Rural economy, in its relations with chemistry, physics, and meteorology

Author's Preface

In the work now published, I present the results of the inquiries

a which I have been engaged for many years, and which were un-

'ertaken in the hope of throwing light upon various points of prac-

'cal agriculture. My first idea was, to confine myself to the mere

i*" -impression of the several papers which I had communicated from

time to time to different periodicals, with the addition of a quantity

OT inedited matter which I had by me. But upon more mature con-

,«iieration, I was led to believe that I should be doing a useful thing

id I fill up the numerous gaps which must necessarily occur be-

t A^een papers published isolatedly, at dates more or less remote from

one another, and treating of the most dissimilar subjects. I have

thus been led, in addition to my own observations, to give those of

numerous writers on almost every branch of agricultural science,

being only careful to confine myself in each instance to the most

authentic practical conclusions ; for it is certain, that practical data

have the most direct interest for rural economy, both in itself and

in its bearings upon the general science of political economy.

I have a further reason for the plan which I have adopted, which I am the less disposed to pass by in silence, inasmuch as it may plead in excuse with those who might be disposed to criticize the tone, perhaps somewhat too didactic, of my work.

I was invited, in conjunction with several other professors attached to a great educational institution, to give a course embracing my views upon the science of agriculture. I consented to this, and prepared my lectures ; but motives, to which I was entirely a stranger, having prevented the project from being carried out, 1 made up my mind to publish, not the lectures such as I should have

IV AUTHOR S PREFACE.

delivered them, but the documents which would have formed the basis of my teaching.

The first part of this work treats in succession of the physical and chemical phenomena of vegetation ; of the composition of vegetables and their immediate principles ; of fermentation ; and of soils. The second comprises a summary of all that has yet been done on the subject of manures, organic and mineral ; a discussion of the subject of rotations ; general views of the maintenance and economy of live-stock ; finally, some considerations on meteorology and climate, and on the relations between organized beings and the atmosphere.

I have endeavored, therefore, to give a summary view of all the questions of rural economy that admit of scientific treatment. It may be found, perhaps, that the number of these questions is still extremely small. Nevertheless, in regarding the multitude of inquiries that have been instituted within a very few years only, in viewing especially the ever-increasing interest attached to researches bearing upon practical agriculture, we are bound to-anticipate progress, and to hope for conclusions important as regards science, profitable to practice, and useful to humanity.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

The following work is submitted to the agricultural public in the fullest confidence that it stands in need of no recommendatorystrictures on the part of those who have undertaken to present it in its present form to the English agriculturist. In the person of its distinguished author the man of science is happily associated with the practical farmer — the accomplished naturalist, the profound chemist and natural philosopher. The friend and fellow-laborer of Arago, Biot, Dumas, and all the leading minds of his age and country — M. Boussingault's title to consideration is recognised wherever letters and civilization have extended their influence.

Surely the collected and carefully recorded experience of such a man, experience by which the conclusions of the member of the Institute have been tested and weighed by the results of the farmer of Bechelbronn, must have value in the estimation of every educated mind, and cannot fail to be especially welcome to that class of readers who are professionally engaged in the practical application of that noble science which his labors have contributed to illustrate and advance.

When the following pages were confided to the editor, it was the impression both of the publisher and himself, that in the course of the work many points would necessarily arise demanding elucidation, others calculated to provoke controversy or challenge investigation, and others again which could be rendered available or instructive to the British agriculturist only by means of copious explanation, showing with what modification and under what circumstances the views advanced might be applicable to the art as exercised in the climate and soil of this country. But the minute and analytical perusal indispensable in the operation of investing the Author's thoughts and expressions with an English garb, has demonstrated the fallacy of this impression, and if possible has augmented the admiration of the untiring patience, the vast experience, and the astute, circumstantial, and elaborate accuracy of the accomplished Author, in whose researches the reader will find the profoundest sagacity, combined with a childlike simplicity which communicates to his work a charm not necessarily inherent in the subject.

This is not in'^nded to imply an unqualified approval of the illustrious philosopher's manner of dealing with his own facts and observations ; still less of his style of writing, which is often wandering and diffuse, and which, in order to render it presentable to the English reader, has required much compression and retrenchment. Still, however, instead of having, as was expected, to pause at each step of the Author's progress, and dissert upon his views upon this or that particular branch of his subject, the observations of the commentator must of necessity be restricted in a great degree to an indication of such parts of the work as in his judgment are the most valuable and instructive, together with such incidental objections as ' appear to be of sufficient importance to require stating at length.

The chemical portion of the work is of inestimable value and conducted with consummate skill and knowledge ; and with a minuteness and accuracy perfectly unexampled. At the same time the results of the writer's researches, as well as the means and processes by which these results were obtained, are displayed with such absolute perspicuity as to be intelligible and instructive to every agricultural inquirer, however superficial his previous acquaintance may be with the details of chemical science.

Nothing from the pen of the Editor could throw additional light upon the Author's brilliant and most interesting elucidation of vegetable physiology : his exposition is at once masterly and complete, and contains much that is both valuable and new. And even when the novelty of the facts which he adduces, or the originality of the inferences deduced and unfolded may admit of question, they are still deserving of the most respectful attention from the new and striking lights in which he places them, and presents them to the agricultural reader, and the clear and convincing way in which he demonstrates their inter-dependency and their most intimate connection with many of the most important pecuniary and professional interests of the cultivator. Every intelligent farmer will find his account not merely in a repeated perusal of this portion of the work, but in regarding it as a text-book and manual to be kept by him for permanent reference and consultation.

The arrangement of the subject, naturally and judiciously adopted by the writer, presents the consideration of soils as the first topic for the observations of the agricultural commentator ; but on this head the distinguished author is so thoroughly explanatory and judicious, that nothing is left for the Editor but to approve, to acquiesce, and to recommend him with admiring confidence to the patient consideration and study of the intelligent inquirer.

At page 237 the subject of manures is taken up, and discussed with characteristic minuteness through many succeeding pages.

It may perhaps be objected, that the various theories respecting the origin, nature, eflicacy, and relative nature of the different manures in use, as well as the various modes of their production, concoction, and application, which M. Boussingault has here collated and elucidated, contain nothing new ; that they have, in fact, under one form or other, been long familiar to practical men ; but without impugning the justness of this opinion, the Editor has long been convinced that the subject has received, generally, far less care and attention than it so eminently deserves ; and, in short, that it is much neglected by many who are accounted not merely intelligent, but scientific agriculturists ; and while admitting that much valuable information has been frequently given to the agricultural world by the repeated experiments of several enterprising individuals both in Scotland and England, he still most urgently recommends a careful study of this part of the work, which will probably lead the reader to the conclusion that the methods and practice reconnnended by the Author are, upon the whole, those best worthy of adoption. In page 2G0 will be found some very urgent warnings against what be (M. lionssingault) regards as the prevalent and pernicious custom of turning dung-heaps " frequently." If, however, by the term •' frequently," a course not exceeding three complete turnings of the heap be comprehended, the Editor can by no means coincide with this opinion ; a long experience having convinced him that there are many circumstances under which the Author's recommendations would be found not merely over-cautious, but positively injurious. For drill crops, for instance, when it happens that the farm-dung is somewhat rough, which must generally be the case tow^ards the close of every season, when the animal dejections are scanty and the great bulk of the already ripened manure has been carried out upon the land, and the fresh additions have not ha^ the advantage of being compounded with matter already concocted, an extra turning is very advantageous.

Every farmer will, of course, turn his heap once, for the purpose of thoroughly mixing the various ingredients and different qualities of manure which it contains ; the extra turning, even admitting that it may to a certain extent promote the over-decomposition of the manure, and dissipate the ammoniacal principles which it is important to preserve, is not attended with so great a loss in this respect as that which is inevitable from keeping open the drill by the application of coarse dung, which cannot fail to be attended with a most serious loss of the more volatile principles, sometimes even laying the manure quite bare, and in the case of turnips, materially obstructing the operation of sowing.

Our Author brings forward the authority of several eminent inquirers in support of his own favorite view of the use of fresh or unfermented manure ; but however plausible their theories may appear, and however just may be their views in the abstract, there are many intermitting circumstances connected with the general economy of a farm, which must govern and determine their adoption, and in which the practical cultivator must be guided by his own judgment alone.

To the Author's 6th chapter the reader may be advantageously referred, as containing a very full and valuable description and discussion, under the head of mineral manures, of the different varieties of the class usually denominated stimulants, and concluding with a brief but lucid and interesting account of Water, considered as an agent of vegetation, and of its importance for manuring purposes.

The composition and preparation of liquid manures, as well as the various means of procuring and preserving them, will be found to have engaged much of the Author's attention ; and he justly points to the rapidity of their ameliorating action as a peculiar excellence, not otherwise attainable ; at the same time admitting that in the great majority of cases, the great and unavoidable expense attending their application, however moderate may be the prime-cost of the material, has always operated as an insuperable obstacle to their general adoption. In the justice of this vital objection, most practical agriculturists who have used them to any extent, will readily concur ; and it will not be uninteresting to the reader to learn that there is reason to believe that it will henceforth be effectually obviated by the use of a very simple and convenient apparatus, devised by Mr. Smith of Deanston, a zealous and able friend of agriculture, who at the Highland Society's meeting at Glasgow in autumn last, explained the details of his contrivance ; and the Editor has reason to suppose that the particulars will be given in a report of the proceedings of the meeting, in the forthcoming January publication of the Highland Society's Transactions.

The Editor is anxious to direct especial attention to the Author's 7th chapter, wherein he treats of the organic and inorganic manures, and of crops — of the elements of manures and of crops with their relations inter se, &c. — a section of the work which presents, in synopsis, a more' copious and complete body of new, interesting, and important facts, of a nature more valuable to the practical farmer, than has ever been collected in any previous treatise on agricultural science. The great mass of this invaluable information is condensed, as it were, for practical reference, and displayed in copious and elaborate tabular data — a form which, though not attractive, has enabled the writer to comprise within succinct and manageable limits, a quantity of instruction which, in a more discursive shape, must have distended the work to double its actual size. The tables adverted to, present not merely the results of multifarious experiments in illustration of the important subject of rotation-cropping, but also these results as especially affected by the application of the various manures to which the several experimenters had recourse. The rotations reported may appear strange and curious, and sometimes, perhaps, even amusing to the farmers of England and Scotland ; but not more so, in all probability, than those which are followed in many parts of our Island would appear to the cultivators of that part of Europe where our Author's agricultural speculations have been carried on, and where the bulk of his analyses have been obtained : indeed, locality and climate, and their inseparable concomitants, will in every country be found to prescribe and control the sorts of crops which may be rendered the most subservient to the permanent advantage both pecuniary and economical of the husbandman. Thus, with regard to the Author's more didactic observations and positive directions on the subject of rotations, there is no reason to doubt that, in relation to the soil, climate, and geographical position of the east of France, where his experimental course of rotations has been conducted, they are highly judicious, and have not been prescribed and required without mature consideration. Moreover, they are marked, like the deductions and inferences upon which they are founded, by his unusual acumen, patience, and saga- ■ city ; but in their application to the more circumscribed range of culture to which the agriculturist is limited in the ruder and more fickle climates of north and of south Britain, the practice of the cultivator must be governed mainly by his own judgment and experience in the circumstances by which he finds himself surrounded.

The interesting and ample instruction conveyed in the observations of this acute and profound observer upon the food and alimentary treatment of cattle of every species, accompanied as .they are by minute details of the results obtained in the shape of organic and inorganic elements, cannot be too urgently recommended to the attentive consideration of every one interested in that important branch of rural economy to which they more particularly relate.

The Author's strictures comprehend the economy of the domestic animals with the exception of sheep, a subject from which he professedly abstains, for the very sufficient reason, that in his opinion, his opportunities of obtaining accurate information thereupon have not been sufficiently ample to enable him to discuss it with confidence and advantage. His theory in favor of the superior fattening quality of hay and the grasses in general above that which is found in tubers and roots, (though apparently supported by his usual convincing appeal to experiment,) will be received with considerable allowance by the practical farmer.

We have many instances, in the present day, of theories ably, plausibly, nay even satisfactorily established, which are nevertheless met by opposite results in practice ; and the hesitation which the Editor ventures to intimate upon the particular point in question, will, he doubts not, be readily concurred in by many experienced feeders. It will be generally admitted that the boiled or steamed potato possesses a much higher nutritive value than belongs to it when in the raw state. In the former case, however, it requires to be mixed with some of the other roots which are not characterized by the same property, such as beet, turnips, &c. ; the Swede, (Rutabaga,) or any of the harder sorts are best adapted for this purpose, and form a complete counteractive to the dangerous constipating tendency of the boiled potato when given alone.

There are many different substitutes or equivalents in the shape of mashes, containing leguminous ingredients which are admitted to be fully as nutritious as the potato, still there are circumstances connected with market value which render it a most valuable resource in farm alimentation. The popular notion that (when used as the feed of horses) the boiled or steamed potato is what is vulgarly called " soft meat," tending to unfit them for active work, is daily losing ground ; for not only is it rapidly getting into more general use among the farmers of England and Scotland, but even postmasters are adopting it for horses employed in road work.

The meteorological section of the volume will be found no less instructive to the agriculturist than fascinating to the general reader;

I* no equally complete and extensive body of new and interesting facts has ever before been presented in a collected form to the agricultural world.

It will be observed that the capital, the all-important subject of Draining, as the great master-engine of agricultural improvement, is merely touched upon by our Author in a cursory way ; should this incite a feeling of disappointment, it must be borne in mind that he has accomplished all, and more than all, that he proposed to himself, which was not to write a complete work on practical tillage, but rather, as his title implies, on " Rural Economy," i. e., the economic production and application of the produce of the soil under the guidance of chemistry.

Among the faults of execution for which the Translator ventures to solicit the agricultural reader's indulgence, is the occasional adoption of terms which are rather French than English. Many of these words are, in the original, not merely technical, but local and provincial, and are not inserted in any of the dictionaries. Moreover, in the description of certain processes and operations, the Author has occasionally employed terms for which there is no English equivalent ; and the Translator had frequently no other choice than that of either leaving the sense of the passage obscure and defective, or, on the other hand, of adopting the barbarisms in question, which not only deform the English of the construction, but cannot fail to be offensive to the taste and professional prepossessions of the agricultural reader.

With reference to the weights and measures made use of in the original, it ma}^ be proper to state, that (against strong temptation to let them stand as in the French, merely adding a table of equivalents) they have, at the instance of the Publisher, been reduced into their corresponding quantities in the English standard. Grammes, in the more delicate experiments, have been reduced into grains troy, assuming the gramme as equal to 15.438 grains; in less delicate experiments, grammes have been converted into pennyweights (dwts.) and ounces troy. Kilogrammes are given in lbs. avoirdupois ; and where the quantity was large, they are often brought into tons, cwts., qrs., &c., taking the French kilogramme at 2.3 lbs. avoirdupois. The Litre, or present French measure of liquids, has been reduced into pints, calculating the French measure at 1.76 pints English imperial measure. The Hectolitre employed in measuring grain, is rendered into bushels, estimating it at 22 gallons English dry measure. The old French Quintal is also sometimes employed : this measure of weight has been either reduced to its proper corresponding quantity, 1 cwt. 3 qrs. 24 lbs. English, or where odd numbers might be disregarded, it has been called 2 cwts. The Are, or French superficial measure of quantity, has been calculated throughout at 120 square yards English : the Hectare at 2.4 acres English.

The labor of reducing these measures into their English equivalents has been immense ; and errors, in spite of the best care which could be exerted, have doubtless in various instances crept into the reductions. Slight discrepancies between aggregate sums and their component quantities will also be apparent here and there, an inexactness which arises from the number of decimal places not having always been carried out far enough.

Our Author often quotes English agricultural writers, whose weights, &c., he has always been at the pains to reduce into their corresponding French equivalents. Not having at all times the works referred to at command, the Editor was compelled to bring back the French weight or measure into the corresponding English one by calculation. Thus from not knowing the precise equivalents adopted by M. Boussingault, some trivial discrepancy between the computed and the original weights, &c., may have resulted ; but as the quantities that have been treated in this way are especially important as relative, scarcely ever as absolute quantities, the error where it occurs can be of no real consequence. Metres, centimetres, and millimetres have been reduced into English feet and inches, assuming the metre as equal to 39.370 inches. Finally, and to conclude our list of reductions, (would that it had been shorter !) the degrees of the centigrade thermometer have been brought into degrees of the only scale in familiar use among us, viz. Fahrenheit's.

In the translation the Editor has endeavored (not always with perfect success) to be as little technical as possible, with a view to the convenience of the general reader. In a very few places he has even ventured slightly to condense the style of the original in order to keep the volume within moderate dimen3ions, occasionally throwing the information contained in a table into the text or narrative ; and where the Author appeared to him to be forgetting the rural economist in the mere chemist, as where for example he describes the special modes of preparing and purifying indigo, &c. he has made bold to retrench details, and give the results or conclusions only. All analyses bearing on the practical subject, whether it was the soil that produced, the crop that was grown, or the animal which fed on that crop, have been scrupulously retained. In conclusion, the reader is earnestly recommended to read an admirable little work, the joint production of Messrs. Dumas and Boussingault, entitled in the original, " Essai de Statique Chimique des Etres organises," which has been presented in a clear English translation, under the title of, " An Essay on the Chemical and Physiological Balance of Organic Nature," and may be regarded as a most valuable introductory aid to the perfect comprehension of Boussingault's Philosophy of Agriculture, and as a key to the more scientific and technical portions of the work now submitted to the public.

CHAPTER I. Page Physical PHENOMENA of vegetation. — vegetable physiology 13

$ II. — Chemical phenomena of vegetation 25

Germination 26

Germination of wheat 29

Continued germination of peas 30

Continued germination of wheat 31

$ III. -Evolution and growth of plants 33

Experiment I. — Growth of Red Clover during three months 44

Experiment II. — Growth of peas 45

Experiment III. — Growth of wheat 46

Experiment IV. — Growth of clover . 47

e Experiment V. — Vegetation of oats 48

§ IV. — Of the inorganic matters contained in plants — their origin — of the chemical

nature of sap 52

Quantity of ashes contained in the diflerent parts of vegetables, according

to M. de Saussure 53

Composition of the substances found by M. de Saussure 55

Alkaline salts and insoluble substances contained in ashes 56

Alkaline salts and insoluble substances of ashes, according to M. Berthier- • 57

Composition of the ashes of several plants analyzed by M. Berthier 58

Sap of the Batnbusa Guaduas 68

Sap of the banana plant {Musa Paradisica) 68

Milky saps 1 69

Sap of the papaw-tree {Carica Papaya) 69

Sap of the cow-tree 69

Milky sap of the Hura Crepitans (Ajuapar) . . •■• 71

Milky sap of the poppy (Opium) 71

Milk of the Plumeria Americana 72

Sap of the caoutchouc-tree 72

Gummy and resinous saps 73

Saccharine saps 74

CHAPTER n.

Of the chemical constitution of vegetable substances 75

^ I. — duarternary azotized principles of vegetables 76

Composition of legumine obtained from diflerent seeds 78

$ II. — Proximate principles with a ternary composition ; of starch 80

Inuline 87

Of woody matter and cellular tissue ,,. 87

Density of diflerent kinds of wood, according to Brisson 90

Of sugar 114

Beet-root sugar 121

Palm sugar 126

Grape sugar 126

Saccharine principles not fermentable 128

Vegetable jelly ; pectine and pcctic acid 139

10 CONTENTS.

Page

Of vegetable acids 131

Of the vegetable alkalies 131

Of fatty substances 134

Of essential oils 141

Of resin 142

Caoutchouc 143

Veget;ible wax 143

Chlorophylle 145

Of coloring matters 145

§ III. — Composition of the different parts of plants 154

Roots and tubers 154

Barks 161

Leaves 164

Seeds 168

Fleshy or pulpy fruits 189

CHAPTER VI. Of mineral manures or stimulants , 303

Calcareous manures 303

Of alkaline salts 316

Growth of sainfoin upon soils gypsed and ungypsed in 1792, 1793, and 1794. .321 Comparative growths of white clover, gj'psed and ungypsed, by Mr. Smith. 322 Experiment with field-beet or mangel-wurzel, opening the rotation with

manured soil, 1842 327

Mineral substances contained in the crop 329

Of ammoniacal salts 332

Of water 336

CHAPTER VII. Of the rotation of crops 34J

$ I. — Of the organic matter of manure and of crops 341

Red clover 349

Turnips 350

Oats 350

Field-beel or mangel-wurzel 351

Rye 351

White pea^ 352

CONTENTS. 11

Page

Jemsalem potato or artichoke 352

Dried stems of Jerusalem artichokes 352

Table of the proportions of water contained in difTerent substances 353

Composition of the same substances dried in vacuo at 230° F. 353

Relation of manures to crops • 354

Desiccation of half-made or half-decayed manure 354

Experiment I 354

Experiment II 354

Experiment III 354

Analyses of half-made manures 354

Composition of the manures analyzed 355

notation course, No. 1 357

Continuous Jerusalem potato crop, No. 5 358

Quatrennial rotation, adopted by M. Crud, No. 6 358

Siunmary 35'J

^ II. — Of the residues of different crops 360

Potato tops or hauni 361

Leaves of (ield-beet or mangel-wturzel 361

Composition of dry leaves ^ 361

Wheat stubble 362

Clover roots 362

Composition of the roots 362

Oat stubble 362

Siunmary of the foregoing results 363

^ III. — Of the inorganic substances of manures and crops 3S4

Composition of the ashes proceeding from the plants grown at Bechelbronn 360 Mineral substances taken up from the soil by the various crops grown at

Bechelbronn upon one acre , .' 305

Table of the mineral matters of the crops and manures in the course of a

rotation 3S9

Chapter VIII

Of the feeding of the animals beloncino to a farm ; and of the immediate PRINCIPLES OF ANIMAL ORIQIN 375

5 I. — Origin of animal principles 375

Of the food of animals and feeding 386

Experiments on the maintenance of horses 400

Experiment 1 400

Experiment II. — Introduction of Jerusalem potatoes into the ration 401

Experiment III.— Ration of hay and potatoes 401

Experiment IV. — Substitution of oats and straw for a portion of the hay 402

Experiment V. — Potatoes substituted for a portion of the hay 403

Experiment VI. — Jerusalem potato for a portion of the hay 403

Experiment VII. — Introduction of field-beet or mangel-wurzel into the ration 403 Experiment VIII. — Introduction of the Swedish turnip into the ration and

replacing a portion of the hay 404

Experiment IX. — Introduction of carrots into the ration 405

Experiment X. — Boiled rye as a substitute for oats 405

Table of the nutritive ecpiivalents of different kinds of forage 407

^ II. — Of the inorganic constituents of food 4]0

$ Ill.-r-Of the fatty constituents of forage ; considerations on fattening .416

Chapter IX

Or the economy of the animals attached to a farm. — OF stock in general,

AND ITS relations WITH THE PRODUCTION OF MANURE 428

$ I —Horned cattle 430

Table of milch-kinc three years of age und upwards 440

12 CONTENTS.

5 II. — Milch-kine 444

Experiment I. — Two hundred days after calving 447

Experiment II. — Two hundred and seven days after calving 448

Experiment III. — Two hundred and fifteen days after calving 448

Experiment IV. — Two hundred and twenty-nine days after calving 448

Experiment V. — Two hundred and forty days after calving 449

Experiment VI. Two hundred and seventy days after calving 449

Experiment VII. — Two hundred and ninety days after calving 449

Experiment VIII 449

Experiment IX. — Thirty-five days after calving 450

Second Series. Experiment I. — Begun one hundred and seventy-six days

after the calving 450

Experiment II. — One hundred and eighty-two days after the calving 450

Experiment III. — One hundred and ninety-three days after the calving 450

Experiment IV. — Two hundred and four days after the calving 451

5 HI. — Fattening of cattle 452

$ IV.— Of horses 460

$ v.— Of hogs 464