Thomas Anderson - Elements of Agricultural Chemistry

PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW, AND CHEMIST TO THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND.
EDINBURGH:
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK.
1860.

ERRATUM.

Page 190, line 11, for "gallon" read "ton."

PRINTED BY R. AND R. CLARK, EDINBURGH.

Transcriber's note: Many of the tables needed to be split to fit space constraints.

The object of the present work is to offer to the farmer a concise outline of the general principles of Agricultural Chemistry. It has no pretensions to be considered a complete treatise on the subject. On the contrary, its aim is strictly elementary, and with this view I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to avoid unnecessary technicalities so as to make it intelligible to those who are unacquainted with the details of chemical science, although I have not hesitated to discuss such points as appeared essential to the proper understanding of any particular subject.

The rapid progress of agricultural chemistry, and the numerous researches prosecuted under the auspices of agricultural societies and private experimenters in this and other countries, render it by no means an easy task to make a proper selection from the mass of facts which is being daily accumulated. In doing this, however, I have been guided by a pretty intimate knowledge of the wants of the farmer, which has induced me to enlarge on those departments of the subject which bear more immediately on the every-day practice of agriculture; and for this reason the composition and properties of soils, the nature of manures, and the principles by which their application ought to be governed, have been somewhat minutely treated.

In all cases numerical details have been given as fully as is consistent with the limits of the work; and it may be right to state that a considerable number of the analyses contained in it have been made in my own laboratory, and that even when I have preferred to quote the results of other chemists, they have not unfrequently been confirmed by my own experiments.

University of Glasgow ,
1st November 1860.

Page
Introduction
CHAPTER I.
The Organic Constituents of Plants.
Carbon ... Carbonic Acid ... Hydrogen ... Nitrogen ... Nitric Acid ... Ammonia ... Oxygen ... Sources whence obtained ... The Atmosphere ... The Soil ... Source of the Inorganic Constituents of Plants ... Manner in which the Constituents of Plants are absorbed
CHAPTER II.
The Proximate Constituents of Plants.
The Saccharine and Amylaceous Constituents ... Cellulose ... Incrusting Matter ... Starch ... Lichen Starch ... Inuline ... Gum ... Dextrine ... Sugar ... Mucilage ... Pectine and Pectic Acid ... Oily or Fatty Matters ... Margaric, Stearic, and Oleic Acids ... Wax ... Nitrogenous or Albuminous Constituents of Plants and Animals ... Albumen ... Fibrine ... Casein ... Diastase
CHAPTER III.
The Changes which take place in the Food of Plants during their Growth.
Changes occurring during Germination ... Changes during the After-Growth of the Plant ... Decomposition of Carbonic Acid ... Decomposition of Water ... Decomposition of Ammonia ... Decomposition of Nitric Acid
CHAPTER IV.
The Inorganic Constituents of Plants.
The Amount of Inorganic Matters in Different Plants ... The Relative Proportions of Ash in the Different Parts of Plants ... Influence of the Nature of the Soil on the Proportion of Mineral Matters in the Plant ... The Composition of the Ashes of Plants ... Classification of Different Plants
CHAPTER V.
The SoilIts Chemical and Physical Characters.
The Origin of Soils ... Composition of Crystalline and Sedimentary Rocks ... their Disintegration ... Chemical Composition of the Soil ... Fertile and Barren Soils ... Mechanical Texture of Soils ... Absorbent Action of Soils ... their Physical Characters ... Relation to Heat and Moisture ... The Subsoil ... Classification of Soils
CHAPTER VI.
The Improvement of the Soil by Mechanical Processes.
Draining ... Its Advantageous Effects ... Subsoil and Deep Ploughing ... Improving the Soil by Paring and Burning ... Warping ... Mixing of Soils ... Chalking
CHAPTER VII.
The General Principles of Manuring.
Fundamental Principles upon which Manures are applied ... Special and General Manures ... Importance of this distinction ... Views regarding the Theory of Manures ... Remarks on Special Manures ... Action of Manures on the Chemical and Physical Properties of a Soil ... Remarks on the Application of Manures
CHAPTER VIII.
The Composition and Properties of Farm-yard and Liquid Manures.
Farm-yard Manure ... Urine ... Composition of ... Dung ... Composition of ... Farm-yard Manure ... Composition of ... Management of Dung-Heaps ... Box-feeding ... Fermentation and application of Manure ... Liquid Manure ... Composition and application of ... Sewage Manure ... Its composition and application
CHAPTER IX.
The Composition and Properties of Vegetable Manures.
Rape-Dust, Mustard, Cotton and Castor Cake ... Composition of various Oil-Cakes ... Malt-Dust, Bran, Chaff, etc.... Straw and Saw-dust ... Manuring with Fresh Vegetable Matter ... Green Manuring ... Sea-Weed ... Composition of various Sea-Weeds ... Leaves ... Peat
CHAPTER X.
The Composition and Properties of Animal Manures.
Guano, different varieties of ... Average composition of ... Division into Ammoniacal and Phosphatic ... Characters of ... Adulteration of ... Application of ... Pigeons' Dung ... Urate and Sulphated Urine ... Night-Soil and Poudrette ... Hair, Skin, Horn, Wool, etc.... Blood ... Fish ... "Fish-Guano"Bones
CHAPTER XI.
The Composition and Properties of Mineral Manures.
Mineral Manures ... Sulphate and Muriate of Ammonia ... Sulphomuriate of Ammonia ... Ammoniacal Liquor ... Nitrates of Potash and Soda ... Muriate and Sulphate of Potash ... Chloride of Sodium, or Common Salt ... Carbonates of Potash and Soda ... Silicates of Potash and Soda ... Sulphate of Magnesia ... Phosphate of Lime ... Bone-ash ... Coprolites ... Apatite ... Sombrero Guano ... Superphosphates and Dissolved Bones ... Biphosphate of Lime or Soluble Phosphates ... Phospho-Peruvian Guano ... Lime ... Chalk ... Marl ... Application and Action of Lime on Soils ... Sulphate of Lime or Gypsum
CHAPTER XII.
The Valuation of Manures.
The Principle on which Manures are valued ... Its application to different simple and complex Manures ... Method of Calculation ... General Remarks
CHAPTER XIII.
The Rotation of Crops.
Its necessity explained ... Quantity of Mineral Matters in the produce of an Acre of Different Crops ... The Theory of Rotation
CHAPTER XIV.
The Feeding of Farm Stock.
The Principles of Feeding ... The Composition of different Animals in different stages of Fattening ... The Composition of the Food of Animals ... Milk ... The Principal Varieties of Cattle Food ... General Observations on Feeding

That the phenomena of vegetation are dependent on certain chemical changes occurring in the plant, by which the various elements of its food are elaborated and converted into vegetable matter, was very early recognised by chemists; and long before the correct principles of that science were established, Van Helmont maintained that plants derived their nourishment from water, while Sir Kenelm Digby, Hook, Bradley, and others, attributed an equally exclusive influence to air, and enlarged on the practical importance of the conclusions to be deduced from their views. These opinions, which were little better than hypotheses, and founded on very imperfect chemical data, are mentioned by Jethro Tull, the father of modern agriculture, only to deny their accuracy; and he contended that the plants absorb and digest the finer particles of the earth, and attributed the success of the particular system of husbandry he advocated to the comminution of the soil, by which a larger number of its particles are rendered sufficiently small to permit their ready absorption by the roots. Popular opinion at that time was in favour of the mechanical rather than the chemical explanation of agricultural facts, and Tull's work had the effect of confirming this opinion, and turning attention away from the application of chemistry to agriculture. Indeed, no good results could have followed its study at that time, for chemistry, especially in those departments bearing more immediately on agriculture, was much too imperfect, and it was only towards the close of the last century, when Lavoisier established its true principles, that it became possible to pursue it with any prospect of success.