substances. This is the article which is sold under he name of animalized black. Its quality as a manure must depend especially, I might even say entirely, on the quantity of azotized organic matter which enters into its composition.

But

Composts. A great deal has been written, and much has been said on the advantages of composts, or mixtures, contrived with a view to the amelioration of the soil. The receipts for these composts are very numerous; they prove that the discovery of a compost is an easy matter, and requires but a small amount of ingenuity. To unite different matters in such a way as to obtain a compound that shall act advantageously, it is only necessary to make it up of substances which of themselves and isolatedly are good manures. that it is possible to supply the scarcity of manure, to create it in some sort by means of composts, is a subject of dispute. In fact, when we look attentively at the numerous mixtures which have been indicated as leading to this end, we always perceive that the proposal amounts to an extension or dilution of some powerful manure with a substance that is either inert or has little activity. This mode of proceeding may have its advantages; it enables us to make a more equal distribution of the manure we have at our disposal, but it actually supplies us with none.

Earthy substances almost always figure in composts. Turf-ashes, wood-ashes, marl, and particularly lime, are constant ingredients. Marl may suit certain soils; lime is a substance of great activity, and which for this reason must be admitted into composts with caution; it may act in the disintegration of woody parts-of stalks, and stems, and leaves; but we must be very careful not to follow the recommendation of Schwertz, who would have us throw quick-lime into our privies with the view to bringing the matters there contained into a consistent and readily pulverizable state. By doing so we should infallibly lose the greater part of the principles that are truly useful in the soil. Much mischief and great destruction of manure, indeed, have been the consequence of the insensate and indiscriminate use of quick-lime under all circumstances; the business is much rather to preserve than to destroy the substances that are used as manures; the purpose is to fix, not to dissipate the volatile elements which they contain. One great objection to the extensive employment of composts is the amount of labor they require in the repeated turnings which are held necessary in their preparation, and in the large quantity of matter which has to be transported.

The following table will be found useful as giving a comprehensive view of the proportion of azote contained in the various kinds of manures which have been particularly examined, and of their equivalents, referred to farm-yard du g as the standard.

TABLE OF THE COMPARATIVE VALUE OF MANURES

DEDUCED FROM ANALYSES MADE BY MESSRS. PAYEN AND BOUSSINGAULT.

It is almost unnecessary to give any explanation of the uses that may be made of the preceding table : I shall, however, give a few illustrations from instances which have actually occurred in my experience.

Oil-cake is cheap at this time, (1842;) and the question is, whether it could be advantageously employed in connection with the cultivation of wheat. The presumption is, that wheat obtains the whole of its azote in the soil, that it acquires none from the atmosphere; and again, I assume that the whole of the azote put into the ground would be used up by the crop. Under the most favorable circumstances of heat and moisture, this would probably be the case; were it not so to the letter, the active matter which remained in the ground would operate advantageously in succeeding years. The following, then, are the elements of the question :

1st. In the wheat grown at Bechelbronn there is on an average 0.025 of azote. 2d. In the straw of 1841, I have just found 0.003 of azote. 3d. The oil-cake which I propose to employ contains 0.055 of azote, and its actual price, crushing included, is 3s. 4d. per 4th. The relation in point of weight of the grain to the straw is as 47: 100.

cwt.

A sheaf or bundle of wheat, 220 lbs. in weight, consists of:

Wheat 70.4 lbs., containing 1.760 of azote, and is worth
Straw 149.6 lbs.

4s. 8d.

0.415

1s. 8d.

To grow which, 39 lbs. of oil-cake would be required, of the
value of.....

1s. 2d.

So that 39 lbs. of oil-cake, converted into a sheaf of wheat, would be increased in intrinsic value to the extent of 5s. 2d. Supposing that but one-half or one-third of this amount, as indicated by theory, is realized in practice, it is obvious that the addition of the oil-cake might be made with advantage; and that no means should be neglected to ensure the success of its application as a manure.

The production of oil-cake in France, the Netherlands, and other countries of Europe, is very considerable; in round numbers, 100 of oleaginous seeds yield 60 of cake; but it has been calculated, with rare ability, and from authentic documents, by M. Leroy de Béthune, that not only is the whole of the oil-cake, which is the produce of the soil of France, exported, but that likewise of the oleaginous seeds which she imports from other countries. This M. de Béthune looks upon as a very lamentable agricultural fact. I have shown, indeed, from the example which I have quoted, that every pound of cake represents a primary material, which, properly treated, may be transformed into nearly 6 pounds weight of wheatgrain and straw, having a value infinitely greater than that of the oil-cake originally employed.

* Our author has of course left many other elements very necessary to be included out of his calculation here, such as labor, seed, rent charge, interest on capital, &c.— ENG. ED.

While I agree with M. de Béthune, that it is generally wise to encourage exportation, I also admit with him that there are substances in reference to which it would be prudent to discourage exportation; oil-cake, this powerful means of giving fertility to the soil, might be placed in the foremost rank of such substances. I am far from adopting all the principles of economists, which appear to me to be frequently far too absolute. In my opinion, any exportation, the consequence of which is the impoverishment of the soil, ought to be prohibited. I should, for instance, oppose the exportation of arable soil; and in the same way, to allow an active manure to pass into the hands of strangers, is, in my eyes, tantamount to exporting the vegetable soil of our fields, to lessening their productiveness, to raising the price of the food of the poor; for as much labor is required, as much care and capital must be expended upon an ungrateful soil to obtain a little, as upon a fertile soil to procure an ample return. To permit the exportation of oil-cake is to hinder the husbandman from taking advantage of all the circumstances with which nature presents him; it is as if a chill were to be brought over the genial climate of France.*

I have shown the advantages of the application of oil-cake in the growth of wheat. I shall now inquire whether or not it is equally useful in connection with hay and potato crops; the price of the article being presumed to be the same as before.

Upland meadows, when they have not been soiled, yield miserable returns, and their situation renders them difficult of access to carts: oil-cake in such circumstances comes powerfully to our aid.

Taking the price of hay at 5s. per 220 lbs., which is about its present price in France, and taking into account the composition of the after-math, we may reckon the azote contained in the hay of natural meadows at 0.015.

220 lbs. of hay, containing 3 lbs. of azote, will be worth....... ..5s. Od.
To produce which 56 lbs. of cake (azote 3.3 lbs.) worth.

would be required.

Difference in value between the cost and the crop........

1s. Ed.

.3s. 4d.

Upon this showing, oil-cake may be advantageously employed in the amelioration of upland meadows. Besides the cost of the manure, however, there are the very necessary additions to be made of the price of labor and rent.

From the observations which I made at Bechelbronn in 1839, I

* I own I am surprised at this passage in my esteemed author. There is nothing parallel in the instances he quotes. Did not the French husbandmen and oil-pressers profit by the exportation of oil-cake they would keep it at home; and the profit of the farmer and manufacturer is the profit of the whole community. To export the soil would indeed be madness: it would obviously be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs; but to export that which the soil produces in abundance year after year, is a totally different affair. M. Boussingault's reasoning would lead the wine-growers of Bordeaux and Burgundy to refuse us a hogshead of their smallest growth: they cannot send it to us without impoverishing their sol, any more than they can let us have a pound of their oil-cake. But one half of the vegetables that grow, at least, are at work accumulating the materials from the atmosphere and water, out of which the other half are supplied, and so the process of waste and supply, of destruction and reproduction, goes on without limits, and without end.-ENG. ED.