Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 3, 1802).djvu/183

was lately invented by Dr. Bahrens, a reputable German clergyman.—According to the theory adopted by the continental writers on agriculture, those substances which yield, or evolve, the largest quantity of carbonic acid gas, or inflammable air, afford the principal matter of manure. Consistently with this theory. Dr. Bahrens has liberally published an account of the mode of preparing and applying his newly-discovered preparation, of which the following is a correct translation:—Take half a peck of common salt, roast it in a pan till it ceases to crackle; then put it in an old iron pot over a fire sufficiently strong to reduce it to a glowing and shining state, like a melted metal; when it should be poured into another vessel for cooling. Thus it will form a hard stony mass, which must be broken into fragments, and immediately dissolved in three large pailfuls of boiling liquor from farm-yards, before the former has attracted any moisture. When it is completely incorporated, the whole is removed from the fire, and well mixed in a trough, with six pailfuls of good moor-earth taken from ponds, or of the richest mire collected under dunghills. Having prepared this mixture, it will be necessary to add such a proportion of wood-ashes as is required to convert the whole fluid mass into a thick paste. In order to conclude the process, two bushels of fresh unslacked lime should be procured, and disposed of in this manner: first, it will be necessary to make a hole in the ground for a reservoir, which ought to be capacious enough to hold all the ingredients; and the sides of which are to be lined with bricks or stone-work, so as to be perfectly tight. A layer of the above described composition is now spread on the bottom of this subterraneous magazine, and immediately over it, a thin stratum of coarsely pounded lime-stone; then again a similar portion of the former, and another of the latter, alternately, till the whole is properly arranged. This management, however, ought to be undertaken by two persons, and with the greatest expedition, to prevent both the fermentation of the materials from taking place too early, and the escape of the inflammable gas into the atmosphere: for the same reason, the surface of the compound, or the top of the reservoir, must be speedily covered with swards or turf, to exclude every access of air. After remaining at rest for a few days, the internal commotion and heat will cease; and the whole be reduced to a dry, fine powder, which is fit for immediate use.—Dr. Bahrens directs such powder to be thinly strewed over the land, after the seed has been sown and once harrowed, so that it may be duly mingled with the soil by the subsequent operations of the harrow—He observes, from repeated experiments, that this compound has been productive of great advantage, not only to every species of grain and garden-fruits, but also to meadows and pastures; the quantity above stated, being sufficient to manure a whole acre (consisting of 180 poles or rods square, decimal measure), which nearly agrees with our computation of English acres. And, if this artificial composition be applied for two successive years, its fertilizing properties continue undiminished for the three subsequent crops; so that