harvest is still feeble. 
 
 Until now, you see, we have not gone beyond the most rudimentary 
 returns. Let us attempt a third experiment, which will, in a measure, 
 be a synthesis of the three preceding. Unite azotic matter and the 
 minerals in the burnt sand. This time, gentlemen, you will be 
 tempted to believe in the intervention of a magician, the phenomena 
 so far surpasses those preceding it. Just now the growth was lan- 
 guishing, doubtful, diseased ; now the plants shoot up as soon as they 
 break the ground ; the leaves are a beautiful green ; the straight, 
 firm stalk ends in a head filled with good grain ; the harvest reaches 
 from 396 to 450 grains. 
 
 You see, gentlemen, relying upon experience, which is our guide 
 by choice, we have succeeded in artificially producing vegetation to 
 the exclusion of manures and all unknown substances. 
 
 You will acknowledge that this is an important and fundamental 
 point. No more mystery, no undetermined power; some chemical 
 products of a known purity, distilled water perfectly pure in itself, 
 one seed as a starting-point, and the result, a harvest comparable in 
 all points to the best obtained in good earth. 
 
 We are, therefore, justified in saying that the problem of vegeta- 
 tion here receives its solution, for we have not only defined the con- 
 ditions necessary to the production of vegetation, but the degree of 
 importance of each of the concurring agents. 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 29 
 
 Thus the azotic matter produces a little more effect than all the 
 ten minerals together, but the harvest does not take the character of 
 a liigh culture until the two orders of compounds are united. 
 
 We may add, that when we pass from burnt sand to the natural 
 soil the number of minerals employed as fertilizers may be reduced 
 from ten to three. If, under these new conditions, we make two par- 
 allel experiments, one with azotic matter and the ten minerals that 
 you already know, ajid the other with azotic matter and but three 
 minerals — phosphate of lime, potash and lime — the returns will be 
 equal. 
 
 In the burnt ^and this suppression renders vegetation impossible ; 
 now, as it does not suffer from it in the natural earth, it is evident 
 that these seven minerals exist in the soil. The most favorable con- 
 ditions to fertility are found realized in the union of these three 
 terms — azotic matter, phosphate of lime and lime. It is for this 
 reason I have given this mixture the name of a complete fertilizer. 
 
 Finally, to assure you of what I have said, permit me to place 
 before you a ' series of harvests obtained from good earth enriched 
 with chemical manures alone. The great inequalities wdiich they 
 show are caused solely by the suppression of one of the four terms 
 of the complete fertilizer, showing how indispensable is the union of 
 these four to a flourishing vegetation. 
 
 Although these ten elements which we have just discussed aid in 
 the production of vegetation, yet to fulfill their duties they imperi- 
 ously demand the aid of another order of materials, also contained in 
 the soil, and of which I must now speak. These materials, three in 
 number — viz., clay, sand and humus — differ from the preceding by 
 the pure passiveness of their functions. They serve to support plants, 
 but do not of themselves maintain vegetable life. To distinguish 
 them from the first, which have received the name of the " assimilable 
 elements " of the soil, we call them the " mechanical elements." 
 
 But this is not all; the "assimilable elements" are themselves 
 divided into two groups. The active assimilable elements are the 
 assimilable elements in reserve, so called because they cannot aid in 
 vegetable production but after being submitted to decomposition, 
 which allows plants to absorb them. 
 
 I will give you an example to show the necessity of this distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 Azotic matters of animal origin produce ammonia and the nitrates 
 in its decomposition, and owe their useful effects to this formation ; 
 the skin and offal of animals come particularly under this head, 
 because they are decomposed with uneqUaled facility and quickness. 
 But if these skins have been tanned, if they have become leather, 
 they decompose slowly and lose a part of their immediate activity. 
 
 In the first place, they belong to the group of active assimilable 
 elements, while in the second case they enter the group of' assimilable 
 elements in reserve. 
 
 Well, there are mineral and organic properties in the soil which 
 only exert a useful action after submitting to a preyiouB decompo- 
 eition more or lees slow. 
 
30 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 It was then necessary, you see, to establish a distinction between 
 the two states of the assimilable elements. 
 
 The clay has the property of absorbing and retaining much water 
 an important function, since it maintains a proper degree of humidity 
 in the soil, without which vegetation would become impossible. But 
 you know that at last the clay becomes dry and hardened when ex- 
 posed to the action of the sun, and then it becomes so compact the 
 roots of the plant cannot penetrate it. 
 
 Here the sand, which alone would be improper for vegetation, 
 because it would. form a changeable soil and one incapable of retain- 
 ing water, opportunely intervenes. Formed of isolated grains always 
 independent of each other, the sand by mingling with clay acquires 
 its compactness, and communicates to it its more porous and movable 
 character, making it as permeable to air as to water — qualities abso- 
 lutely necessary to the exercise of vegetable life. 
 
 Clay possesses another quality, which deserves to be noticed — that 
 of fixing in the soil the azotic and mineral compositions which essen- 
 tially determine fertility. This fixity is not complete and definitive ; 
 it is in a measure exterior and transitory, for the clay ends by giving 
 to vegetation the principles of which it seems to be possessed. 
 
 To make you better comprehend the character of this function, I 
 will cite an example. 
 
 Dilute a piece of clay in the liquor of manure ; the liquid is dis- 
 colored, and analysis shows that at the end of a certain time it has 
 lost a part of the ammonia as well as the salts it contains, and which 
 we will find again in the clay. 
 
 Make an inverse experiment: dilute the same clay in distilled 
 water ; by degrees it will give out the products it has extracted from 
 the liquor of manure. 
 
 Finally, if the active principles of the soil are not washed away by 
 rain, it is due to the clay, which has the property of retaining the 
 fertilizing principles of the soil and of regulating their more tardy 
 dissolution. 
 
 Here is the process : 
 
 The absorbent power of the clay is greater in proportion as the 
 solutions upon which it acts are more concentrated. In a solution 
 containing four per cent, of potash or ammonia the clay absorbs more 
 of these two alkalies than in a solution containing one to two per 
 cent, of them. It follows, therefore, from this, that if a drought 
 occurs there is no fear that the soluble part of the soil will acquire a 
 degree of concentration dangerous to the plants. The clay prevents 
 it. If the rain is continued, the clay returns to the water the pro- 
 ducts it has fixed. 
 
 It results from this acting and reacting that the clay performs the 
 office of regulator to the assimilable elements of the soil, holding or 
 giving them out according as the earth passes from a state of drought 
 to an exce&s of moisture. 
 
 You see, then, gentlemen, that although clay and sand do not take 
 a part in vegetable life, they fill an ojSice of the highest importance. 
 
* CHEMICAL MANURES. 31 
 
 Before finishing this point let us say a word on the nature of these 
 two bodies. 
 
 Clay is a hydrated silicate of aluminum, the proportion of water 
 in it being very variable, running from ten to twenty-five per cent, 
 of its weight. 
 
 Clay has its origin in the silicates of eruptive rocks. You will 
 perhaps find it diflacult to believe that granite and porphyry, which 
 are synonymous with resistance and durability, sometimes change 
 with astonishing facility. When the cooling of these rocks is too 
 sudden, they experience a kind of exterior exfoliation from the effects 
 of the weather, consequent upon which their earthy and alkaline 
 bases, potash, soda, lime, etc., are washed off" by the rain, while the 
 aluminum remains in combination with a part of the silicate, and 
 forms the clay which we know. 
 
 The nature of sand is more simple : it is essentially formed from 
 silicate in the form of quartz ; it belongs to the great family of 
 arenaceous rocks, which are themselves but blocks of eruptive or 
 volcanic rocks washed oflT and divided by the action of water. 
 
 Thus, clay owes its origin to the chemical decomposition of these 
 rocks, and sand to the trituration resulting from water, of which the 
 wash of our rivers gives us daily examples. 
 
 The soil contains still another product, humus, very diflferent from 
 the preceding, and to which until recently agriculturists have 
 wrongly given a r61e of the first order. You know that the earth of 
 the heath is essentially formed of sand, and contains a black matter 
 besides. This black matter is insoluble in water, but becomes soluble 
 if a small quantity of caustic potash is added to the water. Well, 
 this black matter, w^hich we also find in the liquor of manure and in 
 natural earths in very unequal quantities, is humus. 
 
 The following is the composition of humus : C24, Hg, Og — that is tc 
 say, humus is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, in the rela- 
 tion to form w^ater, and consequently enters into the frame of the hy- 
 drates of carbon : cellulose, sugar, starch represent, as you know, 95 
 per cent, of the weight of vegetation. Humus has for its origin the 
 same substance with plants, but a species of spontaneous decompo- 
 sition has caused it to lose a certain quantity of hydrogen and oxygen 
 in the form of water. 
 
 The two formulae following are to show the mode of generation of 
 humus : 
 
 Cellulose, C24, H20, O20. 
 Humus, C24, H9, O9. 
 
 I tell you, gentlemen, many of the best minds have placed the 
 humus in the first rank as an agent of fertility, but if you ask proofs 
 as a support to this opinion, they can give you none. Vegetable 
 nutrition is an extremely complex phenomenon, of which analysis 
 has shown us very little until the last ten years. When sufficient 
 facts were wanting to define it, they were supplied by hypothesis and 
 words. The word humus has had the happy privilege of eenring M 
 an explanation to all which was not underetood. 
 
32 CHEMICAL MANURES. » 
 
 Thanks to this community of expression, we all appeared to agree, 
 when in reality we did not agree at all. 
 
 Let us avoid this danger by being faithful to our programme. Let 
 us j)ut words aside to go to the bottom of things, and draw our light 
 and information from experience. 
 
 How and in what case does humus show a favorable action ? 
 
 The first of its good effects come from the property it has like clay 
 of absorbing much water, and thus contributing to maintain tlie 
 humidity of the soil. 
 
 If we remark, however, that earth contains hardly a small per cent, 
 of humus, it is difficult to believe that so small a quantity has the 
 power of modifying the physical condition of the soil. 
 
 Humus possesses a more useful property : it is quick at fixing the 
 ammonia in the soil, which it subtracts from the washing of the rains, 
 and which it returns later to vegetation. 
 
 Its offices in this respect are analogous to those of clay. 
 
 Here is where the importance of its office begins : the humus ab- 
 sorbs the oxygen of the air, and immediately submits it to a slow, 
 inapparent, but real combustion. It thus becomes for the soil the 
 source of a slow but uninterrupted formation of carbonic acid, less 
 useful by the carbon w^liich it furnishes than by the dissolvent action 
 it exercises in respect to certain minerals, and particularly the phos- 
 phates and chalks. 
 
 We will, if needed, find the proof of this in a very simple experi- 
 ment : Begin two cultures in burnt sand — one with the aid of humus 
 and the other without this body, both having received equal quantities 
 of chemical manures. In the two cases the returns will be the same, 
 but analysis will show more phosphate of lime in the yield from the 
 sand containing humus than from that without it. 
 
 Humus can, in certain cases, produce a more useful effect ; it can, 
 in a certain measure, increase the return : this effect takes place when 
 the humus is associated with carbonate of lime. 
 
 To prove it let us make four new experiments. 
 
 Institute a culture in burnt sand, the soil being provided with 
 azotic matter and all the minerals proper to employ in this condition, 
 excepting the carbonate of lime. If we sow 22 grains we will gather 
 from 360 to 396 grains. Add the humus to the sand, the harvest 
 does not change. Substitute carbonate of lime for the humus, still 
 no change. Add the humus and carbonate of lime together, and the 
 return rises to 558 grains. 
 
 These facts are of fundamental importance to practice. Permit 
 me, then, to sum them up in this little table : 
 
 Nature of Soil. Returns. ^ 
 
 1. Complete manure, burnt sand 896 grains. 
 
 2. " " sand with lime 396 " 
 
 3. " " " and humus 396 " 
 
 4. " " " and lime 1.3 oz., or 558 grains. 
 
 The excess of th« ilBturn obtained in this last case is due to the 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 33 
 
 combined action of the humus and carbonate of lime. But in what 
 is the favorable action of the humus manifest ? Is it because of its 
 absorption under the form of humus ? No. Its part is limited to 
 favoring the dissolution of the carbonate of lime ; and to prove it, it 
 is sufficient to make a fifth experiment, in which we replace the car- 
 bonate of lime and humus by sulphate of lime, or, better still, by 
 nitrate of lime, which is niuch more soluble, to see another return 
 of 1.3 ounces or 558 grains. It is useless to add that when we em- 
 ploy nitrate of lime, it is with regard to the azote it contains, and 
 that it enters in with the azotic matter. Thus is demonstrated by in- 
 disputable experiments that the good effects of the humus are due, in 
 this case, to the dissolvent action upon the lime ; and what proves it is 
 the possibility of arriving at the same result by the aid of the salt 
 of lime, which is more soluble than the carbonate. I will even tell 
 you that it is this which has determined me to substitute the sulphate 
 for the carbonate of lime in the composition of the complete manure. 
 
 But you will say, These are the experiments of the laboratory, and 
 in matters of agriculture it is often dangerous to abide by such testi- 
 mony. You ask me for proofs drawn from culture on a large scale. 
 I am happy to be able to give them. 
 
 From a field in Champagne, cultivated for the first time with 
 71,111 pounds of manure to the acre, 19 bushels of wheat were ob- 
 tained, while by using the complete fertilizer the return was raised 
 to 47 bushels ; from an acre of silicious earth in the department 
 of the Aisne, with 36,555.05 pounds of manure, 11.44 bushels of 
 wheat were obtained ; with chemical manure, 40.44 bushels ; the same 
 earth without any manure produced 3.66 bushels ; lastly, in the de- 
 partment of the Drome, on a pebbly hill broken up for the purpose, 
 the earth without manure yielded 4.33 bushels the acre; with 
 34,666.06 pounds of manure it gave 11.44 bushels, and with the 
 complete fertilizer the return was 43.11 bushels. 
 
 Monsieur Payen, in the department of the Aisne, Monsieur de 
 Matharel, in the department of the Oise, and Monsieur le Chevalier 
 Musra, in Italy, have obtained like re,sults. 
 
 Upon land chosen from among the poorest, where large quantities 
 *)f manure have produced 11.44 to 14.22 bushels, the complete fertili- 
 zer has determined a return of from 36 to 43 bushels the acre. 
 
 Thus, gentlemen, a few experiments have been sufficient to define 
 the. functions of all the agents of fertility that the soil should con- 
 tain or which we should furnish it by fertilizers. 
 
 A priori, one would think that a chemical analysis which has been 
 pushed so far in our day, and whose methods have acquired at the 
 same time so much delicacy and certainty, ought at least to give us 
 a means of estimating with certainty the richness of the soil, and so 
 guiding us in the choice of the manure best suited to its nature. 
 There is, none, however, and I defy the most skillful chemist to say 
 in advance what will be the return from earth submitted to him, and 
 what manures are most appropriate. 
 
 A few words will explain the reason why chemistry is powerless to 
 furnish us with these indications : you must recall the distinctions we 
 3 
 
tJ4 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 have drawn between the different elements of which the soil is com- 
 posed. 
 
 Let us suppose a soil containing both quartz sand and feldspar 
 sand among its mechanical elements. For vegetation these two 
 sands are equivalent, although, the first is from silica and nothing but 
 silica, while the second is a silicate based upon lime, potash and soda, 
 besides containing phosphate of lime in very feeble but very appre- 
 ciable quantities. 
 
 Here, then, are two bodies whose composition, in spite of similitude 
 of exterior, have no analogy, and wdiich, however, are equivalent in 
 an agricultural point of view, because the feldspar being insoluble 
 in w-ater its role in regard to vegetation descends to that of the quartz 
 sand ; that is to say, to a simple mechanical element. But for the 
 chemist there are no insoluble bodies, so he confounds in one whole 
 the potash, lime and phosphate of lime that the feldspar sand con- 
 tains, though they are of no use in vegetation, with the products of 
 the same nature which we have ranged under the class of active as- 
 similable elements. Thus is explained tlie insufficiency of tlie signs 
 witli which chemistry can furnish us. 
 
 We have a striking example of the dangers of the confusion into 
 which we are often draw^n in the farm at Vincennes. After an anal- 
 ysis which I made with the greatest care of this soil, in 3,555,555.05 
 pounds — which pretty nearly represents tlie vegetable layer spread 
 over the surface of an acre — there w^ere : 
 
 Phosphoric acid 1596.66 lbs. . 
 
 Potash 2045.33 lbs. 
 
 Lime 34,991.66 lbs. 
 
 This constitutes a considerable fund of fertility. Now, if we culti- 
 vate wheat on this land for four successive years, employing azotic 
 matter as a fertilizer, at the end of the four years the return will not 
 be more than from 7.11 to 8.44 bushels. 
 
 The soil show^s a penury of minerals, and these harvests have 
 shown but 
 
 Phosphoric acid 74.55 lbs. 
 
 Potash 81.77 lbs. 
 
 Lime 35.45 lbs. 
 
 from the land. Very different quantities from those shown by the 
 chemical analysis. 
 
 AVas there an error, then, in my analysis ? No, gentlemen : the 
 soil contains just what I reported ; but this indication cannot be of 
 any practical use, because in the mixture of these minerals we have 
 not distinguished between those which are active in regard to plants 
 and those which are inert. 
 
 Doubtless you find this conclusion very unsatisfactory. 
 
 To what good giving ourselves the trouble to discover the agents 
 to which plants owe their formation, and to define the conditions of 
 their efficacy, if at last we are not able to recognize their presence in 
 the soil in the especial forms which assure their good effects ? 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 35 
 
 Happily it is not so. The ideas which chemistry cannot furnish on 
 this head we can acquire by other means, and I add, that these pro- 
 cesses are not only the door of the agriculturist, but even enter into 
 his daily work. 
 
 I have told you that plants are divided into two categories by the 
 relation to the different forms under which they assimilate azote. 
 Some take it from the air in the form of elementary azote, while 
 others draw it by preference from the soil in the form of ammonia 
 and nitrates. 
 
 You know the consequence of this distinction. The plants which 
 draw azote from the air flourish in a soil deprived of it if they find 
 the three minerals of the complete fertilizer — viz., phosphate of lime, 
 potash and lime. Plants which borrow azote from the soil, on the 
 contrary, become diseased and give but a poor produce. 
 
 It follows from this that by the aid of these two little trials of 
 culture one can always know if the earth contains azotic matter and 
 the minerals. 
 
 Cultivate peas and wheat, or peas and beets, alongside each other. 
 If the peas yield much and the wheat very little, you may without 
 hesitation conclude from that that the land, though provided with 
 minerals, is wanting in azotic matter. 
 
 At Vincennes, when the earth had not received a fertilizer nothing 
 succeeded, which proved that it was destitute both of azote and the 
 minerals. 
 
 These indications, although useful, are not sufficient for the ex- 
 igencies of practice. It needs more precise facts in regard to the 
 ])resence or absence of each component of the complete fertilizer ; 
 that is to say, the phosphate of lime, the potash, lime and azotic 
 matter. 
 
 These new indications are as easy to obtain as the first, in the 
 following manner : 
 
 Suppose you institute seven cultures of the same plant — it may be 
 of the beet or wheat ; as you will. 
 
 To the first give the complete fertilizer ; to the second, the same 
 fertilizer excludijig azotic matter ; to the third, the complete fertilizer 
 deprived of phosphate of lime ; to the fourth, the complete fertilizer 
 less the potash ; to the fifth, less the lime ; to the sixth, less all the 
 minerals — that is to say, reduced to the azotic matter ; the seventh 
 not having received any manure. 
 
 It is very evident that if in the complete fertilizer the effect proper 
 to each component is manifest but as it is associated with three 
 others, the comparison of the returns obtained from the seven strips 
 of the little field ought to indicate what the soil contains and in what 
 it is wanting. 
 
 In this system of investigation the culture with the complete 
 fertilizer becomes, in a measure, the invariable standard of compar- 
 ison to which are referred the returns of the other strips of ground, 
 and according as they approach or recede we conclude that the earth 
 contains or does not contain the element which has been voluntarily 
 excluded from the fertilizer. 
 
36 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 To put the value of this method beyond doubt, I will report the 
 results given under three different conditions. 
 
 At the experimental farm at Vincennes were obtained in 1864 the 
 following returns from wheat : 
 
 Complete fertilizer 56.44 bu. 
 
 " " without lime 53.33 " 
 
 potash 40.44 " 
 
 phosphate 34.66 " 
 
 " azotic matter 18.88" 
 
 Without any fertilizer 15.88 " 
 
 The conclusion is evident. At Vincennes the complete fertilizer 
 was necessary ; the azotic matter was most deficient. 
 
 An eminent agriculturist of the department of the Somme 
 furnished me with my second example, which is upon the beet : 
 
 Complete fertilizer 45.04 lbs. the acre. 
 
 without lime 41.03 
 
 potash 37.03 
 
 phosphate 32.08 
 
 " " " azotic matter 32. 
 
 Without any fertilizer .22.02 
 
 You see here, also, the earth is wanting in azotic matter, and to put 
 it under high culture we must have recourse to the complete fertilizer. 
 
 This experiment was made at Mesnil-Saint-Nicaise, under the care 
 of M. Cavallier. 
 
 I will borrow my third example from a culture of sugar-cane, in- 
 stituted by the Hon. M. de Zebrun, of Guadaloupe, a former delegate 
 from that colony : 
 
 Complete fertilizer 50,666 lbs. the acre. 
 
 • " " without lime 44,444 
 
 potash 32,111 
 
 phosphate 13,333 
 
 « " " azote 49,777 
 
 Without any fertilizer 2,666 
 
 If I add tliat sugar-cane particularly draws its azote from the air, 
 you will conclude that the soil is particularly wanting in potash and 
 phosphate of lime. 
 
 Here are, then, two methods of knowing the richness of the land. 
 The first founded on the culture of two different plants without any 
 fertilizer, and the second on the culture of the same plant with five 
 different fertilizers. These two applications of the same principles 
 lead to the same results, and verify and complete each other. 
 
 I need not add, that for each of these trials to have its full signifi- 
 cation the earth must not be used until the effect of each fertilizer 
 has been spent. 
 
 You see, gentlemen, after having defined all the agents which enter 
 into the composition of plants, we have distinguished between those 
 of which nature furnishes an inexhaustible supply to vegetation, and 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 37 
 
 tliose, oil the contrary, which our industry must furnish to the soil. 
 Further, by the aid of our experiments in burnt sand, and with only 
 chemical products, we have realized a theoretic scale of culture whose 
 progressive returns have shown us the laws which regulate vegetable 
 productions. By the light of this collection of ideas we were enabled 
 to conceive and to realize practical processes of analysis accessible to 
 all, whose testimony is of almost absolute certainty, and by means of 
 which we can always say what a land contains, what it needs, and 
 can consequently determine the nature of the agents to which we 
 must have recourse to fertilize it. 
 
 In our next lecture we will follow the consequences of these prin- 
 ciples, and will occupy ourselves particularly with the returns to be 
 obtained in practice by the aid of chemical fertilizers. 
 
 LECTUEE FOURTH. 
 
 GENTLEMEN: It is true that phosphate of lime, potash and 
 lime united to an azotic matter are the agents, par excellence, of 
 vegetable production. Manure, which until now has been the agri- 
 culturist's sole means of increasing the fertility of the soil, ought 
 necessarily to contain all the four. 
 
 Here are three analyses of manure. They fully justify this pro- 
 vision, for they all show the presence of azote, phosphoric acid, pot- 
 ash and lime : ' ' 
 
 100 OF DRY MANUEE 
 
 from farm from farm from farm 
 
 * of of of 
 
 Vincennes. Bechelbronn. Tbiergarten. 
 
 Organic Elements. 
 Carbon 
 
 olSr.::::;::::::} 59.65 65.50 64.67 
 
 Azote..... 2.08 2.00 2.56 
 
 Mineral Elements. 
 
 Phos.acid 0.88 1.00 1.26 
 
 Sulphuric acid traces. 0.63 0.82 
 
 Chlorine 0.70 0.20 0.32 
 
 Aluminum per 
 
 Oxide of iron 0.68 2.03 1.51 
 
 Lime 5.23 2.83 3.70 
 
 Magnesia 0.32 1.20 1.88 
 
 Soda traces. 2.60 0.87 
 
 Potash 2.46 2.60 3.87 
 
 Soluble silica 1.45 22.13 6.25 
 
 Sand 25.66 22.13 10.77 
 
 You see, besides the four terms of the complete fertilizer, the ma- 
 nure contains carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. 
 
38 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 But after what I have told you of the origin of these three bodies 
 you will not be surprised if I tell you that their presence in the 
 manure does not add to its good effects. The same observation with 
 regard to the chlorate of sodium, of aluminum, of magnesia, of soda, 
 of silica, of the oxide of iron, etc., which manure contains, and which 
 we have excluded from the complete fertilizer, because poor land is 
 always superabundantly provided with them. 
 
 Thus, then, the first result is that manure, the incontestable symbol 
 of fertility, contains the four bodies which, according to us, are the 
 regulators, par excellence, of production, and the only ones with which 
 agricultural industry need occupy itself I repeat, this is an incon- 
 testable justification of our previous studies ; but that this justification 
 may be complete and without appeal to the identity of composition, 
 must be added that of efiect. In this respect practice again confirms 
 our teachings. The returns from our complete fertilizer always ex- 
 ceed those obtained from manure. 
 
 This conclusion is of more value as it is the result from facts bor- 
 rowed from a large culture. I owe them to agriculturists who, like 
 you, are seeking truth, and who, at my request, willingly instituted 
 several comparative experiments between the chemical fertilizer and 
 the manure of the farm. 
 
 In all these experiments the advantage rests with the chemical 
 fertilizers. The first result I will show you was obtained by M. de 
 Peyrat, sub-director on the school-farm of Beyrie, in Landes. 
 
 On a land of ordinary quality three cultures of beet w^ere instituted 
 — the first without any fertilizer, the second with the complete 
 manure, and the third with 71,136 pounds of manure. 
 
 Roots the acre. 
 
 On the land without manure the return was 7,264.06 
 
 With 71,136 pounds of manure it reached 43,844.07 
 
 With the chemical fertilizer it rose to 47,111.24 
 
 The chemical manure was used in the quantity of 1511 pounds, 
 w^hich showed itself superior to a manuring of 71,136 pounds of barn- 
 yard manure. 
 
 With M. le, Marquis de Virien, in the Isere, the same result: 
 
 Roots the acre. 
 
 From 44,444.04 pounds of barnyard manure the yield 
 
 was 41,600 lbs. 
 
 From 1733 pounds of the complete fertilizer was ob- 
 tained 44,444.04" 
 
 With M. Leroy, at Varennes (Oise), from 1243 pounds 
 
 of chemical fertilizer, the return was 55,440 " 
 
 From 44,444.04 pounds of barnyard manure, with the 
 addition of 133.03 pounds of guano, the return only 
 rose to 35,568 " 
 
 At Guadaloupe, on some of the worst land of the colony, barnyard 
 niaiiure produced 28,418.56 poundf? of cane the acre. 
 
 The clicmiical fertilizer 51,552.32 lbs. 
 
 And tlie land Vvithout anv fertilizer 2,666.24 " 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 39 
 
 Here are significant facts. I have said they come from distin- 
 guished practical men, animated with the desire of progressing, who 
 attack these problems with prejudice, and who are now lending me 
 the most valued help. 
 
 With M. Cavallier, at Mesnil-Saint-Nicaise 
 
 (Somme), from 44,444.14 lbs. of manure 
 
 (still cultivating the beet), the return was.. 30,011.01 lbs. the acre. 
 From 1733 pounds of the chemical fertilizer 
 
 it was raised to , ,53,013.03 " 
 
 The same results from wheat and Irish potatoes. 
 
 With MM. Masron and Isarn, at Evreux, the com- 
 plete fertilizer produced the acr(^ in wheat 58 bushels. 
 
 While from 26,664.01 pounds of manure the acre were 
 
 returned but 14.70 " 
 
 AVith M. Bravay, in the department of Drome, on a 
 pebbly hillock, cleared for the experiment, the yield 
 from the complete fertilizer was 43.50 " 
 
 Frbm 25,737 pounds of barnyard manure 14.50 " 
 
 And from the land without any fertilizer 3 " 
 
 That is to say, hardly the seed. 
 
 But the most remarkable result from wheat is that obtained by 
 M. Pousard from entirely uncultivated land in Champagne, hardly 
 worth $14.35 the acre, and from which he obtained, with 1066 pounds 
 of the chemical fertilizer, 47.50 bushels of wheat ; with 1555 cubic 
 feet of manure, 19 bushels. In giving me an account of these result? 
 M. Pousard wrote me : " The land upon which I am operating is a 
 land which has never known the plough, and is hardly worth $14.35 
 the acre. The wheat developed vigorously before the winter of 1865, 
 and in the whole course of its vegetation was always superior to the 
 vneighboring grain on manure. To this vigor it owed so quick a ma- 
 turity that I was able to harvest it before the rains. I could have 
 sold it at a high price as seed-wheat, for the grain was remarkably 
 fine." 
 
 At the market prices the acre would have yielded : 
 
 Culture with the Chemical Fertilizer. 
 
 1119 quintals of wheat, at $6.65 $73.88 
 
 Cost of fertilizer 27.02 
 
 Profit $46.86 
 
 Culture with Barnyard Manure. 
 
 1555 cubic feet of manure, at 4 per cent $62.20 
 
 4.44 quintals of wheat, at $6.08 26.99 
 
 Loss $35.21 
 
 I need not remark that M. Pousard in this resume kept no account . 
 of details, but simply set in relief the contrast of the results — a con- 
 trast the more significant, as it shows a difference of from $60 to $70 
 —that is to say, four times the value of the cost. 
 
40 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 The harvest obtained by M. Pousard is truly so astonishing one 
 dare hardly believe the facts. We therefore take great interest in 
 affirming them by analogous facts, which make them lose the cha- 
 racter of exceptions which we are tempted to attribute to them. 
 With this view I will report the two following results. 
 
 On an acre of sand-land of very mferior quality Mr. Leon Payen 
 obtained this year with the chemical fertilizer : ' 
 
 1. 40.44 bushels, at S1.57*, actual price $63.84 
 
 2. 5400 pounds straw 20.52 
 
 3. Waste straw .34 
 
 Total $84.70 
 
 35,523.20 pounds of manure only produced from the same earth — 
 
 1. 11.55 bushels grain, at $1.571 $18.2 
 
 2. Straw, 1511 pounds 3.72 
 
 3. Waste straw .34 
 
 Total $24.30 
 
 As to tile same soil without a fertilizer, it only furnished 3.69 
 bushels. 
 
 Is it necessary to support the testimony of M. Payen ? The Hon. 
 M. de Matharel, Inspector General of Finances, has given me the 
 means to do it. On the 26th of July he wrote me that upon land 
 which had only produced a coarse bread corn he had this year ob- 
 tained 36 bushels of wheat. 
 
 Let us contrast these four results : 
 
 Culture of Wheat — Return per acre. 
 
 M. Pousard M. Bravay M. Payen M. de Matharel 
 
 (Champagne). (Drome). (Aisne). (Puy de Ddme). 
 
 bu. bu. bu. bu. 
 
 Chemical fertilizer 47 43 39 36 
 
 Manure 18 15 11 36 
 
 Without fertilizer 18 4 3.69 3€ 
 
 Here are four results obtained from four different parts of France, 
 always on poor land, whose returns so resemble each other that they 
 are puzzling. 
 
 The results obtained from the Irish potato are not the less signifi- 
 cant. 
 
 With M. le Marquis de Harrincourt the complete fertilizer pro- 
 duced 14,222 pounds of tubers the acre. 
 
 From 29,333 pounds of manure only 7111 pounds Were obtained. 
 
 I have myself exceeded at Vincennes returns of from 22,222 
 pounds to 26,666 pounds. 
 
 With M. Lavaux, at the farm of Choisy-le-Temple, on a piece of 
 8.44 acres, were obtained — 
 
 1st year, wheat ^ 57 bu. the acre. 
 
 2d year, colza 47 " 
 
 3d year, wheat 39 " 
 
 The third year the wheat fell down. 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 41 
 
 In 1867 the returns from beets oscillated between 48,844 and 
 62,160 pounds of roots the acre, but with 35,520 pounds of manure 
 the returns did not exceed 31,111 pounds. 
 
 Shall we speak of the sugar-cane? In 1867 M. de Zebrun ob- 
 tained at Guadaloupe : 
 
 'Canes Stripped of Leaves. 
 
 Chemical fertilizer 75,316 lbs. the acre. 
 
 Manure 55,428 lbs. 
 
 Land without fertilizer 23,617 lbs. " 
 
 You know, gentlemen, that practice has proved there is a real 
 advantage in varying crops with manures. But returns are thus 
 obtained otherwise than by always cultivating the same plant. Does 
 the alternation of crops with the chemical fertilizer offer the same 
 advantage? We reply without hesitation, Yes. In these new con- 
 ditions the chemical fertilizers preserve their superiority. Wheat, 
 succeeding peas, produced 66 bushels ; after the beet, 49 ; after wheat, 
 47. ■ 
 
 The chemical manures act in all points like manure : from this re 
 suits a new proof that, despite their want of resemblance, the chemi- 
 cal fertilizers and the manure owe their effects to the same cause, and 
 that there is an entire community of nature between them. 
 
 We . have now arrived at, if possible, a more important point of 
 consideration than the preceding. 
 
 The source of profit in agriculture depends particularly on the 
 manuring, and unfortunately, when one produces his own manure, he 
 is not master of as much manure as he would wish. 
 
 The quantity of manure disposed of in rural culture depends on 
 its organization, the number of animals raised, or rather fed there — 
 consequently on the surface devoted to the meadow — and finally the 
 rolling capital possessed. A great deal of time, discernment and 
 prudence is necessary in changiug a culture ; for everything depends 
 on it on an estate where the production of the cereals and of manure 
 is the main object. ' 
 
 With the chemical fertilizer, on the contrary, agriculture acquires 
 an almost absolute liberty of action ; the quantity of the fertilizer 
 can be regulated at will. It is only limited by the amount of capital. 
 
 By the use of chemical fertilizers one may, in a measure, by to- 
 morrow evening, change a doubtful culture to the order of the 
 highest, and consequently obtain a large instead of a mediocre profit. 
 
 You understand, gentlemen, that here is the knot of all future 
 questions in agriculture ; I therefore insist on taking things at the 
 beginning. 
 
 I say that the profit from agriculture depends on the quantity of 
 fertilizers given to the land. So dependent is it on this that without 
 fertilizers the harvest is weak and the profit nothing, the whole end- 
 ing in a loss. With abundant manuring the returns are increased 
 and the profit certain, for the excess of expense is but the half or 
 the third of the price of the excess of harvest. 
 
42 CHEMICAL MANUllES. 
 
 To make this truth plainer, permit me to remind you that the 
 cultivation of the soil involves two kinds of expenses : 
 
 Fixed expenses, which are always the same, be the culture good or 
 had ; such are the taxes, the rent that the farmer pays his proprietor, 
 the cost of seed, etc. 
 
 ^ Then come the variable expenses, which comprehend transporta- 
 tion, thrashing of the grain, and finally the manures. 
 
 Now, I maintain that the agriculturist who uses but little manure 
 loses, while the one who uses much is always benefited. How can 
 it be otherwise? The fertilizer is the foundation of the harvest. 
 
 But these are too grave questions to be simply announced. Let us 
 analyze facts, let us decompose the account of the products and ex- 
 pense, to definitely fix our ideas upon this point. To give more 
 generality to our conclusions, I will take as a point of departure the 
 return of 20 bushels, which is the mean return in France. Accord- 
 ing to Matthieude Dombasle, the minimum expense for such a return 
 is 824.82 the acre. Reduced to $20.60 the acre by the price of the 
 straw, thus there results from this discount — 
 
 Fixed expenses — 
 
 Rent $3.81 
 
 General expenses 4.39 
 
 Cost of culture 3.63 
 
 Seed 3.86— $16.60 
 
 Variable expenses — 
 
 Manuring 6.24 
 
 Harvest, thrashing, etc 2.87 — 9.11 
 
 Total expenses $25.71 
 
 From which is deducted the straw 4.22 
 
 Remains $21.49 
 
 for 20 bushels, which raises the price of a bushel to $1.03. 
 
 Suppose that without changing anything in the regime of the farm 
 of Roville, without reducing the number of animals, without mod- 
 ifying the existing relation between the .difiPerent cultures and the 
 mode of culture, we had suddenly increased the cost of manuring, by 
 a quantity of the chemical fertilizer, to $10.13 the acre, which would 
 bring it from $6.24 to $16.37 the acre, all the other expenses remain- 
 ing the same. What has been the consequence ? The return W' ould 
 have passed from 20 bushels to 44 bushels ! I say 44 — I might say 
 49 bushels, but like best to take a minimum — and from $1.03 the cost 
 of a bushel of wheat would be brought down to 93y% cents. 
 
 Let us take up our figures again : 
 
 Fixed expenses, like the preceding $16.60 
 
 Variable expenses— Manuring $16.37 
 
 Harvest and thrashing. . . 5.06— 21.43 
 
 Total expenses $38.03 
 
 The straw deducted 8.13 
 
 Result $29.90 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 43 
 
 which will easily change the cost of the bushel from $1.03 to 93y^^- 
 cents. 
 
 I have always told you, the superiority of a high culture depends 
 upon this circumstance — that the increase of expense from the use 
 of strong manures was always inferior to the value of the excess of 
 harvest. 
 
 In the first case, where the return was 20 bushels, and the cost 
 $1.03, if we fix the price of sale at $1.16 the bushel, the harvest 
 represents the value of $23.20, and the net profit $2.60 the acre. 
 
 In the second case, despite the increased expense of $10.13, which 
 the excess of straw reduced to $6.22, the harvest was worth $117.84, 
 and the net profit increased to $23.20 instead of $2.60 the acre. 
 
 Another consequence resulting from these facts so little known— 
 that it is better to till and manure well than to waste one's efforts and 
 resources over a large surface scantily manured. 
 
 Suppose an agriculturist to have $5700 at his disposal ; if he pro-- 
 ceeds as at the institute of Koville, where they spend $57 the acre, 
 he can cultivate 225 acres. What will be the result ? — 
 
 Straw, at $4.22 the acre $950 
 
 Grain — 22.22 bu. per acre would be about 4550 bu., 
 
 at about $1.17 5320 
 
 Total $6270 
 
 —$6270 of produce against $5700 ; profit, $570. With the same 
 capital, if we apply the system of strong manuring, one can cultivate 
 but 153.45 acres instead of 225, but these 153.45 acres will produce 
 $9264.97, instead of $6270. Thus, 
 
 Straw, at, say, $8.02 the acre $1231.08 
 
 6865 bu. of grain from 44.74 bu. per acre, selling 
 
 at $1.17 8033.96 
 
 Total $9264.97 
 
 which raises the profit from $570 to $3564.97. 
 
 You will remark, gentlemen, there is no hazardous innovation or 
 revolutionary proceeding, but certain ameliorations of which practice 
 begins to gather the fruits. 
 
 I maintain that grain can be raised at 64 to 70 cents per bushel, 
 and I prove it. If it is a revolution, it is at least a revolution of 
 which no one can dispute the benefits, and which will be accom- 
 plished, no matter what opposition; for truth always ends by 
 triumphing over resistance and routine. 
 
 After having clearly showed the most immediate result attained 
 by employing chemical manures, let us prove by facts the exactitude 
 of these indications. 
 
 For example, I will take a continued culture of wheat. 
 
 In a period of four years the mean return obtained the acre was 
 4260 pounds of straw and 44 bushels of grain. I insist upon this 
 result, because I wish to warn you against some dangers in relation 
 to azotic matter. 
 
 When, on the faith of my studies in the laboratory, I commenced 
 
44 CHEMICAL MANUEES. 
 
 my experiments here at Vincennes, having nothing to direct me but 
 theoretic views, which I wished to reduce to facts, I first asked, What 
 will be the duration of a good manuring with chemical fertilizers ? 
 The manure employed was as follows : 
 
 Tlie acre. 
 
 Phosphate of lime 355 lbs. 
 
 Potash 118 " 
 
 Lime 266 " 
 
 Sal ammoniac ' 577 " 
 
 which represents 151 pounds of azote the acre. 
 
 The land was given me too late to sow in wheat in autumn ; I 
 sowed it in March. 
 
 The growth was very pretty ; the stalks shot up with so much vigor 
 they fell down, which injured the harvest. However, all things 
 counted, the return showed 44 bushels of grain and 3777 pounds of 
 straw. 
 
 The second year the same accident happened, consequent on a still 
 more luxuriant growth. It not falling until late, the return was more 
 affected ; it descended to 34 bushels of grain and 6168 pounds of 
 straw. 
 
 The third year the grain was sown in autumn instead of March, 
 and things were different. This time the growth was equally splen- 
 did, but the stalks did not fall. So the returns were increased to 67 
 bushels of grain and 6168 pounds of straw. 
 
 Lastly, the fourth year I obtained 34 bushels of grain and 4000 
 pounds of straw. 
 
 The total of these four harvests is represented by grain, 179 
 bushels ; straw, 20136 pounds — giving a mean of grain, 44 bushels ; 
 straw, 5034 pounds. 
 
 What conclusions can we draw from this experience ? Two. The 
 first is, that 151 pounds of azote is too much at one time the acre for 
 wheat, because accidents are then almost inevitable : if it does not 
 fall, it rarely escapes rust ; and if it avoids both, the straw is so fully 
 developed that the return of grain is diminished. I propose to you 
 the following formulae, which at present I consider the best : 
 
 First Year — Wheat. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 1, 1066 pounds. 
 
 /-y . , . The acre. 
 
 Composition : Quantity. Price. 
 
 Phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $ 5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47, 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 222 " 9.50 
 
 Sulphate of lime 311 " M 
 
 Cost $25.96 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Cost »„. $11.40 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. * 45 
 
 Third Year. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 1, 1066 pounds. 
 
 CompOSUlon: Quantity"^"' "%nce. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 222 " 9.50 
 
 Sulphate of lime 311 " .m 
 
 Cost 125.96 
 
 Total , $63.32 
 
 Fourth Year — Wheat 
 
 Brought down $63.32 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 11.40 
 
 Expense for 4 years 74.72 
 
 Mean expense per year $18.68 
 
 Thus, from an expense each year of $18.68 a mean return of from 
 43 to 60 bushels of wheat is obtained. 
 
 I would advise you to use the following for an alternate culture of 
 wheat and colza : 
 
 First Year — Colza. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 6, 1155 pounds. 
 Composition : 
 
 Phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 106 " 6.28 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 355 " 15.20 
 
 Sulphate of lime 333 " .U 
 
 Expense $27.52 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Ashes of straw and husk of colza 
 
 Total expense $38.92 
 
 Total expense per year $19.46 
 
 In this case we open the fallow with the colza, which is a weedy 
 plant, and by cultivating it clear the soil' of bad weeds. After the 
 harvest, burn the husk and straw of the colza on the ground, and 
 turn it in with the plough, so as to reduce as much as possible the 
 quantity of potash and phosphate of lime lost by the soil. Spread 
 the sulphate of ammonia broadcast in the spring. 
 
 I pass to a succession of four years, much appreciated in practice, 
 and which recommends itself by the facility with which it permits 
 the triennial succession to be replaced by the alternate and continued 
 successions. It comprehends the following succession of harvests : 
 
 First year, Irish potatoes. 
 
 Second year, wheat. 
 
 Third year, clover. 
 
 Fourth year, wheat. 
 These are the fertilizers to be used : 
 
46 * CHEMICAL MANURKS. 
 
 First Year. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 3, 887 pounds. 
 
 Co7nposition : ^ The acre. 
 
 -^ Quantity. Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $ 5.57 
 
 Nitrate of potash 266 " 15.70 
 
 Sulphate of lime ; 266 " ^0 
 
 Expense $21.77 
 
 Second Year — WJieat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Third Year — Clover. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " .67 
 
 Expense $16.54 
 
 Fourth Year — Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Total expense.. $61.11 
 
 Annual expense $15.27 
 
 For a succession of four years, comprehending beets, wheat, clover, 
 wheat, the preceding fertilizers must be replaced by the following. 
 
 First Year — Beets. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 2, double, 1154.16 lbs. 
 Compodtion : 
 
 xVcid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $ 5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Nitrate of soda 355 " 11.82 
 
 Sulphate, of lime 266 " ^ 
 
 Expense $28.19 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $ 11.40 
 
 Expense $11.40 
 
 Third Year — Clover. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 877 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $ 5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " .67 
 
 Expense $16.54 
 
 Fourth Year. — Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Total expense $67.53 
 
 Annual expense.. $18.88 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 47 
 
 I pass to a more complex succession, for it embraces a period of five 
 years, and comprehends Irish potatoes, wheat, clover, colza and wheat 
 Here are the fertilizers to be employed in this case : 
 
 First Year — Irish Poiatoes. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 3, 887 lbs. 
 
 r^ •, . Tho acre. 
 
 CompOSlhon: ^ Quantity. Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime ; 355 lbs. $ 5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 266 "• 15.70 
 
 Sulphate of lime • 266 " .50 
 
 Expense $21.60 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Third Year — Clover. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition: 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $ 5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 175 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " ^7 
 
 Expense $16.54 
 
 Fourth Year — Colza. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 355 lbs. $15.27 
 
 Fifth Year— Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Ashes of the straw and husks of the colza.. " 
 
 Total expense $76.11 
 
 Annual expense 15.22 
 
 To show how necessary to regulate the quantity of manure to the 
 nature of the plant, I will show the results of three experiments made 
 by M. Cavallier on the beet, with the progressive quantities of sul- 
 phate of ammonia, the manner of passing from 71 pounds of azote to 
 106 pounds the acre, the proportion of the other terms not being 
 changed : 
 
 Roots tho acre. 
 
 Without azote 32,741 lbs. 
 
 With 355 pounds sulph- ammonia 32,740 " 
 
 With 444 " " 42,064 " 
 
 With 578 " " 63,012 " 
 
 You will remark, gentlemen, the correspondence between the in- 
 crease of the progressive return and the corresponding increase of the 
 azotic matter. What is the financial result ? 
 
 The fertilizer without azotic matter, reduced to minerals alone — 
 that is to say, to phosphate of lime, potash and lime — produced 
 32,740 pounds of roots the acre. Now, if we take this return as a 
 point of departure, we find the excess of harvest, determined by the 
 use of sulphate of ammonia, increases in proportion to the amount 
 of ammonia employed. 
 
48 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 With 355 pounds of sulphate of ammonia the profit was $5.47. 
 
 With 444 pounds of sulphate of ammonia the profit was $7.13. 
 
 With 578 pounds of sulphate of ammonia the profit was $20.57. 
 
 These results, which I borrowed from one of the most distinguished 
 departments of the Somme, show — 
 
 1st. That the beet requires much azotic matter ; 
 
 2d. That up to 117 pounds of azote the acre the benefit is propor- 
 tioned to the amount of sulphate of ammonia employed. 
 
 A succession of six years, comprehending flax, beets, wheat, colza, 
 wheat, oats, barley or rye : 
 
 First Year — Flax. 
 Incomplete fertilizer, No. 2, 888 pounds. 
 
 /^ ., • The acre. 
 
 tompOSlhon : Quantity. I'rioo. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $ 5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " ^^67 
 
 Expense $16.54 
 
 Second Year — Beets. 
 Complete fertilizer, 1066 pounds. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $ 5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Nitrate of soda 266 " 8.86 
 
 Sulphate of lime 266 " .50 
 
 Expense $25.23 
 
 Third Year— Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Expense $11.40 
 
 Fourth Year — Colza. 
 Complete fertilizer, 1152 pounds. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $ 5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 106 " 6.24 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 355 " 15.27 
 
 Sulphate of lime 338 " .m 
 
 Expense $27.50 
 
 ' Fifth Year— Wheat. 
 Ashes of the straw and husk of the colza 
 
 turned in by the plough 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Expense $11.40 
 
 Sixth Year — Oats, Rye or Barley. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 177 lbs. $ 7.60 
 
 Expense $ 7.60 
 
 Total expense $99.67 
 
 Annual expense $16.60 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 49 
 
 This succession of cultures, treated as I show, always gives mag- 
 nificent harvests. 
 
 I will end these tables with the two fertilizers which I now consider 
 the best for lucerne and the vine : 
 
 Fertilizer for laicernejor One Year. 
 
 The acre. 
 Quantity. Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. % 5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " ^ 
 
 Expense $16.54 
 
 Fertilizer for the Vine for Two Years. 
 Complete fertilizer, No. 4, 1332 pounds. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 532 lbs. $8.10 
 
 Nitrate of potash 444 " 26.17 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " ^ 
 
 Expense $34.94 
 
 Annual expense $17.47 
 
 There is one point, gentlemen, to which I cannot too strictly call 
 your attention : it is the manner of employing the chemical fertilizers. 
 
 It is not injurious to spread manure unequally, provided the in- 
 equality is not too great. 
 
 With the chemical fertilizers, on the contrary, inequality in spread- 
 ing may compromise the success of the harvest. This part of the 
 work needs particular attention. There is an excellent machine for 
 the purpose. When one has not a machine, the best method is to 
 mix the chemical fertilizer with three times its volume of earth, and 
 spread it broadcast after the last ploughing and before harrowing. 
 The addition of the earth corrects the ill effects of irregularity in 
 spreading. This mode of spreading, it is true, involves some addi- 
 tional expense, but it is fully compensated, for if well spread the yield 
 is increased by two to four bushels tho acre — that is to say, $5 in- 
 crease at a cost of from 40 to 50 cents the acre. Here the care is 
 well repaid. 
 
 Another question now presents itself, gentlemen (which I have 
 trep,ted in detail in my discourses of 1864), which need not detain us, 
 but on which I must say a few words, to answer certain fears against 
 which I wish to warn you. 
 
 Not able to deny the results which I have just shown you, because 
 too many agriculturists have verified their exactitude, the following 
 objection is made : 
 
 " The chemical fertilizers are but a precariou s reliance : when their 
 use becomes general the price will become so ri lised it will be impos- 
 sible to employ tliem." 
 
 Some few explanations will sufiice, I belie ve, to overthrow this 
 objection. 
 
 Let us take the four terms of the complete fertilizer separately, 
 and balance the sources of each which nature « offers. 
 
 4 
 
50 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 The Pho^hate of Lime. — For twenty years no other source was 
 known for phosphate of lime than the bones of animals. It is cer- 
 tain, if we had no other source, its use could not become j^eneral. 
 But it is not so. We know that phosphate of lime forms a part of 
 all volcanic rocks, and that in several countries there are sources of 
 inexhaustible richness. 
 
 In the environs of Logrosan, in Estremadura, there are eight or 
 ten veins, over an extent of 1000 feet, seventy or eighty-five per cent, 
 rich in real phosphate, and whose full extent is not known. There 
 are others in Canada and Sweden. 
 
 Phosphate is found in most marls. Considerable, deposits have 
 been found underlying cretaceous earth, which have become the 
 object of a regular working in the departments of Ardennes and 
 Moselle. Although not so rich as that at Estremadura, this de- 
 posit contains from sixteen to eighteen per cent, phosphoric acid. 
 
 There need be no uneasiness with regard to the phosphates : their 
 price will rather be diminished than increased. 
 
 Potash. — The sources from which we can draw potash are three in 
 number : 
 
 First. Volcanic rocks, which constitute entire chains of mountains, 
 and which contain fifteen per cent. 
 
 Second. The waters of the sea, from which we now extract it with 
 remarkable facility by the admirable method of M. Balerd, and 
 which would be sufficient, in case of need, for all our wants. 
 
 The deposits discovered at Strasfiirth in Prussia four or five years 
 ago are inexhaustible, and from 2000 to 3000 feet thick, spread over 
 an undetermined extent. These deposits, which are attached to a forma- 
 tion of fossil salt, authorise us in believing that this discovery cannot 
 but become general, since the deposits at Strasfiirth are sufficient for 
 several centuries, and after them we will have long chains of moun- 
 tains and the w^aters of the sea. 
 
 Azotic Matter. — Here, I confess, if we were condemned to employ 
 only ammoniac and nitrate compositions, there would be apparent 
 reason in saying that the actual sources known are insufficient, but 
 new sources are added to these. I will cite, for example, the fabrica- 
 tion of coke, w.hich is done in the open air ; it will only be necessary 
 to make it in furnaces to draw considerable quantities of ammonia 
 from it. , 
 
 But if all three sources failed, we have still the azote of the air. 
 My attention has long been directed to this point. 
 
 I have said that some plants draw their azote from the air, while 
 others find it in the soil. From this, consequently, there is the possi- 
 bility of coming to the aid of the second by the help of the first. 
 
 This method is alrcjady applied in culture. Green manures are 
 only valuable from this fact. It is then possible to make them gen- 
 eral, and to make them more efficacious is to push the yield of plants 
 which draw azote from the air to the utmost limit. I will cite lucerne 
 as an example, which draws from 266 to 355 pounds the acre of azote 
 from the air, which would be sufficient to enrich at least 9.11 acres 
 cultivated in wheat. Thus, if all other sources of azotic matter were 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 61 
 
 exhausted, there would always remain the azote of the air, which is 
 thrown off by the plants themselves. 
 
 But this is an extreme supposition. When humanity rests upon a 
 problem, be assured, gentlemen, at the proper moment the problem 
 will be solved. 
 
 The air bei^g an inexhaustible source of azote, what remains for 
 us to do to have the nitrate and ammonia in illimitable quantities is to 
 discover the most economical method of combining the azote of the 
 air with oxygen to form nitrates, or with hydrogen to form ammonia. 
 Now this process is discovered, Messrs. Sourdeval and Margueritte 
 having found the means of making the nitrate or ammonia at will 
 with the azote of the air. If the working of it is limited, it is only 
 that, in an economical point, it does not satisfy all the conditions of 
 an easy production. But the principle is known, and the solution 
 may at any moment be complete. 
 
 I ask, gentlemen, if, in the face of such facts, azotic matter will 
 ever be wanting ? As to lime, I do not speak of it, for we all know 
 there never will be a deficiency of it. 
 
 Assured for the future, let us recapitulate the matter of the past 
 lecture. 
 
 In our preceding sittings we have been employed in defining, by 
 the aid of experiments more scientific than practical, the conditions 
 which regulate the production of plants. 
 
 To-day, entering the domain of the practical, we have asked from 
 the traditions of centuries of experience — that is, from the composi- 
 tion of dung — the choice of agents which, in our eyes, are the sym- 
 bols of fertility. This test has ended in our favor. Dung contains 
 these agencies, and owes its fertility to them. 
 
 To this testimony we have added another. We asked of practical 
 agriculture, If the effects obtained from the chemical fertilizers were 
 not equivalent to those obtained from manure ? Experience replies. 
 They were superior. From which we conclude that the principles 
 we hold are incontestable, and there remains for us but to generalize 
 their application. 
 
 
52 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 LECTUEE FIFTH. 
 
 GENTLEMEN : In practice, we consider 35,555 pounds of manure 
 the acre every two years as a good manuring. Our principal 
 object to-day being to compare manure with the chemical fertilizers, 
 we first ask how much 35,555 pounds of manure contains of the four 
 terms composing our complete fertilizer. 
 The reply is found in the following table : 
 
 Azote 144 lbs. 
 
 Phosphoric acid 66 " 
 
 Potash 133 " 
 
 Lime 283 *' 
 
 If it is true, as experience demonstrates, that manure owes all its 
 efficacy to these four products, you see that its active part is reduced 
 at least to one-fortieth of the whole mass. Moisture forms eighty 
 per cent, of manure, which reduces the solid part of 35,555 pounds 
 to 7111 pounds, of which the hydro-carbonate matter, whose utility 
 is .problematic, forms 3000 to 3552 pounds. 
 
 You will not, then, be surprised if I add that with 2053 pounds of 
 chemical products one can compose a fertilizer of equivalent richness 
 to 35,555 pounds of manure. 
 
 Here is the proof of it : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 533 lbs. 
 
 Nitrate of potash 286 " 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 497 " 
 
 Sulphate of lime 737 " 
 
 Total 2053 " 
 
 It is evident as regards facility of use, of spreading, economy of 
 transporting, etc., the advantage is with the chemical fertilizers. But 
 this is only a secondary point of view ; their true superiority rests on 
 other causes and is justified by other considerations. 
 
 The azote of the manure is not immediately assimilable. It is 
 the contrary with the chemical fertilizer. This body in manure is in 
 the form of animal evacuations and partly putrefied litter, which 
 only acts favorably upon vegetation after having submitted to a de- 
 composition which completely changes its form ; azote is assimilable 
 only after it is transformed into ammonia or nitrates. Now, this pre- 
 vious decomposition has, as a principal result, the loss of from thirty 
 to forty per cent, of the primitive azote of the manure, which is dis- 
 engaged in the air in the form of elementary azote. In the chemical 
 fertilizer the azote is, I repeat, immediately and entirely assimilable — 
 its action, for this reason, being the more certain. 
 
 Here is another still more important advantage in practice. 
 
 You must certainly have remarked, in the formulae of fertilizers I 
 gave you in my last lecture, that the nature of these agents varied 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 53 
 
 with the nature of the plant. The position which I gave each one in 
 certain categories of plants was not an arbitrary act on my part, or 
 the expression of a fancy ; it is the result of an important fact, and 
 one which is absolutely necessary to you, for its application is greatly 
 in favor of the chemical fertilizer. 
 
 If it is true that a mixture of phosphate of lime, potash and lime 
 with azotic matter suffices for all the wants of plants, and for the 
 agriculturist is an equivalent for manure, it is also true that each of 
 these four terms fulfills, in regard to the three others, an alternately 
 subordinate or predominant office, according to the nature of the 
 plant cultivated. The azotic matter is the predominant element for 
 wheat, colza, the beet and tobacco ; for lucerne, peas and beans the 
 azotic matter is of secondary importance, and the predominance of 
 which we speak passes to the potash. Phosphate of lime predomi- 
 nates for turnips and rutabagas. 
 
 For each plant, then, there is an element whose influence predomi- 
 nates over the three others, and for this reason we will call it the 
 dominant of this plant. 
 
 As the first application of these ideas, we will suppose the follow- 
 ing rotation : Beets — wheat — clover — oats. 
 
 It is not possible to divide manure ; we may vary the quantity, but 
 not the composition. We have but two methods of procedure — 
 either to put on all the manure the first year, or spread it at different 
 times. In the first case, it is true, we obtain a good yield of beets, 
 but it is to the prejudice of the following cultures. If we divide the 
 manure, the yield of beets is sensibly reduced ; and as this culture 
 is expensive from the multiplicity of dressings it requires, it neces- 
 sarily causes a loss to the producer. 
 
 Things are entirely different with the chemical^ fertilizers. We 
 give each plant the element which has most influence on its harvest ; 
 this has the double advantage of reducing the expense and of raising 
 the return to the highest point. As proof of the advantage in prac- 
 tice of this manner of proceeding, I will cite the example of two 
 parallel cultures of Irish potatoes and wheat — one with the complete 
 fertilizer, the other wdth the same fertilizer divided in the following 
 manner : the first year, the mineral fertilizer alone ; the second year, 
 azotic matter. Now, here are the results of these two cultures : 
 
 First Case. — The earth receives enough of the complete fertilizer 
 for two years. 
 
 First Year Return the acre. Price. 
 
 Irish potatoes 22,522 lbs. $53.70 
 
 Second Year — 
 
 Wheat (straw) 4,640 lbs. 17.64 
 
 (grain) 44 bu. 52.35 
 
 Total of products , $123.69 
 
 Second Case. — The earth is enriched the first year with the mineral 
 fertilizer, and the second year with six hundred pounds of sulphate 
 of ammonia, » 
 
54 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 First Year Return the acre. Price. 
 
 Irish potatoes 21,244 lbs. $12.60 
 
 Second Year — 
 
 Wheat (straw) 7,600 lbs. 28.88 
 
 (grain) 62 bu. 76.00 
 
 Total of products $117.48 
 
 You see by this example to what degree the division of the fer- 
 tilizer can affect the returns. 
 
 Under an economical relation the results are not the less consider- 
 able. 
 
 With the fertilizer divided the united returns of the Irish 
 potatoes and wheat are $117.48, while with all the fertilizer used at 
 once they are worth $123.69 — making a difference of $31.66 in favor 
 of the first method. 
 
 The advantages resulting from the division of the fertilizer being 
 thus placed beyond doubt, you will understand why, a succession 
 being given, I do not use the four terms of the fertilizer indifferently, 
 but according to the nature of the plant. 
 
 If a succession of beets, wheat, clover and oats is under consider- 
 ation, we must concentrate azote upon the beets and wheat, and the' 
 minerals on the clover, which will leave enough azotic matter in the 
 soil for oats. 
 
 If the succession opens with peas or beans, followed by wheat, 
 clover, and wheat again, this time, the minerals being the dominant 
 of beans and clover, and azotic matter that of wheat, we w^ll limit 
 the manuring of the first and third to the minerals, reserving the 
 azotic matter for the wheat — taking care to employ more of it the 
 second year than the fourth, because the clover, which is turned 
 under green at the third cutting, constitutes an azotic manure of a 
 certain efficacy. 
 
 You see, gentlemen, what remarkable facility the chemical fer- 
 tilizers give in practice for obtaining the maximum return with the 
 greatest possible economy. They permit you to concentrate on each 
 culture the agents most suitable to it. In the last sitting I limited 
 myself to indicating these facts, without telling you the reason of 
 them ; to-day I complete these first practical indications by the 
 theory, with both their basis and justification. 
 
 Let us pass to a new question, not less important than the pre- 
 ceding. 
 
 We will ask what manure costs in comparison to the chemical 
 fertilizers. 
 
 It is not enough that these latter are superior in useful effects and 
 facility of application ; we must still examine the economical ques- 
 tion, to see if, all things considered, the fiuancial result is not also in 
 their favor. 
 
 The cost of manure is one of the most disputed questions among 
 agriculturists. Each one makes his owr/ price. Some maintain that 
 manure costs nothing ; others, on the contrary, that it is very dear. 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 65 
 
 We must endeavor to ascertain the truth between these two extreme 
 opinions. 
 
 I hope to succeed in doing so, building upon documents from 
 agriculturists of the greatest merit, who worked under very different 
 conditions. 
 
 It is by such accounts, and detailed accounts, that this question 
 must be settled. 
 
 I owe the one which I first lay before you to the Hon. M. Schat- 
 tenmann, who last year received the first honor in the department of 
 the Lower Ehine, and a large prize at the World's Fair, and who, 
 consequently, is a good judge in matters of culture. I add that M. 
 Schattenmann is moreover a practical man of the first order, and 
 entirely competent to decide a question of this kind, no matter how 
 complicated. 
 
 Well, according to the account he has furnished me, the production 
 of 551 tons of manure and 500 tons of liquid manure costs not less 
 than $2869.15, which brings the price of manure to $4.94 the ton if 
 by approximation we fix that of liquid manure at 40 cents. 
 
 Thus, according to M. Schattenmann, the manure on a model farm 
 cost in 1866, $4.94 the ton. 
 
 You will notice that this price, which we think very high, rests 
 upon exceptional causes, and surpasses the ordinary cost in the cul- 
 ture. 
 
 Let us take it, however, as a point of departure : 
 
 Cost of Manure at the Farm of Thiergarten (Lower Rhine). 
 
 148,142 lbs. of straw for litter.... $865.43 
 
 984 lbs. of liquid phosphoric acid 31.04 
 
 Binding and transporting straw for litter 19.02 
 
 4750 lbs. of liquid manure 25.72 
 
 Clearing out the sinks 1.90 
 
 Wetting of manure 10.21 
 
 Loading and transporting manure 187.13 
 
 Filling the casks of liquid manure 1 3.99 
 
 Loss on beef. 655.04 
 
 Loss on cows 897.22 
 
 Loss on pork 162.45 
 
 Total $2869.15 
 
 500 tons liquid manure, at 40 cts. the ton 200. 00 
 
 551 " of manure, at $4.91 the ton 2738.47 
 
 $2928.47 
 
 The second example is furnished by M. Cavallier, who worked the 
 farm Mesnil-Saint-Nicaise (Somme). Here the conditions are dif- 
 ferent. 
 
 With M. Schattenmann we had to do with a production of manure 
 joined in all its details to a grand culture of which it formed a part, 
 and Vhere the price of manure was influenced by that of the beeves, 
 cows, hogs, etc. The paper now before us relates to a simple case, 
 the fattening of 800 sheep. Here are the details : 
 
56 CHEMICAI4 MANURES. 
 
 Cost of 800 sheep $3724 00 
 
 600,000 lbs. of pulp 684*00 
 
 38,160 " cake 513100 
 
 Cost of colza and seeds 256.50 
 
 Shepherd workmen 95.00 
 
 Interest, cost of commission 47.50 
 
 Total of expense $5320.00 
 
 Wool and sheep 4750.00 
 
 275 tons of manure, representing 570.00 
 
 Total of receipts $5320.00 
 
 This brings the price of manure to $2.03 the ton : let us put it at 
 $2.09. 
 
 Observe here, gentlemen, that we have not to do with a general 
 a(fcount, in which every detail of the culture is registered. No, I 
 repeat, it is an especial account, the result being independent of all 
 outside operations — a fattening of sheep with the pulp of the beet, 
 which is cheaper than forage. Well, under these conditions the 
 manure still costs $2.09 the ton. 
 
 And M. Cavallier observes that if he had used wheat straw, instead 
 of colza and seeds from the ponds of the Somme, the manure would 
 have cost $3.01. 
 
 The third account I will take for example relates to the farm of 
 Bechelbronn, in Alsace. I borrow the elements from the Rural 
 Economy of M. Boussingault. According to this account, manure 
 costs only 97 cents the ton, which justifies the opinion that manure is 
 the cheapest of fertilizers, and costs almost nothing. 
 
 But if we examine things more closely, we will find an objection, 
 which changes all the economy of this account, and changes the price 
 of manure from 97 cents to $2.82. 
 
 With the same data, how can we arrive at so different a conclu- 
 sion? 
 
 The explanatioi^ is very simple, and I beg you will take note of it, 
 for it furnishes me an opportunity of warning you against an error 
 in matters of accounts into which agriculturists often fall. 
 
 By a kind of tacit agreement, founded on the belief that the pro- 
 duction of manure is one of the necessities we cannot avoid, we 
 count the consumption of the animal at the price of cost, not at the 
 price of sale. But is it not evident that this manner of proceeding 
 is defective? 
 
 When an agriculturist annexes a sugar-boiler or distillery to his 
 farm, does he count the beets fed it at the price they cost? No, 
 he values them at the price for which he could buy them. When he 
 sells an animal, does he deliver it at the price it cost him ? No, he 
 takes the mercury of the market for his guide. 
 
 To obtain the real cost of manure, expenses should be accurately 
 divided, to define with certainty the origin of its benefits, and to 
 know how much is due to economy and perfection of tools. In a 
 well-directed farm an account should be opened for the stables alone, 
 the creditor of all which is a source of real value — milk, butter, ani- 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 57 
 
 raals sold, increase of weight in animals kept, work done by teams ; 
 but, on the contrary, debtor to the expenses of everything which 
 aided in realizing the values put to its credit. In these expenses are 
 comprehended the cost of keeping up teams, the wages of drivers, 
 shepherds, etc., and lastly the market value of food consumed, deduct- 
 ing ten to fifteen per cent, for what would have been the cost of 
 transportation had it been sold. An account established on these 
 facts always shows a loss, but the loss is counterbalanced by the 
 manure. The loss, divided by the number of tons of manure pro- 
 duced, leads to the real price of the ton. 
 
 Now if, according to these facts, we look at M. Boussingault's 
 account, the price of manure is no longer 97 cents the ton, but $2.62. 
 
 As this is a question of grave import, you will permit me to show 
 you this account as two separate items — one headed the arbitrary 
 price, the other the real price. 
 
 Cost of Manure at the Farm of Bechelhronn. 
 Cr. 
 
 Arbitrary Price. Real Price. 
 
 Living weight gained by the stable 
 
 at 8.07 per 200 lbs.— 135 quintals. $1092.92 v^ 
 
 Milk not consumed by stock, at \ 
 
 $2.28 the quintal— 282 quintals.. 652.96 $2473.4^, 
 
 Weight acquired by hogs, 21 quin- 
 tals 249.40 
 
 Work of horses, 1200 days' work 
 
 at38cts. per day 490.20 J 
 
 $2473.48 
 Balance to debit of the account, 694.32 
 
 
 \ \ 
 
 v^ 
 
 
 1768.36 
 
 $3167.80 $4241.84 
 
 Dr. 
 
 Arbitrary Price. 
 
 1627 quintals of hay and after- 
 growth, at 68.4 cents $1112.86 
 
 662 quintals of clover, at 59.85 336.35 
 
 692 bushels oats, at 26.53 cents 183.73 
 
 244 quintals potatoes, at 40.66 cents 117.83 
 
 654 " beets, at 23.18 " 161.59 
 
 171 bushels peas, at $1.16 20.44 
 
 385 quintals straw, at 23.75 cents... 91.45 
 
 $2014.25 
 Keeping teams and other expenses $1153.55 
 
 at 94.05 cts. 
 
 at 94.05 " 
 
 at 49.98 " 
 
 at 76.95 " 
 
 at 27.36 " 
 
 at $1.16 " 
 
 at 68 " 
 
 Real Price. 
 
 $1530.19 
 
 528.56 
 
 346.01 
 
 226.23 
 
 173.23 
 
 20.44 
 
 263.63 
 
 $3088.29 
 
 $1153.55 
 
 $4241.84 
 
 $3167.80 
 
 Cost per ton of above, 710 toris heing produced : 
 710 tons cost arbitrary price, $694.32^97.79 cents per ton. 
 710 " " real price, $1768.36^$2.49.6 
 
 It is evident that the arbitrary price is founded upon food given at 
 the price of cost, while the other results from food estimated at price 
 pf sale. Between the two accounts there is a difference of $1074.04, 
 
58 CHEMICAL. MANURES. 
 
 whicli explains wliy in one case manure is 97 cents and $2.82 in tlie 
 other. 
 
 It is not necessary to add that in the two tables the loss, which 
 varies from $694.32 to $1768.36, represents the value of the manure 
 for the year. Now, the quantity produced being 710 tons, We find, 
 consequently, 97 cents as the arbitrary price, and $2.82 the real price. 
 I told you that the price of $4.94, which we got from M. Schatten- 
 mann, was an exception. His farm being new, he was obliged to buy 
 a considerable quantity of straw at a time when it was very dear. 
 This point considered, we may conclude from the preceding facts that 
 the real cost of the manure was between ^2.85 and $3.80 the ton. 
 Let us fix it at $2.85. 
 
 We will now speak of the price of chemical fertilizers. 
 
 In 85,555 pounds of manure there are, as we have already said — 
 
 Azote 144 lbs. 
 
 Phosphoric acid QQ " 
 
 Potash 133 " 
 
 Lime 283 " 
 
 To obtain the equivalent of this manure under the form of 
 chemical manures, we must have recourse to the following products : 
 
 Phosphate of lime 533 lbs. $ 8.44 
 
 Nitrate of potash 284 " 16.57 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 497 " 21.29 
 
 Sulphate of lime 377 " 1.43 
 
 $47.73 
 
 So $47.73 are the equivalent of 35,555 pounds of manure. 
 
 A quantity of chemical fertilizers costing $1.18 can take the place 
 of a ton of manure costing at least $1.25. 
 
 Thus, to the advantages already shown in their favor, the chemical 
 fertilizers add that of cheapness. And it is well to remark that the 
 quantity which we consider an equivalent to 35,555 pounds of manure 
 contains, besides, 17 pounds of phosphoric acid. 
 
 What an array of proof! The returns from the chemical fer- 
 tilizers are greater than from manure, and though equal in richness 
 they cost less. 
 
 But could not the price ($1.25 the ton) which I have taken for 
 manure be lessened ? I do not know ; and not being prejudiced, I 
 will thankfully collect all corrections of my estimates which may be 
 given me. 
 
 But these are not the limits of the advantages resulting from the 
 use of chemical fertilizers. 
 
 We will, for a while, set aside all questions of accounts and ex- 
 pense, and see to what condition an agriculturist is reduced Avho can 
 only manure his land with the manure it produces. I will take the 
 property of Bechelbronn for an example. 
 
 This property is composed of 247 acres, of which 135 — that is to 
 say, a little more than the half — are in meadow\ According to the 
 
'CHEMICAL MANUEES. , 59 
 
 traditioDS of the past, this property is in excellent condition, since 
 the production of manure is made equal with the harvests for sale. 
 
 Now, how produce manure there, and how much of it does the 
 land receive the acre ? 
 
 The production of manure is 710 tons the year, which, spread 
 upon 112 acres of arable land and 22.25 acres of upland meadow, 
 give a mean of 77 pounds the acre per year. But an annual ma- 
 imring of 77 pounds the acre per year of manure is precarious. You 
 all know, gentlemen, to cultivate under such conditions is to cultivate 
 without gaining anything. 
 
 You can judge of it by the returns obtained from Bechelbronn : 
 
 Returns per acre. 
 
 Wheat 35 bu. 
 
 Oats 75 " 
 
 Beets 52,000 lbs. 
 
 TVIeadow 9,090 " 
 
 At Bechelbronn the culture is for small returns and little profits ; 
 that is true, fixing the rent at 3 per cent., by great trouble a net 
 profit of $627 is obtained. ' 
 
 Thus, here is a domain worth $62,700, which requires a moving 
 capital of $6650, and where, because only manure is used, infinitely 
 precarious results are obtained, in spite of the high intelligence di- 
 recting it. Is this an industrial situation to be cited as an example, 
 and one»which is able to contend against importations from abroad? » 
 
 Change these conditions, and see what can be made at Bechelbronn 
 by employing chemical fertilizers. 
 
 At an expense of $5.67 the acre, $1140 in all, see what Vvill take 
 place. / 
 
 The returns will pass from 22 bushels to 43, 21 bushels profit — 
 that is to say, against a cost of $5.67, an excess of $20, not counting 
 the straw. Eeduce the profit one-third, if you will, and fix it from 
 $15 to 819 the acre, there will always result this important fact — 
 that with an increase of capital of $627, we can increase the profits 
 of the culture of $627 to $1300 or $1500. Will you remark here 
 that I use the low^est estimates ? 
 
 This ought not to surprise you, gentlemen, since the advantages of 
 high culture are familiar to you. 
 
 Once more, at Bechelbronn, without changing anything in the 
 agents or nature of the culture, but by the simple fact of advancing 
 $5.67 of chemical fertilizers the acre, the profit may be tripled. 
 
 Here is a convincing demonstration, it seems to me, of the truth 
 of the principle that in agriculture there is no profit without abun- 
 dant manuring, and in view of the impossibility of producing sufti- 
 cient manure for high culture, it is necessary to have recourse to 
 chemical fertilizers. 
 
 Here is a situation upon the gravity of which we must not close 
 our eyes, for foreign importation will soon have demonstrated the 
 peril of it. 
 
 You may say that this proposition is contestable from the example 
 
60 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 I have 'chosen, and there are agriculturists whose industry is more 
 enlightened — those, for example, who have added sugar-boilers or 
 distilleries to their farms, and to whom the importation of fertilizers 
 is not necessary. 
 
 Even under these conditions the culture, reduced to its own re- 
 sources, cannot give manure enough to raise its returns to a point 
 which will make profit certain. 
 
 M. Cavallier, whose farm has a sugar-boiler added to it, is only 
 able to produce 1000 tons of manure the year, which is hardly suffi- 
 cient for 125 acres, at the rate of 44,444 pounds of manure every two 
 years. 
 
 Well, under these conditions M. Cavallier obtained but from 31,111 
 to 35,555 pounds of beets the acre, when, with the complete fertilizer, 
 he last year obtained 52,966 pounds. You will not be surprised if, 
 in the face of these results, M. Cavallier has decided to regulate the 
 economy of his crops on the permanent employment of chemical fer- 
 tilizers. 
 
 The conclusion at which I wish to arrive is this : that in the great 
 generality of cases the most costly of all manures is the manure of 
 the farm. 
 
 In the past this proposition has attained the dignity of an axiom : 
 that for successful culture we must have meadow, cattle and manure. 
 Now, I affirm that this proposition is at once an economical and agri- 
 cultural heresy. 
 
 I The agriculturist who only uses manure wastes his land. Fov from 
 whence comes the manure? From its depths. The manure does 
 not, then, in reality, repair the losses in phosphate of lime, potiish, 
 lime and azotic matter that the land is submitted to by the exporta- 
 tion of a part of its harvests. When we export meat, the loss is less 
 than when we export grain, though there is always a loss. I repeat, 
 then, this axiom, which, until now, has been made the basis, and, as 
 it were, the palladium, of agricultural art, is in reality but an expe- 
 dient. It has no right to be so but in the exceptional case where the 
 meadow is watered by a stream of limestone water, which gives the 
 soil the equivalent of what it loses in agents of fertility ; but I repeat, 
 this case is so rare it cannot be made a law. 
 
 I have said that a culture founded solely on the use of manure is 
 also an economy without judgment. 
 
 Suppose the case of mediocre land, yielding from 11 to 14 bushels 
 of wheat the acre ; calculate how much time it would take you to 
 bring it with manure to produce 39 to 43 bushels : you would recoil 
 before the sacrifices this would draw you into. 
 
 AVitli the chemical fertilizers the change is immediate, the progres- 
 sion sudden, and the benefit immediate also. Now, if you remark 
 that besides the profit, the resources in straw are increased from the 
 *first year, is it not evident that, instead of first having meat to, have 
 grain, there is a manifest advantage in reversing the preconceived 
 order and commencing by having grain — to gain a profit first, then 
 straw, and lastly manure ? I repeat, then, that we only cease^ to 
 waste our land when we really import manures, and the solution im- 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 61 
 
 posed upon us by the force of circumstances is to raise the fertility of 
 the soil by means of artificially-composed fertilizers, with the pro- 
 ducts existing in the form of mines in nature, and which seem to 
 have been reserved to repair the depredations of the present as of 
 the past, and to preserve us from the disasters of the future. 
 
 It is not exact to say that manure, and manure alone, is sufficient 
 for everything. What is true is, that there is but one means of ob- 
 taining large returns without delay : it is to have recourse to imported 
 artificial fertilizers and chemical fertilizers in preference to all others, 
 because they are the only ones whose nature can always be exactly 
 defined and identified with itself — the only ones, consequently, in 
 which there can be no fraud, and in my judgment the most economi- 
 cal. Find the real price of products loudly extolled for great virtues 
 by certain merchants of fertilizers, and you will find them burdened 
 with a profit that the most scandalous usury has never attained. 
 
 To-day, as the first elements of fertility are known to us, we can 
 no more be imposed upon by absolute rules pertaining to agricultural 
 economy entirely different from the present. To-day, we govern the 
 wants of agriculture, instead of being governed by them. I can but 
 repeat what I have said in another circle. 
 
 Agriculturists are no longer under the necessity of producing their 
 own manures ; they can become producers of manure if, all things 
 considered, they find an advantage in it ; but if they find it more 
 profitable to have recourse to artificial fertilizers, there is nothing to 
 prevent them — it is no longer a question of good culture, but of profit. 
 
 When we wish to introduce these new methods on a farm so as to 
 arrive at a maximum product, we must work still another change, of 
 which I have not spoken until now, and with which I must now en- 
 tertain you, since it will result in giving back to cultivation an im- 
 portant part of the land which has been heretofore given up to 
 forage, without, however, entrenching upon our resources in this 
 respect. 
 
 The change in question consists in substituting, as much as possible, 
 lucerne for meadow. 
 
 I can call up two testimonies to this, of equal importance — that of 
 M. Boussingault, who recognizes lucerne as more profitable than the 
 meadow, and M. Schattenmann, who has made the substitution I 
 speak of with the greatest advantage. 
 
 Who cannot see that if at Bechelbronn the food of the stock were 
 secured, the amount of straw increased, and 33 to 45 acres of meadow 
 more than the 125 now in use were added, there would certainly re- 
 sult a considerable increase of revenue, particularly if that part cul- 
 tivated was enriched by large quantities of chemical fertilizers? 
 This result is the more important as it can be realized immediately 
 and with a relatively small capital. 
 
 You see, gentlemen, there is no way of escaping the conclusion 
 which I must again repeat : the great profit in agriculture is from 
 abundant manuring ; what is not well manured is of little value ; it 
 is only when we pass from small returns to large returns that benefit 
 is derived. All our efforts should, then, tend to manuring abun- 
 
62 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 dantly. I have laid down the principle in this lecture that the 
 chemical fertilizers, whose exclusive use I first studied, can be ad- 
 vantageously associated with barnyard manure, and I have showed 
 you the manner of making this new application. To complete these 
 first indications, it remains for me to take up the questions in detail, 
 and show you the most convenient formulae for this especial case. 
 
 This finishing of our first studies is the more necessary, since the 
 production of manure is, in a certain measure, a necessity we cannot 
 avoid, as it has to do with the working of the land. 
 
 This new subject will make the object of our next lecture. 
 
 LECTURE SIXTH. 
 
 Pi ENTLEMEN : In all clearings of a certain extent the work of 
 Vj animals is indispensable ; culture by the hand of man is not pos- 
 sible when we operate on a scale of importance with regard to certain 
 products of large relations, such as the vine, the hop, tobacco, etc. 
 I repeat, then, when we enter the domain of agricultural tillage, 
 properly speaking, the intervention of animals being a necessity 
 born of the force of circumstances, manure is produced, and we are 
 absolutely compelled to take notice of it and learn to regulate the 
 employment of it. 
 
 I take up the question, then, from the point where I left it in our last 
 meeting, and to complete the general ideas I gave you on the use of 
 manure and chemical fertilizers mixed, there remains for me but to 
 point out to you the practical rules to be followed in such cases. 
 
 Our first example is from a succession of five years, the same 
 practiced at Bechelbronn, comprehending, as you know, the follow- 
 ing rotation : 
 
 1st year, Irish potatoes. 
 
 2d year, wheat. 
 
 3d year, clover. , 
 
 4th year, wheat. 
 
 5th year, oats. 
 At the opening of the fallow the earth received from 35,555 to 
 44,444 pounds of manure. Now, in 44,444 pounds of manure the 
 four terms of the complete fertilizer are represented by — 
 
 Azote 183 lbs. 
 
 Potash 156 " 
 
 Phosphoric acid '. 97 " 
 
 Lime 355 " 
 
 You will remark that at least one-third of the azote of the manure 
 is lost to the soil, oh account of the previous decomposition the ma- 
 nure must undergo before it can show its efiects. With so small a 
 quantity of manure the returns are doubtful. To change this state 
 of things, and put the land under culture, we must at least double 
 the quantity of agents of fertility by means of the chemical fer- 
 
» CHEMICAL MANURES. 63 
 
 tilizers, and concentrjjite upon each plant those terms of the complete 
 fertilizer Avhich fill for it the office of dominants. For the rotation 
 now occupying us I propose to divide the additional fertilizer thus : 
 
 Rotation of Five Years, comprehending Irish Potatoes, Wlieat, Clover, 
 
 Wheat, Oats. 
 
 First Year — Irish Potatoes. ' 
 Manure, 44,444 lbs. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 444 lbs. 
 
 /-I •,' ■ The acre. 
 
 Composition : Quantity. Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 177 lbs. $2.70 
 
 Nitrate of potash 88 " 5.23 
 
 Sulphate of lime 177 " .33 
 
 Cost $8.26 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 177 lbs. $7.60 
 
 Third Year — Clover. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $ 5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 88 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " ^ 
 
 Cost $16.54 
 
 Fowth Year — Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 177 lbs. $7.60 
 
 Fiflh Year— Oats. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Cost for five years $51.40 
 
 The cost for five years being $51.40, the annual cost is $10.28. 
 With manure alone the Irish potato yields 10,666 pounds of tubers 
 the. acre; wheat, 25 bushels; oats, 43 bushels; and clover, 4400 
 pounds of forage. With the addition of the chemical fertilizer, as 
 just shown, the yield of Irish potatoes is raised to 17,777 pounds at 
 least, that of the wheat to 43 bushels, that of the oats to 65 or 72 
 bushels, and the clover does not yield less than 7111 pounds of dry 
 forage. 
 
 If the Irish potato is to be replaced by the beet, the following fer- 
 tilizer must be substituted for the fertilizer of the first year : 
 
 Complete fertilizer No. 2, 551 lbs. 
 
 Composition : Quantity 
 
 The acre. 
 
 Pnce. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 177 lbs. $2.70 
 
 Nitrate of potash 88 " 5.23 
 
 Nitrate of soda 133 " 4.43 
 
 Sulphate of lime 133 " .14 
 
 Cost $12.50 
 
64 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 The other fertilizers remaining the same, under this change the 
 expense for five years will be brought from $51.40 to $65.64, which 
 makes the annual expense, in round numbers, $15.10, instead of 
 $10.28. 
 
 While with manure alone the yield of beets is with difficulty 
 raised to 23,111 pounds the acre, with the addition of the fertilizer 
 it is raised to 35,000 or 40,000 pounds at least. 
 
 In the regions favorable to the culture of colza and the beet, as 
 the department of the Somme, for example, great advantage has 
 been derived by preceding the beet by colza, upon which all available 
 manures are concentrated ; under these new conditions the earth is 
 better prepared for the culture of the cereals which follow, and the 
 manure, being in a more advanced stage of decomposition, con- 
 tributes more efiectively to the success of the beets. 
 
 If the preceding rotation is clianged in this way, the following is 
 the manner of dividing the added fertilizers : 
 
 Rotation of Five Years, comprehending Colza, Beets, Wheat, Clover, 
 
 Wheat. 
 First Year — Colza. 
 
 The acre. 
 Quantity. Price. 
 
 Manure 44,444 lbs. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 " $11.40 
 
 Second Year — Beets. 
 Ashes from the burning of the straw and 
 husks of the colza. 
 Complete fertilizer, condensed. No. 2, 711 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 266 lbs. $ 4.03 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Nitrate of soda 133 " 4.43 
 
 Sulphate of lime 133 " .14 
 
 Cost $19.07 
 
 Third Year— Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 177 lbs. $7.60 
 
 Fourth Year — Clover. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $ 5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime..... 355 " .67 
 
 Cost $16.54 
 
 Fifth Year— Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 177 lbs. $7.60 
 
 Cost for five years $62.21 
 
 The cost being this time $62.21 for the five years, the anual expense 
 will be raised to $12.44. The second wheat succeeding the clover 
 
CHEMICAL MANUEES. 66 
 
 may always be replaced by oats. In this case suppress the sulphate 
 of ammonia prescribed for the fifth year, and the total expense will 
 be $54.61, or an annual expense of $10.92. 
 
 As a last example, I will report a succession of six years, in which 
 the chemical fertilizers are first used alone, and but partly associated 
 with manure the second year. 
 The rotation is : 
 
 First year, flax. 
 2d year, beets. 
 3d year, wheat. 
 4th year, colza. 
 5th year, wheat. 
 
 6th year, oats, or barley, or rye. * 
 I said the first year only chemical fertilizers ought to be used, 
 because their superiority for flax is now beyond question. Flax may 
 be placed between the wheat«(which, as you know, requires manure 
 rich in azote) and the legumes, which use only the mineral part of 
 the fertilizer. It therefore succeeds best with chemical fertilizers, 
 because we can then reduce the proportion of azote without inter- 
 fering with the minerals. I have cited to you the result obtained 
 with M. Charee, whose harvest was sold in the field at $66.57 the 
 acre. 
 
 I return to the formulae of fertilizers. 
 
 Succession of Six Years, comprehending Flax, Beets, Wheat, Colza, 
 Wheat, Oats, Rye or Barley. 
 
 First Year — Flax. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 pounds. 
 
 /s, . , . The acre. 
 
 Composition : Quantity. Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " .67 
 
 Cost $16.54 
 
 Second Year — Beets. 
 
 Manure spread in autumn, 44,444 pounds. 
 
 In the spring : 
 Complete fertilizer No. 2 again, 577 pounds. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 177 lbs. $2.70 
 
 Nitrate of potash 88 " 5.23 
 
 Nitrate of soda 177 " 5.91 
 
 Sulphate of lime 133 ' " .25 
 
 Cost $14.09 
 
 Third Year— Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 5 
 
66 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 Fourth Year — Colza. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 6, 1044 pounds. 
 
 Composition : Qnantity/^' '"'""■ Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 106 " 6.38 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 355 " 15.20 
 
 Sulphate of lime 248 " .64 
 
 Cost $27.62' 
 
 Fifth Year— Wheat. 
 Ashes of the straw and husk of the 
 
 colza, turned under by the plough. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Sixth Year — OatSj Barley or Rye. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 355 lbs. 7.60 
 
 Total expense $88.75 
 
 Annual expense $14.97 
 
 Here the expense is greater, but we mu^t consider the nature and 
 value of the products. Putting things at the lowest, I believe that 
 the harvest in the rough ought not to be estimated over $84 to $92 the 
 acre. 
 
 I could multiply these examples by quoting other rotations, but as 
 they come under the same rules, and are deduced from the same prin- 
 ciples, it appears to me preferable to recall these rules and principles 
 to you, to enable you to substitute your rotations for mine, and your- 
 self proportion the formul86 and quantities of your fertilizer. 
 
 I have already said several times in reviewing, and I must again 
 repeat it, manure owes its good effects to the azote, phosphate of lime, 
 potash and lime which it contains. 
 
 For if we operate, side by side, with manure and a mixture of 
 these four bodies in equal richness, we will almost always find the 
 yield from the chemical fertilizer surpass that from the manure. 
 
 I have also told you, and must again repeat, that each term of the 
 complete fertilizer fills a dominant or a subordinate ofiice in regard 
 to the others, according to the nature of the plant cultivated. Thus 
 azote, which is the dominant of wheat, descends to a subordinate 
 position in regard to legumes, etc. But here is an essential point, 
 upon which I must insist — the dominants show their action only 
 under the express condition that the soil is in a certain measure pro- 
 vided with the three other terms of the complete fertilizer. 
 
 Azotic matter is the dominant of wheat and colza. Azotic matter 
 alone in a soil of pure sand produces hardly any effect, but add the 
 minerals to the soil, and the azotic matter impresses vegetation with 
 an activity approaching the wonderful, and within a certain limit the 
 return corresponds to the proportion of azote employed. 
 
 This being so, you will understand the r61e of manure in the system 
 of mixed manures. By its nature and mass it necessarily acts with 
 slowness, while its action is limited by the previous decomposition of 
 its hydro-carbonated parts, which form ,95 of the whole. Large re- 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 67 
 
 turns are impossible from manure alone, because the sum of its dis- 
 posable assimilable agents is not great enough. And now, if I remind 
 you that azotic matter is the dominant of wheat, colza and the beet ; 
 2)otasli of the legumes ; phosphate of lime of the turnip ; that the 
 mineral witliout the azote gives the largest return of lucerne ; that the 
 minerals with the addition of a little azote are best for flax and Irish 
 potatoes, — you will not only perceive the rules which guided me in the 
 preceding demonstrations, but you will be able by their aid to form ro- 
 tations most appropriate to the circumstances in which you are placed. 
 This is not all. That the solution of the problem of agriculture 
 may be complete, we must not only linow the agents which are the 
 source of fertility, but must be also certain that their use is not a 
 cause of decay .of soil, and that they do not take more from it than 
 they return to it. 
 
 So, to give the examination of this subject a character of severity, 
 precision, and at the same time a generality which makes my conclu- 
 sions without appeal and applicable in all possible cases, I embody 
 them in these terms : Can we indefinitely cultivate the same land with 
 chemical fertilizers, and with the same success f My reply is absolute : 
 Yes, that is possible, hut always under two conditions: 
 
 1st. Give the land, through fertilizers, more phosphate of lime, 
 more potash and more lime than the harvests have taken fi;om it. 
 2d. Give it about 50 per cent, of azote to the harvest. 
 I say ahoiit, because there are some plants requiring less, and others 
 can do without it entirely. 
 
 Here the first question presents itself : Why more minerals and less 
 or no azote ? Why ? But yoii have already answered. Because a 
 part of the azote of plants comes from the air, and there are even some 
 w4iich draw it entirely from that source. The quantity of azote given 
 the soil varies from 6 to 50 per cent., according to the plant. If we 
 have to do with the legumes, it is 6 ; if we pass to wheat, it is 50 per cent. 
 We must return an excess of phosphate of lime, potash and lime 
 over what the land loses, because plants draw them exclusively from the 
 soil, and we must not only compensate the soil for the loss determined 
 by each harvest, but repair that resulting from the action of the rain. 
 Let us examine if the formula of fertilizers I have prescribed will 
 fill the two conditions I have just pointed out. 
 
 I told you in my last lecture that wheat may be cultivated upon the 
 same land indefinitely, provided it is furnished in four years with the 
 following quantities of fertilizers, thus divided : 
 
 A Succession of Four Years in Wheat. 
 First Year — Wheat 
 Complete fertilizer No. 1, 1066 lbs. 
 
 /^ . , . The acre. 
 
 VompOSltlOn : Qnantity. Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 222 " "9.50 
 
 Sulphate of lime 311 " .64 
 
 Cost $26.01 
 
68 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 Second Year — Wheat 
 
 The acre. 
 Quantity. Price. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Third Year— Wheat 
 Complete fertilizer No. 1, 1066 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 222 " 9.50 
 
 Sulphate of lime f. 311 " M 
 
 Cost $26.01 
 
 Fourth Year — Wheat 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Total expense $65.82 
 
 That is to say : 
 
 Azote, 241 lbs., equivalent in harvest to 482 lbs. 
 
 Phosphoric acid 106 " 
 
 Potash 165 " 
 
 Lime 256 " 
 
 By means of these quantities, renewed every four years, we may 
 easily obtain four harvests of from 44 to 50 bushels, and 4444 lbs. of 
 straw the acre. Now, if we draw a balance between what the fer- 
 tilizers furnished the earth and what these four harvests took from it, 
 we will find an excess in favor of the soil : 
 
 Fertilizer. Harvest. Loss to soil. Gain to soil. 
 
 Azote, 241 lbs., equivalent to 482 lbs. 241 ... 241 
 
 Phosphoric acid 106 " 87 ... 19 
 
 Potash 165 " 99 ... 66 
 
 Lime 256 " 42 ... 214 
 
 You will see, gentlemen, the balance is closed by a general excess 
 in favor of the fertilizers. In the face of these numbers we may 
 with certainty conclude that we have nothing to fear in the future 
 from the use of these chemical fertilizers. 
 
 My experiments in burnt sand — confirmed by the culture of the 
 field at Vincennes — which have continued now more than eight years, 
 seem to me to put this conclusion beyond all contest. In the preced- 
 ing examples I have intentionally admitted that the whole of the 
 harvest, straw and grain was lost to the domain. I have besides 
 admitted that the land was cultivated by the hand of man. By this 
 double supposition the demonstration is carried to the extreme. It 
 is true that this situation is to be regretted ; it is found in France 
 among the small farmers, Avho are almost entirely without manure, 
 and who, by the extent of the interests they represent, very painfully 
 affect the public fortunes. 
 
 I now take up an alternate culture of colza and wheat, and I still 
 suppose the straw and grain are sold. The fertilizer comprehends 
 four years, ^ 
 
Harvest. 
 
 Loss. 
 
 Gain. 
 
 524 
 
 
 28 lbs. 
 
 108 
 
 2 lbs. 
 
 
 239 
 
 140 " 
 
 ... 
 
 249 
 
 ... 
 
 25 " 
 
 CHEMICAL MANURES. 69 
 
 Azote, 276 lbs., equivalent in harvest to 552 lbs. 
 
 Phosphoric acid 106 " 
 
 Potash 99 " 
 
 Lime. .^ 276 " 
 
 The four harvests of colza and wheat contain — 
 
 Azote 524 lbs. 
 
 Phosphoric acid 108 " 
 
 Potash 239 " 
 
 Lime 249 " 
 
 This time, if we make the balance, a grave fact strikes us. The 
 earth is decidedly the loser in two points, potash and phosphoric 
 acid : 
 
 Fertilizer. 
 
 Azote 652 lbs. 
 
 Phosphoric acid 106 " 
 
 Potash 99 " 
 
 Lime 276 " 
 
 There is here no illusion ; the earth is decidedly in deficit. The 
 fertilizers proposed are insufficient, and their continued use would end 
 in injury to the fertility of the soil. Nevertheless, in reality, these fer- 
 tilizers are sufficient, and the land is not wasted. These apparently 
 contradictory facts are easy to reconcile. To simplify the discussion, 
 I admit that the preceding culture is done by hand, and that straw 
 and grain are sold. Gentlemen, you are not ignorant of the fact that 
 though the wheat straw may find a ready sale, it is not the same with 
 the straw and husks of the colza, which have no commercial value, 
 and which it is sometimes almost impossible to dispose of. Under 
 these circumstances it is natural to seek a use for them. Suppose we 
 burn them and spread their ashes over the soil. The earth will thus 
 recuperate more in potash and phosphoric acid than is necessary to 
 compensate for the deficit. 
 
 This restitution, consequently, immediately shifts the balance. 
 The earth was the loser, and now, on the contrary, receives an excess. 
 
 To show you how the remains of the harvest that are without com- 
 mercial value can acquire an importance as a source of fertility, 
 permit me to show you the composition of two harvests of colza, and 
 to make over our balance, while the straw and husks have been 
 burned on the soil and only the grain exported : 
 
 Composition of Tivo Harvests of Colza. 
 
 Harvests. Azote. Plios. acid. Potash. Lime. 
 
 Straw, 20,656 lbs. 21,480 lbs. 30,980 lbs. 6,628 lbs. 19,924 lbs. 
 Husks, 9,216 " 10,376 " 1,916 " 29,408 " 28,904 " 
 Grain, 9,356 " 39,192 " 12,028 " " 6,648 " 3,040 " 
 Balance rectified by burning the straw and husks of colza. 
 
 Fertilizers. Taken off by harvests. Gain to eolL 
 
 Azote 1244 lbs. 1180 lbs. 6.4 lbs. 
 
 Phosphoric acid 240 " 218 " 22 " 
 
 Potash 224 " 178 " 46 " 
 
 Lime 624 " , 76 " 548 " 
 
70 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 This new example shows us, gentlemen, the necessity, in making 
 up the cost of a rotation, to consider as lost to the soil only those 
 products really taken away ; the residue, which becomes manure and 
 returns to the earth, ought not to be comprised in this category. 
 
 A third case can be shown, always without the use of animals, in 
 which the small producer far from a railroad or a town can sell 
 neither the wheat, colza nor straw. What shall he do with them ? 
 
 He has a choice of two methods : he can either burn them, or con- 
 vert them into true manure by rotting them. 
 
 If the straw is laid in horizontal beds, and watered with water in 
 which several hundred pounds of little cakes of colza have been dis- 
 solved and allowed to stand, this liquid, acting as urine in the prep- 
 aration of manure, very rapidly determines the decomposition of the 
 whole mass : at the end of fifteen or twenty days the dissolution of 
 the woody parts is complete — the straws have lost their texture and 
 passed into a semi-viscous form, approaching that of manure. 
 
 Which of these two processes is the better ? By putrefaction we 
 avoid an important loss of azote, but then we have the cost of hand- 
 ling in carrying the straw, preparing the manure and spreading it ; 
 by burning we avoid this expense, but we lose the azote, on which we 
 are dependent for an amount of sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of 
 soda. 
 
 I repeat, the choice of these two is indifierent to me : they are 
 equivalent in practice ; the expense alone need determine us. 
 
 If we pass to a more general case, where the work of the field is 
 done by horses, and where the production of manure becomes a 
 necessity, we cannot avoid : the problem remains the same, and the 
 rules which have already guided us are still applicable. 
 
 In a word, what is the nature of manure ? Its origin has told you. 
 It is vegetable products modified by animal digestion ; manure, as 
 the residue of the harvest, draws its value from the azote, phosphate 
 of lime, potash and lime which it contains. 
 
 I will now give you the balance of the rotations in which manure 
 is associated with the chemical fertilizers, because the importance of 
 the real loss undergone by the soil depends then upon the exporting 
 of the vegetable products and the raising of stock ; but to give you 
 the means of making this estimate for yourself — always necessary in 
 every well-directed labor — I have united in one table the mean com- 
 position of manure and that of all the harvests comprised in the 
 rotations shown, so that all the work is reduced to several multi- 
 plications. (See Appendix.) 
 
 Let us now look at the question of chemical fertilizers under their 
 financial relations, and take as a first example the case of a culture 
 by means of chemical fertilizers alone. Nothing is so variable as an 
 agricultural account; everything affects it — the neighborhood, the 
 plentifulness or scarcity of hands, and the agricultural regime itself. 
 It is impossible to show such an account without exposing one's self 
 to all sorts of objections, which each one draws from his particular 
 situation. To escape this inconvenience, I will limit myself in the 
 following valuations to the price of fertilizer and value of harvest, 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 71 
 
 leaving each one to draw from this parallel the conclusions applicable 
 to his own situation. 
 
 The return being 44 bushels of grain and 4444 pounds of straw, 
 if we fix the price of grain at $1.23 the bushel, and that of straw at 
 ^6.65 the ton, the harvest represents the value of $151.05. 
 
 Thus $151.05 
 
 Against an annual cost of manure of. 41.93 
 
 Excess of produce $109.06 
 
 You will tell me perhaps that in this valuation I have not counted 
 the cost of transporting the fertilizers. The observation is just. 
 Let us, then, add to this the sum of $5.70 ; the excess in favor of the 
 harvest will be $103.36, to cover the rent of the soil, taxes, cost of 
 culture and interest on capital engaged. 
 
 I am going to examine a second hypothesis, which applies particu- 
 larly to medium and large cultures — a working directed by the old 
 traditions, but whose returns are small, and which we wish to transfer 
 to the order of high cultures and large returns with little means. To 
 give more precision to what follows, I will again take the farm of 
 Bechelbronn for an example. 
 
 There manure alone is used, and of the 247 acres which compose 
 the domain, 135 are devoted to meadow, and only 112 to cultivation, 
 properly speaking. The rough sum of the yearly products is $3919.70, 
 obtained by the aid of a rolling capital of $6650. 
 Culture with Manure Alone. 
 
 RETURNS. PRODUCTS. 
 
 Acres 
 in culture. The acre. 
 
 Irish potatoes 15| 10,871 lbs. 
 
 Beets 61 23,419 " 
 
 AVheat (grain) ... 45 2,672 bu. 
 Wheat (straw)... 45 2,883 lbs. 
 
 Clover 22.i 5,160 " 
 
 Oats (grain) 22i 45 bu. 
 
 Oats (straw) 22^ 1,665 lbs. 
 
 Total production $4,202.42 
 
 Now, by means of an increase of manure, at $10.13 the acre, the 
 rough sum of the products will be carried from $4202.42 to $5951.96, 
 leaving a profit of $1749.46, instead of $627. 
 
 Culture with Manure and Fertilizers Mixed. 
 
 RETURNS. PRODUCTS. 
 
 Total. 
 
 The acre. 
 
 Total. 
 
 171,218 lbs. 
 
 $46.44 
 
 $731.43 
 
 158,078 " 
 
 80.18 
 
 541.21 
 
 1,202 bu. 
 
 30.46 
 
 1,370.90 
 
 129,735 lbs. 
 
 6.84 
 
 307.80 
 
 116,100 " 
 
 26.93 
 
 605.92 
 
 1,012 bu. 
 
 25.56 
 
 575.10 
 
 37,462 lbs. 
 
 3.12 
 
 70.20 
 
 Acres. The acrn. Total. The acre. Total. 
 
 Irish potatoes 15| 17,777 lbs. 124,444 lbs. $76.00 $1,197.00 
 
 Beets 61 35,555 " 239,999 " 54.04 364.77 
 
 Wheat (grain)... 45 43 bu. 1,935 bu. 49.40 2,223.00 
 
 Wheat (straw)... 45 4,000 lbs. 180,000 lbs. 9.45 425.25 
 
 Clover 221 4,444 " 99,980 " 37.15 835.87 
 
 Oats (grain) 22* 65 bu. 1,462^ bu. 36.05 811.12 
 
 Oats (straw) 22^ 2,222 lbs. 49,995 lbs. 4.22 94 .95 
 
 Total production $5,951.96 
 
72 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 Rough products by the mixture of manure and 
 
 chemical fertilizers $5,951.96 
 
 Rough products with manure alone 4,202.42 
 
 Difference in favor of first system $1,749.54 
 
 — S1749.54 excess of product against an excess of expense of 
 $1140, the profit is 100 per cent. The rolling fund was originally 
 $6650, increased to $7790, and the profit was threefold. I need not add 
 that the price of sales was the same in both cases. I admit without 
 change those that M. Boussingault took as the basis of his valuations. 
 
 Is this result a maximum ? Far from it. I have fixed the returns 
 at 20 per cent, below their real value. 
 
 Here are the results obtained by M. Lavaux for three years from 
 the farm of Choisy-le-Temple (Seine-et-Marne) : 
 
 1865, wheat 53 bu. 
 
 1866, colza 48 " 
 
 1867, March wheat 49 " 
 
 1867, beets 53,333 lbs. 
 
 The increase of profit realized on fifty acres, which form the culture 
 of Bechelbronn, is not the only advantage to be drawn from the 
 chemical fertilizer. 
 
 On the 447^ acres composing the domain, to produce manure 135 
 acres must be devoted to the meadow, the returns from which hardly 
 exceed 3600 pounds of hay the acre. 
 
 By means of an appropriate formula this return can easily be 
 brought to 7111 pounds, which will put, without any diminution of 
 products, 33 to 40 acres at our disposal for other culture. 
 
 You know that this result will be more surely attained by repla- 
 cing the meadow with fields of lucerne. 
 
 The use of chemical fertilizers in the case now occupying us pro- 
 duces tAVO equally advantageous results — viz., to increase the return 
 of all the cultures ; to reduce the surface devoted to the raising of 
 cattle without diminishing the number of animals ; or to increase the 
 number, if we like best, to at least 30 per cent. 
 
 When the agriculturist has no fixed idea as to the true agents of 
 fertility with which he should precede the production of manure and 
 cereals, and draws all the fertilizers from his own land, he cannot 
 give the meadow less than the half of the whole surface without 
 w^asting the soil and condemning himself to an almost inevitable 
 ruin. 
 
 In the economy of this regime the principal use of the meadow is 
 to throw off into the air the azote that the cereals ought to find in the 
 soil ; and the animals being the only method of preparing manure, 
 the hay of the meadow and the straw of the cereals are compounded 
 as if of one nature. 
 
 With the chemical fertilizers the agricultural problem is simplified, 
 and becomes susceptible of a more independent solution. There can 
 no more be a question of absolute rule. The maxim, Make meadows 
 and raise cattle to have cereals, loses the character of an axiom which 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. • 73 
 
 has been given it. I will add that now this axiom is agricultural 
 nonsense and an economical heresy, because with the use of manure 
 alone the returns are always poor, and the wheat costs at least $1.05 
 the bushel, which is not profitable. I say, then, that this axiom has 
 lost its character of a necessity imposed by the culture itself. 
 
 And I repeat, what you already know, that from the moment the 
 true agents of fertility are known to us, we make manure only as we 
 find it profitable ; for the rest, we will employ chemical fertilizers. 
 It is no longer a question of culture, but simply a question of profit 
 and loss. 
 
 The necessity imposed upon the agriculturist is not to make ma- 
 nure, but to manure more abundantly than in the past by whatsoever 
 agents he may have recourse to, manure or chemical fertilizers, em- 
 ployed separately or simultaneously ; but in all cases two rules are to 
 be observed : yoa know them. However, as they sum up the last 
 word of agricultural science, I feel obliged to repeat them to you : 
 
 1. Give the earth more phosphate, more potash and lime, than the 
 harvests have taken from it. 
 
 2. Give it fifty per cent, of the azote which they contain. 
 You know now in what the new processes diflTer from the old. 
 
 In the past, you were under the empire of a law which ruled you ; 
 you were forced to give the meadow and animals a part destined to 
 maintain the equilibrium. 
 
 In the past, the sole origin of azotic matter was the meadow — 
 potash, the phosphates and lime provided by the meadow or manures 
 made irregularly. 
 
 In the past, where the meadow was the sole source of manure, the 
 returns were necessarily small, because in this case the sources of fer- 
 tility were always insufficient. Thus, wheat did not exceed 26 to 30 
 bushels the acre ; Irish potatoes, 8888 to 10,000 pounds ; and beets, 
 26,666 pounds. Now, under these conditions agriculture is become 
 impossible. 
 
 Nothing rules us to-day but the necessity of keeping animals for 
 draught and transportation ; beyond this necessity we possess a liberty 
 of action without limit : Ave would make forage and manure only 
 when, all things considered, we found advantage in it. 
 
 And if we should raise them, we can, on a relatively restricted 
 surface, produce more food than formerly, because we can increase 
 the returns from the meadow as from other cultures. 
 
 We are compelled, it is true, to the necessity of giving the soil 
 more than w^e take from it, but the observance of this law does not 
 impose upon us the obligation of producing manure beyond what 
 conforms to our interests. "We can satisfy it by the aid of foreign 
 manures, whose nature and qualities are clearly defined, and can be 
 regulated with entire certainty. 
 
 To whoever reflects, to whoever seeks to comprehend the problems 
 which agitate our century, it is not difficult to perceive the connec- 
 tion which exists between the great interests of our country and the 
 question we are now seeking to solve. At a time when the ways of 
 communication had not the development they have acquired, the 
 
74 CHEMICAL MANUKES. 
 
 interior roads offered certain and easy openings to our agricultural 
 products ; but since we have obtained liberty of commerce and facility 
 of means of transport, agriculturists are called upon to contend in 
 our own markets with the entire world. That the contest may be 
 possible and fruitful, it is absolutely necessary that the returns from 
 all cultures be raised to their limit. By the old methods this is im- 
 possible, and besides, would exact so formidable a capital that it is 
 not to be thought of. 
 
 With the chemical fertilizers the question is different. It is re- 
 duced to this simple proposition : To add to $10.18 worth of fertilizers 
 the acre all the manure at disposal, or to pay out $15 to $20 if one 
 has no manure; and the result will be changed by an immediate 
 excess of harvest, representing twice the value of the excess of cost 
 it occasioned. There is neither a doubt nor objection to be raised 
 against this proposition. It is a fact. 
 
 May the new methods that the farm of Vincennes is destined to 
 make known receive a more and more general application. I invite 
 the severest criticisms upon them ; and if the progress which I expect 
 from this criticism throws my efforts in the shade, I will console 
 myself without too much sadness, persuaded that from the applica- 
 tion of these new methods my country must draw an incalculable 
 increase of wealth and prosperity. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 PRACTICE AND DOCTRINE. 
 FORMULA OF FERTILIZERS. 
 
 TO facilitate research and comparison, I unite in this Appendix the 
 formulae of rotation and fertilizers under consideration in the 
 course of these lectures. 
 
 I cannot but repeat, since my experiments have passed from the 
 domain of science to that of practice, that I have found great advan- 
 tage to be gained by the use of chemical fertilizers in fractional 
 quantities. The division of the fertilizers has, over manuring all at 
 once, the double advantage of causing less expense the first year, and 
 producing larger returns. 
 
 The following formulae have been fixed according to this ncAV 
 method of application. 
 
 I have considered here, as in the lectures, two distinct cases — the 
 one where the chemical fertilizers are used alone, to the exclusion of 
 manure, and the other where they are associated with it under the 
 title of supplementary fertilizers, whether we have to do with isolated 
 culture or culture by rotation. 
 
 FIEST CASE. 
 Here the chemical fertilizers are employed alone, to the exclusion 
 of manure. 
 
 Isolated Cultures. 
 
 Wheat 
 Complete fertilizer No. 1, 1066 lbs. 
 
 Composition : Quantity. * ^ * Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 222 " 9.50 
 
 Sulphate of lime 312 " .59 
 
 AVhole 1066 lbs. Cost... $25.96 
 
 75 
 
76 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 Barley, Oats, Bye — Natural Meadows. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 1, 533 lbs. 
 
 Composition : Qnantity. "" '''''^^' Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 177 lbs. 42.70 
 
 Nitrate of potash 88 " 5.23 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 112 " 4.75 
 
 Sulphate of lime 155 " ^ 
 
 Whole 533 lbs. Cost... $12.97 
 
 The fertilizers may be used on the meadow in two ways — spread it 
 on the soil at once in the autumn ; or in two separate times — 266 lbs. 
 
 in the autumn, and 266 lbs. in the spring, after the first method. 
 
 Hemp, Colza. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 1, 1066 lbs. 
 
 If the colza is to be followed by wheat : 
 Complete fertilizer No. 6, 1154 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 7.39 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 355 " 15.20 
 
 Sulphate of lime J97 " .U 
 
 Total 1154 lbs. Cost... $28.63 
 
 JBeets, Carrots, Cabbage, Hops, Garden Stuff. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 2, 1066 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 855 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Nitrate of soda 266 " 8.86 
 
 Sulphate of lime _268 " .50 
 
 Total 1066 lbs. Cost... $25.23 
 
 For beets, when we can push the returns to their highest limit, we 
 must substitute complete fertilizer No. 2, double, or, better still, in- 
 tense complete fertilizer No. 2, for complete fertilizer No. 2. 
 
 Complete fertilizer No. 2, double, 1155 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 189 " 10.47 
 
 Nitrate of soda 355 " 11.82 
 
 Sulphate of lime 266 " .50 
 
 Total 1155 lbs. Cost... $28.19 
 
 Complete fertilizer No. 2, 1422 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 533 lbs. $8.21 
 
 Nitrate of potash 355 " 20.94 
 
 Nitrate of soda 266 " 8.86 
 
 Sulphate of lime _268 " ^0 
 
 Total 1422 lbs. Cost... $38.51 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 77' 
 
 Irish Potatoes, 
 Complete fertilizer No. 3, 887 lbs. 
 
 ^ ... The acre, 
 
 CompOSlttOn : Quantity. Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 266 " 15.70 
 
 Sulphate of lime 266 " .50 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $21.60 
 
 On wasted lands the complete fertilizer No. 2, to the quantity of 
 1066 pounds, is preferable. 
 
 Vines and Small Shrubs. 
 
 Complete fertilizer No. 4, 1333 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 534 lbs. $8.21 
 
 Nitrate of potash 444 " 26.17 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " j67 
 
 Total 1333 lbs. Cost... $35.05' 
 
 The complete fertilizer No. 2 has also a very good effect upon the 
 vine. I even advise you to begin with it on vineyards whose product 
 is of an ordinary quality. 
 
 Turnips, Rutabagas, Artichokes, Sorghum, Sugar-cane, Maize. 
 
 Complete fertilizer No. 5, 1066 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 534 lbs. $8.21 
 
 Nitrate of potash .^.. 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " .67 
 
 Total 1066 lbs. Cost... $19.35 
 
 Beans of all hinds. Clover, Sanfoin, Vetches, Jjuceme. 
 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5,40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355" .67 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $16.54 
 
 Theoretically, this fertilizer ought not to contain azote; potash 
 ought to be exhibited in the form of a carbonate. The nitrate of 
 potash is substituted on account of the price. The quantity of azote 
 introduced in the fertilizer rises to only 24 pounds the acre, and is too 
 small a quantity to be injurious. 
 
 I now pass to cultures by rotations. 
 
78 CHEMICAL MANURKS. 
 
 SUCCESSIONS. 
 
 A Culture Exclusively of Wheat. 
 First Year — Wheat 
 Complete fertilizer No. 1, 1066 pounds. 
 
 yy . , . The acre. 
 
 tompOSltWn: Quantity. Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash..... 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 222 " 9.50 
 
 Sulphate of lime J12 " .59 
 
 Total 1066 lbs. Cost... $25.96 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Third Year— Wheat. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 5.23 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 222 " . 9.50 
 
 Sulphate of lime : 312 " .69 
 
 Whole 1066 lbs. Cost... $20.72 
 
 Fourth Year — Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Expense for four years $69.48 
 
 Expense the year $18.68 
 
 The exclusive culture results in favoring the multiplication of bad 
 weeds to such a degree that, to maintain the harvests at a mean level, 
 we must have recourse every year to several w^orkings, which occa- 
 sions a great deal of expense. To escape this inconvenience, substi- 
 tute Irish potatoes or clover the third year for wheat. If this is 
 done, employ the following fertilizer : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 266 " 15.70 
 
 Sulphate of lime 266 . 50 
 
 Whole 887 lbs. Cost... $21.60 
 
 This change reduces the expenses of the third year to $4.34, and 
 changes the annual expense from $18.68 to $16.48. 
 
 If we give the preference to clover, we must reduce the quantity 
 of nitrate of potash by 88, which brings the expenses of the third 
 year down to $11.48. 
 
 Alternate Culture of Colza and Wheat. 
 First Year — Colza. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 6, 1155 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 166 " 7.39 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 355 " 15.20 
 
 Sulphate of lime ^37 " .64 
 
 Whole 1153 lbs. Cost... $28.63 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 79 
 
 Second Year, — Wheat. 
 
 The aero. 
 Quantity. Price. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 
 
 Ashes of the straw and husks of the colza, 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Total expense $40.03 
 
 Expense the year $19.46 
 
 Burn the straw and husks of the colza on the field, and sow the 
 ashes over the surface of the soil after the first working ; then spread 
 the sulphate of ammonia when the earth has been worked a second 
 time. Instead of burning the straw and husks of the colza, you may 
 rot them according to the directions given in the Sixth Lecture. 
 The use of the straw and husks of the colza is then confounded with 
 that of the manure. 
 
 notations of Four Years, comprising Irish Potatoes, Wheat, Clover, 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 First Year — Irish Potatoes. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 3, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 266 " 15.70 
 
 Sulphate of lime 266" .50 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $21.60 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Third Year — Clover. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " .67 
 
 Total.... 887 lbs. Cost... $16.54 
 
 Fourth Year — Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Total expense $62.04 
 
 Annual expense $15.20 
 
 Botations of Four Years, including Beets, Wheat, Clover, Wheat. 
 First Year — Beets. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 2, double, 1155 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Nitrate of soda 355 " 11.82 
 
 Sulphate of lime 268 " .50 
 
 Total 1155 lbs. Cost... $28.19 
 
80 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 Second Year — ^yheat. 
 
 The acre. 
 Quantity. Price. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40* 
 
 Third Year — Clover. 
 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime. 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime... 355 " .67 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $16.54 
 
 Fourth Year — Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Total expense $67.53 
 
 Annual expense $16.99 
 
 notations of Five Years, including Irish Potatoes^ Wheat, Clover ^ 
 " Colza, Wheat. 
 
 ^ First Year — Irish Potatoes. 
 
 Complete fertilizer No. 8, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 266 " 15.70 
 
 . Sulphate of lime 266 " ^0 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $21.60 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Third Year — Clover. ^ 
 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " ^7 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $16.54 
 
 Fourth Year — Colza. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 355 lbs. $15.20 
 
 Fijth Year— Wheat. 
 
 Ashes of straw and husks of colza 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. flk^^ 
 
 Total expense $76.14 
 
 Annual expense $15,110 
 
CHEMICAL MANUEKS. 81 
 
 Succession of Two Years — Maize, Wheat. 
 " First Year — Maize. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 5, 1066 lbs. 
 
 /-v . , . The acre. 
 
 Composition : Quantity. Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 534 lbs. $8.21 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177" 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime. _SDp " i>7 
 
 Total. TolJeibs. Cost... $19.85 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Total expense .' $30.75 
 
 Annual expense $15.32 
 
 Rotation of Six Years, including Flax, Beets, Wheat, Colza, Wheats 
 Oats, Bye or Barley. 
 
 First Year — Flax. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 855 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " ^67 
 
 Total.... : 887 lbs. Cost... $16.54 
 
 Second Year — Beets. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 2, 1066 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 179" 10.47 
 
 Nitrate of soda 266" 8.97 
 
 Sulphate of lime 2^ " .50 
 
 Total 1066 lbs. Cost.... $25.34 
 
 Third Year— Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $1 1 .40 
 
 Fourth Year — Colza. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 6, 1155 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 106" 6.28 
 
 Nitrate of soda 355 " 15.20 
 
 Sulphate of lime _^37 " ^64 
 
 Total 1155 lbs. Cost.... $27.52 
 
 Fifth Year— Wheat. 
 Ashes of straw and husk of the colza 
 turned under by the first ploughing. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 6 
 
82 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 Sixth Year — Oats, Rye or Barley. 
 
 Tho acre. 
 Quantity. Price. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 177 lbs. $7.60 
 
 Total expense '$99.80 
 
 Annual expense $16.54 
 
 Rotations for Forage. 
 First Year — Wheat. 
 
 Complete fertilizer No. 1, 1066 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 122 " 9.50 
 
 Sulphate of lime 312 " .59 
 
 Whole l066 1bs. Cost... $61.11 
 
 Second Year — Clover. 
 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " .67 
 
 Total •. 887 lbs. Cost... $16.5"4 
 
 Third Year— Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Fourth Year — Vetches, Beans, Maize, mixed. 
 
 Complete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " _.67 
 
 Whole 887 lbs. Cost... $16754 
 
 Fifth Year—Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Sixth Year — Vetches, Beans, Maize, mixed. 
 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.4 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime mb " .67 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $16.54 
 
 Total expense $98.73 
 
 Expense the year $19.75 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 83 
 
 Fertilizer f(yr Meadow. 
 First Year. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 
 Composition: ^ Qnimtity. ^^'^^'^' Prico. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " ^ 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $16.54 
 
 Second Year. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Total expense $27.64 
 
 Annual expense $1 3.82 
 
 SECOND CASE. 
 
 The chemical fertilizers are employed as auxiliaries of manure. 
 
 When we employ the chemical fertilizers in concert with manure, 
 we must consider the latter as equivalent to a fund of richness ac- 
 quired by the soil, and limit the chemical fertilizer to those of its four 
 terms which are most suitable to the culture in hand. 
 
 It follows from this that it is of the utmost importance we should 
 know the dominant of each plant ; the following tables are designed 
 to furnish this first indispensable indication : 
 
 Nature of Culture. Dominants. Corresponding Clieniical Products. 
 
 Beets. 
 
 Colza. 
 
 Wheat. Sulphate of ammonia. 
 
 Barley. Azote. Nitrate of soda. 
 
 Oats. Nitrate of potash. 
 
 Bye. 
 
 Natural meadow. 
 
 Peas. 
 
 Beans. 
 
 Clover. 
 
 Sanfoin. Nitrate of potash. 
 
 Vetches. Potash. Purified potash. 
 
 Lucerne. Silicate of potash. 
 
 Flax. 
 
 Irish potatoes. 
 
 Turnips. 
 
 Rutabagas. 
 
 Artichokes. 
 
 Maize. Phosphate. Ashes of bones. 
 
 Sorghum. Superphosphate. 
 
 Sugar-cane. 
 
 Supposing 44,444 pounds of manure were used every five years, 
 the following are the chemical fertilizers to which we must have 
 recourse ; 
 
84 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 notations of Five Years, including Irish Potatoes, Wheat, Clover, Oats. 
 
 First Year — Irish Potatoes. 
 Manure, 44,444 pounds. 
 
 Complementary chemical fertilizers : 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 444 lbs. 
 
 ry • / • The acre. 
 
 Composition : Qmintity. Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 177 lbs. $2.70 
 
 Nitrate of potash 88" 5.23 
 
 Sulphate of lime 179 " .3 3 
 
 Total .' 444 lbs. Cost... $8.26 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Third Year — Clover. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 ' Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " .67 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $16.54 
 
 Fourth Year — Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 177 lbs. $7.60 
 
 Fifth Year — Oats. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $1 1.40 
 
 Total expense ., $55.20 
 
 Annual expense $ 1 1 .04 
 
 Potations of Five Years, including Beets, Wheat, Clover, Wheat, Oats. 
 
 First Year — Peets. 
 Manure, 44,444 lbs. 
 
 Complementary chemical fertilizers : 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 533 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 177 lbs. $2.70 
 
 Nitrate of potash 88 " 5.23 
 
 Nitrate of soda 133 " 4.40 
 
 Sulphate of lime j^3" .25 
 
 Total '. , 531 lbs. Cost.'.. $12.58 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 177 lbs. $7.60 
 
 Third Year — Clover. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " __.67 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $16.54 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 85 
 
 Fourth Year — Wheat. 
 
 The acre. 
 Qnnntity, Pric-*. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 177 lbs. $7.60 
 
 Fifth Year— Oats. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Total expense $55.72 
 
 Rotations of Five Years, including Colza, Beets, JVheat, Clover, Wheat 
 
 First Year — Colza. 
 Manure, 44,444 lbs. 
 
 Complementary chemical fertilizer ; 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Second Year — Beets. 
 Incomplete fertilizer, condensed, No. 2, 711 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 Ashes of straw and husks of colza. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 266 lbs. $4.05 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Nitrate of soda 133 " 4.40 
 
 Sulphate of lime lU " ^ 
 
 Total 710 lbs. Cost... $19.17 
 
 Third Year— Wheat. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $7.60 
 
 Fourth Year — Clover. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " . ^ 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $16.54 
 
 Fifth Year— Wheat. . 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 177 lbs. $7.60 
 
 Total expense $62.31 
 
 Annual expense $12.56 
 
 Rotation of Six Years, comprehending Flax, Beets, Wheat, Colza, 
 Wheat, Oats, Rye or Barley. 
 
 First Year — Flax. 
 Incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 887 lbs. 
 Composition : 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of lime 355 " .67_ 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $16.54 
 
86 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 Second Year — Beets. 
 Manure spread in autumn, 44,444 lbs. 
 
 In the spring : 
 Complete fertilizer No. 2, 533 lbs. 
 
 Composition: Qnantity. "'"^"'' Piico. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 177 lbs. $2.70 
 
 Nitrate of potash 88" 5.23 
 
 Nitrate of soda 133 " 5.91 
 
 Sulphate of lime 133 " .25 
 
 Total 533 lbs. Cost... $14.09 
 
 Third Year— Wheat 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Fourth Year — Colza. 
 Complete fertilizer No. 6, 1155 lbs. 
 Composition: 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5,40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 106 " 7.39 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 355 " 15.20 
 
 Sulphate of lime _339 " J64 
 
 Whole 1155 ll-« Cost... $28.63 
 
 Fifth Year— Wheat. 
 Ashes of straw and husks of colza 
 turned under by the first ploughing. 
 Sulphate of ammonia 266 lbs. $11.40 
 
 Sixth Year. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 177 lbs. $7.60 
 
 Total expense $89.66 
 
 Annual expense $14.92 
 
 Instead of commencing by a trial on a large scale, I prefer to use 
 the chemical fertilizers on a small field for the experiment, which 
 does not cost more than $1.68 to $2.11, and by means of which we 
 acquire positive facts in regard to the agents of fertility which the 
 soil especially requires, and the extreme limits the harvests can attain 
 on the land on w^hich we wish to operate. 
 
 PRESERVATION, PREPARATION AND SPREADING OF 
 CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS. 
 
 As a general rule, chemical fertilizers must be kept in a dry place 
 — a granary, for example. 
 
 When you prepare the mixture of the products yourself, the opera- 
 tion, without being difficult, requires a certain amount of care. First, 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 87 
 
 the mixing must be as perfect as possible ; if this is not done, the 
 little roots of the plant do not find the different agents at once, and 
 their good effects depend on their association. 
 
 When you make the mixture yourself, it is necessary to procure 
 the acid phosphate of lime several months in advance. At the time 
 of preparation this product has a pasty consistence which makes it 
 difficult to mix, but at the end of two or three months it becomes 
 powdery. 
 
 Here is the rest of the process. 
 
 First, spread the phosphate of lime on the ground and then cover 
 it with plaster. In twenty-four hours mix the two products with a 
 shovel, and leave them in a heap for two or three days. Then spread 
 this on the ground and mix in the other products by a vigorous spad- 
 ing, and finish off by mashing the lumps with a pestle, made by fixing 
 a vertical handle in a piece of oak plank 8 or 12 inches in diameter 
 by 4 inches in thickness. The mixture finished, it is absolutely neces- 
 sary to pass it through a sieve and submit it to a new spreading. It 
 must be well borne in mind, in making this fertilizer, that each 
 thread-like root must be able to absorb all the products of the com- 
 position at the same time. Now, this result cannot be obtained if the 
 mixture is not homogeneous. 
 
 The spreading of the chemical fertilizers also requires exceptional 
 care. The best, without comparison, is to make use of the admirable 
 machines now made for spreading pulverized fertilizers ; with them, 
 the result leaves nothing to be desired. If I add that an intelligent 
 spreading raises the return by two to four Imshels of grain the acre, 
 you will see how important it is to be careful. 
 
 If you do not possess a machine, and the spreading must be done 
 by hand, the best method is to mix it with its own volume of fine dry 
 earth and sow it broadcast like grain. When we work under these 
 conditions, the fertilizer had best be put in little heaps over the 
 ground on which it is to be spread. 
 
 If the culture is one of legumes, peas or beans, the fertilizer must 
 be spread after the first working, and finish the thorough incorpora- 
 tion of it in the superficial soil by an energetic harrowing-. 
 
 For tap-rooted plants, which go down to a great depth, it is best 
 to spread the fertilizer twice — half after the first working, and the 
 other half after the last working. 
 
 The following is the process which has best succeeded with the 
 vine. 
 
 Spread half the fertilizer on the surface in tracts 12 inches wide 
 and 8 inches from the rows of vines, and turn it under deeply with 
 the spade ; the rest of the fertilizer is spread over the worked surface. 
 
 This may also be done by the plough, always 8 inches distant from 
 the vine ; open the furrows 12 inches deep, spread half the fertilizer 
 on the bottom of the furrow, cover it with earth, and spread the rest 
 of the fertilizer over the surface. 
 
 The vine should be manured in the fall. 
 
 I think it best for the meadow to spread half the fertilizer in the 
 fall, and the other half in the spring, after the first cutting. Choose 
 
88 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 a calm day for spreading broadcast ; in case of wind, some may be 
 lost. 
 
 I will not go again over what I have said of the advantages the 
 chemical fertilizer has over the manure, by the power it gives of 
 varying the composition of the fertilizer, but I must insist on the re- 
 sources drawn from their use to overcome the effects of an unfavor- 
 able season. When the winter has been severe and prolonged beyond 
 tlie ordinary limits, grain and seeds of all sorts are often very much 
 injured. With 177 pounds of sulphate of ammonia,. or 311 pounds 
 of nitrate of soda, mixed with 177 pounds of plaster, spread as a 
 covering in the beginning of March, in a few days we can change the 
 condition of the crop and be certain of a harvest. The effect of a 
 top-dressing of this manure is truly magical. 
 
 But here there are also precautions necessary ; you must not wait 
 later than the middle of March. Given in April and May, it throws 
 such extraordinary activity to the plant that the maturing of the grain 
 is retarded, and consequent on the exaggerated development of the 
 straw the grain is malformed — there is but little grain, and that is 
 stunted. 
 
 Top-dressing with manures, by the certainty and rapidity of action, 
 offers a resource of inestimable value to the agriculturist.' 
 
 When the autumn is rainy and the sowing late for w\ant of time, 
 the fertilizers can be used as a top-dressing after the grain is well up. 
 It is certainly the best method to spread the fertilizer before sowing, 
 but when that has been impossible, you should not hesitate — a top- 
 dressing will assure a good harvest. Now with manure this is use- 
 less. 
 
 In the spring use only sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda as 
 a top-dressing. These two products may suffice in extreme cold. I, 
 however, prefer to associate them with 177 pounds of acid phosphate 
 of lime the acre, mixed with 177 pounds of plaster. 
 
 EQUALIZATION OF CULTURE. 
 
 I have already told you that a judicious agriculturist must take 
 account of what the soil receives and what it loses. He ought every 
 year to make a balance of his cultures, and regulate the quantities 
 of fertilizers to satisfy these two laws : 
 
 1. Give the soil more acid phosphate of lime, more potash and 
 more lime than the harvest has taken from it. 
 
 2. Give it 50 per cent, of the azote of the harvests. 
 
 Finally, to put each one so he can make this balance himself, 
 which is done exactly when done wdth discrimination, the following 
 table is given, showing the composition of those plants wdiich form 
 the chief rotations. I must remark that all these analyses are from 
 plants harvested from the farm of Vincennes, and all grown under 
 the same conditions — that is to say, with the complete fertilizer, 
 where azote enters at 71 pounds the acre. 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 89 
 
 Composition of 100 parts. 
 
 Fundamental elements of vegetable production. 
 
 Ilnlf-dry Crops. Water, Azote. Phos. acid. Potiish. Lime. 
 
 Wheat of March : 
 
 Grain 147.50 23.62 8.93 6.09 0.57 
 
 Husk 148.00 9.07 2.50 . 4.19 5.40 
 
 Straw 150.00 5.43 1.80 4.43 3.50 
 
 Winter Wheat: 
 
 Grain 154.00 28.29 6.80 5.02 0.51 
 
 Husk 105.60 10.12 1.89 1.42 1.95 
 
 Straw 103.60 8.19 1.18 3.16 2.10 
 
 Barley : 
 
 Grain 154.25 20.59 9.49 7.27 0.77 
 
 Husk 130.83 10.06 2.70 9.96 9.60 
 
 Straw 132.50 7.17 1.48 11.56 6.60 
 
 Peas: 
 
 Grain 191.00 42.58 12.55 12.26 0.90 
 
 Shells 166.50 13.62 5.50 13.79 2.17 
 
 Straw 135.50 15.39 4.05 8.24 28.06 
 
 Beans : 
 
 Grain 170.01 53.90 12.55 12.26 0.90 
 
 Pods 185.04 14.80 5.50 13.79 2.17 
 
 Straw 203.20 26.60 41.05 8.24 28.06 
 
 Colza : 
 
 Grain 81.50 41.89 12.86 7.13 3.25 
 
 Husks 149.50 11.04 2.08 31.91 31.15 
 
 Straw 136.25 10.40 1.54 8.21 9.55 
 
 Cabbage : 
 
 Leaves 146.00 7.52 17.10 54.10 
 
 Roots 168.00 10.60 34.90 12.60 
 
 Lucerne 123.09 32.33 7.40 31.38 25.10 
 
 Composition of 10,000 parts. 
 
 Fundamental elements of vegetable production. 
 
 , A, . 
 
 Green Crops. Water. Azote. Phos. acid. Potash. Lime. 
 
 Leaves 9265.40 351.17 6.68 16.04 7.45 
 
 Roots 8625.00 89.05 11.49 45.84 4.14 
 
 Irvih Potatoes : 
 
 Tubers 7873.40 45.20 9.20 33.51 1.90 
 
 Tops 
 
 ' Composition of 1000 parts of Moist Manure. 
 
 Fundamental elements of vegetable production. 
 
 Manure at Water. Azote. Phos. acid. Potash. Lime. 
 
 Vinceimes 800.00 4.16 1.76 4.62 10.46 
 
 Bedielbronn 790.00 4.00 2.00 2.60 5.62 
 
 Bonxwiller 790.00 5.38 2.65 8.12 7.76 
 
 In 1000 litres of.. 974.00 1.13 0.10 7.00 0.04 
 
90 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 Composition of 1000 Farts of Dry Manure. 
 
 li'uudamental elements of vegetable production. 
 
 Manure at t^'ator. Azote. Thos. acid. Potash. Lime. 
 
 Vincermes 20.80 8.80 24.60 52.30 
 
 Bechelbronn 20.00 10.00 26.00 28.10 
 
 Bouxwiller 25.67 12.65 38.75 37.06 
 
 In 1000 of residue of 43.45 3.94 230.97 1.88 
 
 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 
 
 I have repeated several times, and do not hesitate to repeat again, 
 it is by experimental fields that I like to see agriculturists begin the 
 use of chemical fertilizers. First, an attempt upon a scale as reduced 
 as it was unfortunate could never take the proportions of a financial 
 mistake, and that is for me a consideration of very great importance ; 
 nothing impresses a practical man like the contrast these fields sliow 
 him ; in face of these contrasts, he instinctively feels that there is a 
 power until now unknown or misapplied. 
 
 The reasons of the differences that these returns show are not at 
 first clear to him ; he hesitates ; but presently the light breaks, and 
 then it is almost with the conviction and fervor of religious senti- 
 ment that he speaks of the effects he observes, and of the great loss 
 of which they are at once the proof. You may judge by this letter : 
 
 " The harvest of beets around me will be more than mediocre. I 
 alone am fortunate, and I am so by the application of your methods. 
 I bless you, and I gather with happiness the fruits of my immovable 
 faith in your ideas. I say, 7ny immovable faith. 1 say it intentionally ; 
 for when it was seen that I was applying your methods, there was a 
 war made upon me, sometimes open, sometimes sullen, and always 
 implacable. 
 
 " They sought to warn my tenants of me, telling them my success 
 was ephemeral — ^that I was preparing bitter regrets for myself by 
 foolishly spending enormous sums, and that in the end I would waste 
 their land. 
 
 "They did more. My experimental fields are admirable; they 
 carry with them the most striking proof of the certainty of their 
 methods. That was not noticed by my enemies. They broke down 
 certain sign-posts for guiding the attention and examination of 
 visitors ; they overthrew others ; they went so far as to change them, 
 and to put, for example, the post indicating a mineral fertilizer in 
 the place of one for complete fertilizer; and then they repeated 
 everywhere that your fertilizers had no real value, and that these 
 experiments proved the contrary of your promises. Fortunately, 
 the fraud is perceived ; truth will assert itself, and I hope now that 
 the authors of this inexplicable misdeed will be made known." 
 
 We will add that tl^e author of this letter, who first began by one 
 experimental farm, to-day possesses ten of them, and has put 250 
 acres under the treatment of chemical fertilizers. 
 
 You see by this example, to which I could add many others, I am 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 91 
 
 right in insisting you should begin with small experimental fields. M. 
 Lavaux, at the farm of Choisy-le-Temps, where the chemical fer- 
 tilizers are employed on nearly 675 acres, begun with a modest little 
 experimental field. 
 
 After what I have just said, you will not be surprised if I speak 
 in detail and with a kind of partiality of the rules to which you 
 must bind yourself, in order to draw from an experimental field all 
 which can possibly be drawn from it. 
 
 A judicious agriculturist, and one animated by the desire to do 
 well, ought to make two kinds of tests here and there over the whole 
 extent of his domain, to know the true wants of the soil ; this consists 
 of peas and wheat sowed near each other on squares of 1 to. 2 yards. 
 If the two plants succeed equally well, the indication is certain 
 that the soil is provided both with minerals and azotic matter. If 
 the peas succeed and the wheat gives but a poor return, you may be 
 certain the land is provided vnth minerals and wanting in azotic 
 matter. Finally, if the return of wheat, without being excellent, is 
 better than that of the peas, it is a sure indication that the soil con- 
 tains azotic matter, but is wanting in minerals. These are certain 
 and easy means of acquiring positive indications of the differences 
 of composition shown by the different parts of a domain. But these 
 inaications, although very useful, are not sufficient; they must be 
 pushed farther to find out what minerals are wanting, both in the 
 superficial and deeper beds of the soil. That is done without dif- 
 ficulty by means of the experimental fields. 
 
 In an area of some importance it would be well to establish seversil 
 of them. One, which I will call the principal field, should compre- 
 hend all the plants included in the rotation to be adopted. 
 
 The choice of position is a point of great importance. You should 
 choose a part which as much as possible represents, by its exposure, its 
 nature and degree of fertility, the mean quality of the soil of the 
 whole area. The principal field ought to be composed of ten strips 
 of one square each, separated by a path of one yard in width. I 
 have said that the field ought to comprehend all, or at least the prin- 
 cipal, plants of the rotation, which would require^at least two or three 
 parallel series of culture ; among the plants to be preferred, if one 
 cannot try them all, I would name the wheat, colza, or even the beet, 
 and a legume — the pea or bean. By means of the wheat and pea you 
 will be informed of the state of the superficial bed, and by the beet 
 or colza of that of the deeper bed of the soil. Now there are two 
 elements to which you must pay particular attention if you would 
 have large returns with intelligence, certainty and economy. 
 
 I have said that each plant ought to be submitted to ten different 
 methods of manuring on ten separate parcels. Here is the exact 
 indication of these manures : , 1 i j f i ii. A 
 
 Wheat— No. 1. Manure, 53,333 lbs. the acre. | ' 
 
 No. 2. Manure, 26,666 " " ' it xr t V i^ o ^ r a- 
 
 No. 3. Complete fertilizer, condensed, ^ ■^ lYlliKoJl 
 
 No. 4. Complete fertilizer. 
 
 No. 5. Fertilizer without azotic matter. ( J A^ J j J 1J^( ) fJlS' ] 
 
92 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 No. 6. Fertilizer without phosphate of lime. 
 No. 7. Fertilizer without potash. 
 No. 8. Fertilizer without lime. 
 .No. 9. Fertilizer without minerals. 
 No. 1.0. Land without any fertilizer. 
 When 5^ou have to do with a very large farm, one field is not suf- 
 ficient, because of the variation which the composition of the soil 
 shows in the principal divisions of a domain ; it will be wise, then, 
 to multiply the test, but on a less scale. One square divided into 
 four parts will be enough for the experiments. They may be reduced 
 to the following terms : 
 
 No. 1. Complete fertilizer. 
 No. 2. Mineral fertilizer without azote. 
 No. 3. Azotic fertilizer v/ithout minerals. 
 No. 4. Without any fertilizer. 
 Several corners of the field reserved for this purpose will not inter- 
 fere with its cultivation, and will show when, for each grand division, 
 to have recourse to azotic or mineral fertilizers. 
 
 To those who look with a kind of fright at so large a number of 
 tests, I will reply by an argument of facts. In all the large farms 
 where the chemical fertilizers have been introduced, these experi- 
 mental squares have been used. The director, proprietor or farmer 
 likes to show them to those who visit him, and after some hesitation 
 he always ends by regulating the quantities of the agents composing 
 his fertilizer by their growth. 
 
 Let us now occupy ourselves with the fertilizers most convenient 
 for these experimental farms. 
 
 SERIES FOR WHEAT. 
 
 (Parcel No. 1.) 
 Barnyard manure, 53,333 lbs. 
 
 (Parcel No. 2.) 
 
 Barnyard manure, 26,666 lbs. 
 
 Condensed Complete Fertilizer No. 1. 
 
 (Parcel No. 3.) 
 
 The acre. 
 Quantity. Price. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 533 lbs. $8.10 
 
 Nitrate of potash 355 " 20.94 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 222 " 9.50 
 
 Sulphate of lime..: _312 " .59 
 
 Total 1432 lbs. Cost... ^39.13 
 
 Complete Fertilizer No. 1. 
 (Parcel No. 4.) 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 222 " 9.50 
 
 Sulphate of lime 312 " .59 
 
 Total 1066 lbs. Cost... $25.96 
 
CHEMICAL. MANURES. 93 
 
 Fertilizer without Azote. 
 (Parcel No. 5.) 
 
 Tho iicre. 
 Qiiiiiitily. Viicc. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Purified potash 123 " 10.13 
 
 Sulphate of lime :^22 " ^9 
 
 Total 800 lbs. Cost... $16.12 
 
 Fertilizer without Phosphate. 
 (Parcel No. 6.) 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 lbs. $10.47 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 222 " 9.50 
 
 Sulphate of lime 312 " _.b^ 
 
 Total 711 lbs. Cost... %1{)M 
 
 Fertilizer without Potash. 
 (Parcel No. 7.) 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 355" 15.20 
 
 Sulphate of lime 177 " .SS 
 
 Total 887 lbs. Cost... $20.93 
 
 Fertilizer without Zdme. 
 (Parcel No. 8.) 
 
 Phosphate of lime, precipitated 355 lbs. . $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 222 " 9^0 
 
 Total 754 lbs. Cost... $25.37 
 
 Fertilizer without Minerals. 
 
 (Parcel No. 9.) 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 355 lbs. $15.20 
 
 SERIES FOR BEETS. 
 
 (Parcel No. 1.) 
 Barnyard manure, 53,333 lbs. 
 
 (Parcel No. 2.) 
 Barnyard manure, 26,666 lbs. 
 
 Complete Fertilizer, Condensed, No. 2. 
 (Parcel No. 3.) 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 533 lbs. $8.10 
 
 Nitrate of potash 355" 20.94 
 
 Nitrate of soda 266" 8.76 
 
 Sulphate of lime 266 " ^ 
 
 Total 1420 lbs. Cost... $38.30 
 
94 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 Complete Fertilizer No. 2. 
 (Parcel No. 4.) 
 
 Tlio ur.ro. 
 Qu.ATitity. PricR. 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 855 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177" 10.47 
 
 Nitrate of soda... 2()6 " 8.76 
 
 Sulphate of lime 266 " M 
 
 Total 1064 lbs. Cost... $25.13 
 
 Fertilizer ivithout Azotic Matter. 
 (Parcel No. 5.) 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. S5.40 
 
 Purified potash 123 " 10.13 
 
 Sulphate of lime 322 " M 
 
 Total 800 lbs. Cost... $16.12 
 
 Fertilizer without Phosphate. 
 (Parcel No. 6.) 
 
 Nitrate of potash 177 lbs. $10.47 
 
 Nitrate of soda 266 " 8.76 
 
 Sulphate of lime 2^6^" .50 
 
 Total 709 lbs. Cost.... "$17;73 
 
 Fertilizer without Potash. 
 (Parcel No. 7.) 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of soda 400 '' 13.33 
 
 Sulphate of lime 322 " .59 
 
 Total 1077 lbs. Cost... $19.31 
 
 Fertilizer without Lime. 
 (Parcel No. 8.) 
 
 Phosphate of lime, precipitated 355 lbs. $5.40 
 
 Nitrate of r4)tash 177 " 10.47 
 
 Nitrate of soda 266 " 8.76 
 
 Total ,. 798 lbs. Cost.... $24.63 
 
 Fertilizer without Minerak. 
 . (Parcel No. 9.) 
 Nitrate of soda 400 lbs. $13.33 
 
 That an experimental field may furnish truly useful indications of 
 the condition of the soil, it must not have received manure for several 
 years ; otherwise, the returns from the different parcels will be so 
 much alike as to be puzzling, and contrasts, such as you see at Vin- 
 cennes, will only be produced after two or three years of cultivation. 
 But this case is not less instructive than the first ; it proves that the 
 soil is piovided with all the terms of the complete fertilizer. 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 95 
 
 In a practical point of view, this indication is of great importance. 
 It teaches us that in such a soil we may have temporary recourse to 
 incomplete fertilizers, and can manure alternately, limiting ourselves 
 to the dominants, which allows us to obtain the maxjmum product 
 with small expense. 
 
 DICTIONAKY OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS. 
 
 Azotic Matters. 
 
 We designate under this name products of animal and vegetable 
 origin, of which azote forms a part : 
 
 The blood, Albumen, 
 
 Scrapings of horn, Scraps of wool, 
 
 Muscular flesh, Litter, 
 
 * Cakes. 
 These are azotic matter. To act upon vegetation the substances 
 called azotic ' matter ought to be allowed to decompose in the soil ; 
 without this previous decomposition they have no action on plants. 
 When azotic substances are decomposed a part of their azote takes 
 the form of ammonia or nitrate. For this reason we include in the 
 class of azotic substances proper to agriculture — i 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia. 
 Nitrate of potash. 
 Nitrate of soda. 
 These substances, which are true salts, contain azote to the number 
 of their constituents ; in sulphate of ammonia the azote belongs to 
 the ammonia, which is the base of salt; in the nitrate ^of potash and 
 soda, the azote belongs to the acid of salt. 
 
 Sulphate of Ammonia, 
 This salt is formed of sulphuric acid and ammonia : 
 
 Sulphuric acid 60,60 
 
 Ammonia 25.76 
 
 Water.. 13.64 
 
 100.00 
 Now, as the ammonia is in its turn formed of 
 
 Azote 14 
 
 Hydrogen 3 
 
 17 
 
 it results that the sulphate of ammonia contains 21.21 per cent of 
 azote .when chemically pure. That of commerce contains at most 
 20 per cent. Ammonia is drawn from the w^aters of sew^ers which 
 have been used for cleaning out cities. It is also obtained from the 
 distillation of coal employed in making coke and gas ; but the source 
 which surpasses all others is that offered by volcanoes, when they 
 become so quiet that they only throw off the vapor of water. 
 In 1866 sulphate of ammonia was worth 86.65 the 200 pounds. 
 
96 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 To-day it is worth $8.55, but this price will certainly be lower in the 
 future. 
 
 Nitrate of Soda. 
 Nitrate of soda is formed from nitric acid and soda. Here is the 
 exact composition : 
 
 Azotic acid 63.53 
 
 Soda 36.47 
 
 lUO.OO 
 Nitric acid itself being formed of 
 
 Azote 14 
 
 Oxygen 40 
 
 • ^* 
 
 it follows that the nitrate of soda contains 16.4 of azote when chem- 
 ically pure. That of commerce contains only 14 or 15 per cent. 
 Nitrate of soda is found in Peru, where it exists in the form of com- 
 pact conglomerates, mixed with sand and marine salt. 
 
 The earthquakes on the Peruvian coast this year have affected the 
 importation of this product, the price being raised to 87.60 the 200 
 pounds, instead of $6.55, at which it could be bought the past year. 
 
 Nitrate of Potash. 
 
 This salt, also designated under the name of salt of nitre, or nitre, 
 is formed of nitric acid and potash : 
 
 Nitric acid 53.41 
 
 Potash JA^^ 
 
 100.00 
 
 By reason of 14 of azote to 54 of nitric acid, it contains 13.8 of 
 azote in its pure form ; that of commerce contains only 12 to 13. 
 Nitrate of potash is obtained by decomposing, under vast sheds for 
 this purpose, substances of animal origin, mixed with argilocalcareous 
 earth, which is then washed in ley to extract the nitre. This salt has 
 for a long time been made from rubbish. It is made now by decom- 
 ])0sing the chlorine of potassium by means of nitrate of soda. By 
 this we obtain both the chloride of sodium (marine salt) and nitrate 
 of potash, very easy to separate by crystiillization. Nitrate of potash 
 is of all substances containing potash the most suitable to agri- 
 cultural wants. 
 
 Nitrate of potash is now worth $5.40 the 200 pounds. 
 
 Phosphate of lAme. 
 
 Under the name of phosphates of lime are comprehended a great 
 number of different products. For a long time agriculturists only 
 used the phosphate of lime from bones. It was then associated with 
 carbonate of lime. Now, the greater part of the phosphates used as 
 fertilizers are provided by the mineral kingdom, where it is found in 
 inexhaustible veins. All the phosphates are formed from phosphoric 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 97 
 
 acid and lime. Phosphoric acid itself is formed from phosphorus 
 and oxygen : 
 
 Phosphorus 31 
 
 Oxygen • 40 
 
 71 
 Of the phosphates, phosphoric acid is the active part. Chemists 
 are accustomed to represent phosphoric acid by the symbol, 
 
 PhOs. 
 
 Now, PhOs, or 71 phosphoric acid, being a fixed term, we know 
 the principal kinds of phosphates of lime : 
 
 jy. ^ ( CaO 
 ^l^^n^HO, 
 which in hundreds is — 
 
 Phosphoric acid 60.68 
 
 Lime (CaO) 23.93 
 
 Water (HO).... 15.39 
 
 100.00 
 This product has received the name of acid phosphate of lime. It 
 is prepared by treating bones or phosphates of mineral origin with 
 sulphuric acid. The acid phosphate is then mixed with sulphate of 
 lime. Under this form it receives the name of superphosi^liatc of lime- 
 It contains from 15 to 18 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and is sold 
 at $3.04 the 200 lbs. 
 
 The second phosphate is expressed by the symbol, 
 
 PhO,{gg 
 
 or in hundreds — 
 
 Phosphoric acid 52.20 
 
 Lime 41.18 
 
 Water 6X2 
 
 100.00 
 It differs from the first in the proportion of lime, which is greater. 
 This phosphate is not found in commerce. It has remarkable proper- 
 ties, of which it is useless to speak, since wc cannot procure it. 
 The symbol of the last phosphate is, 
 
 PhOsSCaO. 
 Its composition in 100 parts is — 
 
 Phosphoric acid 45.81 
 
 Lime 54.19 
 
 100.00 
 You see the proportion of phosphoric acid in the phosphates is 
 expressed by — 
 
 1st 60.68 
 
 2d.. 52.20 
 
 3d 45.80 
 
 The last, which is least rich in phosphoric acid, is the phosphate 
 of bones ; it is found in nature in the form of nodules. 
 7 
 
98 CHEMICAL manurp:s. 
 
 In the form of nodules the phosphate is mixed with 40 per cent, 
 of foreign matter. It is sokl in powder at $1.14 the 200 lbs. Cal- 
 cined hones, reduced to powder, are worth $3.04. By reason of its 
 bulk this phosphate cannot be employed in its natural state. It is 
 used in making acid phosphate of lime. 
 
 Sulphate of Lime. 
 
 Sulphate of lime is nothing more than plaster, produced by the 
 combination of sulphuric acid with lime. 
 
 It is found in great quantities in nature in a hydrated form. Its 
 composition is then — 
 
 Sulphuric acid 46.51 
 
 Lime 32.56 
 
 Water 20.93 
 
 , ' 100.00 
 
 Exposed to a temperature of 120° to 130°, it loses the form of 
 water and passes to the state better known under the name of plaster. 
 It is under the form of piaster that I advise its use, in preference 
 to sulphate of lime. It is then worth 38 cents the 200 lbs. 
 
 justificy'ltion by practice, showing facts 
 
 AND LAWS. 
 
 I will borrow several proofs from the researches of 1867 which 
 merit preservation. Some relate to the conditions of the highest cul- 
 ture, others belong to middle culture. In the latter the land is rented 
 at from $2.50 to $3.50 the acre, and in the former at from $9 to $10 
 the acre. In all these conditions the use of the chemical fertilizers 
 lias been followed, by which, in the most unfavorable cases, the income 
 of the proprietor has been doubled. 
 
 The examples cited will have the merit, besides, of showing the 
 advance the ideas we maintain have made in two years. 
 
 I borrow the first two documents from Le Journal des Fahricants de 
 Sucre (The Sugar-Makers' Journal), an excellent compilation, which 
 recommends itself as much by its independence toward the criticisms 
 of coteries as by the rare merit of its publication. 
 
 CULTUEE BY MEANS OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS. 
 
 1. JVheat 
 My experiments covered the space of three acres, divided into 
 three separate fields of an acre each. 
 
 Tlie first received in the spring of 1866 — 
 
 577 lbs. of sulphate of ammonia, or 
 
 120 lbs. of azote. 
 
 177 lbs. of real phosphate of lime in the form of acid phosphate. 
 
 120 lbs. of purified potash (277 lbs. carbonate of potash). 
 
 277 lbs. of lime. 
 
 Sown in beets, it produced in 1866, 53,013 lbs. of roots. 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 99 
 
 ' ... .1 
 
 The second field had also received the same fertilizer in the spring 
 
 of 1866, except the quantity of sulphate of ammonia, which had 
 
 been reduced to 855 pounds, or 71 pounds of azote. 
 
 The return from this field in beets was 42,066 pounds of roots. 
 
 Lastly, the third field in tho' autumn of 1^66 received — 
 
 266 pounds of acid phosphate of lime. 
 
 266 pounds of sulphate of ammonia, or 
 
 56 pounds of azote. 
 
 177 pounds of sulphate of lime. 
 
 M. George Ville, consulted by me as to the easiest method of 
 obtaining a maximum return, advised, in case it should be necessary, 
 the addition of a certain quantity of the incomplete fertilizer over 
 the first two acres. After ji hesitation provoked by the magniii(.'ent 
 appearance of the plants at the end of the winter, I decided to leave 
 the earth to its own forces, fearing the effects of a too luxuriant and 
 herbaceous growth. I was happy in following this inspiration, for it 
 is very proba])le the abundant rains of spring liad determined tlie 
 fall of the stalks and defeated my hopes if I had used more if the 
 fertilizer. 
 
 What returns were obtained from these three fields ? — 
 
 FieU No. 1. 
 
 Grain 56 bu., 58 lbs. to 40 lbs. the bushel 
 
 Straw 4888 lbs. 
 
 ^lU 
 
 Field No. 2 
 
 „.„ 49 bu., 58 1 ,. - r J, r. 
 
 Straw 4857 lbs. •,; ^. '^-'»'S 
 
 Grain 49 bu., 58 lbs. the bushej^ '^^^i^ff 
 
 3usiiai:*=^-.:. ^A, 
 
 Field No. 3. 
 
 Grain 62 bu., 49 lbs. to the buslie 
 
 Straw 4644 lbs. 
 
 What is the value in money of these three harvests ? The account, 
 reduced one-fifth, leads to the following results : 
 
 Field No. 1. 
 
 56 bu., from $5.55 to $1.46 the bushel S84.38 
 
 4888 lbs. of straw, at li cents the pound 61.10 
 
 Total .'. $145.48 
 
 Field No. 2. 
 
 49 bu., from $3.85 to $1.46 the bushel $73.17 
 
 4857 lbs. of straw, at 1 i cents the pound 60.75 
 
 Total $133^92 
 
 Field No. 3. 
 
 62 bu., from $4.73 to $1.46 the bushel $92.48 
 
 5532 lbs. of straw, at 1 4 cents the pound 69.1 6 
 
 Total $"161764 
 
100 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 I ought to stop here, and leave these figures, without comment, to 
 the reflection of practical men ; but since it may be said that these 
 results are not superior to the ordinary culture, I remind yon that 
 these fields were surrounded by wheat produced by the old method. 
 You have seen them, you have examined them at leisure, you have 
 been able to compare the surprising differences manifest between 
 them. Tlie wheat from the chemical fertilizer carried tall stalks, 
 their heads long and well filled. They were so robust one would in- 
 voluntarily have taken them for small trees, while those at their side, 
 from manure, doubled over, presenting only stunted spikes. In 
 threshing, this diflEerence was not the less striking, for the latter, from 
 manure, only gave 32 bushels the acre. 
 
 I confess the year was extremely unfavorable to the formation of 
 grain. The plants grew too fiist; their fall'was general, thus destroy- 
 ing the hopes of a harvest which promised better. In a more normal 
 condition perhaps the difierence between the two harvests had been 
 less. But it is nevertheless certain the chemical fertilizer is in all 
 circumstances superior. Now, this is what I wished to prove, and 
 what doubles the value of the experiment for me ; for is it not evi- 
 dent that such a combination of fertilizing matter is the most pre- 
 cious of all, since we can, by regulating the use of it, increase or 
 diminish the dose according to the exigencies of the season and the 
 appearance of the plant— an impossible thing with manure, and 
 almost impracticable with all other less soluble fertilizers? 
 
 But this is not the question. I plead a cause gained, since it is 
 clear to all the world that the chemical fertilizers have an inmicdiate 
 action and an energy greatly superior to all others. 
 
 The question for our cultivators is more serious : it is to discover 
 if these exuberant growths are the expression of a real agricultural 
 progress, or whether they are but a kind of ephemeral accident, of 
 which the soil pays the cost and to which the cultivator will be the 
 first victim. You know what I would say : I wish to speak of the 
 impoverishment of the soil. It is pretended that these large returns 
 are due to the dissolvent reaction of the chemical fertilizers upon the 
 fertilizing wealth accumulated in the bed of the soil. 
 
 It is said we but half cultivate, and like bad and imprudent workers 
 we burden the future for present profit ; we inconsiderately work the 
 earth which has been confided to us, and of which, after all, we are 
 but the tenants, since in reality she belongs as much to future genera- 
 tions as to us ; we squander the forces put in* reserve by our prede- 
 cessors, and we have not the right to profit at others' expense. 
 
 This is the accusation. We must confess it is very grave, and, I 
 acknowledge, would condemn without hope any system it explained. 
 But I repeat. Has this accusation a foundation ? Are not the con- 
 tradictors of M. George Ville blinded to their interests by a prejudice 
 against everything new that does not emanate from the beliefs of the 
 old school ? I am, it is true, somewhat a stranger to the questions 
 of agricultural chemistry — not so much so, perhaps, as would be sup- 
 posed ; besides, this is less a question of science than of arithmetic, 
 and without pretending to the Academy, I pretend to know when I 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 101 
 
 use such and such manures what the soil I cultivate has lost in its 
 elements of fertility. 
 
 I will attempt, then, by the aid of facts accepted by all the world, 
 to demonstrate that the system of M. Ville, applied to the culture of 
 the beet and of wheat, with biennial manuring, far from wasting, 
 helps gradually to increase the fertility of the soil. 
 
 I' will take as the basis of my calculations, field No. 1, which pro- 
 duced in 
 
 1866, beets '.... 53,013 lbs. the acre. 
 
 1867, grain 57 bu. " 
 
 " straw .' 4888 lbs. " 
 
 And I will admit in the beet and wheat. 
 
 Beets. Wheat. Straw. 
 
 Azote 0.21 per cent. 2.29 per cent. 0.36 per cent. 
 
 Phos. lime... 0.21 " 2.47 " 0.45 " 
 
 Potash 0.29 " 0.72 " 0.65 " 
 
 According to this composition, the two harvests represent the 
 following quantities of azote, phosphate of lime and potash : 
 
 Azote. Phos. lime. Potash. 
 
 53,013 lbs of beets Ill lbs. Ill lbs. 153 lbs. 
 
 2,463 1bs. of Avheat, less seed.... 56 " 60 " 16 " 
 
 4,888 lbs. of straw 16" 22" 32" 
 
 And finally, the balance between the fertilizer and the harvest 
 becomes — 
 
 Harvest. Fertilizer. 
 
 Azote 184 120 
 
 Phosphate of lime 183 177 
 
 Potash 202 120 
 
 At first sight, the earth appears the loser, and the contradictors of 
 M. Ville appear to have reason on their side. But is this balance 
 the expression of what takes place in cultivation ? Evidently not. 
 The harvests have not carried off what we said. In reality, the beets 
 go to the sugar-maker, where they become pulp, which, returned to 
 the farm, serves as food for stock and a large production of manure ; 
 the straw likewise reaches the same destination. 
 
 Let us see what the farm recuperates from difiTerent products, and 
 which ought to enter into the deductions of what the soil loses. 
 
 Azote. Phos. lime. Potash. 
 
 13,333 lbs. of pulp 57 lbs. 24 lbs. 76 lbs. 
 
 1,777 " " 10 " 81 " 8 " 
 
 4,888 " of straw 17 " 22 " 32 " 
 
 Refuse of different kinds _4 " 
 
 Total 88 lbs. 127 lbs. 116 lbs. 
 
 This correction made, these quantities of the agents of fertility 
 being added to the corresponding terms of the fertilizer, we are led 
 to the following balance, which is the true expression of the 
 phenomena : 
 
102 CHEMICAL MANUKES. 
 
 Fertilizer and TT-irvf Excess in 
 
 products restored. iiarv.'^r,. fy,\<n- of soil. 
 
 Azote 204 lbs. 184 lbs. 20 lbs. 
 
 Potash 288 " 202 " ^ 22 " 
 
 Phosphate of lime... 308 " 193 y 114 " 
 
 This is the truth. It is not just to say^that the question of fer- 
 tilizers is an idle one for us, we being sugar-maivors and cultivators, 
 and that the use of them leads to certain ruin, or sooner or later to 
 the impoverishment of our lands. I see tlie contrary resulting from 
 the so-much decried system, for a source of greater or less prolit and 
 an increase of fertility How naturally from it. 
 
 It is easy to give this account without a long train of proofs. Is 
 not the production of beets nearly doubled ? Does not the quantity 
 of pulp made follow the same proportions? Is not a richer and 
 more copious nutriment prepared for a greater number of stock, and 
 is not manure consequently more abundant? Then, the chemical 
 fertilizer, instead of excluding tlie manure of the farm, helps the 
 cultivator to produce it more cheaply and in greater masses. We 
 obtain an imniediate increase of profit, thanks to the more soluble 
 and active agents of fertility employed, and a more certain increase 
 of profit in the future from increased resources of manure, con- 
 sequent upon the increase of first returns. Those who afiirm that 
 M. Ville proscribes the use of manure do not })erceive that this 
 6pinion is in direct opposition to the foundation of his doctrines, 
 since the chemical fertilizers certainly result in developing our re- 
 sources of straw and food. 
 
 Now, I will admit that the two luirvests are entirely sent ofi": is M. 
 Ville's system then dangerous of api)lication? Certainly not; for 
 under these new conditions it is only necessary tv give back to the 
 earth the' equivalent of wliat the pulp and the straw helped us to re- 
 turn to it. 
 
 If we take away the pulp and the straw, the earth loses, as we have 
 said — 
 
 Quantities. Price. 
 
 Azote 63 lbs. $11.99 
 
 Phosphate of lime 16 " .21 
 
 Potash 81 " 5.85 
 
 Total of preserved loss $18.05 
 
 Now, to end this question finally, and to knoAV if, under these new 
 conditions, the methods of M. Ville are advantageous, it is sufficient 
 to inquire if the cost of production, being burdened by $18.05, the 
 result will be less remunerative. 
 
 Now, on this new case, what is the result of the operation ? 
 
 Credit. 
 
 53,013 lbs. of beets $100.73 
 
 56 bu. of wheat 84.33 
 
 4,888 lbs. of straw 13.9 3 
 
 Total $198.99 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 103 
 
 Debit. 
 
 First Year — Beets. 
 
 Expenses of all kinds S41.37 
 
 Second Year — Wheat. 
 
 Expenses of all kinds S34.52 
 
 Fertilizer for two years 38.Q0 
 
 ' Total expense $113.89 
 
 Difference $85.10 
 
 — $85.10, to pay for the additional fertilizer worth $18.05, which 
 compensates for the loss resulting from the exporting of the pulp and 
 straw. 
 
 You will remark that in the calculations it is supposed that the 
 whole of the azote came from the soil, and that it must be returned 
 to it, pound for pound. Now, it is a purely gratuitous supposition I 
 have voluntarily made, to add force to my demonstration and put it 
 beyond all dispute. 
 
 I know that returns obtained for two years may rightly be con- 
 sidered as maximum returns. I admit the possibility of seeing them 
 sensibly lowered in years unfavorable to the chemical fertilizers. But 
 what a margin, however ! and how admit that the profits I have 
 shown can be changed into loss ? 
 
 You perhaps think it strange, my dear sir, that I enter on these 
 details. If I thought to clear up the question in this manner, it is 
 because I am doubly interested : First, because I feel constrained to 
 say aloud, and without hesitation, what I believe to be the truth, and 
 because we cultivators and a few farmers cannot allow ourselves to 
 be gratuitously accused of wasting the productive forces of a soil con- 
 fided to our care. Our responsibility, our future, even, are engaged 
 in the question. We cannot allow, without protesting, that we work 
 without judgment. For myself, faithful to the prescriptions of M. 
 Ville, I will continue to apply his teachings, having always present 
 in my mind, as he recommends in such precise terms, the inflexible 
 law of restitution imposed upon us, whose chai-acter and signification 
 it is so difiicult to define. In acting thus, I have the certainty of in- 
 creasing the fertility of the lands which form the whole of my farm, 
 while developing the resources of the present. A. Cavallier. 
 
 November 7, 1867. 
 
 SECOND CULTURE OF WHEAT BY MEANS OF CHEM- 
 ICAL FERTILIZERS. 
 
 The land I have operated upon (primitive formation, or, to be more 
 exact, mica-schist) is a poor land, rented at $2.50 to 83 the acre, 
 wasted by a triennial rotation under the worst conditions from time 
 immemorial, and not to my knowledge have the vices of this rota- 
 tion been corrected — I do not mean by abundant manuring, but 
 by any manure at all. These lands are situated at a considerable 
 height above the farm-buildings, and difificult of access ; it is easy, 
 
104 CHEMICAL MANT^RES. 
 
 then, to see why the farmers who occupied it preferred to use what 
 little manure was at their disposition in the field, rather than bring 
 any. Now to attempt the cultivation of wheat under such conditions 
 seemed impossible — so impossible that our laborers undertook it with 
 extreme repugnance. 
 
 However, by the aid of 888 lbs. of the incomplete fertilizer the 
 acre, I obtained a harvest worth ^61.01, of which the following are 
 the elements : 
 
 Quantity of grain 37 bu. 
 
 Weight of grain 1733 lbs. 
 
 Weight per bushel 46 " 
 
 Weight of straw 7200 " 
 
 Here is a return of products amounting in value to.. $61.01 
 From which must be deducted the whole value of 
 
 the fertilizer UjJA 
 
 Leaving $43^8 
 
 Certainly, gentlemen, this is an enormous return, considering the 
 land in question ; but I am convinced that it would have beeii greater 
 if the ploughing had been deeper, if the fertilizer had been more 
 deeply turned under than it w^as, and lastly, if the season had been 
 better. Is not 37 biLshels the acre an admirable return from the soil 
 where it was i-ealized, when in the neighboring valley, from the 
 alluvial soils, worth $606.66 the acre, the yield was but 23 bushels ? 
 
 I had so organized my experimental fields as to compare the returns 
 of wheat with those treated with fertilizers and those without them. 
 Unfortunately, the servant charged with spreading them forgot my 
 orders, and threw tlie fertilizer over the reserved squares. If I had 
 been told of the mistake in time, I could have repaired it, but the 
 servant kept silent, convinced he would not be found out. It was not 
 until later, when the presence of the manure was evident in the 
 growth of the plants, that he acknowledged his fault. 
 
 His fault, although it resulted in depriving me of a comparison in 
 the culture of wheat, could not hinder me from comparing the results 
 obtained from the chemical fertilizers with those by the old methods 
 in the culture of rye without fertilizers. 
 
 This experimental field was near the field of rye without fertilizers 
 of which I have just spoken, and which had yielded 15 bushels of 
 grain and 1422 lbs. of straw the acre. 
 
 Now, in the estimate of the cost of all the fertilizers, which I think 
 excessive, and valuing the grain and straw as here below, we find as 
 the result of the two methods a profit of $30.61 in favor of the har- 
 vest with the fertilizer. 
 
 Value of harvest of rye without fertilizer $16.88 
 
 Value of harvest of wheat with fertilizer 65.23 
 
 Excess in favor of harvest of wheat $48.35 
 
 Deduction of value of fertilizer $17.74 
 
 Net profit in favor of the culture of wheat with 
 
 the chemical fertilizers '. $30.61 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 105 
 
 Now, you will object that I could have had analogous if not 
 superior results with manure. Certainly, the thing would be possible 
 with time and much manure. But where to get the manure ? When 
 with the chemical fertilizer I will have produced much straw, roots, 
 forage, and consequently much stock, I would doubtless be able to do 
 without it. But if I attempt, under the conditions where I am 
 placed, to obtain this straw, roots and forage by the usual methods 
 of culture, you would condemn me for an indefinite length of time, 
 and perhaps for ever, to unremunerative harvests ; that is to say, to 
 renewed sacrifices of money, and no compensation. 
 
 But you will say. These 37 bushels of wheat, and this great 
 superiority over the ancient methods, are due to ancient forces in the 
 soil. This earth you will waste, thus diminishing your property — if 
 not in extent, at least in intrinsic value. 
 
 Concerning myself, I am insensible to the objection. Is it because 
 I have furnished the earth with more azote, phosphate of lime and 
 lime than the harvest drew from it ? Is it that now — when I expect 
 remunerative harvests from it, and will free it from the weeds which 
 devour it, and the bad water which it retains in excess, — is it because 
 now, thanks to the labors of M. George Ville, I know its language, 
 and can always question it as to preferences and wants ? Is it be- 
 cause I can now find out in what it is lacking and what it has in 
 abundance ? And from this am I not able to give it at my will, so 
 to speak, those elements of fertility of which it is deprived ? 
 
 But if well founded, I would not notice the objection. An excess 
 of products to the value of $15, kept up for several years only,Avould 
 be sufiicient to cover the whole value of the soil itself And if the 
 soil were incapable of producing wheat or rye, I could still, after 
 recovering from it its price, put it to the use I designed before know- 
 ing the laAvs of vegetation revealed by M. Ville, which was to make 
 it a wood or a pasture. But, gentlemen, I am relieved of all uneasi- 
 ness, not only by the theoretic teachings of M. Ville, but also by the. 
 results obtained by him at Vincennes. 
 
 I have not limited my experiments to the culture of rye, oats and 
 wheat. I have also employed the chemical fertilizers on artichokes, 
 Irish potatoes and radishes — that is, on plants whose elements are 
 destined to return almost wholly to the soil which has produced 
 them. But these crops are still in the ground, and it would be prem- 
 ature to speak of them. De Matharel. 
 
 I particularly call the attention of the reader to this Report, be- 
 cause, the returns having been small, the operation still being profitable, 
 we may consider the conclusions of the author as the least favorable 
 cxprcvssion of the advantages attending the use of chemical fertilizers : 
 
 REPORT M\J)B TO THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ANGOU- 
 LEME, BY M. BOURZAC, RECTOR OF THE COLLEGE. 
 Accordinac to the desire expressed to me last year by our honorable 
 president, M. Crellibert de Seguins, I have experimented with the fer- 
 
106 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 tilizers of M. George Ville on a property I possess at Charras, 
 canton of Moiilbron. 
 
 The lands on which the experiments were made were three acres in 
 extent. They were manured, one-half with 1066 pounds of the com- 
 plete fertilizer No. 2, containing — 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. 
 
 Nitrate of potash 179 " 
 
 Nitrate of soda 266 " 
 
 Sulphate of lime 266 " 
 
 Total 1066 lbs. 
 
 The other half with 888 pounds of the incomplete fertilizer No. 2, 
 containing — 
 
 Acid phosphate of lime 355 lbs. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 310 " 
 
 Sulphate of lime 22J " 
 
 Total 888 lbs. 
 
 The results obtained from these two kinds of fertilizers showed no 
 difference to the eye before harvest. It was always my intention to 
 separate them, but they were unfortunately mixed by a mistake of 
 my steward. 
 
 The harvest was 99 bushels of wheat and 11,127 pounds of straw, 
 which gave 33 bushels of grain and 3709 pounds of straw the acre ; 
 while that year the returns from five other farms and reserves form- 
 ing the same property only rose to 15 bushels of grain and 1829 
 pounds of straw the acre. 
 
 To give a clear idea of the money value of this first trial permit 
 me, gentlemen, to enter into some details. 
 
 The total extent of this farm which was sown in wheat was 6 
 acres ; the stable manure to be spread over this surface did not con- 
 stitute, according to the bad habit of our country, a half manuring. 
 I had it spread over 3 acres — that is, over half the surface for which 
 it was designed. The chemical fertilizers Nos. 1 and 2, to the weight 
 of 3909 pounds, were spread over the remaining 3 acres. 
 
 The total harvest was raised 'to 117 bushels of wheat and 13,452 
 pounds of straw. 
 
 Judging by the five other farms and reserves of this year, the har- 
 vests of this farm, without manure, would have been ordinarily 72 
 bushels of wheat at the most. 
 
 The use of the chemical fertilizei*s increased the harvest by an 
 excess of 117 over 72— equal to 45 bushels of grain and 5191 pounds 
 of straw. 
 
 The 45 bu. of wheat, at 81.75 the bu., gave $78.75 
 
 The 5191 lbs. of straw, at .0041 per lb 24.65 
 
 Total 8103.40 
 
 The fertilizers and all expenses included 75.42 
 
 The net profit is, the first year S27.98 
 
CHEMICAL MANURES. 107 
 
 In the preceding account I stand in the position of a proprietor 
 furnishing the fertilizers made use of by his farmer. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the price of manure being put down 
 entirely to the first harvest, the rent of the 6 acres increased to $27.98, 
 about $4.65 the acre. 
 
 If we value the products of the 3 acres treated with chemical fer- 
 tilizers, the net profit, all expense of manuring paid, will be $10.97 
 the acre. 
 
 If the owner worked it himself, would the result be equally to his 
 advantage ? It appears to me very interesting to look at the question 
 in this light. " i 
 
 Fixing, as M. George Ville has done in his lecture at the Sorbonne, 
 and according to Matthieu de Dombasle, the cost of the culture of one 
 asre at $18.57 is, thus divided : 
 
 Kent of soil $3.80 
 
 General expenses 4.39 
 
 Work of culture 3.63 
 
 Seeds , 3.88 
 
 Harvesting and threshing 2.87 
 
 Total $18.57 
 
 Putting the manure by itself, there is always for the 3 acres — 
 
 99 bu. of wheat, at $1.75 the bu.... $173.25 
 
 11,127 lbs. of straw, at .0041 per lb 52.85 
 
 Total $226.10 
 
 Deducting cost of culture $67.80 
 
 Manure 106.14— $172.94 
 
 Net profit $42.16 
 
 Net profit the acre $14.05 
 
 In an account like the preceding the total cost of the manure has 
 l)een put down to the first harvest. This is an extreme supposition, 
 according to M. George Ville, for the price of the annual manuring, 
 deducted from his formulae for four years, is but $15.20 the acre, in- 
 stead of $29.03. Looking at the question in this point of view, the 
 results to which we are led, for the 3 acres on which I experimented, 
 are — 
 
 99 bu. of grain, at $1.75 the bu $173.25 
 
 11,127 lbs. of straw, at .0041 per lb 52.85 
 
 Total $226.10 
 
 Deducting cost of culture $26.01 
 
 Manure 60.78— $86.79 
 
 Net profit. $139.21 
 
 Net profit the acre $25.65 
 
 From whatever point of view we look at it, and with the actual 
 price of wheat much superior, I must say, to its mean price, the use 
 of chemical fertilizers in the experiment I have just made is attended 
 with profit. Would it be the same in an abundant year ? I do not 
 
108 CHEMICAL MANURES. 
 
 know ; it always seems natural to me to suppose that the abundance 
 of products obtained by the chemical fertilizers will compensate in 
 this sense, at least in part, for the lowering of the price of wheat. 
 
 We may say that the first returns from the chemical fertilizers will 
 not be maintained in the future; experience must decide that. 
 
 For myself, I have made known the facts produced under my own 
 eyes ; I have fixed their economic signification with the greatest 
 severity, and I have abstained with the greatest care from all per- 
 sonal prejudice. 
 
 I will continue next year to give an account of all new results I 
 may obtain — am determined to keep account of facts alone, and t^ 
 respect their testimony, whatever it may be. Bouezac. 
 
 ^^ OP TH15*^^ 
 
 KI7ERSITY] 
 
YB 10065 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY