Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/elementsofagricuOOwariiala THE ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 5 gooh fcr Iffung |annus, BY GEO. E. WARING, Jr., AUTHOR OF "DRAISIJJO FOE PROFIT AND DRAI>'TKQ FOB HEALTH,' FORMBRLT AQRICirLTUBJtL ENGIXEER OF TUB 0£NTRAI, PARK }N NEW YORK. The effort to extend the dominion of man over nature Is the most healthy and most noble of all ambitions. — Baoon. SECOND AND REVISED EDITION. NEW YORK: THE TRIBUNE ASSOCIATION, 154 NASSAU STREET. 1868. Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1868, by GKO. E. WARING, Jr., lu tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for tho Southern District of New York. The New York Printing Company, 8i, 83, and 85 Centre Street, New York. 5 \\/37 CONTENTS. Section i^irst. CHAPTER I. PAGE Introduction 11 CHAPTER II. The Atmosphere and its Carbon 14 CHxVPTER III. Hydrogen and Oxygen 21 Nitrogen 22 Ammonia 23 CHAPTER rV. Earthy Matter 27 Alkalies 28 Potash 28 Soda 29 Lime 29 Magnesia 30 Acids — Phosphoric Acid 30 Sulphuric Acid 31 Silicic Acid, or Silica 32 Neutrals — Chlorine 33 Oxide of Iron. 33 CHAPTER V. Growth 34 CHAPTER VI. Starch, Woody-Fibre, Gluten, etc 39 Animals 42 CHAPTER VII. Location of the Different Parts, and Variations in the Ashes ' of Plants 46 CHAPTER VIII. Recapitulation. 49 iv CONTENTS. Section 0cconl>. THTC SOIL. CHAPTER I. PAOR Formation and Character of the Soil 57 Geology •*• 64 CHAPTER II. Uses of Atmospheric Matter 66 CHAPTER III. Uses of Earthy Matter 73 Subsoil 74 Improvement 75 Section Z\]\xh. ]VIJV N TJ R E S. CHAPTER I. Character and Varieties of Manures 81 CILVPTER II. Animal Excrement 84 Digestion and its Products 85 CHAPTER III. Waste of Manure 88 Evaporation 88 Leaching 93 CHAPTER IV. Absorbents 95 Charcoal 95 Muck and its Treatment 97 Lime and Salt Mixture 99 Lime.'. 100 Potash 101 CHAPTER V. Composting Stable Manure 101 Shelter 102 The Floor 103 Tank 103 Liquid Manure 110 CHAPTER VI. Different kinds of Anim al Excrement .110 Stable Manure Ill Recapitulation. 112 CONTEXTS, V PAGE Xight Soil 113 Hog Manure 115 Poultry-house Manure 11(5 Sheep 3Ianure 118 Guano 118 CHAPTER VII. Other Organic Manures 120 Dead animals 1 toll Plowing 200 CHAPTER V. Plowing and other Processes for Pulverizing the Soil 20G Plowing 20G The Harrow and Cultivator. 210 CHAPTER VI. Rolling, Mulching, Weeding, etc 211 Rolling 211 Mulching 212 Weeding ^ 216 Cultivators 218 Improved Horse-Hoe 219 Section Tiftl). AN" AIj YSIS. CHAPTER I. Analysia 225 CHAPTER II. Tables of Analysis 228 The Practical Farmer 245 EXPLAKATION OF TERMa 253 The first edition of this book was written in 1853, when the writer was full of the enthusiasm that comes with the first years of study ; when a very elementary knowledge of the subjects of which it treats made the whole plan of vegetation, cultivation, and manuring seem easy and simple. In some instances, rather vague fancies were presented as sound theories; and the perplexing uncertainties which beset the path of the more thorough student were ignored — because unknown. The observation and experience of the intervening years have sadly clouded some of these fancies, and the veil which hangs about the true theories of agriculture has grown harder to penetrate, — the difficulties in the way of precise knowledge have not lessened with closer acquaintance. Notwithstanding its faults, the book received a very cor- dial welcome at the hands of the public, — more because such a book was much needed, than because of its real value, and it ought, long ago, to have been rewritten. The present edition has been carefully revised, and it is believed that its doctrines are such as the positive teachings of chemistry, and the more enlightened practice of fanning, will justify ; still, it is offered with more hesitation than was its predecessor, and it is only offered at all because there exists a sad deficiency in this department of our agricul- tural literature. The place that it is intended to fill is occupied by no other work. It is not an agricultural chemistry, nor is it a hand-book of the processes of every-day fanning ; — only an attempt to translate into common language, for the use of every-day farmers, that which science has discovered and has told in its own necessarily technical terms, and which practical experience has proven to be of practical value. The facts which it sets forth lie at the very ground-work of the art of farming, and they are necessary to the business education of every farmer. On the universal importance of these facts the book must depend for its success ; and for their sake, — not because of its own merit, — it is confidently offered to the young farmers of America, as being worthy of their most careful study. Ogden Farm, Newport, R. I., 1868. SECTM FIRST. THE PLANT. SECTION FIRST. THE PLANT. CHAPTER I. INTKODUCTION. The object of cultivating the soil is to raise from it a crop oi plants. In order to cultivate with economy, we must raise the largest possible quantity with the least expense^ and without permanent injury to the soil. Before this can be done we must study the char- acter of plants, and learn their exact composition. They are not created by a mysterious power, they are merely made up of matters already in existence. They take up water containing food and other mat- ters, and discharge from their roots, or their leaves, or deposit within their pores, those substances that are not required for their growth. It is necessary for us to know what kind of matter is required as food for tiie plant, and whence it is to be obtained ; this we can learn only through such means as shall separate the elements of which plants are composed ; 12 TIIK PLANT. in other words, we must take them apm% and exam- ine the different pieces of which they are made up. If we burn any vegetable substance it disappears, except a small quantity of earthy matter, which con- stitutes the ashes. In this w'ay we make the first division between the two distinct classes of the con- stituents of plants. One portion escapes into the atmosphere, and the other remains as a disorganized earthy substance. That part which burns away during combustion we will call atmosplienc matter, because it was de- rived by the plant from the air ; the ashes which re- main we will call earthy matter, because they were derived from the soil. The atmospheric matter has become air, and it was originally obtained from air. The earthy matter has become earth, and was ob- tained from the soil. This is the first step tow^ard a knowledge of agri- cultural chemistry. The next will be to examine each of these two different classes of matter, that we may learn precisel}'^ of Avhat they consist. Then we must inquire where these substances are found, how they are taken up by the plant, and how we can best supply such as nature, unaided, does not always furnish. This knowledge does not require that farm- ers become chemists. All that is required is, that they should know enough of chemistry to understand, so far as the present state of knowledge makes it possible, the nature of the materials of wluch their crops are composed, and how those materials are to be used to the best advantage. THE PLANT. 13 Tlie elements of this knowledge may be easily ac- quired, and should be possessed by every person, old or young, whether actually engaged in the cultivation of the soil or not. All are dependent on vegetable productions, not only for food, but for every comfort and convenience of life. It is the object of this book to teach young fanners the first principles of agri- culture : and while it does not contain all that is absolutely necessary to an understanding of the prac- tical operations of cultivation, its teachings are such as the writer found, in his early studies, to be most necessary as a groundwork for future study and thought and most useful in practice. AVe will first examine the atmospheric part of plants, or that which is driven away during combus- tion or burning. This matter, though apparently lost, is only changed in form. It consists of one solid substance, carbon (or charcoal), and three gases, oxygen^ hydrogen and ni- trogen. These four kinds of matter constitute nearly the whole of most plants, the ashes forming some- times less than one part in one himdred of their dry weight. When wood is burned in a close vessel, or other- wise protected from the air, its carbon becomes char- coal. All plants contain this substance, it forming usually about one-half of their dry weight. The re- mainder of their atmospheric part consists of the three gases named above. By the word gas, we mean aeriform. Oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, when pure, always exist in the form of air. Oxygen has 14 THE I'LANT. the power of uniting with many substances, forming compounds which are difi'erent from either of their constituents alone. Thus : oxygen unites with iron and forms oxide of iron or iron-imst, which does not resemble the grey metallic iron nor the gas oxygen ; oxygen unites with carbon and forms carbonic acid, which is an invisible gas, but not at all like pure oxy- gen ; oxygen combines with hydrogen and forma water. All water, ice, steam, etc., are composed of these two gases. We know this because we can arti- ficially decompose, or separate, all w^ater, and obtain B& a result simply oxygen and hydrogen, or we can combine these two gases and thus form pure water ; oxygen combines with nitrogen and forms nitric acid. These chemical changes and combinations take place only under certain circumstances, which, so ftir as they affect our subject, will be considered in the following pages. As the atmospheric elements of plants are ob- tained from matters existing in the atmosphere which surrounds our globe, we will examine its constitution. CHAPTER II. TUE ATMOSPHERE AND ITS CARBON. Atmospheric air is composed of oxygen and nitrogen. Their proportions are, one part of oxygen to four parts of nitrogen. Oxygen is the active agent in the combustion, decay, and decomposition of organized Tin; PLANT. 15 bodies (those which have possessed animal or vegetable life, that is, organic matter), and others, — also, in the breathing of animals. Experiments have proved that if the atmosphere consisted of pure oxygen every thing would be speedily destroyed, as the processes of combustion and decay M'ould be greatly quickened, and animals would be so stimulated that they would soon die. One use of the nitrogen in the air is to dilute the oxygen, and thus reduce the intensity of its effect. Besides these two great elements, the atmosphere contains certain impurities which are of great impor- tance to vegetable growth ; these are, ca?'bonio acid, water, ammonia^ etc. CARBONIC ACID. Carbonic acid is, in all probability, the only som'ce of the carbon of plants, and consefpiently supplies more material to vegetation than any other single sort of food. It is a gas, and is not, under natural circumstances, perceptible to oiu* senses. It consti- tutes abrr. 25 subject, also the means for retaining in the soil the ammoniacal parts of fertilizing mattere, will be fully considered in the section on manures. After ammonia has entered the plant it may be decomposed, its hydrogen separated from it, and its nitrogen retained to answer the purposes of growth. The changes which nitrogen undergoes, from plants to animals, or, by decomposition, to the form of am- monia in the atmosphere, are as varied as those of carbon and the constituents of water. The same little atom of nitrogen may one year form a part of a plant, and the next become a constituent of an animal, or, with the decomposed dead animal, may form a part of the soil. If the animal should fall into the sea it may become food for fishes, and our atom of nitrogen may form a part of a fish. That fish may be eaten by a larger one, or at death may become food for the whale, through the marine insect on which it feeds. After the abstraction of the oil from the whale, the nitrogen may, by the putretaction of his remains, be united to hydrogen, form ammonia, and escape into the atmosphere. From here it may be brought to the soil by rains, and enter into the composition of a plant, from which, could its parts speak as it grows in our garden, it could tell us a wonderful tale of travels, and assure us that, after wandering about in all sorts of places, it had returned to us, the same little atom of nitrogen which we had owned twenty years before, and which for thousands of years had been continually going through its changes. 26 THE PLANT. Liebig says : " All the nitrogen of plants and of animals is derived from the air. Every fireplace where coals are burned, the numerous furnaces and chimneys of the manufacturing towns and districts, of locomotive engines and steamboats, all the smelt- ing furnaces of the iron-works — all these are so many forms of distillatory apparatus which enrich the at- mosphere with the nitrogenized food of a vegetable world, belonging to a period long past. " We can form some idea of the quantities of am- monia thus poured into the atmosphere, if we con- sider that in numerous gas-works many tons of am- moniacal salts are annually obtained from the coals distilled for gas." * The same is true of any of the atmospheric or earthy constituents of plants. They are performing their natural offices, or are lying in the earth, or floating in the atmosphere, ready to be lent to any of their legitimate uses, sure again to be returned to their starting point. Thus no atom of matter is ever lost. It may change its place, but it remains for ever as a part of the capital of nature. * Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. xvii., p. 289. THE PLANT. 27 CHAPTER lY. EARTHY MATTER. We will now examine the ashes left after burning vegetable substances. This is earthy matter; and it is obtained from the soil. Atmospheric matter, al- though forming so large a part of the plant, we have seen to consist of four different substances. The earthy portion, on the contrary, although forming so small a part, consists of no less than nine or ten different kinds of matter. These we will consider in order. In their relations to agriculture they may be divided into three classes — alkalies^ acids ^ and neutrals.^ Alkalies and acids are of opposite properties, and when brought together they unite and neutralize each other, forming compounds which are neither alkaline nor acid in their character. Thus, carbonic acid (a gas) unites with lime — a burning, caustic substance — and forms marble, which is a hard, taste- less stone. Alkalies and acids are characterized by their tendency to unite with each other, and the com- pounds thus formed have many and various proper- ties, so that the characters of the constituents give no indication of the character of the compound. For instance, lime causes the gases of animal manure * TMs classification is not strictly scientific, but it is one which the learner wtU find it well to adopt. These bodies are called neutrals because they have a less decided alkaline or acid charac- ter than the other. 28 THE PLANT. to escape, while sulphate of lime (a compound of sulphuric acid and lime) produces an opposite effect, and prevents their escape. The substances coming under the signification of neutrals, are less affected by the laws of combina- tion, still they do combine with other substances, and some of the resultant compoimds are of great impor- tance to agriculture. ALKALIES. The alkalies which are found in the ashes of plants are four in number ; they are jpotash^ soda, limey and magnesia. POTASH. When we pour water over wood ashes it dissolves the potash which they contain, and carries it away in solution. This solution is called ley^ and if it be boiled to dryness it leaves a solid substance which is chiefly pure potash. Potash left exposed to the air absorbs carbonic acid and becomes car- bonate of potash or pearlash / if another atom of car- bonic *acid be added, it becomes super-carbonate of potash, or salceratus. Potash has many uses in agri- culture. 1. It forms a constituent of nearly all plants. 2. It unites with silicic acid and forms a compound which water can dissolve and carry into the roots of plants; thus supplying them with an ingredient which gives them much of their strength. THE PLANT. 29 3. It is a strong agent in the decomposition of vege- table matter, and is thus of much importance in pre- paring manures. 4. It roughens the smooth round particles of sandy soils, and prevents their compacting, as they are often liable to do. 5. It is also of use in killing certain kinds of insects, and, when externally applied, in smoothing the bark of fruit trees. The source from which this and the other earthy matters required are to be obtained, will be more fully considered in the section on manures. SODA. Soda^ one of the alkalies contained in the ashes of plants, is very much the same as potash in its agri- cultural character and uses. Soda exists very largely in nature, as it forms an important part of common salt, whether in the ocean or in those inland deposits known as rock salt. When combined with sulphuric acid it forms sulphate of soda or Glauber's salts. In combination with carbonic acid, as carbonate of soda, it forms the common washing soda of the shops. LIME. Lime is in many ways important in agriculture : 1. It is a constituent of plants and animals. 2. It assists in the decomposition of vegetable matter in the soil as well as of its minerals. 3. It corrects the acidity* of sour soils. * SoTimess. 30 THE PLAJfT. 4. Combined with chlorine or sulphuric acid as chloride or sulphate of lime it is a good fixer of fertilizing gases. In nature it exists most largely in the form of car- bonate of lime ; that is, as marble, limestone, and chalk — these all being of the same composition. In manufacturing caustic (or quick) lime, the carbonate of lime is burned in a kiln ; by this means the car- bonic acid is driven oflf into the atmosphere and the Hme remains in a pure or caustic state. MAGNESIA, Magnesia is the remaining alkali of vegetable ashes. It is well known as a medicine, both in the form of calcined magnesia, and, when mixed with sulphuric acid, as epsom salts. Although magnesia is a necessary constituent of plants, it is not an element of which fertile soils are likely to become exhausted, and it does not receive attention in special manuring ; the amount returned to the soil in farm-yard manure, and that suppliecf by the decay of roots, being sufficient for the growth of the most luxuriant crops. ACID 8. PH08PHOEIO ACID. PJiosphoriG acid is a constituent of the ashes of plants which is of the greatest value to the farmer ; it is composed of phosphorus and oxygen. Being an THE PLAJS'T. 31 acid, this substance has the power of combining with any of the alkalies. Its most important compound is formed with lime. Phosphate of lime forms about 65 per cent, of the dry weight of the bones of all animals, and it is all derived from the soil through the medium of plants. As plants are intended as food for animals, nature has provided that they shall not attain their perfec- tion without taking up a supply of phosphate of lime as well as of their other earthy ingredients ; consequently, there are many soils which will not produce good crops, simply because they are deficient in phosphate of lime. It is one of the most impor- tant ingredients of manures, and its value is depen- dent on certain conditions which will be hereafter explained. Another use of phosphoric acid in the plant is to supply it with the small amount of phosphorus, which seems to be required in the formation of the seed. SULPHUKIC ACID. Sulphuric acid is important to vegetation, and its addition to the soil often renders it more fertile. It is composed of, sulphur and oxygen, and is made for manufacturing purposes, by burning sulphur. With lime it forms sulphate of litne, which is gypsum or "plaster." In this form it is often found in na- ture, and is most extensively used in agriculture. The methods for supplying sulj)huric acid will be described hereafter. It gives to the plant a small 32 THE PLANT. portion of sulphur, which is necessary to the forma- tion of some of its parts. SILICIC ACID, OK SILICA. This is common sand. In its pure state it cannot be dissolved and plants can make no use of it. It unites with the alkalies and forms compounds, such as silicate of potash,, silicate of soda, etc., which are soluble in water, and therefore available to plants. If we roughen a corn stalk with sand-paper we may- sharpen a knife upon it. This is owing to the hard particles of silica which its outer parts contain. Window glass is silicate of potash, rendered insoluble by additions of arsenic and litharge. Liebig tells us that there was discovered, between Manheim and Heidelberg in Germany, a mass of melted glass where a hay-stack had been struck by lightning. They supposed it to be a meteor, but chemical analysis showed that it was only the com- pound of silicic acid and potash which served to strengthen the grass. There is always enough silicic acid in the soil, but it is often necessary to add an alkali to render it soluble and available. When grain*, etc., lodge or fall down from their own weight, it is probable that they are unable to obtain from the soil a sufficient supply of the soluble silicates to support their rapid growth. THE PLANT. 33 NEUTRALS . CHLORINE. Chlorine is an important ingredient of vegetable ashes. It is not found alone in nature, but is always in combination with other substances. Its most im- portant compound is with sodium, forming chloride of sodium (or common salt). Sodium is the base of soda, and common salt is usually the cheapest source from which to obtain both soda and chlorine. Chlorine unites with lime in the formation of chloride of lirae^ which is much used to absorb or destroy the unpleasant odors of decaying matters, and in this character it is of use in the treatment of manures. OXID EOF IRON. Oxide of iron, one of the constituents of ashes, is common iron rust. Iron itself is naturally of a greyish color, but when exposed to the atmosphere, it readily absorbs oxygen and forms a reddish com- pound. It is in this form that it usually exists in the soil, and many soils as well as the red sandstones are colored by -it. It is seldom, if ever, necessary to apply this as a manure, there being usually enough of it in the soil. This red oxide of iron, of which we have been speaking, is called by chemists the peroxide. There is another compound which contains less oxygen than this, and is called the protoxide of iron, which is 2* 34 THE I'LANT. poisonous to plants. "When it exists in the soil it is necessary to use such means of cultivation as shall expose it to the atmosphere and allow it to take up more oxygen and become the peroxide. The black scales which fly from hot iron when struck by the blacksmith's hammer are protoxide of iron. The peroxide of iron is a very good absorbent of ammonia, and consequently, as will be hereafter descnbed, adds to the fertility of the soil. Oxide of Mangajjese, though often found in small quantities in the ashes of cultivated plants, cannot be considered indispensable. Having now examined the materials from which the ashes of plants are formed, we are enabled to classify them in a simple manner, so that they may be recollected. They are as follows : — ALKALIES. Potash. Soda. Lime. Magnesia. ACIDS. Sulphuric acid. Phosphoric " Silicic " NEtJTRALS. Chlorine. Oxide of Iron. " Manganese. CHAPTER V. GROWTH, Having examined the materials of which plants are made, it becomes necessary to discover how they are THE PLANT. 35 put together in the process of growth. Let iis there- fore suppose a young wheat-plant, for instance, to be in condition to commence independent growth. It consists of roots which are located in the soil ; leaves which are spread in the air, and a stem which connects the roots and leaves. This stem contains sap vessels, which may be regarded, for the sake of sunplicity, as tubes extending from the ends of the roots to the surfaces of the leaves, thus affording a passage for the sap, and consequently allowing the matters taken up to be distributed throughout the plant. It is necessary that the materials of which plants are made should be supplied in certain proportions, at the proper time, and in a suitable condition. For instance, carbon could not be taken up in large quantities by the leaves, unless the roots, at the same time, were receiving from the soil those mineral mat- ters which are necessary to growth. On the other hand, no considerable amount of earthy matter could be appropriated by the roots unless the leaves were obtaining carbon from the air. This same rule holds true with regard to all of the constituents required ; Nature seeming to have made it a law that if one of the important ingredients of the plant is absent, the others, though they may be present in sufficient quantities, cannot be used. Thus, if the soil is de- ficient in alkalies, and still has sufficient quantities of all of the other ingi*edients, the plant cannot take up these ingredients, because alkalies are necessaiy to its life. - -^ 3r. THE PLANT. If a farmer wishes to make a cart he prepares his wood and iron, gets them all in the proper condition, and then can very readily put them together. But if he has all of the wood necessary and no iron^ he cannot make his cart, because bolts, nails and screws are required, and their place cannot be supplied by boards. This serves to illustrate the fact that in raising plants we must give them everj^thing that they require, or they will not grow at all. In the case of our young plant the following opera- tions are going on at about the same time. The leaves are absorbing carbonic acid from the atmosphere, and the roots are drinking in water from the soil. The manner in wliich food is taken up by roots, may be illustrated by the following experiment : Take a tumbler, filled entirely full with water ; tie over it a bladder, and on the bladder sprinkle a little salt. The bladder becomes moist throughout its entire thickness, and transmits enough moisture to the salt to dissolve it gradually, and as fast as it is dissolved, it passes through the bladder into the water inside of the tumbler. In a long enough time the water can be made, in this way, to dissolve as much salt as though it had been stirred into it with- out the intervention of the bladder. If we keep the salt soaking wet, as it lies on the outside of the blad- der, it will pass through much more rapidly, but if we do not wet it by a direct application of water, enough water will reach it through the membrane to allow it to pass into the tumbler, as above described. THE PLANT. 37 The roots of plants contain sap, which is separated from the plant-food in the soil, by a thin film of matter, which constitutes its cell-walls. So long as the water of the sap has the capacity to dissolve more mineral matter than it already contains, it will take it through the cell-walls, as the salt is taken through the bladder. If the plant-food outside of the roots is in a moist condition, it will be taken up more rapidly than if too dry. The moisture of the soil itself, containing mineral matter in solution, passes through the cell- walls to supply the place of that which has been evaporated at the leaves, the matters in solution passing through w^th the water itself. In short, there is a constant tendency to supply the deficiency of water in the root, and to keep it constantly charged with as much as it can dissolve of the plant-food, from which it is separated only by its membranous cell-walls. Under the influence of daylight, the carbonic acid is decomposed ; its oxygen returned to the atmos- phere, and its carbon retained in the plant. The water taken in by the roots circulates through the sap vessels of the plant, and is drawn up towards the leaves, where it is evaporated. This water con- tains the nitrogen and earthy food required by the plant and some carbonic acid, while the water itself consists of hydrogen and oxygen. Thus we see that the plant obtains its food in the following manner : — 38 THE PLANT, Cakbon. — In the form of carhonic acid from the atmosphere, and from that contained in the sap, the oxygen being returned to the air. ^^^^ ) From the elements of the water con- Hydrogen. ) stituting the sap. Nitrogen. — From the soil (chiefly in form of am- monia). It is carried into the plant through the roots in solution in water. Earthy ) From the soil, and only in solution in Matter. ) water. Many of the chemical changes which take place in the interior of the plant are well, and some but imperfectly understood, but they require too much knowledge of chemistry to be easily comprehended by the young learner, and it is not absolutely essen- tial that they should be understood by the scholar who is merely learning the elements of the science. It is sufficient to say that the food taken up by the plant undergoes such changes as are required for its growth ; as in animals, where the food taken into the stomach is digested, and is afterward formed into bone, muscle, fat, hair, etc., so in the plant the nutritive portions of the sap are resolved into wood, bark, grain, or other necessary parts. Tlie results of these changes are of the greatest importance in agriculture, and no person ought to be called a thoroughly practical farmer who does not understand them. THE PLANT. 39 CHAPTER YI. 8TAKCH, WOODT-FIBKE, GLTITEIf, ETC. We have hitherto examined the raw material of plants. That is, we have looked at each one of the elements separately, and considered its use in vege- table growth. "We will now consider another division of plants. We know that they consist of various substances, such as wood, gum, starch, oil, etc., and on examination we shall discover that these substances are composed of the various atmospheric and earthy ingredients de- scribed in the preceding chapters. They are made up almost entirely of atmospherw matter, but their ashy parts, though very small, are (as we shall pres- ently see) of great importance. These compounds may be divided into two classes. The first class are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The second class contain the same substances and nitrogen. The first class (those compounds not containing ni- trogen) comprise the wood, starch, gum, sugar, and fatty matter, wliich constitute the greater part of all plants, also the acids which are found in sour fruits, etc. Various as are all of these things in their char- acters, they are entirely composed of the same ingre- dients (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen), and usually combined in ahout the same proportion. There may 40 THE PLANT. be a slight difference in the composition of their ashes^ but the organic part derived from the atmosphere is much the same in every case, so much so, that they can often be artificially changed from one to the other. As an instance of this, it may be stated that at the Fair of the American Institute, in 1834, Prof. Mapes exhibited samples of excellent sugar made from the juice of the corn-stalk, from starch, from linen, and from woody fibre. In the plant, during its growth, they are constantly changing. At one time they assume a form in which they cannot be dissolved by water, and remain fixed in their places. At another, the chemical influences on which growth depends, change them to a soluble form, and they are carried, by the circulation of the sap, to other parts of the organism, where they may be again deposited in other insoluble forms. For example, the turnip devotes the first season of its growth to storing up in its root a large amount of starch and pectic acid ; in the second season, these substances become soluble, are taken up by the circulation and again deposited in the form of woody fibre, starch, etc., in the stems, leaves, seed-vessels, etc., above the ground. If a turnip root be planted in the spring, in moist cotton, from which it can get no food, it will simply, by the transformation of its own substance, form stems, leaves, flowers and seed. Those products of vegetation which contain nitro- gen, are of the greatest importance to the farmer, being the ones from which animal muscle is made. THE PLANT. 41 They consist, as will be recollected, of carbon, hy- drogen, oxygen and nitrogen, or of all of the atmos- pheric elements of plants. They are all of much the same character, though each kind of plant has its peculiar form of this substance, which is known under the general name oi protein. The protein of wheat is called gluten — that of In- dian corn is zein — that of beans and peas is leguviin. In other plants the protein substances are vegetable albumen, casein, etc. Gluten absorbs large quantities of water, which causes it to swell to a great size, and become full of holes. Flour which contains much gluten, makes light, porous bread, and is preferred by bakers, be- cause it absorbs so large an amount of water. The nitrogenous substances are necessary to animal and vegetable life, and none of our cultivated plants will attain maturity, (complete their growth,) unless allowed the materials required for forming them. To furnish this condition is the chief object of nitrogen given to plants as manure. If no nitrogen could be" obtained these substances could not be formed, and the plant must cease to grow. When, on the contrary, ammonia is given to the soil, (by rains or otherwise,) it furnishes nitrogen, while the carbonic acid and water yield the other constituents of protein, and a healthy growth con- tinues, provided that the soil contains the earthy matters required in the formation of the ash, in a condition to be taken up by the roots. The wisdom of this provision is evident when we 42 THE TLA^T. recollect that the nitrogenous substances are neces- sary to the formation of muscle in animals, for if plants were allowed to complete their growth with- out a supply of nitrogen, our grain and hay might not be sufficiently well supplied with it to keep our oxen and horses in working condition, while under the existing law, plants must be of nearly a uniform quality, (in this respect,) and if a field is short of nitrogen, its crop will not be large, and of a very poor quality, but the soil will produce good plants as long as the nitrogen lasts, and then the growth must cease.* ANIMALS. That this principle may be clearly understood, it may be well to explain more fully the application of the different constituents of plants in feeding animals. Animals are composed (like plants) of atmospheric and earthy matter, and every thing necessary to build them up exists in plants. It is one of the offices of the vegetable world to prepare the gases in the atmosphere and the minerals in the earth for the uses of animal life, and, to effect this, plants put these* gases and minerals together in the form of the various compound substances which we have just described. In animals the compounds containing no nitrogen comprise the fatty substances, parts of the blood, etc., while the protein compounds, or those which * It is of couise assumed that the soil is fertile ia other re- spects. THE PLANT. 4:3 do contai/n nitrogen^ fonn the muscle, a part of the bones, the hair, and other portions of the body. Animals contain a larger proportion of earthy- matter than plants do. Bones contain a large quan- tity of phosphate of lime, and we find other earthy compounds performing important offices in the sys- tem. In order that animals may be perfectly developed, they must, of course, receive as food all of the mate- rials required to form their bodies. They cannot live if fed entirely on one ingredient. Thus, if starch alone be eaten by the animal, he might be- come /a^, but his strength would soon fail, because his food contains nothing to keep up the vigor of his Ttiuscles. If on the contrary the food of an animal consisted entirely of gluten^ he might be very strong from a superior development of muscle, but would not become fat. Hence we see, that in order to keep up the proper proportion of both fat and mus- cle in our animals, (or in ourselves,) the food must be such as contains a proper proportion of both classes of vegetable products. It is for this reason that grain, wheat for instance, is BO good for food. It contains both classes of proximates, and furnishes material for the formation of both fat and muscle. The value oi flour depends very much on the manner in which it is manufac- tured. This will be explained hereafter. Apart from the relations between the orgam^ic parts of plants, and those of animals, there exists an important relation between their ashes or their earthy 44 TUE PLANT. parts ; and food, in order to satisfy the demands of animal life, must contain the mineral matter re- quired for the purposes of that life. Take bones for instance. If phosphate of lime is not always sup- plied in sufficient quantities in the food, animals are prevented from forming healthy bones. This is par- ticularly to be noticed in teeth. Where food is deficient of phosphate of lime, we see poor teeth as a result. Some physicians have supposed that one of the causes of consumption is the deficiency of phosphate of lime in food. The first class of vegetable constituents (starch, sugar, gum, etc.) perform an important office in the animal economy aside from their use in making fat. They constitute Xhefuel which supplies the animal's fire, and gives him his Jieat. The lungs are the delicate stoves, which supply the whole body with heat. But let us explain this matter more fully. If wood, starch, gum, or sugar, be burned in a stove, they produce heat. These substances consist, as will be recollected, of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and when they are destroyed in any way, (provided they be exposed to the atmosphere,) the hydrogen and oxygen unite and form water, and the carbon unites with the oxygen of the air and forms carbonic acid, as was explained in a preceding chapter. This process is always accompanied by the production of heat^ and the intensity of this heat depends on the time occupied in its production. In slow decay, the chemical changes take place so slowly that the heat, being conducted away as soon as formed, is not per- THE PLANT. 45 ceptible to our senses. In combustion (or burning) the same changes take place with much greater rapidity, and the same amount of heat, being con- centrated, or brought out in a far shorter time, it becomes intense, and therefore apparent. In the kings and blood-vessels of animals the same law holds true. The blood contains matters belonging to this carbonaceous class, and they undergo, during its circulation, the changes which have been de- scribed under the head of combustion and decay. Their hydrogen and oxygen unite, and form the moisture of the breath, while their carbon is com- bined with the oxygen of the air drawn into the lungs, and is thrown out as carbonic acid. The same consequence — heat — results in this, as in the other cases, and this heat is produced with sufficient rapidity for the necessities of the animal. When he exercises violently, his blood circulates with in- creased rapidity, thus carrying carbon more rapidly to the lungs. The breath also becomes quicker, thus supplying increased quantities of oxygen. In this way the decomposition becomes more rapid, and the animal is heated in proportion. Thus we see that food has another function be- sides that of forming animal matter, namely to sup- ply heat. When the food does not contain a suffi- cient quantity of starch, sugar, etc., to answer the demands of the system, tlie animal'' s own fat is car- ried to the lungs, and there used in the production of heat. This important fact will be referred to again. 46 THE PLANT. CHAPTER YII. LOCATION OF THE DIFFERENT PARTS, AND VARIATIONS IN THE ASHES OF PLANTS. Let us now examine plants with a view to learn- ing the location of the various parts. The stem or trunk of the plant or tree consists very largely of woody fibre / this also forms a large portion of the other parts except the seeds, and, in some instances, the roots. Tlie roots of the potato contain large quantities of starch. Other roots, such as the carrot and turnip, contain pectio acid* a nutritious substance resembling starch. It is in the seed, however, that the more nutritive portions of most plants exist, and here they maintain certain relative positions which it is well to under- stand, and which cian be best explained by reference to the following figures, as described by Prof. John- ston : — FIG. 1. " Thus a shows the position of the oil in the outer * This pectic acid gelatinizes food in the stomach, and thus renders it more digestible. THE PLAirr. 47 part of the seed — it exists in minute drops, inclosed in six-sided cells, which consist chiefly of gluten ; J, the position and comparative quantity of the starch, which in the heart of the seed is mixed with only a small proportion of gluten ; c, the germ or chit, which contains much gluten."* The location of the earth?/ parts of plants is of much interest, and shows the adaptation of each part to its particular use. Take a wheat plant, for instance — the stalk, the leaf, and the grain, show in their ashes, important difference of composition. The stalk or straw contains three or four times as large a proportion of ash as the grain, and a no less remarkable difference of composition may be noticed in the ashes of the two parts. In that of the straw, we find a large proportion of silicic acid and scarcely any phosphoric acid, while in that of the grain there is scarcely a trace of silicic acid, although phosphoric acid constitutes about one half of the entire weight. The leaves contain a considerable quantity of lime. This may at first seem an unimportant matter, but on examination we shall see the use of it. The straw is intended to support the grain and leaves, and to convey the sap from the roots to the upper portions of the plant. To perform these offices, strength is required, and this is. given by the silicic acid, and the woody fibre which forms so large a proportion Qf the stalk. The silicic acid is combined with an alkali, and constitutes the glassy coating of the straw. "While the plant is young, this coating is * See Johnston's Elements, page 41. 48 THE PLANT. hardly apparent, but as it grows older, as the grain becomes heavier, (verging towards ripeness,) the silicious coating of the stalk assumes a more prom- inent character, and gives to the straw sufficient strength to support the golden head. The straw is not the most important part of the plant as/o^?^, and it contains but little phosphoric acid, which is so necessary to animals. • The grain, on the contrary, is especially intended as food, and therefore must contain a large propor- tion of phosphoric acid — this being, as we have al- ready learned, necessary to the formation of bone — while, as it has little necessity for strength, and as silicic acid is not needed by animals, this ingredient exists in the grain only in a very small proportion. It may be well to observe that the phosphoric acid of grain exists most largely in the hard portions near the shell, or bran. This is one of the reasons why Graham (or unbolted) flour is more wholesome than fine flour. It contains all of the nutritive materials which render the grain valuable as food, wliile flour which is very finely bolted* contains only a small part, of the outer portions of the grain (where the phosphoric acid, protein and fatty matters exist most largely). The starchy matter in the interior of the grain, which is the least capable of giving strength to the animal, is carefully separated, and used as food for man, while the better portions, not being ground 80 finely, are rejected. This one thing alone may be sufficient to account for the fact, that the lives of • Sifted through a fine cloth called a bolting cloth. THE PLANT. 49 men have become shorter and less blessed with health and strength, than they were in the good old days when a stone mortar and a coarse sieve made a respectable flour mill. Another important fact concerning the ashes of plants is the difference of their composition in different plants. Thus, the most prominent ingredient in the ash of the potato is potash / of wheat and other "grains, phosphoric acid ; of meadow hay, silicic acid; of clo- ver, liw.e; of beans, potash, etc. In grain, potash (or soda), etc., are among the important ingredients. These differences are of great importance to the practical farmer, as by understanding what, kind of plants uses the most of one ingredient, and what kind requires another in large proportion, he can regulate his crops so as to prevent his soil from being exhaust- ed more in one ingredient than in the others, and can also manure his land with reference to the crop which he intends to grow. The tables of analyses in the lifth section will point out these differences approximately. The composition of ashes varies a little, but not enough to affect the value of the tables for the uses of the farmer. CHAPTER VIII. RECAPITULATION. We have now learned as much about the plant as is required for our immediate uses, and we will care- 3 50 TUJ^ PLANT. fully reconsider the various points with a view to fix- ing them permanently in the mind. / Plants are composed of atmospheric and earthy matter. ^^ Atmospheric matter is that which burns away in the fire. Earthy matter is the ash left after burning. The organic matter of plants consists of three gases, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, and one solid substance, carbon (or charcoal). The mineral parts consist of potash, soda, lime, magnesia, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, silicic acid, chlorine, oxide of iron, and oxide of manganese. Plants obtain their atmospheric food as follows : — Oxygen and hydrogen from water ; nitrogen from some compound containing nitrogen (chiefly from ammonia) ; and carbon from the atmosphere, where it exists as carbonic acid — a gas. ^ They obtain their earthy food from the soil. (j' The water which supplies oxygen and hydrogen to plants is readily obtained without the assistance of manures. Ammonia is obtained from the atmosphere, by be- ,' ing absorbed by rain and carried into the soil, and it enters plants through their roots. It may be artifi- cially supplied in the form of animal manure with advantage. P Carbonic acid is absorbed from the atmosphere by leaves, and decomposed in the green parts of plants ' under the influence of daylight; the carbon is re- tained, and the ojcygen is returned. to the atmos- phere. THE PLANT, 51 J When plants are destroyed by decay, or burning, their organic constituents pass away as water, am- monia, carbonic acid, etc., ready again to be taken up by other plants. / ,. The earthy matters in the soil can enter the plant only with the aid of water. Potash^ soda^ lime, and magneMa, are soluble in their pure forms. Magnesia is injmious when present in too large quantities. // Sulphuric acid is often used as a manure, and is usually most available in the form of sulphate of lime or plaster. It is also valuable in its pure form to prevent the escape of ammonia from com- posts. Phosphoric acid is highly important, from its fre- quent deficiency in worn-out soils. It is most readily taken up by plants under certain conditions which will be described in the section on manures. / J Silicic dcid is common sand, and must be united to an alkali before it can be used by the plant, be- cause it is insoluble except when so united. Chlorine is a constituent of common salt (chloride of sodium), and from this source may be obtained in sufficient quantities for manm*ial purposes. /-^ " Oxide of iron is iron rust. There are two oxides of iron, \k\.Q, peroxide (red) and i\\Q protoxide (black). The former is advantageous in the soil, and the latter poisons plants. Iq Oxide of manganese is often absent from the ashes of our cultivated plants. /A The food of plants, both organic and eai-thy, must /% 52 THE PLANT. be present at the time when it is required and in sufficient quantity. In the plant, this food under- goes such chemical changes as are necessary to growth. / y The compound substances contained in plants are ' of two classes, those not containing nitrogen, and those which do contain it. Tlie firet class constitute nearly the whole plant. The second class, although small in quantity, are of the greatest importance to the farmer, as from them all animal muscle is made. ^' Animals, like plants, are composed of both at- mospheric and earthy matter, and their bodies are obtained directly or indirectly from plants. n J The first class of compounds in animals comprise the fat, and like tissues. Jl^J The second class form the muscle, hair, gelatine of the bones, etc. ^ ^ In order that they may be perfectly developed, animals must eat nitrogenized and non-nitrogenized food, and in the proportions required by their natures. ^ <' They require phosphate of lime and other mineral foo4 which exists in plants. ^^ ^j Aside from their use in the formation oi fat, sub- stances of the first class are employed in the lungs and blood-vessels as fuel to keep up animal heat, which is produced (as in fire and decay) by their decomposition. J^ 7 When the food is insufficient for the purposes of / heat, the animal's own fat is decomposed, and carried to the lungs as fuel. THE PLANT. 53 / C- The stems, roots, branches, etc., of most plants consist principally oi woody jihre. ^ Their seeds, and sometimes their roots, contain considerable quantities oi starch. The nitrogenized substances and the (Ms of most plants exist most largely in the seeds, therefore seeds are the most nutritious food for animals, because they contain the largest proportion of digestible matter. ' .' The location of the different compounds in the plant, as well as of its mineral parts, shows a remark- able reference to the purposes of growth, and to the wants of the animal world, as is noticed in the difference between the construction of the straw and that of the kernel of wheat. J The reason why the fine flour now made is not so healthfully nutritious as that which contained more of the coarse portions, is that it is robbed of a large proportion of protein and phosphate of lime, while it contains an undue amount of starch, which is available only to form fat, and to supply fuel to the lungs. ^ Different plants have ashes of different composi- tion. Thus — one may take from the soil large quantities of potash, another of phosphoric acid, and another of lime. By vmderstandiug these differ- ences, we shall be able so to regulate our rotations that the soil may not be called on to supply more of one ingredient than of another, and thus it may be kept in balance. The facts contained in this chapter are the alphor- 64 THE PLANT. het of agriculture^ and the learner should become perfectly familiar with them, before proceeding further. To enter more fully and more scientifically upon the consideration of the various properties of these substances, and of their relations to each other, would, no doubt, be in better accordance with the demands of accurate knowledge ; but the foregoing is believed to be a perfectly true, although a very simple statement of the first principles of the growth and composition of plants, and is sufficient for the first steps in agricultural study. A clear comprehension of what is herein set forth should have the effect of stimulating a further search, in which more extended treatises will become neces- sary. SECTIOS SECOSD. THE SOIL. SECTION SECOXD. THE SOIL. CHAPTER I. FORMATION AND CHABACTEK OF THE SOIL. In the foregoing section, we have studied the cha- racter of plants and the laws which govern their growth. We learned that one necessary condition for growth is a fertile soil, and we must examine the nature of diiferent soils, in order that we may under- stand the relations between them and plants. The soil is not to be regarded as a mysterious mass of dirt, whereon crops are produced by a mysterious process. Well ascertained scientific knowledge has proved beyond question that all soils, whether in America or Asia, whether in Maine or California, have certain fixed properties, which render them fertile or barren, and their fertility or barrenness de- pends, first of all, on the presence or absence of those minerals which constitute the ashes of vegetable pro- ductions. 3* 58 TIIK SOIL. The soil is a great cliemical compound, and its chemical character is ascertained (as in the case of plants) by analyzing it, or taking it apart. We first learn tliat fertile soils contain both at- mospheric and earthy matter ; but, unlike the plant, they usually possess much more of the latter than of the former. In the plant, the atmospheric matter constitutes the most considerable portion of the whole. In the soil, on the contrary, it usually exists in very small quantities, while the earthy parts constitute nearly the whole bulk. The atmospheric or organic part of soils consists of the same materials that constitute the atmospheric part of the plants, and is in reality decayed vegetable and animal matter. It is not necessary that this organic part of the soil should form any particular proportion of the whole, and indeed we find it vary- ing from one and a half to fifty, and sometimes, in peaty soils, to over seventy per cent. All fertile soils contain some organic matter, although it seems to make but little difference in fertility, whether it be five or fifty per cent. The earthy part of soils is derived from the crumbling of rocks. Some rocks (such as tlie slates in Central New York) decompose, and crumble rap- idly on being exposed to the weather ; while granite, marble, and other rocks, will last for a long time without perceptible change. The causes of this crumbling are various, and are important to be un- derstood by the agriculturist, as by the same process- THE SOIL. 59 es by which the soil was originally formed, he can increase its depth, or otherwise improve it. This being the case, we will in a few words explain some of the principal pulverizing agents. 1. The action of frost. When water lodges in tlie crevices of rocks, and ffe&zes^ it expands, and bursts the rock, on the same principle that causes it to break a pitcher in winter. This power is very great, and by its assistance large cannon may be burst. Of course, the action of frost is the same on a small scale as when applied to large masses of mat- ter, and, therefore, we find that when water freezes in the jpores * of rocks or stones, it separates tlieir particles and causes them to crumble. The same rule holds true with regard to stiff clay soils. If they are ridged in autumn, and left with a rough surface ex- posed to the frosts of winter, they will become much lighter and finer, and can afterwards be worked with less difficulty. 2. The action of water. Many kinds of rock become so soft on being soaked with water, that they readily crumble. 3. The chemical changes of the constituents of the rock. Many kinds of rock are affected by exposure to the atmosphere, in such a manner, tliat changes take place in their chemical character, and cause them to fall to pieces. The red kellis of New Jer- sey, (a species of sandstone,) is, when first quarrie(f, a very hard stone, but on exposure to the influ- ♦ The spaces between the particles. 60 fHK SOIL. ences of the atmosphere, it becomes so soft tliat it may be easily crushed between the thumb and linger. Other actions, of a less simple kind, exert an in- fluence on the stubbornness of rocks, and cause them to be resolved into soils.* Of coui-se, the composi- tion of the soil must be similar to that of the rock from which it was formed ; and consequently, if we know the chemical character of the rock, we can tell whether the soil formed from it can be brought under profitable cultivation. Thus felspar, on being pul- verized, yields potash ; talcose slate yields magnesia ; marls yield lime, etc. The soil formed entirely from rock, contains, of course, no organic matter. Still, it is capable of bearing plants of a certain class, and when these die, they are deposited in the soil, and thus form its or- ganic portions, rendering it capable of supporting those plants which furnish food for animals. Thou- sands of years must have l)een occupied in prepa- ring the earth for habitation by man. As the earthy part of the soil is usually the lar- gest, we will consider it first. As we have stated that this portion is formed from 'rocks, we will examine their character, with a view to showing the different qualities of soils. As a general rule, it may be stated that all rocks • * In very many instances the crevices and seams of rocks are permeated by roots, vrhich, by decaying and thus inducing the growth of other roots, cause these crevices to become filled with organic matter. This, by the absorption of moisture, may expand with sufficient power to burst the rock. THE SOIL. 61 are either sandstones, IxTnestones, or clays / or a mix- ture of two or inore of thsse ingredients. Hence we find that all mineral soils are either sandy, calcareous (limey), or clayey ; or consist of a mixture of these, in which one or another usually predominates. Thus, we speak of a sandy soil, a clay soil, etc. These distinctions (sandy, clayey, loamy, etc.) are impor- tant in considering the mechanical character of the soil, but have little reference to its chemical condi- tions of fertility. By Tnechanical character, we mean those qualities which affect the ease of cultivation — excess or defi- ciency of water, ability to withstand drought, etc. For instance, a heavy clay soil is difficult to plow, retains water after rains, and bakes quite hard dur- ing drought ; while a light sandy soil is plowed with ease, often allows water to pass through immediately after rains, and becomes dry and powdery during drought. Notwithstanding those differences in their mechanical character, both soils may be very fertile, or one more so than the other, without reference to the clay and sand which they contain, and which, to our observation, form their leadmg characteristics. "The same facts exist with regard to a loam, a calca- reous (or limey) soil, or a vegetable mould. Their mechanical texture is not necessarily an index to their fertility, nor to the manures required to enable them to furnish food to plants. It is true, that each kind of soil appears to have some general quality of fertility or barrenness which is well known to prac- tical men, yet this is not founded on the fact that 02 THE SOIL. the clay or the sand, or the vegetable matter, enter more largely into the constitution of plants than they do when they are not present in so great quantities, but on certain other facts which will be hereafter explained. As the following names are used to denote the character of soils, in ordinary agricultural descrip- tion, we will briefly explain their application : A Sandy soil is, of course, one in which sand largely predominates. Clay soil, one where clay forms a large proportion of the soil. Loamy soil, where sand and clay are more equally mixed. Marl contains from five to twenty per cent, of carbonate of lime. Calcareous soil more than twenty per cent. Peaty soils, Qf course, contain large quantities of organic matter.* We will now take under consideration that part of the soil on which depends its ability to supply food to the plant. This portion rarely constitutes more than five or ten per cent, of the entire soil, often'much less — and it has no reference to the sand, clay, and vegetable matters which they contain. From analyses of many fertile soils, and of others which are barren or of poorer quality, it has been ascertained that the presence of certain ingre- dients is necessary to fertilit3^ This may be bet- * These distinctions are not essential to be learned, but are often convenient. THE SOIL. 63 ter explained by the assistance of the folloAving table : In one hundred pounds. Organic matter . . . Silicic acid (sand) . . Alumina (clay) . . Lime Magnesia Oxide of iron . . . . Oxide of manganese . Potash Soda Chlorine Sulphuric acid . . Phosphoric acid . Carbonic acid . . . Loss during the analysis Soil fertile without manure. Good wheat soil. 9.7 64.8 5.7 5.9 .9 6.1 .1 .2 .4 .2 .2 .4 4.0 1.4 100.0 7.0 74.3 5.5 1.4 .7 4.7 1.7 .7 .1 .1 M 3.6i 100.0 Barren. 4.0 77.8 9.1 .4 .1 8.1 .1 100.0 The soil represented in the first and second columns might still be fertile with less organic matter, or with a larger proportion of clay (alumina), and less sand (silicic acid). These affect its mechanical character ; but, if we look down the columns, we notice that there are small quantities of lime, magnesia and the other constituents of the ashes of plants (except oxide of manganese). It is not necessary that they should be present in the soil in the exact quantity named above, but not one inibst he entirely absent, or greatly reduced in proportion. By referring to the third column, we see that these ingredients are not all present, and the soil is barren. Even if it were supplied with all but one or two, potash and soda for instance, it could not support a crop without the assistance of manures con- 64 THE SOIL. taining these alkalies. The reason for this must be readily seen, as we have learned that no plant can arrive at maturity without the necessary supply of materials required in the formation of the ash, and these mate- rials can be obtained only from the soil ; consequent- ly, when they do not exist there, it must be barren. The earthy part of soils has two distinct offices to perform. The clay and sand form a mass of material into which roots can penetrate, and which support plants in their position. These parts also absorb heat, air and moisture, to serve the purposes of growth, as we shall see in a future chapter. The minute portions of soil, which comprise the acids, alkalies and neutrals, furnish plants with their ashes, and are the most necessary to the fertility of the soil. GEOLOGY. The relation between the earthy parts of soils and the rocks from which it was formed, is the foundation of Agricultural Geology. Geology may be briefly named the science of the rocks. It would not be ap- propriate in an elementary work, to introduce much of this study, and we will therefore simply state that the same kind of rock is of the same composition all the world over; consequently, if we find a soil in New England formed from any particular rock, and a soil from the same rock in Asia, their natural fertility will be the same in both localities. All rocks consist of a mixture of different kinds of minerals ; and some, consisting chiefly of one ingredient, are of THE SOIL. 65 different degrees of hardness. Both of these qualities must affect the character of the soil, but it may be laid down as a rule that, when the rocks of two loca- tions are exactly alike^ the soils fm^med from them, win he of the same natural fertility , and inpropar- tion as the chemical character of rocks changes, in the same proportion will the soils differ in fertility. In most districts the soil is formed from the rock on which it lies ; but this is not always the case. Soils are often formed by deposits of matter brought by water from other localities. Thus the alluvial banks of rivers consist of matters brought from the country through which the rivers have passed. The river !N^ile, in Egypt, yearly overflows its banks, and deposits large quantities of mud brought from the un- inhabited upper countries. The prairies of the AVest owe their soil chiefly to deposits by water. Swamps often receive the washings of adjacent hills ; and, in these cases, their soil is derived from a foreign som-ce. We might continue to enmnerate instances of the relations between soils and the sources whence they originated, thus demonstrating more fully the impor- tance of geology to the farmer ; but it would be be- yond the scope of this work, and should be investi- gated by scholars more advanced than those who are studying merely the elements of agricultural science. The mind, in its early application to any branch of study, should not be charged with intricate subjects. It should master well the rudiments, before investi- gating those matters which %\xoM\(}i follow such under- standing. CO THE SOIL. By pursuing tlie proper course, it is easy to leani all that is necessary to form a good foundation for a thorough acquaintance with the subject. If this foundation is laid thoroughly, the learner will regard plants and soils as old acquaintances, with whose formation and properties he is as familiar as with the construction of a building or a simple machine. A simple spear of grass will become an object of inter- est, forming itself into a perfect plant, with full de- velopment of roots, stems, leaves, and seeds, by pro- cesses with which he feels acquainted. The soil will cease to be mere dirt ; it will be viewed as a com- pound substance, whose composition is a matter of" interest, and whose care may become a source of in- tellectual pleasure. The commencement of study in any science must necessarily be wearisome to the untrained mind, but its more advanced stages amply repay the trouble of early exertions. CHAPTEK II. USES OF ATMOSPHERIC MATTER. It will be recollected that, in addition to its mineral portions, the soil contains atmospheric or organic mat- ter in Varied quantities. It may be fertile with but one and a half per cent, of atmospheric matter, and some peaty soils contain more than fifty per cent, or more than one-half of the whole. THE SOIL. G7 The precise amount necessary cannot be fixed at any particular proportion ; probably five parts in a luindred is better than a smaller amount. The soil obtains its atmospheric matter in two ways. First, by the decay of roots and dead plants, also of leaves, which have been brought to it by* wind, etc. Second, by the application of animal or vegetable manures. When a crop of clover is raised, it obtains its car- bon from the atmosphere ; and, if it be plowed under, and allowed to decay, a portion of this carbon is deposited in the soil. Carbon constitutes nearly the whole of the dry weight of the clover, aside from the constituents of water ; and when we calculate the immense quantity of hay and roots grown on an acre of soil in a single season, we shall find that the amount of carbon thus deposited is immense. If the clover be removed, and the roots only left to decay, the amount of carbon deposited would still be very great. The same is time in all cases where tlie crop is removed, and the roots remain to add to the organic or vegetable part of the soil. While under- going decomposition, a portion of this matter escapes in the form of gas, and the remainder chiefly assumes the form of carbon (or charcoal), in which form it will always remain, without loss, unless driven out by fire. If a bushel of charcoal be mixed with the soil now, it will be the same bushel of charcoal, neither more nor less, a thousand years hence, unless some influence is brought to bear on it aside from the growtli of plants. It is true that, in the case of the 68 ruE SOIL. decomposition of organic matter in the soil, certain compounds are formed, known under the general names of humus and humw acid, which may, in a slight degree, afltect tlie growth of plants, but their practical importance is of too doubtful a character to justify us in considering them. The application of manures, containing organic matter, such as peat, muck, animal manure, etc., supplies the soil with carbon on the same principle, and the decomposing matters also generate * carbonic acid gas while being decomposed. The agricultural value of carbon in the soil depends (as we have stated), not on the fact that it enters into the composition of plants, but on certain other important offices which it performs, as follows : — 1. It makes the soil more retentive of manures. 2. It causes it to appropriate larger quantities of the fertilizing gases of the atmosphere. 3. It gives it greater power to absorb moisture. 4. It renders it warmer. 1. Carbon (or charcoal) makes the soil retentive of manures, because it has in itself a strong power to absorb, and retain fertilizing matters. There is a simple experiment by which this power can be shown. Ex. — Take two barrels of pure beach sand, and mix with the sand in one barrel a few handfuls of charcoal dust, leaving that in the other pure. Pour a pailful of the brown liquor of the barn-yard through the pure sand, and it will pass out at the * Produce. THE SOIL. 69 bottom unaltered. Pour the same liquor through the barrel containing the charcoal, and only pure water will pass through. The reason for this is that the charcoal retains all of the impurities of the liquor, and allows only the water to pass through. Charcoal is often employed to purify water for drinking, or for manufacturing purposes. A rich garden-soil contains large quantities of carbonaceous matter ; and if we bury in such a soil a piece of tainted meat o^ a fishy duck, it will, in a short time, be deprived of its odor, which will be entirely absorbed by the charcoal and clay in the soil. Carbon absorbs gases, as well as the impurities of water ; and, if a little charcoal be sprinkled over manure, or any other substance, emitting offensive odors, the gases escaping will be taken up by the charcoal, and the odor will be very much modified. It has also the power of absorbing earthy matters, which are contained in water. If a quantity of salt water be filtered through charcoal, the salt will be retained, and the water will pass through pure. We are now able to see how carbon renders the soil retentive of manures. 1st. Manures, which resemble the brown liquor of barn-yards, have their fertilizing matters taken out, and retained by it. 2d. The gases arising from the decomposition (rotting) of manure are absorbed by it. 3d. The soluble earthy portions of manure, which might in some soils leach dovm with water, are 70 THE SOIL. arrested and retained at a point at which they can be taken up by the roots of plants. 2. Carbon in the soil causes it to appropriate larger quantities of the fertilizing gases of the atmos- phere, on account of its power, as just named, to ab- sorb gases. The atmosphere contains gases, which have been produced by the breathing of animals, by the decom- position of various kinds of organic matter, which are exposed to atmospheric influences, and by the burning of wood, coal, etc. These gases are chiefly ammonia and carbonic acid, both of which are largely absorbed by water, and consequently are contained in rain, snow, and dew, which, as they enter the soil, give up these gases to the carbon, and they there remain until required by plants. Even the air itself, in circulating through the soil, gives up' fertilizing gases to the carbon, which it may contain. 3. Carbon gives to the soil power to absorb moisture, because it is itself one of the best absorb- ents in nature ; and it has been proved by accurate experiment that peaty soils absorb moisture with greater rapidity, and part with it more slowly than any others. 4. Carbon in the soil renders it warmer, because it darkens its color. Black surfaces absorb more heat than light ones, and a black coat, when worn in the sun, is warmer than one of a lighter color. By mix- ing carbon with the soil, we darken its color, and render it capable of absorbing a greater amount of heat from the sun's rays. THE SOIL. 71 It will be recollected that, wlien vegetable matter decomposes in the soil, it produces certain gases (car- bonic acid, etc.), which either escape into the atmos- phere, or are retained in the soil for the use of plants. The production of these gases is always accompanied by heat^ which, though scarcely perceptible to our senses, is perfectly so to the growing plant, and is of much practical importance. This will be examined more fully in speaking of manures. Another important part of the organic matter in the soil is that wliich contains nitrogen. This forms but a very small portion of the soil, but it is of very great importance to vegetation. As nitrogen in food is of absolute necessity to the growth of animals, so nitrogen in the soil is indispensable to the growth of cultivated plants. It is obtained by the soil in the form of ammonia (or nitric acid) from the atmosphere, or by the application of animal or vege- table matter. In some cases, manures called nitrates'^ are used; and, in this manner, nitrogen is given to the soil. We have now learned that the atmospheric mat- ter in the soil performs the following offices : — Organic matter thoroughly decomposed is chiefly carbon, and has the various effects ascribed to this substance on p. 68. Organic matter in process of decay produces car- * Nitrates are compotuids of nitric acid (which consists of ni- trogen and oxygen), and alkaline substances. Thus nitrate of potash (saltpetre), is composed of nitric acid and potash ; nitrate of soda (cubical nitre or oubic-petre), of nitric acid and soda. 72 THE SOIL. bonic acid and ammonia in the soil ; its decay also causes heat. Oro-anic matters containing nitrogen^ such as ani- mal substances, etc., furnish ammonia, and other ni- trogenous substances to the roots of plants. CHAPTER III. USES OF EARTHY MATTER. The offices performed by the earthy constituents of the soil are many and important. These, as well as the different conditions in which the bodies exist, are necessary to be carefully consid- ered. Those parts which constitute the larger proportion of the soil, namely the clay, sand, and limy portions, are useful for purposes which have been named in the first part of this section, while the clay has an addi- tional efiect in the absorption of ammonia. For this purpose, it is quite as effectual as charcoal ; the gases escaping from manures, as well as those ex- isting in the atmosphere, and in rain-water, being arrested by clay as well as by charcoal. The more minute ingredients of the soil — those which enter into the construction of plants — exist in conditions which are more or less favorable or in- jurious to vegetable growth. The principal condi- THE SOIL. 73 tion necessary to fertility is capaoity to he dissolved^ it being (so far as we have been able to ascertain) a fixed rule, as was stated in tlie first section, that no mineral substance can enter into the roots of a jplant except it he dissolved in water. The alkalies potash, soda, lime, and magnesia, are- in nearly all of their combinations in the soil suffi- ciently soluble for the purposes of growth. The aeids are, as will be recollected, sulphuric, silicic, and phosphoric. These exist in the soil in combination with the alkalies, as sulphates, silicates, and phosphates, which are more or less soluble under natural circumstances. Phosphoric acid in combi- nation with lime as phosphate of lime is but slightly soluble ; but, when it exists or has existed in the com- pound known as ^^t^^erphosphate of lime, it is much more soluble, and consequently enters into the com- position of plants with much greater facility. This matter will be more fully explained in the section on manures. Silicic acid exists in the soil usually in the form of sand, in which it is, as is well known, per- fectly insoluble ; and, before it can be used by plants, which often require it in large quantities, it must be made soluble, by combination with an alkali. For instance, if there is a deficiency of soluble silicic acid in the soil, the application of an alkali, such as potash, which will unite with the sand, and form the silicate of potash, will give it the ability to be dissolved and carried into the roots of plants. Chlorine in the soil is probably always in an available condition. 4 74 THE SOIL. Oxide of iron exists, as has been previously stated, usually in the form of the ^^roxide (or red oxide). Sometimes, however, it is found in the form of the protoxide (or black oxide), which is soluble and is poisonous to plants, and renders the soil unfertile. By loosening the soil in such a manner as to admit the air, and by removing stagnant water by draining, this compound takes up more oxygen, which renders it a peroxide, and makes it insoluble except in the slight degree required for plants. The oxide of manganese is probably of little consequence. The usefulness of all of these matters in the soil depends largely on their exposure to the action of roots and of the circulating water in the soil ; if they are in the interior of particles, they cannot be made use of; while, if the particles are so pulverized that their constituents are exposed on their surfaces, they become available, because water can immediate- ly attack to dissolve them and roots can absorb them. This is one of the great offices of plowing, harrow- ing, cultivating, and hoeing ; the lumps of soil being thereby more broken up and exposed to the action of atmospheric influences, which are often necessary to produce a fertile condition of soil. SUBSOIL. The subsoil is usually of a different character from the surface soil, but this difference is more often the result of cultivation and the effect of vegetation than of a different original formation. The surface soil, THE SOIL. 75 from having been long cultivated, has been more opened to the influences of the air than is the case with the subsoil, which has never been disturbed so as to allow the same action. Again the growth of plants has supplied the surface soil with roots, which bv decaying have given it organic matter, thus dark- ening its color, rendering it warmer, and giving it greater ability to absorb heat and moisture, and to retain manm'es. All of these effects render the sur- face soil more fertile than it was before vegetable growth commenced, unless, by the removal of crops, its earthy plant-food has been too much reduced ; and, where frequent cultivation and manures have been applied, a still greater benefit has resulted. In most instances the subsoil may, by the same means, be gradually improved in condition until it equals the surface soil in fertility. The means of produc- ing this result, also further accounts of its advan- tages, will be given under the head of Cultivation (Sec. IV.). IMPROVEMENT. From what has now been said of the character of the soil, it must be evident that, as we know the cmises of fertility and barrenness, we may by the proper means inprove the character of all soils which are not now in the highest state of fertility. Chemical analysis of the soil cannot give us any reliable indication of its fertility or barrenness ; so much depends on the state of solubility of the min- eral plant-food, on the uniformity of its distribution 76 THE SOIL. through the soil, on the extent to which it is exposed on the surface of particles, and probably on other conditions concerning which we are in doubt, or of which we are entirely ignorant, that the mere weigh- ing and measuring of the laboratory, has very little, if any, value to the practical farmer. We can learn something of the capacities of the soil from the character of the plants which grow naturally upon it, and much more from its ability to produce larger crops of one kind than of another ; something from the effect of different mineral ma- nures upon plants growing on it. The best use to which the farmer can apply the teachings of chemistry is in making such improve- ments as the foregoing indications show to be neces- sary, and, above all, in giving to the soil for each crop, or for each rotation of crops, the full equiva- lent of the minerals that they take away. An examination, such as any farmer may make, will show us its deficiencies in mechanical character, and we may apply the proper treatment to increase fertility. In some instances the soil may contain everything that is required, but not in the proper condition. For instance, in some parts of Massachu- setts, there are nearly harren soils which show by analysis precisely the same chemical composition as the soil of the Miami valley of Ohio, one of the most fertile in the world. The cause of this great differ- ence in their agricultural capabilities, is that the Miami soil has its particles finely pulverized ; while in the Massachusetts soil the ingredients are com- THE SOIL. 77 bined within particles (such as pebbles, etc.), where they are out of the reach of roots. In other cases, we find two soils, which are equal- ly well pulverized, which are of the same color and texture, and which appear to be of the same char- acter, yet having very different power to support crops. Chemical analysis, could it accurately show, not only the kinds and quantities of plant food con- tained in these soils, but the condition in which it exists as to solubility, etc., would undoubtedly in- dicate a very great difference between them. All of these differences may be overcome by the use of the proper means. Sometimes it could be done at an expense which would be justified by the result ; and at others, it might require too large an outlay to be jsrofitable. It becomes a question of economy, not of ability, and science is able to estimate the cost. A soil cannot be cultivated understandingly until it has been rigidly subjected to such examinations as will tell us, as nearly as any examination can tell it, what is necessary to render it fertile. Even after fertility is perfectly restored it requires thought and care to maintain it. The different ingredients of the soil must be returned in the form of manures as largely as they are removed by the crop, or the sup- ply will eventually become too small for the purposes of vegetation. SECTION THIEl). MANURES. SECTIOI THIRD. MANURES. CHAPTER I. CHARACTER AND VARIETIES OF MA- NURES. The study of the science of manures is one of the most important branches of the practical education of a farmer. No baker would be called a good prac- tical baker, who kept his flour exposed to the sun and rain. No shoemaker would be called a good practi- cal shoemaker, who used morocco for the soles of his shoes, and heavy leather for the uppers. No car- penter would be called a good practical cai-penter, M'ho tried to build a house without nails, or other fastenings. So with the farmer. He cannot be called a good practical farmer if he keeps the ma- terials, from which he is to make plants, in such a condition, that they will have their value destroyed, uses them in the wrong places, or tries to put them 4* 82 MANURES. together without having everything present that is necessary. Before he can work to the best advan- tage, he must know what manures are composed of, how they are to be preserved, where they are needed, and what kinds are required. True, he may from observation and experience, guess at results, but he cannot know that he is right, and that he gets his re- sults in the cheapest and most economical way, until he has learned the facts above named. In this section of our work, we shall endeavor to convey some of the information necessary to this branch of practical farming. We shall adopt a classification of the subject some- what difierent from that found in most works on manures, but the facts are the same. The action of manures is either mechanical or chemical^ or a com- bination of both. For instance : some kinds of ma- nure improve the mechanical character of the soil, such as those which loosen stiff clay soils, or others which render light sandy soils compact — these are called mechanical manures. Some again furnish food for plants — these are called chemical manures. Many mechanical manures produce their effects by means of chemical action. Thus potash combines chemiQally with sand in the soil. In so doing, it roughens the surfaces of the particles of sand, and renders the soil less liable to be compacted by rains. In this manner, it acts as a mechanical manure. The compound of sand and potash,* as well as the potash alone, may enter into the composition of plants, and • Silicate of potash. MANURES. 83 hence it is a chemical manure. In other words, pot- ash belongs to both classes described. It is important that this distinction should be well understood by the learner, as the words " mechani- cal " and " chemical " in connection with manures will be made use of through the following pages. There is another class of manures which we shall call absqrhents. These comprise those substances which have the power of taking up fertilizing mat- ters, and retaining them for the use of plants. For instance, charcoal is an absorbent. As was stated in the section on soils, this substance is a retainer of all fertilizing gases and of many minerals. Other matters made use of in agriculture have the same effect. These absorbents will be spoken of more fully in their proper places. TABLE. Mechanical Manures are those which improve the mechanical conditions of Chemical " soils are those which serve as food for plants. MANURES. Absorbents are those substances which absorb and retain fertilizing matters. Manure may be divided into three classes, viz. : organic, mineral, and atmosjpheric. 84 MANURES. Organic manures comprise all animal and vege- table matters which are iised to fertilize the soil, such as dung, swamp-muck, etc. Mineral manures are those which are of a purely mineral character, such as lime, ashes, etc. Atmospheric manures consist of those organic manures which exist in the form of gases in the at- mosphere, and which are absorbed by rains and car- ried to the soil. These are of the greatest impor- tance. The ammonia and carbonic acid in the air are atmospheric manures. CHAPTER II. animal excrement. The first organic manure which we shall examine, is animal excrement. This is composed of those matters which have been eaten by the animal as food, and have been thrown ofi" as solid or liquid manure. In order that we may know of what they consist, we must refer to the composition of food and examine the process of digestion. The food of animals, we have seen to consist of both atmospheric and earthy matters. The atmos- pheric part may be divided into two classes, i. e., that portion which contains nitrogen — such as glu- MAIfURES. 85 ten, albumen, etc., and that which does not contain nitrogen — such as starch, sugar, oil, etc. The earthy part of food may also be divided into solvhle matter and insoluble matter.* DIGESTION AJTD ITS PRODUCTS. Let us suppose that we have a full-grown ox, which is not increasing in any of his parts, but only consumes food to keep up his respiration, and to sup- ply the natural wastes of his body. To this ox we will feed a ton of hay which contains organic mat- ter, with and without nitrogen, and soluble and insoluble earthy substances. Now let us try to fol- low the food through its changes in the animal, and see what becomes of it. Liebig compares the con- sumption of food by animals to the imperfect burning of wood in a stove, where a portion of the fuel is resolv- ed into gases and ashes (that is, it is completely burn- ed), and another portion, which is not thoroughly burn- ed, passes olf as soot. In the animal action in ques- tion, the food undergoes changes which are similar to this burning of wood. A part of the food is di- gested and taken up by the blood, while another por- tion remains undigested, and passes the bowels as solid dung — corresponding to the soot of combus- tion. This part of the dung, then, we see is merely so much of the food as passes through the system * No part of animal manure is permanently and entirely insol- uble. It would perhaps be better to classify these substances as (1) those which are readily soluble, and (2) those which are but slowly soluble. 86 MANURES. withont being materially changed. Its nature is easily understood. It contains organic and mineral matters in nearly the condition in which they existed in the hay. They have been rendered finer and softer, but their cA<9mca^ character (their composition) is not materially altered. The dung also contains small quantities of nitrogenous matter, which has leaked out, as it were, from the stomach and intestines. The digested food, however, undergoes further changes which affect its character, and it escapes from the body in three ways — i. 2 MANURES. dients, while the ash of potatoes contains more of potash than of anything else. In the second section, (on soils,) we learned that some soils contain everything necessary to make the ashes of all plants, and in sufficient quantity to sup- ply what is required, while other soils are either entirely deficient in one or more ingredients, or con- tain so little of them in an available condition, that they are unfertile for certain plants.* The different requirements of different plants is the foundation of the theory of special manuHng / * In all cases in which the constituents of the soil are spoken of in this book, it should be understood as applying not so much to its absolute chemical composition as to . the availability of its plant-feeding parts. An atom of potash may be locked up in the inside of a pebble, and be of no more use to the roots of a plant than if it were a hundred miles away, yet a careful chemical analysis would destroy the pebble and weigh its atom of potash. The food of plants in the soil must exist in what Liebig calls ' ' a state of physical combination," that is, coating the outside of its particles ; attached to them by a feeble attraction which is suffi- cient to prevent their being washed away by the water of rains, but which yields to the feeding action of roots. It is his belief, and the opinion seems weU founded, that it is only, or chiefly from materials so placed, that plants derive their food ; and that the constituents of the soU, before they are taken up by roots, must be separated from their firmer relations and exposed on the surfaces of particles, as above stated. In like manner those elements of manures which are taken up by the plant are first dissolved in water, from which they are ab- sorbed by the particles of the soil. — spread over its interior sur- faces, exposed to the action of roots. Even the ammonia brought from the atmosphere in falling rain, attaches itself in the same way to the interior surfaces of the $oil. MANI7EES. 133 which is that on a soil of tolerable fertility we can grow large crops of any particular plant by using such manures as are chiefly required for its ashes, as phosphoric acid for a crop of wlieat, for instance, or potash for potatoes or tobacco. As a universal rule, it may be stated that to ren- der a soil fertile for any particular plant, we must supply it (unless it already contains them) with those matters wliich are necessary to make the ash of that plant ; and, if we would render it capable of pro- ducing all kinds of plants, it must be furnished with the materials required in the formation of all kinds of vegetable ashes. To carry out this system, however, with much nicety or certainty, would require a more thorough knowledge of the composition of the soil and of the feeding of plants than we yet possess. The only safe rule is, by the use of manures and of thorough cul- tivation, to make the soil fertile for all crops ; and then to keep it fertile by the return of all mineral matters removed in its produce. A long acquaintance with any field will show its strong and its weak points, and the greatest skill of the farmer should be applied to strengthening its weaker ones and preventing its stronger ones from becoming weaker. In this way the soil may be raised to its highest state of fertility, and be fully maintained in its productive powers. 2d. Those manures which render available the matters already contained in the soil. Silicic acid, (or sand,) it will be recollected, exists 134 MANTTEES. in all soils ; but, in its pure state, is not capable of being dissolved, and therefore cannot be used by plants. The alkalies (as has been stated) have the power of combining with it, making compounds, which are called silicates. These are readily dissolved by water, and are available in vegetable growth. Kow, if a soil is deficient in these soluble silicates, it is well known that grain, etc., grown on it, not being able to obtain the material M'liich gives them strength, will fall down or lodge; but, if such measures be taken as will render the sand soluble, the other conditions of fertility being present, the straw will be strong and healthy. Alkalies used for this purpose, come under the head of those manures which de- velop the natural resources of the soil. Again, much of the mineral matter in the soil is combined within particles, and is therefore out of the reach of roots. Lime, among other things, has the effect of causing these particles to crumble and ex- pose their constituents to the demand of roots. There- fore, lime has for one of its offices the development of the fertilizing ino-redients of the soil. 3d. Those manures which improve the mechanical condition of the soil. The alkalies, in combining with sand, commence their action on the surfaces of the particles, and roughen them — rust them, as it w^ere. This roughen- ing of particles of some soils prevents them from moving among each other as easily as they do when they are smooth, and thus keeps the ground from being compacted by heavy rains, as it is liable to be in its MANUKE8. 135 natural condition. In this way, the mechanical tex- ture of the soil is improved. It has just been said that Z/me causes the pulveriza- tion of the particles of the soil ; and thus, by making it liner, it improves its mechanical condition. Some mineral manures, such as plaster and salt, have the power of absorbing moisture from the at- mosphere ; and this is a mechanical improvement to dry soils, 4tli. Those mineral manures whicii have the power of absorbing ammonia. Plaster, chloride of lime, alumina {clay), etc., are large absorbents of ammonia, whether arising from the fermentation of animal manures or washed down from the atmosphere by rains. Having now explained the reasons why mineral manures are necessary, and the manner in which they produce their effects, we will proceed to examine the various deficiencies of soils and the character of various kinds of this class of fertilizers. CHAPTER IX. DEFICIENCIES OF SOILS, MEANS OF KESTOKATION, ETC. As will be seen by referring to the analyses of soils on p. 63, they may be deficient in certain ingre- dients, which it is the object of mineral manures to supply. These we will take up in order, and endea- 186 MANURES. vor to show in a simple manner the best means of managing them in practical farming. ALKALIES POTASH. Potash is often deficient in the soil. Its de- ficiency may have been caused in two ways. Eitlier it may not have existed largely in the rock from which the soil was formed, and consequently is equally absent from the soil itself, or it may have once been present in sufficient quantities, and been carried away in crops, without being returned to the soil in the form of manure, until too little remains in an available form for the requirements of fertility. In either case the deficiency must be made up ; it may be supplied by the farmer in various ways. Potash, as well as all the other mineral manures, is contained in the excrements of animals, but not (as is also the case with the others) in suflScient quantities to restore the proper balance to soils where it is largely deficient, nor even to make up for what is yearly removed with each crop, unless that crop (or its equivalent) has been fed to such animals as return all of the fertilizing constituents of their food in the form of manure, and this to be all carefully preserved and applied to the soil. In all other cases, it is necessary to apply more potash than is contain- ed in the excrements of the animals of the farm. Wood a^hes is generally the most available source MANURES. 137 from which to obtain this alkali. The ashes of all kinds of wood contain potash (more or less, according to the kind — see analyses, Section Y.) If the ashes are leached^ much of the potash is removed; and hence, for the purpose of supplying it, they are less valuable than unleached ashes. The latter may be made into compost with muck, as directed in a pre- vious chapter, or applied directly to the soil. In either case the potash is available directly to the plant, or is capable of uniting with the silica in the soil to form silicate of potash. Leached ashes con- tain too little potash to be valuable in the compost, but, from their imperfect leaching, they do contain enough to make them valuable as manure. Neither potash nor any other alkali should ever be applied to animal manures unless in compost with an absorbent, as they cause the ammonia to be thrown off and lost. Potash sparlirigs, or the refuse of potash ware- houses, is an excellent manure for lands deficient in this constituent. Feldspar^ kaolin, and other minerals containing potash, are, in some localities, to be obtained in suf- ficient quantities to be used for manurial pui-poses. Within a comparatively few years, a new fer- tilizer — of great value to all regions within carrying distance of its place of deposit — has been brought to the notice of farmers near the seaboard. This is the Green Sand Marl of New Jersey, which under- lies a wide belt extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Delaware River, having an area of about 900 square miles. It is very largely used in South Jersey, 133 MANURES. where it has given great value to land that was pre- viously not fit for cultivation. Quite recently, com- panies have been formed for its shipment to other places near the coast, and it promises to become of great importance wherever it can be cheaply procured. An analysis of this manure is given in Section V SODA. Soda^ tlie requirement of which is occasioned by the same causes as create a deficiency of potasli, and all of the other ingredients of vegetable ashes, may be very readily supplied by the use of common salt (chloride of sodimn), which is about one-half sodium (the base of soda). The best way to use salt is in the lime and salt mixture, previously described, or as a direct application to the soil. If too much salt be given to the soil it will kill any plant. In small quantities, however, it is highly bene- ficial, and if six bushels per acre be sown broadcast over the land, to be carried in by rains and dews, it will not only destroy many insects (grubs and worms), but will prove an excellent manure. Salt acts direct- ly in the nutrition of plants, as a source of necessary chlorine and soda. There is little doubt, however, that its chief value as a manure in most instances arises from the fact that it renders other plant foods more soluble, and assists in preparing them for use. Salt, even in quantities large enough to denude the soil of all vegetation, is uq^qv permanently injurious. After MANUKES. 139 a time it seems to have the effect of increasing fertility. One peck of salt in each cord of compost will not only hasten the decomposition of the ma- nures, but will kill seeds and all grubs — a very desira- ble effect. While small quantities of salt in a com- post heap are beneficial, too much (as when applied to the soil) is positively injurious, as it arrests de- composition, fairly ^c^^s the manures, and prevents them from rotting. For asparagus, which is a marine plant, salt is an excellent manure, and may be applied in almost un- limited quantities, while the plants are growing / if used after they have gone to top, it is injurious. Salt has been applied to asparagus beds in such quantities as to completely cover them, and with apparent benefit to the plants. Of course large doses of salt kill all weeds, and thus save labor, and avoid the injury to the asparagus buds which would result from their removal by hoeing. Salt may be used advantageously in any of the foregoing manners, but should always be applied with care. For ordinary form purposes, it is undoubtedly most profitable to use the salt with lime, and make it perform the double duty of assisting in the decomposition of vegetable matter, and fertilizing the soil. Soda unites with the silica in the soil, and forms ihe \Q\wQh\e silicate of soda. Nitrate of soda, or cubical nitre, which is found in South America, is composed of soda and nitric acid. It furnishes both soda and nitrogen to plants, and is an excellent manure. 140 MANURES. LIME. The subject of lime is one of most vital impor- tance to the farmer ; indeed, so varied are its modes of action and its effects, tliat some writers have given it credit for everything good in the way of farming, and have gone so far as to say that all permanent improvement of agriculture must depend on the use of lime. Although this is far in excess of the truth (as lime cannot plough, nor drain, nor supply anything but lime to the soil), its many beneficial efi'ects de- mand for it the closest attention. As food for plants, lime is of considerable impor- tance. All plants contain it — some of them in large quantities. It is an important constituent of straw, meadow hay, leaves of fruit-trees, peas, beans, and turnips. It constitutes more than one-third of the ash of red clover. Most soils contain lime enough for the use of plants; in others it is deficient, and must be supplied artificially before they can pro- duce good crops of those plants of which lime is an important ingredient. The amount required for the mere feeding of plants is not large (much less than one per cent.), but lime is often necessary for other pur- poses ; and setting aside, for the present, its feeding action, we will examine its various effects on the mechanical and chemical condition of the soil, 1. It corrects acidity (sourness). 2. It hastens the decomposition of the organic matter in the soil. MAKUKES. 141 3. It causes the mineral particles of the soil to crumble, 4. By producing the above effects, it prepares the constituents of the soil for assimilation by plants. 5. It is said to exhaust the soil ; but as it does so through its beneficial action in producing larger crops, and only in this way, it is only necessary to return to the soil the other earthy ingredients that the larger crops remove from it. 1. The decomposition of organic matter in the soil, especially if too wet, often produces acids which make the land sour^ and cause it to produce sorrel and other weeds, and which interfere with the healthy growth of crops. Lime is an alkali, and if applied to soils suffering from sourness, it will unite with the acids, and neutralize them, so that they will no longer be injurious. 2. We Ijave before stated that lime is a decompo- sing agent, and hastens the rotting of muck and other organic matter. It has the same effect on the organic parts of the soil, and causes them to be re- solved into the gases and minerals of which they are formed. It has this effect, especially, on organic matters containing nitrogen, causing them to pro- duce ammonia ; consequently, it liberates this gas from the animal manures in the soil. 3. "Various earthy compounds in the soil are so affected by lime that they lose their power of holding together, and crumble, or are reduced to finer par- ticles, while some of their constituents are ren- dered soluble. This crumbling effect improves the 142 MANURES. mechanical as well as the chemical condition of the soil. 4. We are now enabled to see how lime prepares the constituents of the soil for the nse of plants. By its action on the roots, buried stubble, and other organic matter in the soil, it causes them to be decom- posed, and to give up their constituents for tlie use of roots. In this manner the organic matter is prepared for use more rapidly than it would be, if there were no lime present to hasten its decomposi- tion. By the decomposing action of lime on the mineral parts of the soil (3), they also are placed more rapidly in a useful condition than would be the case, if their preparation depended on the slow action of atmo- spheric influences. Thus we see that lime, aside from its use directly as food for plants, exerts a beneficial influence on both the organic and inorganic parts of the soil. 5. Many farmers assert that lime exhausts the soil. If we examine the manner in which it does so, we shall see that this is no argument against its use. It exhausts the organic parts of the soil by decom- posing them, and resolving them into the gases and minerals of which they are composed. The gases arising from the organic matter cannot escape ; be- cause there is in all arable soils a sufiicient amount of clay and carbonaceous matter present to cause these gases to be retained until required by the roots of plants. Hence, although the organic matter of manure and vegetable substances may be altered in MANUEES. 143 form by the use of lirae, it can escape (except in very poor soils) only as it is taken up by roots to feed the crop, and such exhaustion is certainly profitable? and, 80 far as the organic parts are concerned, the fertility of the soil will be fully maintained by the decomposition of new roots and of organic manures. The only way in which lime can exhaust the earthy parts of the soil is, by altering their condition, so that plants can use them more readily. That is, it exposes it to the action of roots. We have seen that fertili- zing matter cannot be leached out of a good soil, in any material quantity, nor can it be carried down to any considerable depth. Hence, there can be no loss in this direction ; and, as mineral matter cannot ev'aporate fi'om the soil, the only way in which it can escape is through the structure of plants. If lime is applied to the soil, and increases the amount of crops grown by preparing for use a larger supply of earthy matter, of course, the removal of earthy substances from the soil will be more rapid than when only a small crop is grown, and the soil will be sooner exliausted, — not by the lime, but by the plants. In order to make up for this exhaustion it is necessary that a sufficient amount of inorganic matter be supplied to compensate for the increased quantity taken away by plants. Thus we see that it is hardly fair to accuse the lime of exhausting the soil, when it only improves its character, and increases the yield. It is the crop that takes away the fertility of the soil (the same as 144 MAJSrUKES. would be the case if no lime were used, only faster, because the crop is larger), and in all judicious culti- vation this loss will be fully compensated by the application of manures, thereby preventing the ex- haustion of the soil. Kind of lime to he used. The fii-st consideration in procuring lime for manuring land, is to select that which contains but little, if any, magnesia. Nearly all stone lime contains more or less of this, but some kinds contain more than others. When magnesia is applied to the soil in too large quantities, it is positively injurious to plants, and care is necessary in making selection. As a general rule, it may be stated, that the best plastering lime makes the best manure. Such kinds only should be used as are known from experiment not to be injurious. Shell lime is undoubtedly the best of all, for it contains no magnesia, and it does contain a small quantity of phosphate of lime. In the Ticinity of the sea-coast, and near the lines of railroads, oyster shells, clam shells, etc., can be cheaply procured. These may be prepared for use in the same manner as stone lime. The preparation of the lime is done by firet burn- ing and then slaking, or by putting it directly on the land, in an unslaked condition, after its having been burned. Shells are sometimes ground., and used without burning ; this is hardly advisable, as they cannot be made so fine as by burning and sla- king. As was stated in the first section of this book, lime usually exists in nature, in the form of carbo- M ANUSES. 145 nate of lime, as limestone, chalk, or marble (being lime and carbonic acid combined), and when this is burned the carbonic acid is thrown off, leaving the lime in a pure or caustic form. This is called burn- ed lime, quick-lime, lime-shells, hot lime, etc. If the proper quantity of water be poured on it, it is - immediately taken up by the lime, which falls into a dry powder, called slaked lime. If quick-lime were left exposed to the weather it would absorb moisture from the atmosphere, and become what is termed air-slaked. When slaked lime (consisting of lime and water) is exposed to the atmosphere, it absorbs carbonic acid, and becomes cai"bonate of lime again ; but it is now in the form of a very fine powder, and is much more useful than when in the stone, or even when finely ground. If quick-lime is applied directly to the soil, it absorbs first moisture, and then carbonic acid, becom- ing finally a powdered carbonate of lime. One ton of carbonate of lime contains 11^ cwt. of lime ; the remainder is carbonic acid. One ton of slaked lime contains about 15 cwt. of lime ; the remainder is water. Hence we see that lime should be bm-ned, and not slaked, before being transported, as it would be un- profitable to transport the large quantity of carbonic acid and water contained in carbonate of lime and slaked lime. The quick-lime may be slaked and carbonated after reaching its destination, either be- fore or after being applied to the land. 7 146 MANUKE8. As has been before stated, much is gained by sla- king lime with salt water. Indeed, in many cases it will be found profitable to use all lime in this way. Where a direct action on the inorganic matters contained in the soil is desired, it may be well to ap- ply the lime directly in the form of quick-lime ; but, where the decomposition of the vegetable and animal constituents of the soil is desired, the correction of sourness, or the supplying of lime to the crop, the mixture with salt would be advisable. The amx)unt of Ivme required hy plants is, as was before observed, usually small compared with the whole amount contained in the soil ; still it is not un- important. 25 bus. of wheat contain about 25 a barley 25 u oats 2 tons of turnips 2 u potatoes 2 a red clover 2 r red grass OP LIME. 13 lbs. 10^ 11 12 5 77 30 it * The amount of lime required at each application, and the frequency of those applications, must depend on the chemical and mechanical condition of the soil. No exact rule can be given, but probably the custom of each district — ^regulated by long experience — is the best guide. Linie sinks in the soil, and therefore, when * The straw producing the grain, and the turnip and potato tops, contain more lime than the grain and roots. MANURES. 147 used alone, should always be applied as a top dressing to be carried into the soil by rains. The tendency of lime to settle is so great that, when cutting drains, it may often be observed in a whitish streak on the top of the subsoil. After heavy doses of lime have been given to the soil, and have settled so as to have apparently ceased from their action, they may be brought up and mixed with the soil by deeper plowing. Lime should never he mixed with animal manures, imless in compost with muck or some other good absorbent, as it causes the escape of their aromonia. PLASTER OF PARIS. Plaster of Paris or Gypsum (sulphate of lime) is composed of sulphuric acid and lime in combina- tion. It is a constituent of many plants. It also fur- nishes them with sulphuric acid, and with the sulphur of which a small quantity is contained in seeds, etc. It is an excellent absorbent of ammonia, and is very useful to sprinkle in stables, poultry houses, pig-styes, and privies, where it absorbs the escap- ing gases, saving them for the use of plants, and purifying the air — rendering stables, etc., more healthy than when not so supplied. CHLORIDE OF LIME. Chloride of lime contains lime and chlorine. It furnishes both of these. constituents to plants, and is 148 MAKUBES. an excellent absorbent of ammonia and other gases arising from decomposition — ^hence its usefulness in destroying bad odors, and in preserving fertilizing matters for the use of crops. It may be used like plaster, or in the decomposi- tion of organic matters, where it not only hastens decay, but absorbs and retains the escaping gases. Lime in combination with pThOsphorio acid forms the valuable phosphate of liTne, of which so large a portion of the ash of grain, and the bones of animals, is formed. This will be spoken of more at length under the head of " phosphoric acid." MAGNESIA. Magnesia is a constituent of vegetable ashes, and is almost always present in the soil in sufficient quantities. ACIDS. SULPHUKIC ACID. Sulphuric acid is a very" important constituent of vegetable ashes. It is sometimes deficient in the soil, particularly where potatoes have been long culti- vated. One of the reasons whj plaster (sulphate of lime) is so beneficial to the potato crop is probably that it supplies it with sulphuric acid. Sulphuric acid is commonly known by the name of all vitriol, and may be purchased for agricultural purposes at a low price. It may be added in a very MANURES. 149 dilute fonn (weakened by mixing it with a large quantity of water) to the compost heap, where it will change the ammonia to a sulphate as soon as formed, and thus prevent its loss, as the sulphate of ammonia is not volatile ; and, being soluble in water, is useful to plants. Some idea of the value of this compound may be formed from the fact that manufacturers of manures pay a high price for sulphate of ammonia, to insure the success of their fertilizers. Notwith- standing this, many formers persist in throwing away hundreds of pounds of ammdnia every year, as a tax for their ignorance (or negligence), while a small tax in money — not more valuable nor more necessary to their success — for the support of common schools, and the better education of the young, is too often unwillingly paid. If a tumbler full of sulphuric acid (costing a few cents) be thrown into the tank of the compost heap once a month, the benefit to the manure would be very great. Care is necessary that too fnuch sulphuric acid be not used, as it would prevent the proper decomposi- tion of the manure. • In many instances it will be found profitable to use sulphiu-ic acid in the manufacture of super- phosphate of lime (as directed under the head of "phosphoric acid"), thus making it perform the double purpose of preparing an available form of phosphate, and of supplying sulphur and sulphuric acid to the plant. 150 MANURES. PHOSPHORIC ACID. We come now to the consideration of one of the most important of all subjects connected with agri- culture. PJwsphoriG acid, which forms about one-half of the ashes of wheat, rye, corn, buck-wheat, and oats ; nearly the same proportion of those of barley, peas, beans, and linseed ; an important part of the ashes of potatoes and turnips ; one-quarter of the ash of milk, and a very large proportion of the bones of animals, often exists in the soil in the proportion of only about one or two pounds in a thousand, and but a very small part even of this amount is in a con- dition to be taken up by roots. The cultivation of our whole country has been such, as to take away the phosphoric acid from the soil without returning it, except in very minute quantities. Every hundred bushels of wheat sold contains (and removes perma- nently from the soil) about sixty pounds of phospho- ric acid. Other grains, as well as the root crops and grasses, remove, likewise, a large quantity of it. It has been said by a contemporary writer, that for each cow kept on a pasture through the summer, there is carried off in veal, butter, and cheese, not less than fifty lbs. of phosphate of lime (bone-earth) on an average. This would be one thousand lbs. for twenty cows ; and it shows clearly why old dairy pastures become so exhausted of this substance, that they will often no longer produce those nutritious grasses which are favorable to butter and cheese making. MAKUBES. 151 That tins removal of one of the most valuable con- stituents of the soil has been the cause of more ex- haustion of farms, and more emigration, in search of fertile districts, than any other single effect of injudicious farming, is a fact which multiplied in- stances most clearly prove. It is stated that the Genesee and Mohawk valleys, which once produced an average of thirty-five ox^ forty hiishds of wheat per acre, have since been reduced, in their average production, less than twen- ty bushels. Hundreds of similar cases might be stated ; and in a large majority of these, could the cause of the impoverishment be ascertained, it would be found to be the removal of the phosphoric acid from the soil. The evident tendency of cultivation being to con- tinue this ruinous system, and to prey upon the vital strength of the country, it is necessary to take such measures as will arrest the outflow of this valuable material. This can never be fully accomplished until the laws which regulate the nutrition of plants are generally understood and appreciated by the people at large. The enormous waste of the most valuable manures, taking place not only in every city, but about every residence in the land, can only be arrested when the importance of restoring to the soil a full equivalent for what is taken from it is universally realized. China and Japan, the most densely peopled countries in the world, have been cultivated for tht)usands of years with no diminution of their fertility. Japan is about as large and about 152 MANUKE8. as densely peopled as Great Britain, yet while Great Britain imports immense quantities of grain, guano, bones, and other fertilizei*s, and pours its immense volumes of manure into the sea, Japan neither wastes nor imports. The bread of its people is raised on its fields, which have been cultivated for un- counted ages, while every scrap of fertilizing matter is saved with scrupulous care. It is true that the processes by which manure is saved and applied in China and Japan are not nice, but it is saved, nevertheless, and the fact that our chemical knowledge enables us to accomplish the same result in an inoffensive manner, should make us all the more earnest in mending our ways. Many suppose that soils which produce good crops, year after year, are inexhaustible, but time invariably proves the contrary. They may possess a suffi- ciently large stock of phosphoric acid, and other plant constituents, to last a long time, but when that stock becomes so reduced that there is not enough left for the uses of full crops, the productive power of the soil will yearly decrease, until it becomes worthless. It may last a long time — a century, or even more — but as long as the system is to remove everything^ mid return nothing^ the fate of the most fertile soil is certain. As has been stated already, the constituent of the soil which is most likely to become deficient \q phos- phoric acid. One principal source from which this can be obtained is found in the bones of animals. These contain a large proportion of phosphate of MANUKES. 153 lime. They are the receptacles which collect nearly all of the phosphates in crops which are fed to ani- mals, and are not returned in their excrements. For the grain, etc., sent out of the country, there is no way to be repaid except by the importation of this material ; but nearly all that is fed to animals ma}^ if a proper use be made of their excrement, and of their bones after death, be returned to the soil. With the treatment of animal excrements we are already familiar, and we will now turn our attention to the subject of BONES. Bones consist, when dried, of about one-third or- ganic matter, and two-thirds earthy matter. The organic matter consists chiefly of gelatine — a compound containing nitrogen. . The earthy part is cXne^y phosphate of lime. Hence we see that bones are excellent, both as or- ganic and as mineral manure. The organic part, con- taining nitrogen, forms ammonia, and the inorganic part supplies the much-needed phosphoric acid to the soil. Liebig says that, as a producer of ammonia, 100 lbs. of dry bones are equivalent to 250 lbs. of human urine. Bones are applied to the soil in abnost every con- ceivable form. Whole hones are often used in very large quantities ; their action, however, is extremely slow, and it is never advisable to use them in tliis form. 154 MANUEES. Ten bushels of bones, finely ground, will produce larger results, during the ten years after application, than would one hundred bushels merely broken ; not because the dust contains more fertilizing matter than the whole bones, but because that which it does con- tain is in a much more available condition. It fer- ments readily, and produces ammonia, while the ashy parts are exposed to tlie action of roots. It is a rule which is applicable to all manures, that the more finely they are pulverized or divided, the more valuable they become. Not only do they ex- pose much more surface to the feeding action of roots, but from their fine division they can be much more evenly distributed through the soil. If it is true, as seems probable, that the absorptive power of fertile soils is so strong as to prevent dissolved plant food from being carried beyond the point with which it first comes in contact, until the soil about that point has taken up all that it is capable of hold- ing, then the more widely we spread a manure before it is dissolved, the more uniformly rich will be the soil. By sowing coarsely crushed bones, we fertilize the soil m spots. By crushing each lump we not only make all of its constituents immediately availa- ble, but we make it reach every part of the surface between the spots above referred to. Even Peruvian guano, soluble as it is in water, is much more efiec- tive when finely ground before being spread upon the land. Bone-hlack. If bones are burned in retorts, or otherwise protected from the atmosphere, their or- MANTJBES. 155 ganic matter will all be driven off except the carbon, which not being supplied with oxygen cannot escape. In this form bones are called ivory Hack, or horn Hack; and they contain all of the earthy matter and carbon of the bones. The nitrogen having been expelled, it can make no ammonia ; and thus far the original value of bones is reduced by burning— that is, a ton of bones contains more fertilizing matter before, than after, burning. This means of pulveriz- ing bones is not to be recommended for the use of farmers, who should not lose the ammonia forming a part of bones, more than that of other manure. Composting hones icith ashes is a good means of securing their decomposition. They should be placed in a water-tight vessel (such as a cask) ; first, three or four inches of bones, then the same quantity of strong unleached wood ashes, continuing these alter- nate layei-s until the cask is full, and keeping them always wet. If they become too dry they will throw off an offensive odor, accompanied by the escape of ammonia, and consequent loss of value. In about one year, the whole mass of bones (except, perhaps, those at the top) will be softened, so that they may be easily crushed, and they are in a good condition for application to the land. The ashes are, in them- selves, valuable, and this compost is excellent for many crops, particularly for Indian com. A little dilute sulphuric acid, occasionally sprinkled on the upper part of the matter in the cask, will prevent the escape of the ammonia. Boiling hones xuider pressure^ whereby their gela- 150 MANURES. tine is dissolved away, and the earthy matter left in an available condition, from its softness, is a very good way of rendering them useful ; but it requires the use of a steam boiler, and other expensive appa- ratus. SUPER-PHOSPHATE OF LIME. Sitper-phosphate of lime is made by treating phos- phate of lime, or the ashes of bones, with sulphurio acid. Phosphate of lime, as it exists in bones, consists of one equivalent of phosphoric acid and three equi- valents of lime. The word " equivalent " is here used to represent what in chemistry is known as the combining pro- portion of each element of a compound bod}' — that is, one pound of one substance combines with one and one-half pounds of another, and these propor- tions are invariable. In bone earth, or phosphate of lime, one equiva- lent, or 72 lbs. of phosphoric acid combines with three equivalents (of 28 lbs. each), or 84 lbs. of lime. Now, by adding to this compound one equivalent (or 40 lbs.) of sulphuric acid, we cause one equiva- lent (28 lbs.) of the lime to be taken away, leaving the 72 lbs. of phosphoric acid combined with only 56 lbs. of lime. By using two equivalents of sul- phuric acid (or 80 lbs.) we cause the removal ot 56 lbs. of lime, leaving only 28 lbs. combined with the 72 lbs. of phosphoric acid. This is super-phos- phate of lime, which is readily soluble in water. It MANTJKES. 157 is united with 80 lbs. of sulphuric acid and 56 lbs. of lime in combination with each other, forming 136 lbs. of sulphate of lime, or plaster-of-paris. The whole compound contains : Phosphoric acid 72 lbs. Sulphuric acid 80 " Lime 84 " In all 236 " —or, 25^ per cent, of phosphoric acid. The phosphoric acid, now in combination with only one equivalent of lime, is readily dissolved in water, and will be evenly distributed in the soil ; but it will take the earliest opportunity to combine with two more equivalents of lime in the soil, and will again become insoluble. It may well be asked, What is the advantage of making it soluble if it is BO soon again to become insoluble ? The answer to this question is clearly stated in the follo^ving quotation from Prof. S. W. Johnson's Essays on Manures : — " This white cloud is precipitated bone-phosphate of lime, and does not essentially differ from the original bone-phosphate, except that it is inconceiv- ably finer than can be obtained by any mechanical means. The particles of the finest bone-dust will not average smaller than one-hundredth of an inch, while those of the precipitated phosphate are not more than one twenty-thousandth of an inch in di- ameter. Since the particles of the precipitated phos- phate are so very much smaller than those of the 158 MANURES. finest bone-dust, we can understand that their action as a manure would be correspondingly more rapid." In saying that the phosphate of lime is insoluble, it is meant that it is insoluble in pure water. Water which contains" either carbonic acid, ammonia, or common salt (and all soil water contains one or more of these), has the power of dissolving it, and making it available to roots. The action is slow, but it is sufficient, and it is the more rapid the finer the pulverization of the phosphate. The fine pre- cipitated phosphate exposes much more surface to the action of the water, and can consequently be taken up mucli more rapidly. Super-phosphate of lime may be made from whole bones, bone-dust, bone-black, or from the pure ashes of bones, or from phosphatic guano. The reason why super-phosphate of lime is hetter than phosphate, is therefore easily explained. The phosphate is very slowly soluble in water, and conse- quently furnishes food to plants slowly. A piece of bone as large as a pea may lie in the soil for years without being all consumed ; consequently, it will be years before its value is returned, and it pays no in- terest on its cost while lying there. The super-phos- phate is very rapidly dissolved, and if evenly spread is dift'used by the water of rains throughout the soil, — coating its absorbent particles with a nutriment held in a state of phj'sical combination, ready to be yielded to the action of roots; hence its much greater value as a manure. It is true that the phosphate is a more lasting MAJNUKES. 159 manui-e than the super-phosphate — in the same way that gold buried in a pot in the garden is more last- ing than if used in labor and manure for its cultiva- tion. I desire, once for all, to caution farmers against attaching too much imporance to the lasting qualities of a manure. Generally they are lasting only in proportion as they are lazy. In manuring, as in other things, a nimble sixpence is better than a slow shilling. Of course it is not to be understood that all ma- nures used had better exert their full effect on the first year's crop, but the more rapidly it can be made available consistently with the course of cultivation adopted (the rotation, etc.), the less we shall lose in the item of interest. A hundred pounds of coai*sely ground bones may give an extra crop of 250 lbs. of hay per year for ten years. The same quantity finely ground and evenly spread might add a thou- sand lbs. to the first year's crop, and if the hay is consumed on the farm, and its constituents returned in the form of manure, the same increase might be received year after year. Therefore, in considering the value of manure, more attention should be given to the rapidity of its action than to the time that it will last. Many farmers who have tlie proper facili- ties, may find it expedient to purchase bones or bone-dust and sulphuric acid, and to manufacture their own super-phosphate of lime ; others will prefer to purchase the prepared manure. Such purchases should be made with great care, and only from per- sons of established reputation, for nothing is easier 100 MANURES. than the adulteration of this material. It is best, always, to stipulate that the manure shall contain a certain percentage of soluble and insoluble phospho- ric acid, — and to withhold payment until an average sample of the manure received has been tested by a competent chemist. SILICIC ACID. Silicic acid (or sand) always exists in the soil in sufficient quantities for the supply of food for plants ; but not always in the proper condition. This subject has been so often explained to the reader of this book, that it is only necessary to repeat here, that when the weakness of the straw or stalk of plants groMm on any soil indicates an inability in that soil to supply the silicic acid required for strength, not more sand should be added, but alkalies, to combine with the sand already contained in it, and make soluble silicates whicli are available to roots. Sand is often necessary to stiff clays, as a mechani- cal manure, to loosen their texture and render them easier of cultivation, and more favorable to the dis- tribution of roots, and to the circulation of air and water, and in this capacity it is often very important. In my own practice I find it profitable to haul it three miles to use on heavy clay land. NEUTRALS. CHLORINE. Chlorine, a necessary constituent of plants, and sometimes, though not usually, deficient in the soil, MANUBES. 161 may be applied in the form of salt (chloride of so- dium), or chloride of lime. The former may be dis- solved in the water used to slake lime, and the latter may, with much advantage, be sprinkled around stables and other places where fertilizing gases are escaping, and, after being saturated with ammonia, applied to the soil, thus serving a double purpose. On a stock farm, a very good way to return to the soil the chlorine contained in the produce sold, is to give it freely to the animals. OXIDE OF IKON. Probably all soils contain sufficient quantities of oxide of iron, or iron rust, so that this substance can hardly be required as a manure. Some soils, however, contain the proto-Exde of iron in such quantities as to be injurious to plants, — see page 74. When this is the case, it is necessary to plow the soil thoroughly, and use such other me- chanical means as shall open it to the admission of air. Tliej?wtoxide of iron will then take up more oxygen, and become the j9(?roxide — which is not only inoffensive, but is conducive to fertility. OXIDE OF MAKGANESE. This can hardly be called an essential constituent of plants, and is never taken into consideration in manuring: lands. 162 MANURES. VAEI0U8 OTHEK EARTHY MANURES. LEACHED ASHES. Among the earthy manures which have not yet been mentioned, — not coming strictly under any of the preceding heads, — is the one known as leached ashes. These are, of course, miich less valuable than ashes from which the potash has not been leached out ; still, as potash is generally made, the leaching is not very complete, and a considerable quantity of this sub- stance, available to plants, is left in them. In addi- tion to this, they contain some phosphoric acid and silicic acid, which add to their value. Practically, they are held in high esteem in all localities where they can be obtained at a moderate cost of transport- ation. Care, however, should be taken, not to pur- chase ashes which have been made in lime-kilns, as these generally contain a large quantity of lime, M^hich is not worth so high a price as the ashes. OLD MORTAR. Old mortar is a valuable manure, because it con- tains not only lime, but compounds of nitric acid with alkalies, — called nitrates. These are slowly formed in the mortar by the changing of the nitrogen of the hair (in the mortar) and of the ammonia received from the atmosphere into nitric acid, and the union of this with the MANURES. 163 lime of the plaster, or with other alkalies which it may contain in minute quantities. The lime contained in the mortar may be useful in the soil for the many purposes accomplished by other lime, and is generally more valuable than that fresh from the kiln. GAS HOUSE LDIE, ETC. Tlie refuse lime of gas worlcs, where it can be cheaply obtained, may be advantageously used as a manure. It consists, chiefly, of various compounds of sulphur and lime. It should be composted with earth or refuse matter, so as to expose it to the action of air. It should never be used fresh from the gas house. In a few months the sulphur will h^e united with the oxygen of the air, and become sul- phuric acid, which unites with the lime and makes sulphate of lime (plaster,) which form it must as- sume, before it is of much value. Having been used to purify gas made from coal, it contains a small quantity of ammonia, which adds to its value. It is considered a profitable manure in England, at the price there paid for it (forty cents a cartload), and, if of good quality, it may be worth more than that, especially for soils deficient in sulphuric acid or lime, or for such crops as are much benefited by plaster. Its price must, of couree, be regulated some- what by the price of lime, which constitutes a large proportion of its fertilizing parts. The offensive odor of this compound renders it a good protection 164 MANURES. against many insects, when used in its fresh state ; but in this state it should be very cautiously ap- plied. The refuse liquor of gas works contains enough ammonia to make it a valuable manure. It should be filtered through earth or muck, which will retain its valuable parts, and will be enriched by them. SOAPERS' LEY AND BLEACHEEs' LET. The refuse ley of soap factories and bleaching es- tablishments contains greater or less quantities of soluble silicates and alkalies (especially soda and pot- ash,) and is a good addition to the tank of the com- post heap, or it may be used directly as a liquid application to the soil, or, better, filtered as above described. The soapers' ley, especially, will be foimd a good manure for lands on which grain lodges. Much of the benefit of this manure arises from the soluble silicates it contains, while its nitrogenous matter obtained from those parts of the fatty matters which cannot be converted into soap, and conse- quently remain in this solution, forms a valuable addition. Heaps of soil saturated with this liquid in autumn, and subjected *o the freezings of winter, form an admirable manure for spring use. IREIGATION. Irrigation, strictly speaking, should not be con- sidered under the head of earthy manures alone, as it MAiniEES. 165 often supplies ammonia and other organic matters to the soil. Its chief value, however, in most cases must depend on the amount of mineral matter which it furnishes. The word "irrigation" means simply v^ act of icatenng. In many districts water is in various ways made to overflow the land, and is removed or withheld when necessary for the purposes of cultiva- tion. All river and spring water contains some im- purities, many of which are beneficial to vegetation. These are derived from the earth over, or through, which the water has passed. Anmionia also is ab-- sorbed by the water from the atmosphere. When water is made to cover the earth, especially if its rapid motion be arrested, much of this fertilizing matter settles, and is deposited on or absorbed by the soil. The water which sinks into the soil carries its impurities to be retained for the uses of plants. Wlien, by the aid of under-drains, or the open texture of the land, the water passes through the soil, its im- purities are arrested, and become available in vege- table growth. It is, of course, impossible to say exactly what kind of mineral matter is supplied by the water of irrigation, as that depends on the kind of rock or soil from which the impurities are derived ; but, whatever it may be, it is generally soluble and ready for immediate use by plants, and is distributed in the most uniform manner possible. Water which has nm over the surface of the earth contains both ammonia and mineral matter, while that which has arisen out of the earth, contains 163 MANUKES. usually only mineral matter. The direct effect of the water of irrigation as a solvent and distributer of the mineral ingredients of the soil, constitutes one of its main benefits. To describe the many modes of irrigation would be too long a task for our limited space. It may be applied in any way in which it is possible to cover the land with water, at stated times. Care is neces- sary, however, that it does not wash more fertilizing matter away from the soil than it deposits upon it, as would often be the case, if a strong current of water were run over it. Brooks may be dammed up, and thus made to cover a large quantity of land. In such a case the rapid current would be destroyed, and the fertilizing matter would settle ; but, if the course of the brook were turned, so that it would run in a current over any part of the soil, it might carry away more than it deposited, and thus prove injuri- ous. Small streams turned on to land, from the washing of roads, or from elevated springs, are good means of irrigation, and produce increased fertility, except where the soil is of such a character as to pre- vent the water from passing away, in which case it must first be under-drained. Irrigation was one of the oldest sources of fertility used by man, and still continues in great favor wher- ever its effects have been witnessed. In England and Scotland, much attention is now being paid to the question of liquid manure irrigation, and an at- tempt is being made to employ the vast discharges of the London sewers. For this purpose it is in con- MANURES. 167 templation to biiild an aqueduct forty miles long and nine feet in diameter for its distribution. In the experiments made with this manure during the sum- mer of 1867, fifty-three tons of Italian rje-grass were grown on a single acre, nine tons being gro%vn in twenty-two days. On the farm of the celebrated Mr. Mechi at Tip- tree Hall, the system was, many years ago, adopted of converting all the manure of the stables into a liquid, and distributing it over the farm by means of uuder-ground pipes and movable hose. Mr. Mechi still continues the practice and considers it profit- able. This subject is mentioned in this connection, not as affording an example which can be profitably fol- lowed here, so much as because it shows how much expense may be profitably applied to the distribution of manure in a liquid form. MIXING. BOILS. The mixing of soiU is often all that is necessary to render them fertile, and to improve their mechan- ical condition. For instance, soils deficient in pot- ash, or any other constituent, may have that deficiency supplied, by mixing with them soil containing this constituent in excess. It is very frequently the case, that such means of improvement are easily availed of. While these chemical efiects are being produced, there may be an equal improvement in the mechanical character of 168 MANURES. the soil. Thns stiff clay soils are rendered lighter, and more easily workable, by an admixture of sand, ■while light blowy sands are compacted, and made more retentive of manure, by a dressing of clay or of muck. Of course, this cannot be depended on as a sure means of chemical improvement, but in a majority of cases the land will be benefited by mix- ing with it soil of a different character. It is not always necessary to go to other locations to procure the earth to be applied, as the sub-soil is often very different from the surface soil, and simple deep plow- ing will suffice, in such cases, to produce the required admixture, by bringing up the earth from below to mingle it with that of a different character at the sur- face. Until it is demonstrated that a large admixture of the sub-soil will not lessen the fertility of the surface (and in a large majority of cases it will not), it is safest to deepen the plowing inch by inch. This subject is worthy of the consideration of all farmers, for there are very few cases in which the arable sur- face will not be improved by the addition of matters contained in the sub-soil. Even the earth thrown from the bottom of deep ditches sometimes has an astonishing effect on the fertility of the soil, and it would be well to try the experiment of digging a deep pit, spreading the earth taken from it on the surface of the land. If this is found to have a good effect, it will offer a ready means of improving the soil. MANURES. 1C9 In the foregoing remarks on the subject of mineral manm-es, I have endeavored to point out such a course as would result in the " greatest good to the greatest number," and consequently, have neglected much which might discourage the farmer with the idea, that the whole system of scientific agriculture is too expensive for his adoption. Still, while I have confined my remarks to the more simple improve- ments on the present system of management, I would say briefly, that no manuring can he strictly economical that is not hased on a knowledge of the re- quirements of the soil and of the crops^ and of the best ineans of supplying them, together with the most scrupulous care of every ounce of evaporating or sol- 'uhle manure nriade on the farm, a/nd a return of the earthy unatters sold off in produce. CHAPTER X. ATM08PHEKIC FEKTILIZEK8. It is not common to regard the gases in the at- mosphere in the light of manures, but they are the most important manures we have, as they are the original source of more than nine-tenths of the entire production of our fields. Indeed, they are almost the only organic manure ever received by the uncultiva- ted parts of the earth, as well as by a large portion of 8 170 MAJOJKES. that which is occupied in the production of food for man. If these gases were not manures ; if there were no means bj which they could be used by plants, the fertility of the soil would long since have ceased, and the earth would be unfertile. That this must be true, will be shown by a few moments' reflection on the facts stated in the first part of this book. The fertilizing gases in the atmosphere being composed of the constituents of decayed plants and animals, it is as necessary that they should be again returned to the form of organized matter, as it is that constitu- ents taken from the soU should not be put out of existence. AMMONIA. The ammonia in the atmosphere probably cannot be appropriated by the leaves of plants, and must, therefore, enter the soil to be assimilated by roots. It reaches the soil in two ways. It is either arrested from the air circulating through the soil, or it is ab- sorbed by rains in the atmosphere, and thus carried to t'he earth, where it is retained by its clay and car- bon, for the uses of plants. In the soil, ammonia is the most important of all organiG manures. In fact, the value of the organic parts of manure may be estimated, either by the amount of ammonia which they will yield, or by their power of absorbing am- monia from other sources. The most important use of ammonia in the soil is MAKURK8. 171 to supply nitrogen to plants ; but it has other offices which are of consequence. It assists in some of the chemical changes necessary to prepare the matters in the soil for assimilation, and gives to the water in which it is dissolved an increased power to dissolve mineral plant food. Although, in the course of nature, the atmospheric fertilizers are largely supplied to the soil, without the immediate attention of the farmer, it is not be- yond his power to cause their absorption in still greater quantity. The means for doing this have been repeatedly given in the preceding pages, but it may be well to name them again in this chapter. The condition of the soil is the main point to be considered. It must be such as to absorb and retain ammonia — to allow water to pass through it, and be discharged helow the depth to which the roots of crops are searching for food — and to admit of a free circulation of air. The power of absorbing and retaining ammonia is not possessed by sand, but it is a prominent property of clay, charcoal, and some other matters named as absorbents. Hence, if the soil consist of pure sand, it -will not make use of the ammonia brought to it from the atmosphere, but will allow it to evaporate immediately after a shower, or to be washed through it by rains. Soils in this condition require additions of absorbent matters, to enable them to use the am- monia received from the atmosphere. Soils already containing a sufficient amount of clay or charcoal, are thus far prepared to receive benefit from this source. 172 MAlfUKES. V The next point is to cause the water of rains to pass through the soil. If it lies on the surface, or runs off without entering the soil, it is not probable that the fertilizing matters which it contains will all be abstracted. Some of them will undoubtedly return to the atmosphere on the evaporation of the water ; but, if the soil contains a sufficient supply of absorb- ents, and will allow all rain water to pass through it, the fertilizing gases will all be retained. They will be filtered out of the water, which will pass out ot the drains almost pure. This subject will be more fully treated in Section lY., in connection with under-draining. Besides the properties just described, the soil ought to possess the power of admitting a free cir- culation of air. To effect this, the soil should be well pulverized to a great depth. If, in addition to this, it be of such a character as to allow water to pass through it, it will facilitate such a circulation of air as is best calculated to give the greatest supply of ammonia. CARBONIC ACID. Carbonic acid is received from the atmosphere, both by the leaves and by the roots of plants. It is absorbed by the water in the soil, and greatly increases its power of dissolving earthy plant food. This use is one of very great importance, as it is equivalent to making the minerals themselves more soluble. Water dissolves carbonate of lime, etc., MANCEES. •t'TO exactly in proportion to the amount of carbonic acid which it contains. We should, therefore, strive to have as much carbonic acid as possible in the water in the soil. One way, in which to eifect this, is to admit to the soil the largest possible quantity of at- mospheric air, which contains this gas. The condition of soil necessary for this, is the same as is required for the deposit of ammonia by the same circulation of air. OXYGEN. Oxygen^ though not taken up by plants as food in its pure form, may justly be classed among ma- nures, if we consider its effects both chemical and mechanical in the soil. 1. By oxidizing or rusting some of the constit- uents of the soil, it prepares them for the uses of plants. 2. It unites with the ^ofoxide of iron, and changes it to the j9«roxide. 3. If there are acids in the soil, which make it sour and unfertile, it may be opened to the circula- tion of the air, and the oxygen will prepare some of the mineral matters contained in the soil to unite with the acids and neutralize them. 4. Oxygen combines with the carbon of organic mattere in the soil, and causes them to decay. The combination produces carbonic acid. 5. It undoubtedly affects in some way the matter which is thrown out from the roots of plants. This, 174 MANURES. if allowed to accumulate, and remain unchanged, is supposed to be injurious to plants ; but, probably, the oxygen and carbonic acid of the air in the soil change it to an inoffensive form, and even make it again useful to the plant. 6. It may also improve the Tnechanical condition of the soil, as it causes its particles to crumble, thus making it finer ; and it roughens the surfaces of par- ticles, making them less likely to become too com- pact. These properties of oxygen claim for it a high place among the atmospheric fertiUzers. WATEK. Water may be considered an atmospheric ma- nure, as its chief supply to vegetation is received from the air in the form of rain or dew. Its many effects are already too well known to need further comment. Supplying water to the soil by the deposit of dew will be considered in Section lY. CHAPTER XI. RECAPITULATION. Manures have two distinct classes of action in the soil, namely, chemical and TnechamAcal. MAXCKES. 1Y5 Chemical manures are those which enter into the construction of plants, or produce such chemical effects on matters ah-eady contained in the soil as shall prepare them for use. Mechanical manures are those which improve the mechanical condition of the soil, such as loosenin"- stiff clays, compacting light sands, pulverizing large particles, etc. Many manures act both chemically and mechanically. Manures may be classified under three distinct heads, namely, Organic^ mineral^ and atmospheric. Organic manures comprise all vegetable and ani- mal mattei-s (except ashes) which are used to fer- tilize the soil. Yegetable manures supply carbonic acid, some ammonia, and earthy matter to plants. Animal manures supply the same substances and much more ammonia. Mineral manures comprise ashes, salt, phosphate of lime, plaster, etc. They supply plants with earthy matter. Their usefulness depends in great degree on their solubility. Many of the organic and mineral manures have the power of absorbing ammonia arising from the de- composition of animal manures, as well as that which is brought to the soil by rains — these are called ab- sorbents. Atmospheric manures consist of ammonia, car- bonic acid, oxygen and water. Their greatest use- fulness requires the soil to allow the water of rains to pass through it, to admit of a free circulation of air among its particles, and to contain a sufficient 176 MAKUltES. amount of absorbent matter to arrest and retain all ammonia and carbonic acid presented to it. Manures should be applied to the soil with due regard to its requirements. Ammonia and carbon are always useful, but mineral manures become mere dirt when applied to soils already containing them in abundance. Organic manures must be protected against the escape of their ammonia, and especially against the leaching out of their soluble parts. One cord of stable manure properly preserved, is worth ten cords which have lost all of their ammonia by evaporation, and their soluble parts by leaching — as is the case with much of the manure kept exposed in open barn-yards. Atmospheric manures cost nothing, and are of great value when properly employed. In conse- quence of this, the soil which is enabled to make the largest appropriation of the atmospheric fertilizers, is worth" many times as much as that which allows them to escape. In fact, it may be considered to be the object of all cultivation, to use the advantages which the soil and manures offer for the purpose of consolidating and giving a useful form to the carbonic acid, ammonia and water, which are freely offered to all seekers. Liebig says : — " A certain mass of gold and silver circulates in the world, and the art of becoming rich consists in knowing the way to divert from the main stream an additional brook to- one's own house. In like manner there circulates, in the air MLOrURES. 177 and in the soil, a relatively inexhaustible quantity of the food of plants ; and the art of the farmer con- sists in knowing and using the means of rendering this food available for his crops. The more he is able to divert from the moving stream (the air) to the immovable promoter of his production (the soil of his fields), the more will the sum of his wealth and his products increase." 8* SECTION FOURTH. MECHANICAL CULTIVATION. SECTION FOURTH. MECHANICAL CULTIVATION. CHAPTER I. THE MECHANICAL CHARACTER OF SOILS. The mechanical character of the soil has been sufficiently explained in the preceding remarks, and the learner knows that it has many offices to perform aside from the feeding of plants. 1. It admits the roots of plants, and holds them in their position. 2. By a sponge-like action, it holds water for the uses of the plant. 3. It absorbs moisture from the atmosphere to supply the demands of the plants. 4. It absorbs heat from the sun's rays to assist in the processes of growth. 4. It admits air to circulate among roots, and sup- ply them with a part of their food, while the oxygen 182 CULTIVATION. of that air renders available the minerals of the soil ; and its carbonic acid, being absorbed by the water in the soil, gives it the power of dissolving and supply- ing to roots more earthy matter than would be dis- solved by purer water. All of these actions the soil must be capable of performing, before it can be in its highest state of fertility. There are comparatively few soils now in this condition, but there are also few which could not be profitably rendered so, by a judicious appli- cation of the various modes of cultivation. The three great objects to be accomplished are : — 1. To adopt such a system of drainage as will cause as much as possible of the water of rains to pass through the soil, instead of evaporating from the surface. 2. To pulverize the soil to a considerable depth. 3. To darken its color, and to render it capable of absorbing atmospheric fertilizers. The means used to secure these effects are under- drcdning^ sub-soil amd surface-jplowing^ digging^ wp- plyi/ng mucky etc. CHAPTER II. UNDER-DBAININQ. All soils which are cultivated should be thorough- ly underdrained, either naturally or artificially. CtJL'nVATION. -J g3 All lands which are made wet by spriuffs or through which the water of rains does not readily settle awav, must be drained artificially before they can be cultivated to the best advantage. The advantages of i/Tj^^-drains o?er w>en-drain8 are very great. When open drains are used, much water passes mto them immediately from the surface, and carries with it fertilizing parts of the soil, while their beds are often puddled by the running water and baked by the heat of the sun, so that they become water tight, and do not admit water from the lower parts of the soil. The sides of these drains are often covered with Aveeds, which spread their seeds throughout the whole field. Open drains are not only a great obstruction to the proper cultivation of the land, but they cause much waste of room, as we can rarely plow nearer than within six or eight feet of them. There are none of these objections to the use of under-drains, as these are completely covered, and do not at all interfere with the cultivation of the sur- face. Under-drains may be made with brush, stones, or tiles. Brush is a very poor material, and its use is hardly to be recommended, except when a better material cannot be afibrded. Small stones are bet- ter, and if these be placed in the bottom of the trenches, to a depth of eight or ten inches, and cov- ered with a little litter, having the earth packed well down on them, they make very good drains. But 184 CULTIVATION. they are very much more costly than tile drains, and are not so permanent. TILE DRAINING. The best under-drains are those made with tiles, or burnt clay pipes. The first form of these used was that called the horse-sJioe tile, which has the form of an arch, leaving the unprotected ground for the water to flow over ; this was superseded by the round pipe, and the sole tile. " Experience in both public and private works in this country, and the cumulative testimony of English and French engineers, have demonstrated that the only tile which it is economical to use, is the hest that can be found, and that the best, — much the best, — thus far invented, is the jpipe, or round tile, and collar ; Fig. 3.— Round Tile and CoUar. and these are unhesitatingly recommended for use in all cases. Round tiles of small sizes should not be laid without collars, as the ability to use these constitutes their chief advantage ; holding them perfectly in place, preventing the rattling in of loose dirt in lay- ing, and giving twice the space for the entrance of water at the joints. A chief advantage of the larger sizes is, that they may be laid on any side and thus made to fit closely. The usual sizes of these CULTIVATION. Ig5 tiles are 1^ inches, 2^ inches, and ^ indies in inte- rior diameter. Sections of the 2^ incli make collars for the 1| inch, and sections of the 3^ inch make collars for the 2} inch. The 3^ inch does not need collars, as it is easily secured in place, and is only used when the flow of water would be sufticient to wash out the sliglit quantity of foreign matters that might enter at the joints." * Fio. 4— Sole Tile. This tile is made (like the horse-shoe and pipe tile) of common brick clay, and is burned the same as bricks. It is about one half or three quarters of an inch thick. The orifice through which the water passes is egg-shaped, having its smallest curve at the bottom. This shape is the one most easily kept clear, as any particles of dirt which get into the drain must fall immediately to the point where even tlie smallest stream of water runs, and are thus removed. An orifice of about two inches rise is sufficient for tbc smaller drains, while the main drains require larger tiles. These tiles are so laid that their ends will touch each other, on the bottoms of the trenches, and arc kept in position by having the earth tightly packed • Draining for Profit and Draining for Health, by G. E. Waring, Jr., page 81. 1S6 CULTIVATION. around tliem. Care must be taken that no space is left between tlie ends of the tiles, as dirt would be liable to get in and choke the drain. This may be best prevented by the use of collars / but if sole tiles are used, as collars cannot be fitted to them, it is well to cover the top of the joint with a very small rope of twisted grass, secured by a stone or lump of clay on each end, or to lay on the joint a saddle of bent tin, zinc, or galvanized iron, which may be obtained at little cost from a tinsmith, cut from pieces in the waste-heap. The ditches for tile draining may be narrowed in, at the bottom, to a width barely sufficient for the Avorkman's foot. In fiUing-in, after the tile is laid, care should be taken that no stones large enough to break the tile be allowed to fall upon tliem. After the tiles are covered to a depth of a foot or eighteen inches, the tilling should be trodden, or pounded, Urmly down, so as to lit closely around the tiles, and leave no space for water to circulate about them. Tile drains are made with much less labor than the stone drains, as tliey require less dig- ging, while the breaking up of the stone for the stone drain will be usually more expen- sive than the tiles. Drains made with large stones are not nearly so good as with small ones, because they are more liable to be choked up by animals working in them. Fig. 5. a — Tile drain trench. h — Stone drain trench, c — Sod laid on the stone. CULTIVATION. j^- CHAPTER III. ADVANTAGES OF U ND E E -DE AIKINO. The advantages of under-draining are many and im- portant, 1 . It greatly lessens the injurious effects of drought. 2. It admits an increased supply of atmospheric fertilizers. 3. It warms the lower portions of the soil. 4. It hastens the decomposition of roots and other organic matter. 5. It accelerates the disintegration of the minemls in the soil. 6. It causes a more even distribution of nutritious matters among those parts of soil traversed by roots, 7. It improves the mechanical texture of the soil. 8. It tends to prevent grasses from "running out." 9. It enables us to deepen the surface soil. By removing excess of water — 10. It renders soils earlier in the spring. 11. It greatly lessens the throwing out of grain in winter. 12. It allows us to work sooner after rains. 13. It keeps off the effects of cold weather longer in the fall. 14:. It prevents the formation of acetic and other organic acids, which induce the growth of sorrel and similar weeds. 15. It hastens the decay of vegetable matter, and 188 cuLxrvATioir. the finer comminution of the earthy parts of the soil. 16. It prevents, in a great measure, the evapora- tion of water, and the consequent cooling of the soil. 17. It admits fresh quantities of water from rains, etc., which are always more or less imbued with the fertilizing gases of the atmosphere, to be deposited among the absorbent parts of soil, and given up to the demands of plants, 18. It prevents the formation of so hard a crust on the surface of the soil as is customary on heavy lands. 1. Under-draining lessens the effect of drought, be- cause it gives a better circulation of air in the soil (it does so by making it more open). There is al- ways the same amount of water in and about the surface of the earth. In winter there is more in the soil than in summer, while in summer, that which has been dried out of the soil exists in the atmosphere in the form of a vapor. It is held in the vapory form by heat, which acts as braces to keep it distend- ed. When vapor comes in contact with substances sufficiently colder than itself, it gives up its heat — thus losing its braces — contracts, and becomes liquid water. This may be observed in hundreds of common operations. It is well known that a cold pitcher in summer CULTIVATION. 189 robs the vapor in the atmosphere of its heat, and causes it to be deposited on its own surface. It looks as though the pitcher were sweating^ but the water all comes from the atmosphere, not, of course, through the sides of the pitcher. If we breathe on a knife-blade, it condenses in the same manner the moisture of the breath, and becomes covered with a film of water. Stone houses are damp in summer, because the inner surfaces of the walls, being cooler than the atmosphere, cause its moisture to be deposited in the manner described. By leaving a space, however, between the walls and the plaster, this moisture is prevented from being troublesome, and if the space is closed against the circulation of air containing moisture there will be no vapor brought in contact with the cool surface of the wall, and therefore no deposit of moisture. Nearly every night in the summer season, the cold earth receives moisture from the atmosphere in the form of dew. A cabbage, which at night is very cold, condenses water to the amount of a gill or more. The same operation takes place in the soil. When the air is allowed to circulate among its lower and cooUr particles, they receive moisture from the same process of condensation. Therefore, when, by the aid of under-drains, the lower soil becomes sufficient- ly open to admit of a circulation of air, the deposit of atmospheric moisture will keep the soil supplied witli water at a point easily accessible to the roots of plants. 190 " CULTIVATION. If we wish to satisfy ourselves that this is jn^acti- cally correct, we have only to prepare two hoxes of finely pulverized soil — one, five or six inches deep, and the other fifteen or twenty inches deep — and place them in the sun at mid-day in summer. The thinner soil will be completely dried, while the deeper one, though it may have been dried in an oven at first, will soon accumulate a large amount of water on those particles which, being lower and more sheltered from the sun's heat than the particles of the thin soil, are made cooler. With an open condition of subsoil, then, such as may be seciu'ed by under-draining, we fortify our- selves against drought. 2. Under-draining admits an increased supply of atmospheric fertilizers^ because it secures a cliange of air in the soil. This change is produced when ever the soil becomes filled with water, and then dried ; when the air above the earth is in rapid mo- tion, and when the comparative temperature of the upper and lower soils changes. It causes new quan- tities of the ammonia and carbonic acid which it contains to be presented to the absorbent parts of the soil. 3. Under-draining warms the lower parts of the soil, because the deposit of moistm*e (1) is necessarily accompanied by an abstraction of heat from the at- mospheric vapor, and because heat is withdrawn from the whole amount of air circulating through the cooler soil. When rain falls on the parched surface soil, it roba CULTIVATION. 19 J it of a portion of its heat, wliidi is carried down to equalize the temperature for the wliole depth. The lieat of the rain-water itself is given up to tho soil, leaving the water from one to ten degrees cooler' when it passes out of the drains, than when received by the earth. This heating of the lower soil of course renders it more favorable to vegetation. 4. Under-draining hastens the decmnpfmti&n of roots and other organic vuitters in the soil, hv ad- mitting increased quantities of air, thus supplyim' oxygen^ which is as essential in decay as it is in com- bustion. It also allows the resultant gases of de- composition to pass away, leaving the air around the decaying substances in a condition to continue the process. This organic decay, besides its other benetits, pro- duces an amount of heat perfectly percei)tible to the smaller roots of plants, though not so to us. 5. Draining accelerates the disiiitegration of the minerals in the sail, by admitting water and oxygen to keep up the process. This disintegration is ne- cessary to fertility, because the roots of plants can feed only on matters dissolved from surfaces ,' and the more finely we pulverize the soil, the more sur- face we expose. For instance, the interior of a stone can furnish no food for plants; while, if it were finely crushed, it might make a fertile soil. Anything tending to open the soil to the air facili- tates the disintegration of its particles, and thereby increases its fertility. li»2 CULTIVATION. 6. Draining causes a more even distribution of nutritious ntxitters among tlwse parts of soil trav- ersedhy roots, because it increases the ease with which water travels about, descending by its own weight, moving sideways by a desire to find its level, or car- ried upward by attraction to supply the evaporation at the surface. By this continued motion of the water, soluble matter from one part of the soil may be carried to adjacent parts ; and another constitu- ent from this latter position may be carried back to the former. Thus the food of vegetables is evenly distributed through the soil. As soon as one parti- cle is fully supplied with any element of plant nu- trition, further amounts brought by water are carried to the next particle that can receive it — and so on, until the supply of soluble material is exhausted. This food is ready for absorption at any point where it is needed, while the more open character of the soil enables roots to occupy larger portions, making a more even drain on the whole, and preventing the undue impoverishment of any part. 7. Under-drains improve the m,echanical texture of the sail } because, by the decomposition of its parts, as previously described ( 4 and 5 ), it is rendered of a character to be more easily worked ; while smooth round particles, which have a tendency to pack, are roughened by the oxidation of their surfaces, and move less easily among each other. 8. By under-draining, grasses are prevented from running (rnt. The grasses of meadows usually con- sist of tillering plants, which reproduce themselves CULTIVATION. 193 in sprouts from the upper parts of their roots, or from the joints of the roots. These sprouts become independent plants, and continue to tiller (thus keeping the land supplied with a full growth ), until the roots of the stools ( or clumps of tillers ), come in contact with an uncongenial part of tlic soil, when the tillering ceases ; the stools become extinct on the death of their plants, and the grasses run out. The open and healthy condition of soil pro- duced by draining prevents the tillering from being stopped so long as the fertility of the soil lasts, and thus keeps up a full growth of grass until the nutri- ment of the soil is exhausted. 9. Draining enables us to deepen the surface-soil^ because the admission of air and the decay of roots, (which descend much deeper in drained than in un- drained land,) render the condition of the sub-soil such, that it may be brought up and mixed with the surface-soil, ^vithout injuring its quality. The second class of advantages of under-drain- ing, arising in the removal of the excess of water in the soil, are quite as important as those just de- scribed. 10. Soils are, thereby, rendered earlier in spring, because the water, which rendered them cold, heavy, and untillable, is earlier removed, leaving them ear- lier in a growing condition. 11. Tke throwing mit of grain in winter is les- sened, because the water falling on the earth is im- mediately removed instead of remaining to throw up 194 CULTIVATION. the soil by freezing, as it always does, from the up- right position taken by the particles of ice. 12. We are enabled to work sooner after rains, because the water descends, and is immediately re- moved, instead of lying to be taken oif by the slow pro- cess of evaporation, and sinking through a heavy soil. 13. The effects of cold weather are kept off longer in the fall, by the removal of the excess of water which would produce an unfertile condition on the first appearance of cold weather. The drains also, from causes already named (3), keep the soil warmer than before being drained, thus actually lengthening the season, by making the soil warm enough for vegetable growth earlier in spring, and later in autumn. 14. Lands are prevented from hecoming sour hy the fcn'mation of acetic acid, etc., because these acids are produced in the soil only when organic matter decomposes in contact with an excessive quantity of water. If the water is removed, the decomposition of the organic matter assumes a healthy form, while the acids already produced are neutralized by atmos- pheric influences, and the soil is restored to a condi- tion in which it is fitted for the growth of the more valuable plants. 15. The decay of roots, etc., is allowed to proceed, because the preservative influence of too much water is removed. Wood, leaves, or other vegetable matter kept continually under water, will last for ages ; while, if exposed to the action of the weather, as in under-drained soils, they soon decay. CUL'nVATION. 195 The presence of too much water, by excluding the oxygen of the air, prevents tlie commimition of min- eral matters necessary to fertility. 16. The evaporation of water, and the cons^qnent cooling of the soil, is in a great measure prevented by draining the water out at the hotUm. of the soil, instead of leaving it to be dried off from the sur- face. When water assumes the gaseous (or vapory) form, it occupies nearly 2000 times the space it occupied as a liquid, and as tlie vapor is of the same temj^era- ture as the liquid, it follows that it contains vastly more heat. A large part of tliis heat is derived from surrounding substances. When water is sprink- led on the floor, it cools the room ; because, as it becomes a vapor, it takes heat from the room. Tlie reason why vapor does not feel hotter than liquid water is, that, its heat is diff'used through the larger mass, so that a cubic inch of vapor, into which we place the bulb of a thermometer, contains no more heat than a cubic inch of water. The principle is the same in some other cases. A sponge containing a tabk'- spoonful of water is just as wet as one twice as large containing two spoonfuls. If a wet cloth be placed on the head, and the evap- oration of its water assisted by ftinning, the head becomes cooler — a portion of its heat being taken to sustain the vapory condition of the water. The same principle holds true with the soil. When the evaporation of water is rapidly going on, by the assistance of the sun, wind, etc., a largo 196 CULTIVATION^. quantity of heat is abstracted, and the soil becomes cold. This cooling of the soil by the evaporation of water, is of very great injury to its power of pro- ducing crops, and the fact that under-drains lessen it, is one of the best arguments in favor of their use. Some idea may, perhaps, be formed of the amount of heat taken from the soil in this way, from the fact that, in midsummer, twenty-five hogsheads of water may be evaporated from a single acre in twelve hours, 17. When not saturated with water the soil ad- mits the water of rains, etc., which bring with them fertilizing gases from the atmosphere^ to be deposit- ed among the absorbent parts of the soil, and given up for the necessities of the plant. When this rain falls on lands already saturated, it cannot enter the soil, but must run off from the surface, or be re- moved by evaporation, either of which is injurious. The first, because fertilizing matter is washed away. The second, because the soil is deprived of necessary heat. 18.' The formation of crust on the surface of the soil is due to the evaporation of the water of the soil. It arises partly from the fact that the water in the soil is saturated with mineral substances, which it leaves at its point of evaporation at the surface. This soluble matter often forms a very hard crust, which is a complete shield to prevent the admission of air with its ameliorating effects, and should, as far as possible, be avoided. Under-draining is the best CDLTIVATIOX. IQ-J means of doing this, as it is the best means of lessen- ing the evaporation, and of preventing the puddling of the clay in the soil. The foregoing are some of the more important reasons whv nnder-draining is always henetieial. Thorough experiments liave amply proved the truth of the theory. " Land which requires draining is that wliieh, at some time during the year, (either from an accumu- lation of the rains which fall upon it, from the later- al flow or soakage from adjoining land, from sj)ring8 which open within it, or from a comi>inati<)n of two or all of these sources,) biecomes filled with water that does not readily find a natural outlet, but remains until removed by evaporation. Every con- siderable addition to its water wells up, and soaks its very surface ; and that which is added after it is already brim-full, must flow ofi" over the surface, or lie in puddles upon it. Evaporation is a slow process, and it becomes more and more slow as the level of the water recedes from the surftice, and is sheltered by the overlying earth from the action of sun and wind. Therefore, at least during the ])eriods of spring and fall preparation of the land, during the early growth of plants, and often even in mid- summer, the water-tahle,— the top of the water of saturation, — is within a few inches of the surface, preventing the natural descent of roots, and, by reason of the small space to receive fresh rains, caus- ing an interruption of work for some days after each storm. 198 CULTIVATION. " If such land is properly furnished with tile drains, (having a clear and sufficient outfall, offering suffi- cient means of entrance to the water which reaches them, and carrying it, by a uniform or increasing descent, to the outlet,) its water will be removed to nearly, or quite, the level of the floor of the drains, ' and its water-table will be at the distance of some feet from the surface, leaving tlie spaces between the particles of all the soil above it filled with air instead of water. The water below the drains stands at a level, like any other water that is dammed up. Rain-water falling upon the soil, will descend by its own weight to this level, and the water will rise into the drains, as it would flow over a dam, until the proper level is again obtained. Spring-water enter- ing from below, and water oozing from the adjoin- ing land, will be removed in like manner, and the usual condition of the soil, above the water-table, will be that which is best adapted to the growth of useful plants. " In the heaviest storms, some water will flow over the surface of even the dryest beach sand ; but in a well-drained soil the water of ordinary rains will be at once absorbed, will slowly descend toward the water- able, and will be removed by the drains so rapidly, even in heavy clays, as to leave the ground fit for cultivation, and in a condition for steady growth, within a short time after the rain ceases. It has been estimated that a drained soil has room between its particles for about one quarter of its bulk of water, that is, four inches of drained soil con- CULTTV'ATIOX. 199 tains free space enough to receive a rain-fall one inch in depth, and, by the same token, four feet of drained soil can receive twelve inches of rain,— more than is known to have ever fallen in twenty- four hours since the deluge, and more than one qiuir- ter of the annual rain-fall in the United States^ * Of the precise j^w/fe of under-draining this is not the place to speak : many of the agricultural papers contain numerous accounts of its success. It may be well to remark here, that many English farmers give it, as their experience, that under-drains on heavy clay lands in ordinary cultivation, pay for themselves every three years, or that they produce a perpetual profit of 33^ per cent., on their original cost. This is not the opinion of theorists and hook farmers. It is the conviction of practical men, who know,y>6wi experience^ that under-drains are bene- ficial. The best evidence of the utility of under-drain- ing is the position, with regard to it, which has been taken by the English national government, which affords much protection to the agricultural interests of the people, — a protection which in this country id unwisely and unjustly withheld. In England, a very large sum fi'om the public treasury has been appropriated as a fund for loans, on under-drains, which was lent to farmers for the purpose of under-draining their estates, the only security given being the increased value of the soil. The time allowed for payments was twenty years, * Draining for Profit and Health, p. 22. 200 CULTIVATION. and only five per cent, interest is charged. By the influence of this patronage, the actual wealth of the kingdom has been rapidly increased, while the fanners themselves can raise tlieir farms to the highest fertility, without immediate investment for draining. The best proof that the government has not acted injudiciously in this matter is, that private capitalists employ their money in the same manner, and loans on under-drains are considered a very safe invest- ment. One very important, though not strictly agricul- tural, eifect of thorough drainage is its removal of certain local diseases, peculiai' to the vicinity of marehy or low moist soils. The health-reports in several places in England, show that where femr mid ague was once common, it lias almost entirely dis- appeared since the general use of under-drains in those localities. CHAPTER lY. SUB-SOIL PLOWING. The svh-soil 'plow is an implement differing in figure from the surface plow. It does not turn a furrow, but merely runs through the sub-soil like a mole — loosening and making it finer by lifting, but allow- ing it to fall back and occupy its former place. It CULTIVATION. 201 usually follows the surface plow, entering the soil to the depth of from eight to fifteen inches below the bottom of the surface furrow. The best pattern now made (the steel sub-soil plow) is represented in the following figure. Fig. 6.— Wrought Iron and Steel Sub-soil Plow. The sub-soil plows fii*st made raised the whole soil about eight inches, and required ver}' great power in their use, often six or eight oxen. The implement shown in the figure, raising the soil but slightly, may be worked with much less power, and produces equally good results. It may be run to a good depth in most soils by a single yoke of oxen. The motion of any part of the soil which is efi'ected by this sub-soil plow is very slight, but it is exerted throughout the whole mass of the soil above the 9* 202 CULTIVATION. plow and for a considerable distance sideways tow- ard the surface. If the land is too wet, this motion will be injurious rather than beneficial, but if it is dry enough to crumble, it will be very much loosened. If we hold in the hand a ball of dry clay, and press it hard enough to produce the least motion among its particles, the whole mass becomes pulverized. On the same principle, the sub-soil plow renders the compact lower soil sufiiciently fine for the entrance of roots. Notwitlistanding its great benefits on land, which is sufiiciently dry, sub-soiling cannot be recommended for wet lands ; for, in such case, the rains of a single season would often be sufticient to entirely overcome its efiects by packing the sub-soil down to its former hardness. On lands not overcharged with water, it is produc- tive of the best results, it being often sufficient to turn the balance between a gaining and a losing business in farming. It increases nearly every effect of under-draining ; especially does it overcome drought, by loosening the soil, and admitting air to circulate among the particles of the sub-soil, and deposit its moisture, on the principle described in the chapter on under- draining. It deepens the surface-soil, because it admits roots into the sub-soil where they decay and leave carbon, while the circulation of air so affects the mineral parts, that they become of a fertile character. As a majority of roots decay in the surface-soil, they CULTIVATION. 203 there deposit much mineral matter obtained from the sub-soil, and thus render it richer. The retention of atmospheric manures is more fully insured by the better exposure of the clayey portions of the soil. The sub-soil often contains matters wliicli are defi- cient in the surface-soil. By the use of the sub-soil plow, they are rendered available. Sub-soiling is similar to under-draining in continu- ing the tillering of grasses. "When the sub-soil is a thin layer of clay on a sandy bed (as in many parts of the country), the Bub-soil plow, by passing through it, opens a passage for water, and often affords a sufficient drainage. If plants will grow better on a soil six inches deep than on one of three inches, there is no reason why they should not be benefited in proportion, by disturb- ing the soil to the whole depth to which roots will travel — even to a depth of two feet. The minute rootlets of corn and most other plants will, if allow- ed by cultivation, occupy the soil to a greater depth than this, having a fibre in nearly every cubic inch of the soil for the whole distance. There are very few cultivated plants whose roots would not travel to a depth of thirty inches or more. Even the onion sends its roots to the depth of eighteen inches when the soil is well cultivated. The object of loosening the soil is to admit roots to a sufficient depth to hold the plant in its position, — to obtain the nutriment necessary to its growth, — to receive moisture from the lower portions of the 204 CULTIVATION. soil, — and, if it be a bulb, tuber, or tap, to assume the form requisite for its largest development. It must be evident that roots, penetrating the soil to a depth of two feet, anchor the plant with greater stability than those which are spread more thinly near the surface. The roots of plants traversing the soil to such great distances, and being located in nearly every part, absorb mineral and other food, in solution in water, only through the spongioles at their ends. Consequently, by having these ends in every part of the soil, it is all brought under contribution, and the amount supplied is greater, while the demand on any particular part may be less than when the whole re- quirements of plants have to be supplied from a depth of a few inches. The ability of roots to assume a natural shape in the soil, and grow to their largest size, mnst depend on the condition of the soil. If it is finely pulverized to the whole depth to which they ought to go, they will be fully developed ; while, if the soil be too hard for penetration, they will be deformed or small. Thus a parsnip may grow to the length of two and a half feet, and be of perfect shape, while, if it meet in its course, at a depth of eight or ten inches, a cold, hard Bub-soil, its growth must be arrested, or its form in- jured. Roots are turned aside by a hard or wet sub-soil, as they would be if received by the sm-face of a plate of glass. Add to this the fact that cold, impenetrable sub- CULTIVATION. 2()5 soils are chemicany uncongenial to vegetation, and we have sufficient evidence of the importance, and in many cases the absolute necessity of sub-soilinc and under-draininsr. ^^ It is unnecessary to urge the fact that a garden soil of two feet is more productive than a field soil of six inches; and it is certain tliat proj)er attention to these two modes of cuhivation will in a majority of cases make a garden of the held— more than doul>- ling its value in ease of working, increased produce, certain security against drought, and more even distri- bution of the demands on the soil— while the outlay will be largely repaid by an immediate increase of crops. The sub-soil will be much improved in its charac- ter the first year, and a continual advancement ren- ders it in time equal to the original surface-soil, and extending to a depth of two feet or more. The sub-soil plow has come into very general use. The implement has ceased to be a curiosity ; and the man who now objects to its use, may be classed with hifn who shells his corn on a shovel over a half-bush- el, instead of employing an improved machine, which will enable him to do more in a day than he can do in the " good old way " in a week. In no case wiU the use of the sub-soil plow be found anything but satisfactory, except in occasional in- stances where there is some chemical difficulty in the sub-soil, which will be overcome by a year or two of exposure — and even such cases are extremely rare. As was before stated, its use on wet lauds is not 203 , CULTIVATION. advisable until they have been under-drained, as excess of water prevents its effects from being per- manent. CHAPTER V. PLOWING AND OTHER PROCESSES FOB PULVERIZING THE SOIL. The advantages of pulverizing the soil, and the reasons why it is necessary, have been sufficiently explained to need no further remark. Few farmers, when they plow, dig, or harrow, are enabled to give substantial reasons for the operation. If they will re- flect on what has been said in the preceding chapters, concerning the supply of mineral food to the plant by the soil, and the effect of air and moisture about the roots, they will find more satisfaction in their labor. PLOWING. The kind of plow used in cultivating the surface- soil, must be decided by the kind of soil. This question the practical, observing farmer will be able to solve. As a general rule, it may be stated that the plow which runs the deepest^ with the same amount of CULTIVATION. 207 force, is the best, but this rule is not without its exceptions. The advantages of deep plmmng cannot be too strongly urged. The statement that the deeper and the finer the soil is rendered, the more productive it will become, is in every respect true, and no single instance will contradict it. It must not be inferred from this, that we would advise a farmer, who has always plowed his soil to the depth of only six inches, to double the depth at once. Such a practice in some soils would be highly injurious, as it would completely bury the more fer- tile and better cultivated soil, and bring to the top one which contains no organic matter, and has never been subject to atmospheric influences. This would, perhaps, be so little fitted for vegetation that it would scarcely sustain plants until their roots could reach the more fertile parts below. Such treatment of the soil ( turning it upside down ) is excellent in garden culture, where the great amount of manures applied is suflBcient to overcome the temporary bar- renness of the soil, but it is not to be recommended for all fi^ld cultivation, where much less manure is employed. The coui-se to be pursued in such cases is to plow a little deeper each year. By this means the soil may be gradually deepened to any desired extent. The amount of uncongenial soil which will thus be brought up, is slight, and will not interfere at all with the fertility of the soil, while the elevated poi^ 208 CULTIVATION. tion will become, in a single year, so altered by ex- posure, that it will equal the rest of the soil in fertility. Often where lime has been used in excess, it has sunk to the sub-soil, where it remains inactive. A slight deepening of the surface plowing would mix this lime with the surface-soil, and render it again useful. When the soil is light and sandy, resting on a heavy clay sub-soil, or clay on sand, tlie bringing up of the mass from below will improve the texture of the upper parts. As an instance of the success of deep plowing, we call to mind the case of a farmer in New Jersey, who had a field which had yielded about twenty-five bushels of corn per acre. It had been cultivated at ordinary depths. After laying it out in eight-step lands (24 feet,) he plowed it at all depths from five to ten inches on the different lands, and sowed oats evenly over the whole field. The cj'op on the five inch soil was very poor, on the six inch rather better, on the seven inch better still, and on the ten inch soil it was as fine as ever grew in New Jersey ; it had stiff" straw and broad leaves, while the grain was also much better than on the remainder of the field. There is an old anecdote of a man who died, leav- ing his sous with the information that he had buried a pot of gold for them, somewhere on the farm. They commenced digging for the gold, and dug over the whole farm to a great depth without finding the CULTIVATION. 209 gold. The digging, however, so enriched the soil that they were fully compensated for tlieir disap- pointment, and became wealthy from the increased produce of their farm. Farmers will find, on experiment, that they have gold buried in their soil, if they will but dig deep enough to obtain it. The law gives a man the own- ership of the soil for an indefinite distance from the surface, but few seem to realize that there is another fai^m below the one they are cultivating, which ia quite as valuable as the one on the surface, if it were but properly worked. FaU j>lowi7ig, especially for heavy lands, is the best means of securing the action of the froets of winter to pulverize the soil. If it be a stiff* clay, it will be well to throw the up-soil in high ridges (by ridging and back-furrowing,) so as to expose the largest possible amount of surface to the freezing and thawing of winter. This, with the rotting of the sod, (which is thus made ready for the feeding of plants,) makes the eflfects of tall plowing almost universally beneficial. The earlier the plowing ia done, the more thoroughly the sod is rotted and pre- pared for the nutrition of the crop of the next year. The great improvement of the age in the mechan- ical branch of agriculture, has been made in England, dm-ing the past ten or twelve years, in the application of the stetun-engine to the work of cultivating the soil. It would be beyond the scope of a simple elementary book like this to enter fully into a de- scription of the machinery by which this work is 210 CULTIVATION. done, and the method of its operation ; but it is worthy of remark, that there are now in use in England about 500 sets of the apparatus, and that the system has been in successful operation there for about a dozen years. A single engine (of 14 horse power) moves to the field on its own wheels, carrying the tackle with it, and plows an acre an hour with ease, or draws a deep cultivator through from three to five acres in an hour. The engine stands on one head- land, and a pulley-wheel on the other, an endless steel wire rope passes around a windlass under the engine, and around the pulley opposite. The gang of plows, or the wide cultivator, is di'awn back and forth be- tween the two. THE HARROW AND CULTIVATOE. The harrow, an implement largely used in all parts of the world, to pulverize the soil, and break clods, has become so firmly rooted in the afiections of farmers, that it must be a very long time before they can be convinced that it is not the best imple- ment for the use to which it is devoted. It is true that it pulverizes the soil for a depth of two or three inches, and thus much improves its appearance, bene- fiting it, without doubt, for the earliest stages of the growth of plants. Its action, however, is very defec- tive, because, from the wedge shape of its teeth, it continually acts to pack the soil ; thus — although favorable for the germination of the seed — it is not calculated to benefit the plant during the later stages CULTIVATION. 211 of its growth, when the roots require the soil to be pulverized to a considerable depth. The cultivator may be considered an improved harrow^ the principal difference between them being, that while the teeth of the harrow are pointed at tlie lower end, those of the cultivator are shaped like a small double plow, being large at the bottom and growing smaller toward the top. They lift the earth up, instead of pressing it downward, thus loosening instead of compacting the soil. Many styles of cultivators are now sold at agri- cultural warehouses. A very good one, for field use, may be made by substituting the cultivator teeth for the spikes in an old harrow frame. CHAPTER YI. ROLLING, MULCHING, WEEDING, ETC. KOLLINO. Rolling the soil with a large roller, drawn by a team, is in many instances a good accessory to cul- tivation. By its means, the following results are ob- tained : — 1. The soil at the surface is pulverized without the compacting of the lower parts, the area of contact being large. 212 CULTIVATION. 2. Tlie stones on the land are pressed down so as to be out of the way of the mowing machine. 3. The soil is compacted around seeds after sow- ing in such a manner as to exclude light and to toxLch them in every part, both of which are of essential advantage in their germination, and assist in giving them a good start. 4. When the soil is smoothed in this maimer, there is less surface exposed for the evaporation of water with its cooling effect. 5. Light sandy lands, by being rolled in the fall, are rendered more compact, and the loosening effects of frequent freezing and thawing are lessened. 6. The most important use of the roller is in com- pacting the earth about the roots of grass and grain crops early in the spring. The freezing and thaw- ing of winter leave them usually partly uncovered, or surrounded by air spaces. Their best growth re- quires that these roots be closely pressed by the earth, — and this pressure is given by the roller better than in any other way. If well under-drained^ a large majority of soils wouldnioubtless be benefited by a judicious use of the roller.^ MULCHING. Mulching consists in covering the soil with salt hay, litter, seaweed, leaves, spent tanbark, chips, or other refuse matter. Every farmer must have noticed that, if a board or * Field rollers should be made in sections, for ease of turning. CULTIVATION. 213 rail, or an old brnsh-heap, be removed in spring from soil where grass is growing, the grass afterward grows in those places much larger and better than in other parts of the field. This improvement arises from various causes. 1. The evaporation of water IT-om tlie soil is pre- vented during drought by the shade afforded by the mulch ; and it is therefore kept in better condition, as to moisture and temperature, than when evapora- tion goes on more freely. This condition is well cal- culated to advance the chemical changes necessary to prepare the matters — both organic and mineral — in the soil for the use of plants. 2. A heavy mulch breaks the force of rains, and prevents them from compacting the soil, as would be the result were no such precaution taken, 3. Mulching protects the surface-soil from freez- ing as readily as when exposed, and thus keeps it longer open for the admission of air and moisture. When unprotected, the soil early becomes frozen ; and all water falling, instead of entering, as it should do, passes oiF over the surface. 5. The throwing out of winter grain is often pre- vented, because this is due to the frequent freezing and thawing of the surface-soil. 6. When the wet surface-soil freezes, it is raised up, and the young plants growing in it are raised with it ; when the frost is thawed out, the soil tails back to its original position, while parts of the crowns or roots of the crop remain raised. The next freeze takes hold of them lower down, and lifts them again ; 214 CULTIVATION. the next thaw leaves them higher than ever, — until in spring, sometimes, the crown of a shoot of wheat will be standing several inches above the level of the soil. The use of a mulch prevents both the freezing and the thawing from being so frequent and active as they would be if no protection were used. 7, It also prevents the " baking " of the soil, or the formation of a crust. Nursery-men often keep the soil about the roots of young trees mulched continually. One of the chief arguments for this treatment is, that it prevents the removal of the moisture from the soil and the conse- quent loss of heat. Also that it keeps up a full sup- ply of water for the uses of the roots, because it keeps the surface of the soil cool, and causes a deposit of dew. It has been suggested, and is undoubtedly true, that a mulch on the ground, by affording a good shelter for minute (microscopic) insects, causes them to accumu- late in such quantities as to add (by their eggs, their excrement, and their dead bodies) to the fertilizing matter in' the soil. How important this addition may be, we cannot of course know, but it is certain that mulching exercises greater good effect than can reasonably be attributed, in the present state of our knowledge, to any or all of the above described actions. It is the opinion of many, that at least one-half of the beneficial effect of seaweed, or coarse stable ma- nure, when used as a top dressing, is due to its action as a mulch. It is a good plan to sow oats very thinly over land intended for winter fallow, after the removal of crops, CULTIVATION. 215 as they wiU grow a little before being killed bv the fro8t, when they will fall down, thus affording a" very beneficial mulch to the soil. When farmers spread coarse manure on their fields in the fall to be plowed under in the spring, they ben- efit the land by the mulching, perhaps as much as by the addition of fertilizing matter, because they give it the protecting influence of the straw, etc. It is an old and true saying that " snow is the poor man's manure." One reason why it is so bene- ficial is, that it acts as a most excellent mulch. It contains no more ammonia than rain-water does • and, were it not for the fact that it protects the soil against loss of heat, and produces other l)enefit8 of mulching, it would have no more advantageous effect. The severity of the winters at the North is largely compensated for by the long duration of snow. It is well known that when there is but little snow in cold countries, wheat is very liable to be winter killed. An evenly spread mulch, and thorough draining, will greatly prevent this. This treatment is peculiarly applicable to the cul- tivation of flowers, both in pots and in beds out of doors. It is almost indispensable to the profitable production of strawberries, and many other garden crops, such as asparagus, rhubarb, etc. An excel- lent treatment for newly transplanted trees, is to put stones about their roots. A good mulching^ by the use of leaves, copying the action of nature in forests, has nearly as good an efllect ; for it is chiefly as a mnlch that the stones are beneficial. 216 CULTIVATION. WEEDING. If a farmer were asked — what is the use of weeds ? he might make out quite a list of their benefits, among which might be some of the following : — 1. Thej shade tender plants, and in a measure serve as a mulch to the ground. 2. Some weeds, by their offensive odor, di'ive away many insects. 3. They may serve as a green crop to be plowed into the soil, and increase its organic matter. 4. They make us stir the soil, and thus increase its fertility. Still, while thinking out these excuses for weeds (all but the last of which are very feeble ones), he would see other and more urgent reasons why they should not be allowed to grow. 1. They occupy the soil to the disadvantage of crops. 2. They exclude light and heat from cultivated plants, and thus interfere with their growth. 3. They take up mineral and other matters fi'om the soil j and hold them during the growing season, thus depriving crops of their use. It is not necessary to argue the injury done by weeds. Every farmer is well convinced that they should be destroyed, and the best means of accom- plishing this is of the greatest importance. In the first place, we should protect ourselves against their increase. This may be done (in a measure) : — By decomposing all manures in compost, whereby CULTIVATION. 217 many of the seeds contained will be killed by the neat of fermentation. By hoeing, or otherwise destroying growing weeda betore they mature their seeds ; and By keeping the soil in the best chemical condition This last point is one of much importance It is well known that soils deficient in potash will naturally produce one kind of plants, while soils deficient in phosphoric acid will produce plants of another species, etc. Many soils produce certain weeds which would not grow on them spontaneously if they were fitted for the growth of better plants. It is also believed that those weeds, which naturally grow on the most fertile soils, are the ones most easily destroyed. There are exceptions (of which the Thistle is one), but this is given as a general rule. By careful attention to the foregoing points, weeds may be kept from increasing, while those already in the soil may be eradicated in various ways, chiefly by mechanical means, such as hoeing, plowing, etc. Prof. Mapes used to say, and experience often shows, that six bushels of salt annually sown broad- cast over each acre of land, will destroy very many weeds, as well as grubs and worms. The common hoe is a very imperfect tool for the purpose of removing weeds, as it prepares a better soil for, and replants in a position to grow, nearly as many weeds as it destroj's. The 8cuffie-hoe (or push-hoe) is much more effec- tive, as, when worked by a man walking backward, 10 218 CULTIVATION. and retiring as lie works, it leaves nearly all of the weeds on the surface of the soil to be killed by the sun. When used in this way, the earth is not trodden on after being hoed — as is the case when the common hoe is employed. This treading, besides compacting the soil, covers the roots of many weeds, and causes them to grow again. The scuffle-hoe, however, except in very light soil, will not run so deeply as it is often desirable to loosen it, and must, in such cases, be superseded by ihe prong-hoe (or potato-hook), which is a capital sub- stitute for the common hoe in nearly all cases. Much of the labor of weeding usually performed by men, might be more cheaply done by horses. There are various implements for this purpose, some of which have come into very general use. One of the best of these is the Langdon Horse Hoe^ which is a shovel-shaped plow, to be run one or two inches deep. It has a wing on each side to prevent the earth from falling on to the plants in the rows. At the rear, or upper edge, is a kind of rake or comb, which allows the earth to pass through, while the weeds pass over the comb and fall on the surface of the soil, to be killed by the heat of the sun. It is a simple and cheap tool, and will perform the work of twenty men with hoes. The hand hoe will be necessary only in the rows. CULTIVATOBS. The cultivator^ which was described in the pre- ceding chapter, and of which there are various pat- CCLTIVATKJN. 219 terns in use, is excellent for weeding and for loosen- ing the soil between the rows of corn, etc. The one called the universal cultivator, having its Bide bars made of iron, curved so that at whatever dis- tance it is placed the teeth will point straight for- ward^ is a much better tool than those of the older patteriis, which had the teeth so arranged that when set for wide rows, they pointed toward the clevis. It is difficult to keep such a cultivator in its place, while the " universal " is as difficult to move out of a straight line. DIPKOVED HORSE-UOE. The improved (or Knox's) horsehoe, is a combina- tion of the "Langdon " horse-hoe and the cultivator, and is the best Tmplement, for many purposes, that has yet been made. , . t>i j An excellent tool, called a Muller, is used in Rhode 220 CULTIVATION. Island. It consists of a stick of heavy wood, five or six feet long and about three inches bj six inches in size, drawn by fastening one trace to each end, having stilts or handles rising from the upper side, and two rows of sharpened iron teeth six inches long on the under side — the front row of teeth point forward, and the rear row backward. It is a " horse-rake" for the ground, and leaves it as fine as a hand-rake would, while it works it much more deeply. One of the best cultivators that it is possible to use between rows of com — or other plants — is a small sub-soil plow of the kind shown on p. 201, drawn by one horse, and running five or six inches deep. It mellows the land deeply and thoroughly. There is much truth in the following proverbs : " A garden that is well kept, is kept easily." " You must conquer weeds, or weeds will conquer you." "The best time to kill weeds is before they come up." * It is almost impossible to give a recapitulation of the matters treated in this section, as it is, itself, but an outline of subjects which might occupy our whole book. The scholar and the farmer should understand every principle which it contains as well as they un- derstand the multiplication table ; and their applica- tion will be found, in every instance, to produce the best results. CULTTVATION. 221 The two great rules of mechanical cultivation are — Thorough mfDER-DKAiNiNo. Deep and frequent disturbance of the boil. SECTION FIFTH. ANALYSIS. SECTION FIFTH. ANALYSIS. CHAPTER I. At the time when this book was first written, in 1853, it was the very general opinion of scientific, and of many practical, men, that it was within the power of the chemist, by separating the diflerent parts of the soil, weighing each, to determine wheth- er the soil were fertile or barren ; how long it might continue fertile without the use of manure ; what manures were best suited to restoring or preserving its fertility ; and what class of plants it was best fit- ted to produce. In this belief, these pages were devoted, very large- ly, to showing the farmer how he could best regulate his operations in the hght of such teachings as soil analysis gives. As is often the case in the adoption of new discoT- eries, a further acquaintance with the subject showed 10* 226 ANALYSIS. that, so far as the processes of practical agriculture are concerned, soil analysis is of but little, if any, value. True, the amount of potash, for instance, which is contained in the soil, may be determined with great precision, and it seemed, at first, that tliis sort of knowledge was enough for practical use ; but further research and reasoning have shown that the question of quantity is of no more consequence than the question of condition. Of the potash in the soil only the yw^ or the 3-oVjr P^^^ is available to the plants of a single year's growth ; — why the other 99, or 999 parts are not available, and how they may be made so, the soil analysis, from which so much was hoped for, does not tell us. The causes of fertility and barrenness lie beyond the reach of weight and measure, and it is an unfor- tunate truth that, aside from a very simple indica- tion of the internal character of our soils, the science of chemistry can only help us in studying their char- acter when we follow it through the by-ways of its more subtle reasoning. Much of what is known of the manner in which the soil gives nutriment to the plant has been learned from the bringing together of the results of many experiments, — studying them by the light of what chemistry has positively taught. This knowledge is of great value, and is sufficient to form the foundation of a really scientific agricul- ture ; but there is no doubt that much more is yet to be learned, and that we are still very far from know- ing all that we must know of the use of manures, the functions of the soil, and the growth of plants. ANALYSIS. 227 Wliile waiting for its further instruction, let us make the best possible use of what chemistry now teaches with certainty, in the analysis of the ashes of plants, and of manures. Practice and science have combined to show us how all soils may be raised to a high, possibly to the highest, state of fertility, and a knowledge of the composition of crops and manures shows how we may best maintain its good condition. The one safe rule for all farmers to adopt is the following : — Always return in the earthy coNSTrruKNTS ok manure the full equivalent of the earthy oon- btituents of the crop. This will prevent the soil from deteriorating, and we may safely trust to the process of cultivation, and to the action of atmospheric influences, to make it yearly better, by developing fresh supplies of its ash- forming parts. 228 ANALYSIS. CHAPTEK II. TABLES OF ANALYSIS. AITALYSES OF THE ASHES OF CKOPS. No. I. Wheat. Wheat Straw. Eye. Rye Straw. Ashes in 1000 dry parts Silica (sand) Lime Magnesia Peroxide of Iron Potash Soda Chlorine Sulphuric Acid Phosphoric Acid 20 16 28 120 7 231 91 3 498 60 654 67 33 13 124 ^ 2 11 58 31 24 5 50 104 14 221 116 10 496 40 645 91 24 14 174 3 6 8 88 No. n. Com. Com Stalks. Barley. Barley Straw. Ashes in 1000 dry parts 15 44 28 61 Silica {sand) 15 15 162 3 261 63 2 23 449 270 86 66 8 96 277 20 6 171 271 26 76 16 136 81 1 1 889 706 Lime 95 Magnesia Peroxide of Iron Oxide of Manganese 32 7 1 Potash 62 Soda 6 Chlorine 10 Sulphuric Acid 16 Phosphoric Acid 31 ANALYSIS. 229 No. III. Ashes in 1000 dry parts. Silica (sawd) Lime Magnesia Peroxide of Iron Potash Soda Chlorine Sulphuric Acid Phosphoric Acid Organic Matter O&ts. 20 7 60 99 4 I 262 I 3 104 438 Omt Straw. 61 484 81 38 18 191 97 82 33 27 Back WhMt. 21 7 67 104 11 87 201 22 600 Po- tatoea. 90 42 21 63 6 657 19 43 137 126 750 Water. No. rv. Peaa. Bean*. Tnmlpi, Tnmlp Tops. Ashes in 1000 dry parts 25 27 76 170 Silica {sand) 5 63 86 10 361 91 23 44 383 12 68 80 6 336 106 7 10 378 71 128 48 9 898 108 37 131 67 870 Water. 8 Lime 2S3 Magnesia 81 Peroxide of Iron 8 Potash 386 Soda 54 Chlorine 160 Sulphuric Acid 126 Phosphoric Acid 93 Organic Matter 230 ANALYSIS. No. V. Flax. Linseed. Meadow Hay. Red Clover. Ashes in 1000 dry parts 50 46 60 75 Silica (sanrf) 257 37? 148 44 36? 117 118 29 32 130 75 83 146 9 240 45 2 23 865 344 196 78 7 236 19 28 29 58 48 Alurniiia (clay) Lime 871 46 Peroxide of Iron 2 Potash 267 Soda 71 Chlorine 48 Sulphuric Acid 60 Phosphoric Acid 88 No. VL Amount of Inorganic Matter removed from the soil by ten bushels of grains, etc., and by the straw, etc., required in their productioa . — estimated in pounds : Potash Soda Lime Magnesia Oxide of Iron Sulphuric Acid. . . Phosphoric Acid . . Chlorine Silica Pounds carried off. Wheat. 1200 lbs. Wheat Straw. 2.80 1.04 .34 1.46 .08 .03 6.01 .14 12 8.97 .12 4.84 2.76 .94 4.20 2.22 .79 47.16 72 Eye. 2.51 1.33 .56 1.18 .15 .11 6.64 .05 Hi 1620 lbs. Rye Straw. 11.34 .20 5.91 1.58 .88 .05 2.49 .30 42.25 66 ANALYSIS. 231 No. VIL Potash Soda Lime Magnesia , Oxide of Iron .... Sulphuric Acid. . . Pliosphoric Acid. . Chlorine Silica Pounds carried oflf. Corn. 2.78 .12 1.52 4.52 .06 1C20 lbs. Corn BUIka. 6.84 1».83 6.02 4.74 .57 .36 12.15 1.33 19.16 1.69 .39 .64 .02 .66 2.80 .02 .18 700 lU. Oat Straw. 1208 3.39 1.69 .78 1.41 1.07 1.36 20.32 71 6i 43 No. VIIL Buck Wheat BarUy. 600 bbls. Barley Straw. MflOlba. Flax. Potash 1.01 2.13 .78 1.20 .14 .25 5.40 .09 1.90 1.18 .96 1.00 .20 .01 5.35 .01 3.90 2.57 .23 8.88 1.31 .90 .66 1.25 .40 28.80 11 78 Soda 11.82 Lime 1I.H5 Magnesia 933 Oxide of Iron 7.82 Sulphuric Acid ^ 3.19 I'hosphoric Acid 13.05 Chlorine 2.90 Silica 25.71 Pounds carried off 11 14 40 100 232 ANALYSIS. No. IX, Beans. 1120 lbs. Bean Straw. Field Peas. 1866 lbs. Pea Straw. Potash 6.54 1.83 98.98 .28 .10 .16 7.80 .13 .18 36.28 1.09 13.60 4.55 .20 .64 5.00 1.74 4.90 5.90 1.40 .81 1.30 .15 .64 5.50 .23 .7 3.78 Soda. Lime 43.93 Magnesia 6.50 Oxide of Iron 1.40 Sulphuric Acid 6.43 Phosphoric Acid 8.86 Chlorine .08 Silica 16.02 Pounds carried off 17 68 16 80 No. X. ITon Turnips. 635 lbs. Turnip Tops. ITon Potatoes. 2000 lbs. Red Clover. Potash 7.14 .86 2.31 .91 .23 2.30 1.29 .61 1.36 4.34 .84 3.61 .48 .13 1.81 1.31 2.35 .13 27.82 .93 1.03 2.63 .26 6.81 6.25 2.13 2.14 31.41 Soda 8.34 Lime 43.77 Magnesia 6.25 Oxide of Iron .23 Sulphuric Acid 7.05 Phosphoric Acid 10.28 Chlorine 5.86 Sihca . . 5.81 Pounds carried off 17 16 60 118 ANALYSIS. 988 No. XL Potash Soda Lime Magnesia Oxide of Iron .... Sulphuric Acid. . . Phosphoric Acid . , Chlorine SUica % Pounds carried oflF. MOO lb*. , 9000 Ibt. Mewlow Ckbbum. H»jr. WaUr f-lO 18.11 1.36 22.95 6.75 1.69 2.70 5.97 2.59 37.89 100 5.25 9.20 9.45 2.70 .25 9.60 5.60 2.60 .35 45 No. xn. Composition of Ashes, leached and unleached, showing their manurial value : Potash Soda Lime Magnesia Oxide of Iron... Sulphuric Acid. . Phosphoric Acid Chlorine Oak anle«cbed. 84 56 750 45 6 12 35 Oak leached. Beech anleached. 548 6 Beech leached. 158 29 634 US 8 14 81 i 426 70 15 57 234 ANALYSE. No. xin. Potash Soda Lime Magnesia Oxide of Iron. . Sulphuric Acid. Phosphoric Acid Chlorine Birch Seaweed leached. unleached. 180 210 522 94 30 99 6 3 248 43 52 98 Bitumin- ous Ck>al unleached. 21 2 40 9 2 1 No. XIV. TOBACCO. Analysis of the ash of the Plant [Will & Fresenius] — Potash 19,55 Soda 0.27 Magnesia 1 1.07 Lime 48.68 Phosphoric Acid 3.66 Sulphuric Acid 3. 29 Oxide of Iron 2.99 Chloride of Sodium 3.54 Loss 6.95 100.00 Analysis of the ash of the Root [Berthier] — Soluble Matter 12.3 Insoluble Matter 87.7 The Soluble parts consist of nearly — Carbonic Acid 10.0 Sulphuric Acid 10.3 Muriatic Acid (Chlorine, &c.) 18.26 Potash and Soda 61.44 100.00 ANALYSIS. 23; a p«5lOlp>pTr^cc3C3e^o>ws•^la«w^-o•;» do.^ 'S ^■5 2 I 50^ j= o <~ « «- ® -? « 2 * c -r ® 2 a " "Sir CD 0) b B d O 0^ ,_^ a> o o 1-3—3 IE s I .5 ^^ ?■« "o •c a e £ 09° £.0 a, o o ■3 2 2 S a 3 J 15 gS « I 2 <_ ^ .5 ^ S -2 A o ^tA o ^ <; <- s s^ * B 2 ® 2 ^•r « c 5 2 g , r I, g I "fi. § a- ^ s 5 «6 "a ■= 3 236 ANALYSIS. i. IS. i.a S ® 03 _ u 3 a 00C0IO00(N<>-«O'* «OeOOO>-000^~'* rHi-iMi-lrJIe^r-li-t I:- CO CO CO >. 0] P^ =>.s pO 3 ^1 t-OOlOeq-rJttOTjl oo©oo««e«oo^oi 001— jc-»t-0f5»iO ■«ltc0MTf-^a0Tl<(N«O^i-H r-H rH 1-1 rt (M 3§ si ■o a . 13 O Or-»ffloO«oeD<-a U3 a> >A CO 3 a c 2 ©i:-ooeo>oOOinoo O^OJNOs^Tj) -)< <»lOTplO®T). - fl GO Potatoes Turnips Carrots Mangold Meadow Clover H Pea Stra Rye IStra Corn Sta 100 lbs. 100 lbs. r; es c8 >.^ 3 a) 01 AHAiYSIS. 98T No. xvn. ^"°r!j 1,^^ ^'^ ^^" *"^°» ^^ ^^ °f ^"J""" Pl'^^*. o^ii"-- its straw 60 Wheat Barlej Oats Rye Indian Com Pea Bean Meadow Hay Clover " Rye Grass " Potato Turnip Carrot 20 30 40 20 15 80 SO 50 90 95 8 5 15 60 SO 40 60 60 to 100 to 15 to 8 to 20 No. xvm. MANURES. HORSE UAXUBS. Solid Dung — Combustible Matter ig.gg -Ash 3 07 Water 77,25 Composition of the Ash — 10.000 Silica 62 40 Potash 11.80 Soda 1.98 Oxide of Iron 1.17 Lime 4 63 Magnesia 3.84 Oxide of Manganese 2.13 Phosphoric Acid 10.49 Sulphuric Acid 1.89 Chlorine 0.1 Loss 0.14 100.00 238 AlfALYSIS. No. XIX. NIGHT SOIL. Solid (Ash) - Earthy Phosphates, and a trace of Sulphate of Lime 100 Sulphate of Soda and Potash, and Phosphate of Soda 8 Carbonate of Soda 8 Silica 16 Charcoal and Loss 18 160 Urine — Urea* 30.10 Uric Acid 1.00 Sal Ammoniac* 1.60 Lactic Acid, etc. 17.14 Mucus 32 Sulphate of Potash 3.71 Sulphate of Soda 3.16 Phosphate of Ammonia* 1.65 Earthy Phosphates 3.94 Salt (Chloride of Sodium) : 4.46 Silica 0.03 67.00 Water 983.00 * Supply Ammonia. 1000.00 No. XX- cow HANUBE. Solid (Ash)— Phosphates 20.9 Peroxide of Iron 8.8 Lime 1.5 Sulphate of Lime (Plaster'^ 3.1 Chloride of Potassium trace Silica 63.7 2.0 100.0 ANALYSIS. 289 No. XXI. OOMPABATTVE VALUB Or THK URINB OF DirrBRKKT AVDULS. Solid Matter. Organic. Inorgaoia ToUL Man 23.4 7.6 g^ Horse 27. S3. 60 C!ow 50. 20. 70 Pig 56. 18. 14 Sheep 28. 12. 40 No. XXII. GUAKO. "Water 6.40 Ammonia 2.71 Uric Acid 34 70 Oxalic Acid, etc '26.79 Fixed Alkaline Salts. Sulphate of Soda 2.94 Phosphate of Soda 48 Chloride of Sodium (salt) 86 Earthy Salts, Carbonate of Lime 1.36 Phosphates 19.24 Foreign Matter. Silicious grit and sand i'>'i 100.00 Composition of Fresh Farm-yard Manure, (composed of Horse, Pig, and Cow Dung, about 14 days old). Analysis made Nov. 3d, 1854, by Dr. Augustus Voelcker, Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Ag- ricultural College, Cirencester, England : "Water **•" Soluble Organic Matter *•** * Soluble Inorganic Matter (Ash) — Soluble Silica (silicic acid) *37 Phosphate of Lime 2^® Lime ^ Magnesia "" Potash »'* * Containing Nitrogen ''*• Equal to Ammonia -^'^ 240 ANALYSIS. Chloride of Sodium 030 Carbonic Acid and loss 218 1.64 ♦Insoluble Organic Matter 25.76 Insoluble Inorganic Matter ( Ash) — Soluble Silica ( .,. . . , ) 967 Insoluble Silica \ «'''*='« ^'^ [ 561 Oxide of Iron, Alumina, with Phosphates 596 (Containing Phosphoric Acid, .178) (Equal to bone earth, .386) Lime 1.120 Magnesia 143 Potash 099 Soda 019 Sulphuric Acid 061 Carbonic Acid and loss 484 4.06 100.00 According to this analysis one ton (2,000 lbs.) Farm-yard Manure con- tains — Soluble Silica (silicic acid) 24 lbs. Ammonia (actual or potential) 15| Phosphate of Lime 13^o Lime 23^0 Magnesia. 3f(, Potash 13j Soda n Common Salt ^o Sulphuric Acid 2^ Water 1328| Woody Fibre, etc 579 Of course no two samples of Farm-yard Manure are exactly of the same composition. Tliat analyzed by Dr. Voelcker was selected with much care, as representing a fair average. GREEK SAND UARL (OF KEW JERSEY). Protoxide of Iron 15.5 Alumina 6.9 Lime 5.3 Magnesia 1.6 Potash 4.8 * Containing Nitrogen 494 Equal to Ammonia .599 The whole Manure contains Ammonia in a free state 034 " • " " "in the form of salts 088 ANALYSIS. 241 Soluble Silica 82.4 Insoluble Silica and Sand 19.8 Sulphuric Acid 6 Phosplioric Acid 1.3 "Water 8.0 Carbonic Acid, etc 3.3 100.0 This is an average of three analyses copied from Prof. Geo. H. Cook s report of the Geology of New Jersey. According to tbia estioiate one ton (2000 lbs.) of Green Sand Marl contains — Lime 106 lbs. Magnesia 32 " Potash 96 " Soluble Silicic Acid 648 " Sulphuric Acid 12 " Phosphoric Acid 26 " (Equal to Phosphate of Lime 66^ lbs.) For the analysis of fertile and barren soils, see page 63. 11 THE PRACTICAL FARMER. THE PRACTICAL FARMER. Who is the practical farmer ? Let us look at two pictures and decide. Here is a farm of 100 acres iu ordinary condition. It is owned and tilled by a hard-working man, who, in the busy season, employs one or two assistants. The farm is free from debt, but it does not produce an abundant income; therefore, its owner cannot afford to purchase the best implements or make other needed improvements ; besides, he don't believe in such things. His father was a good solid fanner; so was his grandfather; and so is he, or he thinks he is. He is satisfied that " the good old way " is best, and he sticks to it. He works from morning till night ; from spring till fall. In tlie winter he 7'ests^ as much as his lessened duties will allow. During this time, he reads little, or nothing. Least of all does he read about farming. He don't want to learn how to dig potatoes out of a book. Book farming is nonsense. Many other similar ideas keep him from agricultural reading. His house is comfortable, and his barns are quite as good as his 246 THE PRACTICAL FAliMER. neiglibors', while his farm gives him a living. It is true that his soil does not produce as much as it did ten years ago ; but prices are better, and he is satisfied. Let us look at his premises, and see how his affairs are managed. First, examine the land. Well, it is good fair land. Some of it is a little springy, but it is not to be called wet. When first laid down, it will produce a ton and a half of hay to the acre — it used to produce two tons. There are some stones on the land, but not enough, in his estimation, to do harm. The plowed fields are pretty good ; they will produce 35 bushels of corn, 1 3 bushels of wheat, or 30 bushels of oats per acre, when the season is not dry. His father used to get more ; but, somehow, the weather is not so favorable as it was in old times. He has thought of raising root crops, but they take more labor than he can afford to hire. Over in the back part of the land there is a muck-hole, which is the only piece of worthless land on the whole farm. Now, let us look at the barns and barn-yards. The ^tables are pretty good. There are some wide cracks in the siding, but they help to ventilate, and make it healthier for the cattle. The manure is thrown out of the back windows, and is left in piles under the eaves of the barn. The rain and sun make it nicer to handle. The cattle have to go some dis- tance for water ; and this gives them exercise. All of the cattle are not kept in the stable ; the fatten- ing stock are kept in the various fields, where hay is fed out to them from the stack. The barn-yard is THE PRACTICAL FARMER. 247 often occupied by cattle, and is covered with their manure, which lies tliere until it is carted on to the land. In the shed are the tools of the farm, consist- ing of carts, plows— not deep plows: this fanner thinks it best to have roots near the surface of the soil where they can have the benefit of the sun's heat, — a harrow, hoes, rakes, etc. These tools are all in good order; and, unlike those of his less prudent neighbor, they are protected from the weather. The crops are cultivated with the plow and hoe, as they have been since the land was cleared, and as they always will be until this man dies. Here is the ' practical farmer ' of the present day- Hard working, out of debt, and economical, — of dol- lars and cents, if not of soil and manures. He is a better farmer than two-thirds of the three million farmei's in the country. He is one of the best farm- el's in his town — there are but few better in the county, not man}' in the State. He represents the better average class of his profession. With all this, he is, in matters relating to his busi- ness, an unreading, unthinking man. He knows nothing of the first principles of farming, and is suc- cessful by the indulgence of nature, not because he understands her, and is able to make the most of her assistance. This is an unpleasant fact, but it is one which cannot be denied. "We do not say this to disparage the former, but to arouse him to a realization of his position, and of his power to improve it. But let us see where he is wi'ong. 248 THE PRACTICAL FARMER. He is wrong in thinking that his land does not need draining. He is wrong in being satisfied with one and a half tons of hay to the acre when he might easily get two and a half. He is wrong in not removing as far as possible every stone that can interfere with the deep and thorough cultivation of his soil. He is wrong in reaping less than his father did, when he should get more. He is wrong in as- cribing to the weather, and similar causes, what is due to the actual impoverishment of his soil. He is wrong in not raising turnips, carrots, and other roots, which his winter stock so much need, when they might be raised at a cost of less than one-third of their value as food. He is wrong in considering worthless a deposit of muck, which is a mine of wealth if properly employed. He is wrong in ventilating his stables at the cost of heat. He is wrong in his treatment of his manures, for he loses more than one half of their value from evaporation, fermentation, and leaching. He is wrong in not having water at hand for his cattle — their exercise detracts from their accumulation of fat and the economy of their heat, and it exposes them to cold. He is wrong in not protecting his fattening stock from the cold of winter ; for, under exposure to cold, the food, which would otherwise be used in the forma- tion oifat, goes to the production of the animal heat necessary to counteract the chilling influence of the weather, p. 44. He is wrong in allowing his manure to lie unprotected in the barn-yard. He is wrong in not adding to his tools the deep surface plow, the THE PRACTICAL FARMER. 249 sub-soil plow, the cultivator, and many other im])le- iiients of improved construction. lie is wroii^' in cultivating with the plow and lioe, those crops whicli could be better or more cheaply managed with the cultivator or horse-hoe. He is wrong in many things more, as we shall see if we examine all of his yearly routine of work. He is right in a few things ; and but a few, as he himself would admit, had he that knowledge of his business which he ci>uld ohtuin in the leisure hours of a single winter. Still he thinks himself a i^ractlcal farmer. In twenty years, we shall have fewer such, for our young men have the mental capacity and mental energy necessary to raise them to the highest point of practical education, and to that point they are gradually but surely rising. We have far fewer now than twenty years ago. Let us now place this same farm in the hands of an educated and undei*standing cultivator; and at the end of five years, look at it again : lie has sold one half of it, and cultivates but titty acres. The money for which the other tifty were sold has been used in the improvement of tlie farm. The land has all been under-drained, and shows the many improvements consequent on such treatment. The stones and small rocks have been removed, leav- ing the surface of the soil smooth, and allowing the use of the sub-soil plow, which, with the under-tlrains, has more than doubled the productive power of the farm. Sufficient labor is employed to cultivate with improved tools, extensive root crops, and they invari- ably give a large yield. The grass land produces a 11* 250 THE I'RACriCAL FARMER. yearly average of 2^ tons of hay per acre. From 80 to 100 bnshels of corn, 30 bushels of wheat, and 45 bnshels of oats are the average of the crops reaped. The soil has been put in the best possible condition, while it is regularly supplied with manures containing everything taken away in the abundant crops. The principle that all earthy matters sold away must be bought back again, is never lost sight of in the regu- lation of crops and the application of manures. The worthless muck-bed was retained, and is made worth a dollar a load to the compost-heap, especially as the land requires an increase of organic matter. A new bam has been built laro;e enougj^Ii to store all of the hay produced on the farm. It has stables, which are tight and warm, and are well ventilated cihove the cattle. Tlie stock being thus protected from the loss of their heat, give more milk, and make more fat on a less amount of food than they did under the old system. Water is near at hand, and the animals are not obliged to over-exercise. The manure is carefully composted, either under a shed constructed for the pui*pose with a tank and pump, or is thrown into the cellar below, where the hogs mix it with a large amount of muck, wliich has been carted in after being thoroughly decomposed by the lime and salt mixture. They are thus protected against all loss, and are prepared for the immediate use of crops. No ma- nures are allowed to lie in the barn-yard, but they are all early removed to the compost heap, where they are preserved by being mixed with carbona- THE PRACTICAL FARMER. 251 ceous matter. In the tool shed, we find deep sur- face-plows, snb-soil plows, cultivators, horse-hoes, seed-drills, and many other valuable implement.';. This farmer takes one or more agricultural jmpers, from which he learns new methods of cultiva- tion, while his knowledge of the reasons of various agricultural effects enables him to discard the injudi- cious suggestions of mere hook farmers and unedu- cated dreamers. Here are two specimen farmers. Neither descrip- tion is over-drawn. The first is much more care- ful in his operations than the majority of our rund population. The second is no better than many who may be found in America. We appeal to the common sense of the reader of this w^ork to know which of the two is the j>ractic