THE FARMERS' Club resumed their meetings, on Tuesday, Nov. 13th, at the
Repository of the American Institute.
The meeting commenced by reading a communication from the President
of the Manhattan Gas Light Company, David C. Colden, Esq., inviting
the attention of farmers, and all interested in agriculture, to the
value of the refuse of gas-works as manure. Extracts from the works
of Liebig, and Johnston were then read, setting forth the powerful
fertilizing properties of ammoniacal liquor, with which the refuse of
gas-works is found to be strongly impregnated. After some conversation
on the subject, in which Mr. Stevens, Commodore De Kay, Mr. Meigs, and
Mr. Wakeman, took part, as to the best method of disposing of this
communication, it was resolved that it be referred to a committee
consisting of Gen. Tallmadge, Mr. Prince, Gen. Johnson, Col. Clarke,
and Mr. Townsend, to report at the next meeting of the club.
Mr. William R. Prince, of Flushing, presented to the meeting, specimens
of nineteen different varieties of apples, among which were several of
very large size and superior quality.
Mr. Meigs presented seeds of a new variety of squash, the _Cucurbitur
bicolor_.
Mr. Ward, cuttings from a vine which produced ripe Isabella grapes on
the 5th September.
A desultory conversation then ensued as to the future proceedings
of the club. Much diversity of opinion appeared to exist as to the
propriety of holding the meetings weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, when
a committee was appointed to report upon the subject.
Dr. Field next called the attention of the club to a subject which
he considered deserving their serious attention, viz: the present
condition of the children now in the alms-house on Long Island. He
thought they might be employed advantageously to themselves and
the public, either in the cultivation of the mulberry, and general
management of silk, or in horticultural occupations. He then proceeded
to describe with feeling eloquence, their present deplorable condition,
both morally and physically, arising from the system of idleness they
are now allowed to pursue.
He was followed by Mr. Stevens, and Mr. Carter, who both agreed that it
was high time some steps should be taken to ameliorate the condition of
the poor children, and it was finally resolved:
That a committee consisting of Dr. Field, Mr. Stevens, and Mr. Carter,
be appointed to investigate the subject, and petition the corporation
that the pauper children of this city, now on the Long Island farm, be
employed in horticultural pursuits generally, and also in the raising
and manufacture of silk.
Mr. Stevens then made some remarks on the subject of wax-flowers and
fruits, a specimen of which was exhibited by Mr. Lane. Mr. Stevens
thought that a model of every new variety of fruit ought to be taken in
wax, and preserved at the Repository of the Institute.
A motion was made and carried that the executive committee be
instructed to consider the subject.
Gen. Tallmadge suggested that a list of donors of fruits, &c., be
kept by the secretary, and placed on the records of the club at every
meeting, which was unanimously agreed to.
The meeting then adjourned to Tuesday, the 28th November.
The following are the extracts on refuse gas, sent to the club by the
President of the Manhattan Gas-Light Company:--
"If the properties of manure, and its agency upon the growth of the
vegetable world, can be explained by chemistry, we shall find the
ammoniacal liquor produced in gas-works, to be a valuable substitute
for those manures, by the application of which it is intended to
supply the soil with nitrogen.
"One of the most valuable manures is urine, and its excellence
depends almost entirely upon the ammoniacal salts which it holds in
solution. The relative value of urine as manure, depends upon the
quantity of nitrogen the different kinds yield. Thus human urine is
the most esteemed, and that of horned animals the least."--_Clegg's
Treatise on Gas-Making._
According to Liebig, 547 pounds of human excrement contain 16.41 pounds
of nitrogen; a quantity sufficient to yield the nitrogen of 800 pounds
of wheat, rye, oats, or of 900 pounds of barley. How much more, then,
will be supplied from an equal weight of ammoniacal liquor!
Mr. J. Watson, the manager of the gas-works at Kirriemuir, has favored
me with the following facts:--
"The ammoniacal liquor on the surface of the tar-well has been found
a very great improvement as a manure for raising crops of grass in
this quarter, by being sprinkled on the field in the same way as
water is put on public streets in large towns, to keep down dust in
dry weather. I have myself seen an experiment of this tried, and
can say that part of a field of grass sprinkled in this way, after
the first cutting, was far superior to any other part of the field
receiving manure of any other kind, and that the part so sprinkled, or
showered over, was ready to be cut down a second time in the course
of between fourteen days and three weeks; whereas, the other part
of the field cut at the same time, was only beginning to spring or
rise from the roots in that time. It must be mixed up before use with
four parts of common water. In particular, the said experiment of the
gas-water has been used by David Nairn, Esq., Doumkilba, near Meigle,
in this neighborhood, with success; and I am informed that he has
purchased and taken a lease of the ammoniacal liquor from different
gas-companies in this country.
"I am convinced much good might be derived from different qualities
of the refuse products of gas-works as manure. An inquiry into this
subject would remunerate the engineer or agriculturist to the full,
and would besides confer a considerable benefit upon his fellows, and
give that practical proof of the correctness of a theory so welcome to
the man of science."
"The fertilizing power of gypsum has been explained by its supposed
action on the ammonia which is presumed to exist in the atmosphere. If
this be the true explanation, a substance containing ammonia should
act _at least_ as energetically. At all events, the action of foldyard
manure and of putrid urine, is supposed to depend chiefly on the
ammonia they contain or give off.
"Now among the substances containing ammonia in large quantity,
the ammoniacal liquor of the gas-works is one which can easily be
obtained, and can be applied in a liquid state at very little cost. It
must be previously diluted with water till its taste and smell become
scarcely perceptible.
"I would propose therefore, as a further experiment, that along with
one or more of the substances above mentioned, the ammoniacal liquor
of the gas-works should be tried, on a measured portion of ground,
and, if possible, in the same field.
"Soot as a manure is supposed to act partly, if not chiefly in
consequence of the ammonia it contains. In Gloucestershire, it is
applied to potatoes and to wheat, chiefly to the latter, and with
great success. In the wolds of Yorkshire it is also applied largely to
the wheat-crop. In this country it is frequently used on grass land. I
am not aware that it is extensively used on clover. I am inclined to
anticipate that the sulphur it contains, in addition to ammonia, would
render it useful to this plant. At all events comparative experiments
in the same field with the gypsum and the ammoniacal liquor, are
likely to lead to interesting results.
* * * "Of ammoniacal liquor 100 or 200 gallons per acre, according
to its strength, for this is constantly varying. It must also be
diluted with so large a quantity of water as will render it perfectly
tasteless, and is likely to prove most beneficial if laid on at
several successive periods."--_Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry_,
part 1.
"Sal ammoniac is probably too expensive an article to be employed;
but sulphate of ammonia may be had of the wholesale chemist at a
price considerably more reasonable, and the ammoniacal liquor of
the gas-manufactories, through the distillation of coal, is a still
cheaper commodity."--_Liebig's Agricultural Chemistry._
"Its efficacy as a manure is vouched for by many who have made trial
of it upon their land. See a communication by Mr. Paynter on gas-water
as a manure."--_Journal Royal Ag. Soc._, No. 1.