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Liebig and other chemists have, within the last twenty-five years, endeavored to establish a science of agriculture, based upon a knowledge of the constitution of plants and of soils, and their mutual relations. We propose to give a very condensed account of the general conclusions arrived at.
Plants derive their food from the air as well as from the earth; the former by their leaves, the latter by their roots. Elements most necessary to them are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, with various mineral substances present in the soil. Carbon is the most abundant. This is to a large extent extracted from the atmosphere by the leaves of plants, during the day-time. Hydrogen and oxygen are in the water contained in the earth and air, and oxygen is in the air mixed with nitrogen. Plants do not seem able, however, to separate much nitrogen from the air as such, but more readily obtain it by the decomposition of ammonia (composed of hydrogen and nitrogen), which is formed in the atmosphere, and washed down into the earth by rain-water, so as to reach the roots. All ordinary waters, it must be remembered, contain substances dissolved in them. Irrigation of land does not act only by the water itself, but by that which is dissolved or diffused in it. Davy calculated that, supposing one part of sulphate of lime to be contained in every two thousand of river water, and every square yard of dry meadow land to absorb eight gallons of water, then, by every flooding, more than one and a half hundred weight of gypsum per acre is diffused by the water - a quantity equal to that generally used in spreading gypsum as a manure or fertilizer; and so, if we allow only twenty-five parts of animal and vegetable remains to be present in a thousand parts of river water, we shall find that every soaking with such water will add to the meadow nearly two tons per acre of organic matter. The extraordinary fertility of the banks and delta of the river Nile is due to the natural annual overflow of the river, extended by artificial irrigation. In China also, the principle of irrigation is carried out very largely, and it is applicable, on a large or small scale, in any country. The water of lakes is usually charged with dissolved or suspended substances even more abundantly than that of rivers.
Soils contain a great amount of matter which results from the decay of vegetables and animals; to a compound of which with earthy material the name of humus is given. This was once incorrectly supposed to give the whole nutriment of the plant. Trees and plants, instead of abstracting carbon from the earth, really, by taking it from the air, and subsequently dying and decaying, annually by their leaves, and finally altogether, give carbon and other atmospheric elements to the soil. As above said, all plants by their leaves absorb carbonic acid from the air, and retain carbon, giving out oxygen. It is evident, therefore, that the leaves are of great importance to the plant. So are the roots, for their absorbing office. Thus it is true that the growth of a plant is always proportioned to the surface of its roots and leaves together. Vegetation, in its simplest form, consists in the abstraction of carbon from carbonic acid, and hydrogen from water; but the taking of nitrogen also, from ammonia especially, is important to them, and most of all, to those which are most nutritious, as the wheat, rye, barley, &c., whose seeds contain gluten and other nitrogenous principles of the greatest value for food. Plants will grow well in pure charcoal, if supplied with rain-water, for rain-water contains ammonia.
Animal substances, as they putrefy, always evolve ammonia, which plants need and absorb. Thus is explained one of the benefits of manuring, but not the only one as we shall see presently. Animal manure, however, acts chiefly by the formation of ammonia. The quantity of gluten in wheat, rye, and barley is very different; and they contain nitrogen in varying proportions. Even in samples of the same seed the quantity varies, and why? Evidently because one variety has been better fed with its own appropriate fertilizer than another which has been reared on a soil less accurately adapted by artificial means for its growth. French wheat contains 12 per cent. of gluten; Bavarian 24 per cent. Sir H. Davy obtained 19 per cent. from winter, and 24 from summer wheat; from Sicilian 21, from Barbary wheat 19 per cent. Such great differences must be owing to some cause, and this we find in the different methods of cultivation. An increase of animal manure gives rise not only to an increase in the number of seeds, but also to a remarkable difference in the proportion of gluten which those seeds contain. Among manures of animal origin there is great diversity. Cow dung contains but a small proportion of nitrogen. One hundred parts of wheat, grown on a soil to which this material was applied, afforded only 11 parts of gluten and 64 of starch; while the same quantity of wheat, grown on a soil fertilized with human urine, yielded 35 per cent. of gluten, and of course a smaller proportion of less valuable ingredients. During the putrefaction of urine, ammoniacal salts are formed in large quantity, it may be said, exclusively; for under the influence of warmth and moisture, the most prominent ingredient of urine is converted into carbonate of ammonia.
Guano consists of the excrements of sea-fowl collected during long periods on certain islands in the South Sea. A soil which is deficient in organic matter is made much more productive by the addition of this manure. It consists of ammonia, combined with uric, phosphoric, oxalic and carbonic acids, with some earthy salts and impurities.
The urine of men and animals living upon flesh contains a large quantity of nitrogen, partly in the form of urea. Human urine is the most powerful manure for all vegetables which contain nitrogen, that of horses and horned cattle contains less of this element, but much more than the solid excrements of these animals. In the face of such facts as these, is it not pitiable to observe how the urine of the stable or cow-shed is often permitted to run off, to sink uselessly into the earth, or to form a pool in the middle of a farm-yard, from which, as it putrefies, the ammonia formed in it rapidly escapes into the atmosphere?
Cultivated plants need more nitrogen than wild ones, being of a higher and more complex organization. The result of forest growth is chiefly the production of carbonaceous woody fibre; of garden or field culture, especially the addition of as much nitrogen as the plant can be made to take up.
The solid excrements of animals do not contain as much nitrogen as those which are voided in a liquid form, and do not constitute so powerful a fertilizing material. In urine, moreover, ammonia loses a good deal of its volatility by being combined and dissolved in the form of salts. In an analagous manner, one of the uses of sulphate of lime or gypsum, as a manure, is to fix the ammonia of the atmosphere. Charcoal and humus have a similar property.
Besides the substances already mentioned others are needed by plants as part of their food, to form their structure. The firmness of straw for example, is due to the presence in it of silica, the principal constituent of sand and flints. Potassa, soda, lime, magnesia, and phosphoric acid are contained in plants, in different proportions. All of these they must obtain from the soil. The alkalies abovenamed (potassa and soda) appear to be essential to the perfect development of the higher vegetable forms. Some plants require them in one mode of combination, and some in another; and thus the soil that is very good for one, may be quite unfit for others. Firs and pines find enough to support them in barren, sandy soil.
The proportion of silicate of potash (necessary for the firmness of wheat straw) does not vary perceptibly in the soil of grain fields, because what is removed by the reaper, is again replaced in putrefying straw. But this is not the case with meadow-land. Hence we never find a luxuriant crop of grass on sandy and limestone soils which contain little potash, evidently because one of the constituents indispensable to the growth of the plants is wanting. If a meadow be well manured, we remove, with the increased crop of grass, a greater quantity of potash than can, by a repetition of the same manure, be restored to it. So grass-land manured with gypsum soon ceases to feel its agency. But if the meadow be strewed from time to time with wood ashes, or soap-boilers' lye made from wood ashes, then the grass thrives as luxuriantly as before. And why? The ashes are only a means of restoring the necessary potash for the grass stalks. So oats, barley, and rye may be made for once to grow upon a sandy heath, by mixing with the scanty soil the ashes of the heath-plants that grow upon it. Those ashes contain soda and potash, conveyed to the growing furze or gorse by rain-water. The soil of one district consists of sandstone; certain trees find in it a quantity of alkaline earths sufficient for their own sustenance. When felled, and burnt and sprinkled upon the soil, oats will grow and thrive that without such aid would not vegetate.
The most decisive proof of the absurdity of the indiscriminate use of any strong manure was obtained at Bingen, a town on the Rhine, where the produce and development of vines were highly increased by manuring them with animal matters such as shavings of horn. After some years, the formation of the wood and leaves decreased perceptibly. Such manure had too much hastened the growth of the vines: in two or three years they had exhausted the potash in the formation of their fruit leaves and wood; so that none remained for the future crops, as shavings of horn contain no potash. Cow-dung would have been better, and is known to be better.
The sun's heat and light, air, water, and the common elements of the earth are necessary to the existence of plants. But a greater or less abundance of certain elements, and their existence in more or less favorable states of combination, determines the magnitude and fertility or, in a word, the whole productiveness, of the vegetable growth.
The rules of agriculture should then, if rationally perfected, enable us to give to each plant what it requires for the attainment of the special object of its culture, namely, the increase of certain parts which are used as food for men and animals.
One instance may illustrate this idea. The means to be resorted to for the production of fine pliable straw for hats and bonnets are the very opposite to those which would tend to produce the greatest possible amount of seed or grain from the same plant.
Sand, clay, and lime, as has been said are the principal constituents of soils. Clay and marl always contain potash and soda. Pure sand, or pure limestone, would alone constitute absolutely barren soils. All arable land contains an admixture of clay, although an excess of it, in proportion, is of course disadvantageous.
The exhaustion of alkalies in a soil by successive crops is the true reason why practical farmers suppose themselves compelled to suffer land to lie fallow. It is the greatest possible mistake to think that the temporary diminution of fertility in a field is chiefly owing to the loss of the decaying vegetable matter it previously contained: it is principally the consequence of the exhaustion of potash and soda, which are restored by the slow process of the more complete disintegration of the materials of the soil. It is evident that the careful tilling of fallow land must accelerate and increase this further breaking up of its mineral ingredients. Nor is this repose of the soil always necessary. A field, which has become unfitted for a certain kind of produce, may not, on that account, be unsuitable for another; and upon this observation a system of agriculture has been gradually formed, the principal object of which is to obtain the greatest possible produce in a succession of years, with the least outlay for manure. Because plants require for their growth different constituents of soil, changing the crop from year to year will maintain the fertility of that soil (provided it be done with judgment) quite as well as leaving it at rest or fallow. In this we but imitate nature. The oak, after thriving for long generations on a particular spot, gradually sickens; its entire race dies out; other trees and shrubs succeed it, till, at length, the surface becomes so charged with an excess of dead vegetable matter, that the forest becomes a peat moss, or a surface upon which no large tree will grow. Generally long before this can occur, the operation of natural causes has gradually removed from the soil substances, essential to the growth of oak leaving others favorable and necessary to the growth of beech or pine. So, in practical farming, one crop, in artificial rotation with others, extracts from the soil a certain quantity of necessary materials; a second carries off, in preference, those which the former has left.
One hundred parts of wheat straw yield 15 1/2 of ashes; the same quantity of barley straw, 8 1/2; of oat straw, only 4; and the ashes of the three are chemically, of about the same composition. Upon the same field, which will yield only one harvest of wheat, two successive crops of barley may be raised, and three of oats. We have in these facts a clear proof of what is abstracted from the soil and the key to the rational mode of supplying the deficiency.
Since wheat consumes a large amount of silicate of potassa from the soil, the plants which should succeed or alternate with it must be such as require but little potassa, as potatoes or turnips. After three or four years the same lands may well bear wheat, because, during the interval, the soil will have been, by the action of the atmosphere, and the solution of vegetable and animal substances decaying upon or in it, again rendered capable of yielding what the wheat requires. Whether this process can be artificially anticipated, by supplying the exhausted ingredient to the soil, is a further and most interesting and important inquiry.
We could keep our fields in a constant state of fertility by replacing, every year, as much as is removed from them by their produce. An increase of fertility may be expected, of course, only when more is added of the proper material to the soil than is taken away. Any soil will partially regain its strength by lying fallow. But any soil, under cultivation, must at length (without help) lose those constituents which are removed in the seeds, roots and leaves of the plants raised upon it. To remedy this loss, and also increase the productiveness of the land, is the object of the use of proper manures.
Land, when not employed in raising food for animals or man, should, at least, be applied to the purpose of raising manure for itself; and this, to a certain extent, may be effected by means of green crops, which, by their decomposition, not only add to the amount of vegetable mould contained in the soil, but supply the alkalies that would be found in their ashes. That the soil should become richer by this burial of a crop, than it was before the seed of that crop was sown, will be understood by recollecting that three-fourths of the whole organic matter we bury has been derived from the air: that by this process of ploughing in, the vegetable matter is more equally diffused through the whole soil, and therefore more easily and rapidly decomposed; and that by its gradual decomposition, ammonia and nitric acid are certainty generated, though not so largely as when animal matters are employed. He who neglects the green sods, and crops of weeds that flourish by his hedgerows and ditches, overlooks an important natural means of wealth. Left to themselves, they ripen their seeds, exhausting the soil, and sowing them annually in his fields: collected in compost heaps, they add materially to his yearly crops of corn.
The following conclusions may be regarded as scientifically sustained; as well as confirmed by practical experience:
1. That fresh human urine yields nitrogen in greater abundance to vegetation than any other material of easy acquisition, and that the urine of animals is valuable for the same purpose, but not equally so.
2. That the mixed excrements of man and animals yield (if carefully preserved from further decomposition), not only nitrogen, but other invaluable saline and earthy matters that have been already extracted in food from the soil.
3. That animal substances which, like urine, flesh, and blood, decompose rapidly, are fitted to operate immediately and powerfully on vegetation.
4. That dry animal substances, as horn, hair, or woollen rags, decompose slowly, and (weight for weight) contain a greater quantity of organized as well as unorganized materials, manifesting their influence it may be for several seasons.
5. That bones, acting like horns, in so far as their animal matter is concerned, and like it for a number of seasons more or less, according as they have been more or less finely crushed, may ameliorate the soil by their earthy matter for a long period (even if the jelly they contain have been injuriously removed by the size maker), permanently improving the condition and adding to the natural capabilities of the land.
This manure is a powerful stimulant to vegetable development generally; it is especially available in raising wheat, corn, potatoes, garden vegetables, and tobacco. If the land needs it, it may be put on as often as a crop is to be raised, though not, it is said, as a top dressing. For wheat, 150 to 200 pounds of guano may be used to the acre; for Indian corn, 300 to 400 pounds; unless it is put directly in the hills, when 100 pounds per acre will do. For potatoes, 300 to 400 pounds, in a drill, with bone dust. The addition of the latter makes the good effects of the guano more durable.
Simple lime, although an important constituent of plants, is rarely suitable as an application to them in its pure state. Carbonate of lime (represented by chalk, &c.) is a natural ingredient in very many soils. The sulphate of lime (gypsum, plaster of Paris) is often used for fertilizing purposes. It is less easily decomposed than the carbonate. The precise conditions which make it most advantageous, are not positively determined yet. Phosphate of lime is a very important constituent of plants; and, as it exists also in the bones of animals, a double relation follows: namely, that it should be abundant in soil on which plants are raised for food of men and animals; and, on the other hand, that animal bones contribute it to the soil when they decay upon it.
Wood ashes contain a large amount of carbonate of potassa, with also the sulphate and silicate of that alkali. Peat ashes vary in different regions, but always are found useful as manure. Kelp, or the ashes of sea-weeds, are often employed in the same way; they contain soda in considerable amount. Nitrate of potassa (nitre, or saltpetre) is said to quicken vegetable action when added to the soil, and to give the leaves a deeper green. A hundred pounds to the acre of grass or young corn, have been reported to produce a beneficial effect. In localities far inland, common salt, chloride of sodium, is indispensable to the soil, although a small amount of it will suffice. Animal manures contain it. An excess of salt will render land barren; as was well known to the ancients.
We may take it for granted that every thinking practical mind, will admit it as proved, that there must be an exact adaptation and fitness between the condition of any given soil and the plants intended to be raised upon it; and, further, that if this mutual fitness does not naturally exist, a knowledge of its requirements will enable us to supply it artificially. The great difficulty is, to obtain this knowledge fully and accurately. It must be confessed that, at present, much is wanting to render it complete and directly available. Industrious observation and experiment may, hereafter, make it so; and thus give us a system of truly scientific agriculture.
A few statements only remain to be added to what has been said. The best natural soils are those where the materials have been derived from the breaking up and decomposition, not of one stratum or layer, but of many divided minutely by air and water, and minutely blended together: and in improving soils by artificial additions, the farmer cannot do better than imitate the processes of nature.
We have spoken of soils as consisting mostly of sand, lime, and clay, with certain saline and organic substances in smaller and varying proportions; but the examination of the ashes of plants shows that a fertile soil must of necessity contain an appreciable quantity of at least eleven different substances, which in most cases exist in greater or less relative abundance in the ash of cultivated plants; and of these the proportions are not by any means immaterial. In general, the soils which are made up of the most various materials are called alluvial; having been formed from the depositions of floods and rivers. Many of them are extremely fertile. Soils consist of two parts; of an organic part, which can readily be burned away when the surface-soil is heated to redness; and of an inorganic part, which remains fixed in the fire, consisting of earthy and saline substances from which, if carbonic acid or any elastic gas be present, it may, however, be driven by the heat. The organic part of soils is derived chiefly from the remains of vegetables and animals which have lived and died in and upon the soil, which have been spread over it by rivers and rains, or which have been added by the industry of man for the purposes of increased fertility.
This organic part varies much in quantity, as well as quality, in different soils. In peaty soils it is very abundant, as well as in some rich, long cultivated lands. In general, it rarely amounts to one-fourth, or 25 per cent. even in our best arable lands. Good wheat soils contain often as little as eight parts in the hundred of organic animal or vegetable matter; oats and rye will grow in a soil containing only 1 1/2 per cent.; and barley when only two or three parts per cent. are present.
The inorganic portion of any given soil, again, is divisible into two portions; that part which is soluble in water, and thus easily taken up by plants, and a much more bulky portion which is insoluble.
Sir Humphrey Davy found the following to be the composition of a good productive soil. In every 9 parts, 8 consisted of siliceous sand; the remaining (one-ninth) part was composed, in 100 parts, as follows:
| Carbonate of lime (chalk) | 63 grains. |
| Pure silex | 15 grains. |
| Pure alumina, or the earth of clay | 11 grains. |
| Oxide (rust) of iron | 3 grains. |
| Vegetable and other saline matter | 5 grains. |
| Moisture and loss | 3 grains. |
Thus the whole amount of organic matter in this instance is only 1 part in 200, or one-half of one per cent.; a fact which, in itself, would demonstrate the fallacy of supposing that decomposed animal and vegetable matter in the soil form the exclusive supply to growing plants.
In another instance, soil was taken from a field in Sussex, remarkable for its growth of flourishing oak trees. It consisted of 6 parts of sand, and 1 part of clay and finely-divided matter. One hundred grains of it yielded, in chemical language:-
| Of silica (or silex) | 54 grains. |
| Of alumina | 28 grains. |
| Carbonate of lime | 3 grains. |
| Oxide of iron | 5 grains. |
| Vegetable matter in a state of decomposition | 4 grains. |
| Moisture and loss | 6 grains. |
To wheat soils, the attention of the practical farmer will be most strongly directed. An excellent wheat soil from West Drayton, in England, yielded 3 parts in 5 of silicious sand; and the remaining two parts consisted of carbonate of lime, silex, alumina, and a minute proportion of decomposing animal and vegetable remains.
Of these soils, the last was by far the most, and the first the least, coherent in texture. In all cases, the constituent parts of the soil which give tenacity and stiffness, are the finely-divided portions, and they possess this quality in proportion to the quantity of alumina (or earth of clay) they contain.
The varying power of soils to absorb and retain water from the air, is much connected with their fertility. This absorbent power is always greatest in the most fertile lands. Their productiveness is also much influenced by the nature of the subsoil on which they rest; for, when soils are situated immediately upon a bed of rook or stone, they dry sooner by the sun's agency than when the subsoil is clay or marl.
A great deal more might be said upon other kindred points. But, as has been already remarked, agricultural science is, as yet, imperfect. It is a mistake for the practical farmer to contemn "book farming," as if it were something visionary or useless; while, on the other hand, the agricultural chemist and vegetable physiologist must submit all their inductions and conclusions to the test of careful and repeated trials. The one can seldom analyze soils, and the other can rarely attend to raising crops; so they must help each other, and, together, aid in advancing the oldest of human arts, and one of the most beautiful of the sciences - that of the earth's culture.
The principal component parts of the soil, whatever may be the color, are clay, lime, sand, water and air. The primitive earths, argil, lime, and sand, contain each perhaps in nearly equal degrees, the food of plants, but in their union the purposes of vegetation are most completely answered. The precise quantities of each necessary to make this union perfect, and whether they ought to be equal, it is not very easy to ascertain since that point is best determined in practice, when the soil proves to be neither too stiff nor adhesive, from the superabundance of clay, nor of too loose and weak a texture, from an over quantity of sand in its composition. The medium is undoubtedly best; but an excess towards adhesion is obviously most safe. A stiff or strong soil holds the water which falls upon it for a long time, and, being capable of much ploughing, is naturally well qualified for carrying the most valuable arable crops. A light sod, or one of a texture feeble and easily broken, is, on the contrary, soon exhausted by aration, and requires renovation by grass; or otherwise it cannot be cultivated to advantage.
A clayey soil, though distinguished by the color which it bears, namely black, white, yellow and red, differs from all other soils, being tough, wet, and cold, and consequently requiring a good deal of labor from the husbandman before it can be sufficiently pulverized, or placed in a state for bearing artificial crops of corn or grass. Clay land is known by the following qualities, or properties.
It holds water like a cup, and once wetted does not soon dry. In like manner, when thoroughly dry, it is not soon wetted; if we except the varieties which have a thin surface, and are the worst of all to manage. In a dry summer, clay cracks and shows a surface full of small chinks, or openings. If ploughed in a wet state, it sticks to the plough like mortar, and in a dry summer, the plough turns it up in great clods, scarcely to be broken or separated by the heaviest roller.
Soils of this description are managed with infinitely less trouble, and at an expense greatly inferior to what clays require; but at the same time the crops produced from them are generally of smaller value. There are many varieties of sand, however, as well as of clay; and in some parts of the country, the surface is little better than a bare barren sand, wherein artificial plants will not take root unless a dose of clay or good earth is previously administered. This is not the soil meant by the farmer when be speaks of sands. To speak practically, the soil meant is one where sand is predominant, although there be several other earths in the mixture. From containing a great quantity of sand, these soils are all loose and crumbling, and never get into a clod, even in the driest weather. This is the great article of distinction betwixt sand and sandy loams. A sandy loam, owing to the clay that is in it, does not crumble down, or become loose like a real sand, but retains a degree of adhesion after wetness or drought, notwithstanding the quantity of sand that is mixed with it. Perhaps a true sandy loam incumbant upon a sound subsoil, is the most valuable of all soils. Upon such, every kind of grain may be raised with advantage, and no soil is better calculated for turnips and grass.
The real sands are not favorable to the growth of wheat, unless when preceded by clover, which binds the surface, and confers a temporary strength for sustaining that grain. Much of the county of Norfolk in England is of this description, and it is well known that few districts of the kingdom yield a greater quantity of produce. Till Norfolk however, was invigorated by clay and marl, nearly one-half of it was little better than waste; but by the success which accompanied the use of these auxiliaries, a new soil was in a manner created; which, by a continuation of judicious management, has given a degree of fame to the husbandry of that country, far surpassing that of other districts naturally more fertile.
The open porous nature of these soils disposes them to imbibe moisture, and to part with it with great facility: from the latter of which circumstances they are subject to burn, as it is termed, in dry reasons. The main difference between gravel and sand is, that the former is chiefly composed of small soft stones, though in some instances the stones are of a silicious or flinty nature, and, in others, of the calcareous or chalky. From these constitutional circumstances arises the propriety of deepening gravelly soils by coats of marl or earth, and of keeping them fresh by frequent returns of grass, and repeated applications of manure. Gravelly soils, from the lightness of their texture, are not expensive or difficult in the means of cultivation. All the necessary business required for gravels may be carried forward with ease and expedition; and such soils are, in general, soon brought into a proper state for the reception of crops.
The constitutional qualities of gravels point out the propriety of ploughing them deep, so that the surface soil may be augmented, and greater room given to the growth of the plants cultivated on them. A shallow-ploughed gravel can stand no excess of weather, however enriched by manure. It is burnt up by a day or two of drought, and it is almost equally injured by an excessive fall of rain unless the pan or firm bottom, which such soils easily gain, be frequently broken through by deep ploughing.
Clayey soils, when sufficiently enriched with manures, are naturally well qualified for carrying crops of wheat, oats, beans, and clover; but are not fitted for barley, turnips, potatoes, etc., or even for being kept under for grass longer than one year. Such soils ought to be regularly summer-fallowed once in six, or at least once in eight years, even when they are comparatively in a clean state, as they contract a sourness and adhesion from wet ploughing, only to be removed by exposure to the sun and wind during the dry months of summer. Soils of this kind receive little benefit from winter ploughing, unless so far as their surface is thereby presented to the frost, which mellows and reduces them in a manner infinitely superior to what could be accomplished by all the operations of man. Still they are not cleaned or made free of weeds by winter ploughing; and therefore this operation can only be considered as a good means for producing a seed-bed, in which the seeds of the future crop may be safely deposited. Hence the necessity of cleansing clay soils during the summer months, and of having always a large part of every clay farm under summer fallow. All clayey soils require great industry and care, as well as a considerable portion of knowledge in dressing or management to keep them in good condition; yet when their natural toughness is got the better of, they always yield the heaviest and most abundant crops. One thing requisite for a clayey soil, is to keep it rich and full of manure; a poor clay being the most ungrateful of all soils, and hardly capable of repaying the expense of labor, after being worn out and exhausted. A clayey soil also receives, comparatively, smell benefit from grass; and when once allowed to get into a sterile condition, the most active endeavors will with difficulty restore fertility to it after the lapse of many years.
Upon light soils the case is very different. These flourish under the grass husbandry; and bare summer fallow is rarely required, because they may be cleaned and cropped in the same year with that valuable esculent, turnip. Upon light soils, however, wheat can seldom be extensively cultivated; nor can a crop be obtained of equal value, either in respect to quantity or quality, as on clay sand loams. The best method of procuring wheat on light lands, is to sow upon a clover stubble, when the soil has got an artificial solidity of body and is thereby rendered capable of sustaining the grain till it arrives at maturity. The same observation applies to soils of a gravelly nature; and upon both barley is generally found of as great benefit as wheat.
Thin clays and peat earths are more friendly to the growth of oats than of other grains, though in favorable seasons a heavy crop of wheat may be obtained from a thin clayey soil, when it has been completely summer-fallowed and enriched with dung. A first application of calcareous manure is generally accompanied with great advantage upon these soils; but when once the effect of this application is over, it can hardly be repeated a second time, unless the land has been very cautiously managed after the first dressing. Neither of these soils is friendly to grass, yet there is a necessity of exercising this husbandry with them, because they are incapable of standing the plough more than a year or two in the course of a rotation.
Wheat ought to be the predominant crop upon all the rich clays and strong loams, and light soils of every kind are well qualified for turnips, barley, etc. Upon the thin and moorish soils, oats must necessarily preserve a prominent rank, and grass seeds may be cultivated upon every one of them, though with different degrees of advantage, according to the natural and artificial richness of each soil, or to the qualities which it possesses for encouraging the growth of clover, in the first instance, and preserving the roots of the plant afterwards.
Tillage is an operation whereby the soil is either cleared from noxious weeds, or prepared for receiving the seeds of plants cultivated by the husbandman. When this operation is neglected, or even partially executed. the soil becomes foul, barren, and unproductive; hence, upon arable farms, tillage forms the prominent branch of work; and, according to the perfection or imperfection with which it is executed, the crops of the husbandman, whether of corn or grass, are in a great measure regulated.
Tillage, in the early ages, was performed by hand labor; but, in modern times, the plough has been the universal instrument used for executing this necessary and important branch of rural work. In no other way can large fields be turned over because the expense of digging with the spade, the only other method of turning over the ground, would much exceed any profit that can be reaped.
Stones lying above or below the surface are the most formidable obstruction to perfect tillage. On stony ground, the work is not only imperfectly executed, but in many cases the implement is broken to pieces, and a considerable portion of time lost before it is repaired and put in order. The removal of stones, therefore, especially of such as are below the surface, ought to be a primary object with every agriculturist; because a neglect of this kind may afterwards occasion him considerable loss and inconvenience.
To drain the ground, in other words, to lay it dry, also facilitates tillage exceedingly; for ploughing cannot be performed with advantage where either the surface or subsoil is wet.
The only sure and certain way by which the soil is cleaned or rendered free of weeds, is by ploughing in the summer months, when the ground is dry, and when, by the influence of the sun and air, the weeds may be destroyed with facility. Seldom at any other period is the soil much benefitted by ploughing, unless so far as a seed-bed is thus procured for the succeeding crop; and though the situation or state of the ground, when these intermediate ploughings are bestowed, is of importance in judging of their utility, yet the radical process of summer fallow cannot, by any means, be altogether dispensed with. Though, if the winter and spring ploughings are executed under favorable circumstances, and plenty of manure is at hand, it may be delayed for a greater number of years than is otherwise practicable, if good husbandry is to be maintained.
Without summer fallow, or, which is the same thing, without working the ground in the summer months, perfect husbandry is unattainable on all heavy or cold soils, and upon every variety incumbent on a close or retentive bottom.
To keep his land clean will always be a principal object with every good farmer; for if this is neglected, in place of carrying rich crops of grain or grass, the ground will be exhausted by crops of weeds. Where land is foul, every operation of husbandry must be proportionately noneffective; and even the manures applied will, in a great measure, be lost.
The necessity of summer fallow depends greatly upon the nature and quality of the soil; as, upon some soils, a repetition of this practice is less frequently required than upon others. Wherever the soil is incumbent upon clay or till, it is more disposed to get foul, than when incumbent upon a dry gravelly bottom; besides, wet soils, from being ploughed in winter, contract a stiffness which lessens the pasture of artificial plants, and prevents them from receiving sufficient nourishment. When land of a dry gravelly bottom gets foul, it may easily be cleaned without a plain summer fallow; single crops, such as turnips, etc., may be substituted in its place, which, when drilled at proper intervals admit of being ploughed as often as necessary; whereas wet soils, which are naturally unfit for carrying such crops, must be cleaned and brought into good order by frequent ploughings and harrowings during the summer months.
Upon all clayey soils (and upon such only is a complete summer fallow necessary) the first ploughing ought to be given during the winter months, or as early in the spring as possible; which greatly promotes the rotting of the sward and stubble. This should be done by gathering up the ridge, which both lays the ground dry and rips up the furrows. As soon as seed-time is over, the ridge should be cloven down, preparatory to cross ploughing; and after lying a proper time, should be harrowed and rolled repeatedly, and every particle of quickens that the harrows have brought above, should be carefully picked off with the hand. It is then proper to ridge or gather it up immediately, which both lays the land in proper condition for meeting bad weather, and opens up any fast land that may have been missed in the furrows when the cross ploughing was given. After this harrow, roll, and gather the root weeds again; and continue so doing till the field is perfectly clean.
The above object is most completely accomplished, when the ground is ploughed deep and equal, while the bottom of the furrow immediately above the subsoil is perfectly loosened and turned equally over with the part which constitutes the surface. In many places these properties are altogether neglected, the ground being ploughed in a shallow way, while the bottom of the ploughed land remains something like the teeth of a saw, having the under part of the furrow untouched, and consequently not removed by the action of the plough. While these things are suffered, the object of tillage is only partially gained. The food of plants can only be imperfectly procured; and the ground is drenched and injured by wetness; these ridges, or pieces of land, which are not cut, preventing a descent of the moisture from above to the open furrows left for carrying it off. Where the seedbed is prepared by one ploughing, the greatest care ought to be used in having it closely and equally performed. When two are given, they should be in opposite directions, so that any firm land left in the first may be cut up in the second ploughing. It is not profitable to plough twice one way, if it can be safely avoided.
Another important point towards procuring good tillage, is never to plough the land when in a wet state, because encouragement is thus given to the growth of weeds, while a sourness and adhesion is communicated to the ground, which is rarely got the better of till the operations of a summer fallow are again repeated.
All soils ought not to be wrought or ploughed in one manner. Each kind has its particular and appropriate qualities; and, therefore, each requires a particular and appropriate mode of tillage. Ploughing, which is the capital operation of husbandry, ought, on these accounts, to be administered according to the nature of the soil which is to be operated upon, and not executed agreeably to one fixed and determined principle. On strong clays and loams, and on rich gravels and deep sands, the plough ought to go as deep as the cattle are able to work it; whereas, on thin clays and barren sands the benefit of deep ploughing is very questionable; especially when such are incumbent on a till bottom, or where the subsoil is of a yellow-ochre nature; such, when turned up, being little better than poison to the surface, unless highly impregnated with alluvial compost, the effect of which expels the poisonous substance contained in this kind of subsoil, and gives a fertility to the whole mass, more decisively permanent than would follow a heavy application of the best rotten dung.
On clayey soils, where the ridges are so that the ground may be preserved in something like a dry condition, the plough used for tillage ought to have a mould-board considerably wider set than is required for light soils, in order that the furrow may be close cut below, and only turned over. The method of constructing the plough necessarily makes a heavier draught than would be the case were the mould-board placed differently; though if good and sufficient work be wanted, the necessity of constructing the implement in the way mentioned, is absolute and indispensable. The plough to be used on light soils or on all soils that admit of what is technically called crown and furrow ploughing, may be made much straighter below, and yet be capable of executing the work in a perfect manner. On every farm, consisting of mixed soils, two sets of ploughs ought to be kept, otherwise proper work cannot be performed. All land ought to be ploughed with a shoulder, and the advantages of ploughing in this way are, that, if ploughed before winter, the surface is enabled to resist the winter rains, and afterwards present a face on which the harrows can make a proper impression, when the seed process is to be executed. This deserves particular attention when old grass fields are broken up; as, by neglecting it, the harrows are often unable to cover the seed. It is perfectly practicable to plough land with a tolerably broad furrow, say 10, 11, or 12 inches and yet to plough it clean, provided the implement used is properly constructed; but, then, care must be taken that the furrow be of proportionate deepness, otherwise it will be laid on its back, instead of being deposited at an angle proper for undergoing the harrowing process.
The use of subsoilers is now common, to turn up the depth of the soil. In sandy earth, beneath a ten-inch furrow, a subsoiler may go ten inches deeper; but this is not easy or possible in all soils.
No country in the world is better provided with implements for executing rural labor than Great Britain; and to this superiority may, in some measure, be attributed the increased and increasing perfection of agriculture over the whole island. American ingenuity has gone still further in the same direction. We have ploughs of all the different kinds that ever were constructed: as for wheel carriages, the variety is immense; whilst harrows, and other common implements, of various constructions and dimensions, are equally numerous. But it is in the articles more properly allied to machinery that the superiority of American rural implements is most conspicuous. Drills for sowing grain and small seeds with regularity, have been constructed upon scientific principles; and machines for separating grain from straw, have been invented, and brought to a degree of perfection which few people expected when these machines were first introduced.
The double Michigan plough is an important improvement on the old plough. Instead of a coulter it has a small plough attached to the beam in front of the other, which takes a slice from the sod, and makes cleaner work for the plough. Steam ploughs have also been invented.
This machine, whether made to be worked by hand, drawn by a horse, or fixed to a plough, and used with it, is extremely simple in its construction, and not liable to be put out of order; as there is but one movement to direct the whole. It will sow wheat, barley, oats, rye, clover, cole seed, hemp, flax, canary, rape, turnip; besides a great variety of other kinds of grain and seeds, broadcast, with an accuracy hitherto unknown. It is equally useful when fixed to a plough; it will then drill a more extensive variety of grain, pulse, and seed (through every gradation, with regard to quality), and deliver each kind with greater regularity than any drill plough whatever.
Among many other valuable and peculiar properties, it will not only sow in the broadcast way with a most singular exactness, but save the expense of a seedsman; the seed being sown (either over or under furrow at pleasure), and the land ploughed at the same operation.
Another advantage attending the use of this machine is, that the wind can have no effect on the falling of the seed.
The machine, when made to be used without a plough, and to be drawn by a horse, may be of different lengths. The upper part contains the hoppers, from which the grain or seed descends into the spouts. The several spouts all rest upon a bar, which hangs and plays freely by two diagonal supporters; a trigger, fixed to this bar, bears a catch wheel: this being fixed on the axle, occasions a regular and continued motion, or jogging of the spouts, quicker or slower in proportion to the space the person sowing with it drives. At the bottom of the machine is placed an apron or shelf, in a sloping position, and the corn or seed, by falling thereon from the spouts above, is scattered about in every direction.
To sow the corn or seed in drills, there are movable spouts, which are fixed on or taken off at pleasure, to direct the seed from the upper spout to the bottom of the furrow.
These beneficial implements are of various sizes and dimensions; but the harrow most commonly used consists of four bulls, with cross-mortised sheaths, each bull containing five teeth, of from five to seven inches in length below the bulls, the longest being placed forwards. Harrows of this kind, drawn by one horse, are generally used on most farms for all purposes, though on others large brake-harrows, consisting of five bulls, each containing six teeth, and worked by two horses, are employed during the fallow process, and for reducing rough land. Some of these brake-harrows are constructed with joints, so as to bend and accommodate their shape to the curvature of ridges. A small harrow, with short teeth, is also used for covering grass seeds, though we have rarely seen any detriment from putting grass seeds as deep into the ground as the teeth of ordinary sized harrows are capable of going.
When employed to reduce a strong obdurate soil, not more than two harrows should be yoked together, because they are apt to ride and tumble upon each other, and thus impede the work, and execute it imperfectly. On rough soils, harrows ought to be driven as fast as the horses can walk; because their effect is in the direct proportion to the degree of velocity with which they are driven. In ordinary cases, and in every case where harrowing is meant for covering the seed, three harrows are the best yoke, because they fill up the ground more effectually and leave fewer vacancies, than when a smaller number is employed. The harrowman's attention, at the seed process, should be constantly directed to prevent these implements from riding upon each other, and to keep them clear of every impediment from stones, lumps of earth, or clods, and quickens or grass roots; for any of these prevents the implement from working with perfection, and causes a mark or trail upon the surface, always unpleasing to the eye, and generally detrimental to the vegetation of the seed. Harrowing is usually given in different directions, first in length, then across, and finally in length as at first. Careful husbandmen study, in the finishing part of the process, to have the harrows drawn in a straight line, without suffering the horses to go in a zigzag manner, and are also attentive that the horses enter fairly upon the ridge, without making a curve at the outset. In some instances, an excess of harrowing has been found very prejudicial to the succeeding crop; but it is always necessary to give so much as to break the furrow, and level the surface, otherwise the operation is imperfectly performed.
The roller is an implement frequently used for smoothing the surface of land when in tillage, especially when the processes of summer fallow are going forward. Several kinds of rollers are used in America. Some are of stone, others of wood or iron, according to the nature of the operation intended to be performed. The only material difference in rollers is their weight; but it should be attended to, when a roller is made of large diameter, that its weight ought to be the greater for in proportion to the largeness of its diameter will be the extent of surface upon which the roller rests. The weight of a roller ought therefore to be in proportion to its diameter, otherwise its effect will be proportionately diminished.
Rolling, however, is a modern improvement, and used for different purposes. In the first place, it is of great advantage to roll young grasses after the ground is stoned, because the scythe can then be placed nearer the surface, and the crop cut more equally than when the operation is neglected. 2dly. Land on which turnips are to be cultivated can rarely be made fine enough, without the repeated use of this implement. And 3dly. The process of summer fallow, upon strong soils, is much advanced by rolling, because without its aid the large and obdurate clods cannot be reduced or couch-grass eradicated. From these circumstances it will readily appear, that rollers of various sizes and dimensions are required on every farm, for accomplishing different purposes. Wooden rollers, drawn by one horse, answer very well for grass and turnip land; but massy stone rollers, drawn either by two or three horses, are absolutely necessary on clay soils.
It is obvious, that when a large field is to be rolled, a number of rollers ought at once to be set at work, otherwise an opportunity may be lost, never to be regained. The deficiency is most conspicuous when barley is taken after turnips in a dry season. From poaching the ground with carts, in order to carry off the crop, and even by the treading of sheep, a degree of stiffness is contracted, which requires the use of the roller before grass seeds can be sown.
On all occasions it is most beneficial to roll across, because, when going in length, the implement is of small benefit to the furrows, the slightest acclivation of the ridges preventing the work from being equally performed. The expedition which takes place when rollers are used, compared with the tedious and expensive process of breaking clods with malls, formerly the general custom, sufficiently proves the importance of these implements, though it deserves to be remarked, that, when rolling is bestowed upon a springsown field, harrowing it afterwards is of great advantage. By harrowing when the clods are reduced, the earth stands the effects of rain better afterwards, and does not consolidate so firmly as when that process is neglected.
These machines are of great value, especially to those with large farms. One machine, the mower, can be made to perform duty both with grass and grain; but reapers are constructed especially for the latter. Weeders are also in use in some parts of the country, drawn by horse power.
The thrashing machine is the most valuable implement in the farmer's possession, and one which adds more to the general produce of the country, than any invention hitherto devised. The saving of manual labor thereby obtained is almost incalculable; while the work is performed in a much more perfect manner than was formerly practicable, even when the utmost care and exertion were bestowed. In fact, had not the thrashing machine been invented, it is hardly possible to conceive what would have been the rate of expense of thrashing, or even whether a sufficient number of hands could, at any rate of expense, have been obtained for thrashing the grain of the country.
Since the invention of this machine, Mr. Meikle and others have progressively introduced a variety of improvements, all tending to simplify the labor, and to augment the quantity of the work performed. When first erected, though the grain was equally well separated from the straw, yet as the whole of the straw, chaff, and grain, was indiscriminately thrown into a confused heap, the work could only with propriety be considered as half executed. By the addition of rakes, or shakers, and two pairs of fanners, all driven by the same machinery, the different processes of thrashing, shaking, and winnowing are now all at once performed, and the grain immediately prepared for the public market. When it is added, that the quantity of grain gained from the superior powers of the machine is fully equal to a twentieth part of the crop, and that, in some cases, the expense of thrashing and cleaning the grain is considerably less than what was formerly paid for cleaning it alone, the immense saving arising from the invention will at once be seen.
The expense of horse labor, from the increased value of the animal and the charge of his keeping, being an object of great importance, it is recommended that, upon all sizable farms, that is to say, where two hundred acres, or upwards, of grain are sown, the machine should be worked by wind, unless where local circumstances afford the conveniency of water.
Where coals are plenty and cheap, steam may be advantageously used for working the machine.
In some countries wheat is trodden out by horses, nearly in the same way as it was formerly done in Palestine by oxen.
The treading floors are generally from sixty to 100 feet in diameter; but the larger their diameter is, the easier is the work to the horses. The track, or path, on which the sheaves are laid, and on which the horses walk, is from twelve to twenty-four feet wide, or more. The floors are commonly enclosed by fences; and the horses are generally driven between them promiscuously and loose, each pressing to be foremost, so that fresh air may be obtained, - biting, jostling, and kicking each other with the greatest fury. The labor in this way is extremely severe. Upon some small floors a centre-stick is placed, to which hangs a rope, or a pole and swivel, and four or five horses being fastened together, travel round upon the sheaves with the utmost regularity. Previously to laying down the wheat sheaves, the state of the air, and the probability of its continuing dry through the day, is fully considered. If they resolve to tread, the morning is suffered to pass away till the dew is removed. A row of sheaves is first laid upon the floors with the heads and butts in a line across the track of it, as a bolster for receiving other sheaves; and these sheaves range with the path, or circle, the butts resting on the floor. Other sheaves are ranged in like manner, with the heads raised on the former, till the whole floor is filled, when it appears to be filled with nothing but ears of wheat, sloping a little upwards. Upon laying down each sheaf, the band thereof is cut with a knife. A west wind is always desirable while treading is going on, as when wind is from the eastward dampness generally prevails.
In some instances, twenty-four horses are formed at some distance from the floor into four ranks; and when the floor is ready laid, the word is given to advance. For the sake of order and regular work, a boy mounted on one of the foremost horses advances in a walk with the whole rank haltered or tied together, and enters upon the bed of wheat, walking the horses slowly over it; another rank is ordered to follow as soon as the first is supposed to have obtained a distance equal to a fourth part of the circumference of the bed, and in the same manner the other ranks proceed. They are forbidden to go past a walk, till they have proceeded five or six rounds, when the word is given to move at a sober trot, and to keep their ranks at a full distance from each other, regularity and deliberate movement being necessary for preventing confusion. The gentle trot is continued till it may be supposed the horses have travelled eight or nine miles, which is the extent of their first journey; they are then led off to be foddered and watered, when the trodden light straw is taken off as deep as the place where the sheaves lie close, and are but partially bruised.
As soon us this first straw is removed, one-third of the width of the bed it turned over on the other two thirds from the inner side or circle of the bed, which narrows the neck of the next journey. The horses are again led on, and trot out their second journey, till the straw be clear of wheat. The outer part of the bed is then turned upon the middle part, when the horses take another journey. The loose straw being then taken off, the whole remaining bed is turned up from the floor, and shaken with forks, and handles of rakes, after which the horses give another tread, which finishes the work. The grain is then shoved up from the floor with the heads of rakes turned downwards, and put into heaps of a conical form, in which situation it often remains exposed to the weather for several days. The correct American agriculturists, however, have houses adjoining the treading floor, where the grain is deposited till it is cleared from the chaff and offal; though as most of them continue treading, if the weather be favorable, till the whole crop is separated from the straw, it is pretty obvious that the grain stands a considerable chance of being damaged before the several processes are concluded.
If thrashing machines are of much advantage to the public, by separating grain completely from the straw, the introduction of fanners, or the machine by which grain is cleansed from chaff, and all sorts of offal, may, with justice, be considered as of equal benefit to the practical agriculturist.
Since thrashing machines were introduced, fanners almost in every case are annexed to them, and in some instances, where powerful machines are used, fitted internally with suitable riddles, it is perfectly practicable to measure and market the grain immediately as it comes from the machine.
The term manure is applied indiscriminately to all substances which are known from experience either to enrich the different soils, or contribute in any other way to render them more favorable to vegetation.
In an agricultural point of view, the subject of manures is of the first magnitude. To correct what is hurtful to vegetation in the different soils, and to restore what is lost by exhausting crops, are operations in agriculture which may be compared to the curing of diseases in the animal body, or supplying the waste occasioned by labor.
For soils of this description, where turnips are taken as a first crop, dung can hardly be too well prepared; because the nature of the crop to which it is applied renders a complete incorporation with the ground absolutely necessary; without which the young plants might be starved at their very entrance into life. In the best farmed English counties, dung is often kept more than a year, in order that it may be perfectly rotted.
In general there is not much difficulty in preparing dung upon turnip farms; because, in the driest season, from the nature of the food used such a quantity of liquid passes from the animals, as to prevent burning, provincially firefanging, the greatest obstacle to the rotting of dung that can be experienced. If turnip dung is regularly removed, if it is properly mixed with the horse litter and other excrementitious matter accumulated upon the farm, it will be found an easy task to prepare all that is made by the middle of April, at which time the fold-yard should be cleared. What is produced after that time should be stored up separately, receive waterings if the weather is dry, and be reserved for clover-stubbles, or other fields that are to be dunged in autumn.
The middle of April is a good time for clearing the fold-yard, but this does not prevent the work from going partially forward through the winter, when suitable opportunities occur.
When driven out of the fold-yard, the dung should be laid up in a regular heap or pile not exceeding six quarters, or four feet and a half in height; and care should be taken not to put either horse or cart upon it, which is easily avoided by backing the cart to the pile, and laying the dung compactly together with a grape or fork. It is also useful to face up the extremities with earth, which keeps in the moisture, and prevents the sun and wind from doing injury. Perhaps a small quantity of earth strewed upon the top might also prove useful. Dung, when managed in this manner, generally ferments very rapidly; but if it is discovered to be in a backward state, a complete turn over, about the 1st of May, when the weather becomes warm, will quicken the process; and the better it is shaken asunder, the sooner will the object in view be accomplished.
A secluded spot of ground, not much exposed to wind, and perfectly secure from being floated with water, ought always to be chosen for the site of such piles or heaps. If the field to which it is to be applied is at hand, a little after-trouble may be saved by depositing it there in the first instance. But it is found most convenient to reserve a piece of ground adjacent to the homestead for this purpose. There it is always under the farmer's eye, and a greater quantity can be moved in a shorter time than when the situation is more distinct. Besides, in wet weather (and this is generally the time chosen for such an operation), the roads are not only cut up by driving to a distance, but the field on which the heap is made, may be poached and injured considerably.
Upon clay soils, where wheat forms a principal part of the crop, where great quantities of beans are cultivated, and few turnips sown, unless for the use of milch cows, the rotting of dung is not only a troublesome but an expensive affair. Independent of what is consumed by the ordinary farm stock, the overplus of the straw must, somehow or other, be rotted, by lean cattle kept in the fold-yard, who either receive the straw in racks, or have it thrown across the yard to be eaten and trodden down by them. According to this mode of consumption, it is evident that a still greater necessity arises for a frequent removal of this unmade dung; otherwise, from the trampling of beasts, and the usual want of moisture, it would compress so much as altogether to prevent putrefaction. To prepare dung sufficiently upon farms of this description is at all times an arduous task, but scarcely practicable in dry seasons; for if it once gets burnt (firefanged), it is almost physically impossible to bring it into a suitable state of preparation afterwards; and, at all events, its virtues are thereby considerably diminished.
Straw flung out in considerable portions to the foldyard, after being compressed by the trampling of cattle, becomes rather like a well-packed stack, than a mass of dung in a preparatory state. The small quantity of water and dung made by the animals is barely sufficient to cause a slight fermentation; and this slight fermentation, when the heap gets into a compressed state, is sure to bring on fire-fang, as already said, after which its original powers can rarely be restored. To prevent such an injury, no measure can be so successfully used as a frequent removal of this unmade dung, especially if the weather is wet at the time. If people can stand out to work, there cannot be too much wetness while executing this operation; for there is always such a quantity of the straw that has not passed through the entrails of the cattle, as renders it almost impossible to do injury, in the first instance, by an excess of moisture.
It is therefore recommended, upon every clay land farm, especially those of considerable size, that the foldyard be frequently cleared; and that the greatest care be taken to mix the stable or horse-dung in a regular way with what is gathered in the fold-yard, or made by other animals, in order that a gradual heat or fermentation may be speedily produced. Where the materials are of the sorts now described (that is, a small quantity of dung, or excrementitious matter, and a large store of unrotten straw, only partially moistened), no damage can ensue from putting horses and carts upon the heap; nay, a positive benefit will be gained from this slight compression.
The heap or pile, in the case of turnip dung, should be formed in a secluded spot, if such can be got at hand; because the less it is exposed to the influence of the sun and wind, the faster will fermentation proceed. It should be constructed on a broad basis, which lessens the bounds of the extremities, and separate heaps are necessary, so that too much may not be deposited at once. By shifting the scene frequently, and allowing each covering or coat to settle and ferment before laying on any more, the most happy effects will follow, and these heaps (at least all such as are completed before the first of May), may reasonably be expected to be in a fit condition for applying to the summerfallow fields, in the end of July, or first of August. If the external parts get dry at any time during the process, it will be proper to water them thoroughly, and in many cases to turn over the heap completely. It may be added, that much benefit has been experienced from laying a thick coating of snow upon such heaps, as by the gradual melting thereof, the whole moisture is absorbed, and a strong fermentation immediately follows.
Upon large farms, where the management of manure is sufficiently understood and practiced, it is an important matter to have dunghills of all ages, and ready for use whenever the situation of a field calls for a restorative. No method of application to clay soils, however, is so beneficial as during the year of summer fallow, though in such a situation a greater stock of manure is often gathered than is required for the fields under this process.
As to the proper quantity of dung to be used, no greater quantity ought to be given at one time than is sufficient to fructify the grounds; in other words, to render it capable of producing good crops, before the time arrives when a fresh dose can be administered.
The increased attention now bestowed, in all the cultivated districts, to the spreading of dung, originated from the measure of limiting the quantity applied. When forty, fifty, nay even sixty double loads were applied to an acre, it was not very difficult to cover its surface, even with an imperfect separation, though it certainly was impractical to bury the big lumps with a furrow of ordinary size; but when the quantity was brought down to eighteen and twenty loads, and still more, when twelve or fourteen loads were thought sufficient, a different conduct became absolutely necessary. Another improvement also followed, viz., spreading dung when raw or green; that is, immediately after the carts; in which way, at least during summer, it will be seperated at one-half the expense, and to much better purpose, than when it is suffered to lie in the heap for a day or two. In short, it is a sure mark of a slovenly farmer to see dung remain unspread in a field, unless it be in the winter months, when it may happen that hands cannot be got for carrying on such operations with the usual regularity. At that time the injury sustained by losing a few days is not great, though as a general rule it will be found that the expense is always smallest when the carts are regularly followed up.
When turnip husbandry forms the chief branch of fallow process, dung is naturally of a superior quality, and requires little artificial management for bringing it to a proper state of preparation. In the greater part of Scotland, and even in England, where the drill and horse-hoeing system is practised, the common, and undoubtedly the most approved way of applying dung to turnips, is by laying it in the intervals of the drills or small ridges, which are previously made up by a bout, or two furrows of the plough. These drills or ridges are formed at a distance of from twenty-four to thirty inches from the centre of each; and by driving the horses and cart along the middle one of the space intended to be manured, the dung is drawn out either by the carter, or by another man specially appointed for that purpose, in such proportions as the poverty of the soil, or the disposition of the occupier, may reckon r necessary. If the breadth of three drills is only taken at a time, the dung stands a better chance of being regularly administered; for it often happens, that when a greater number are included in one space, the two outside drills receive a less quantity than the intervening ones. Those, therefore, who limit themselves to three drills, generally divide the spreaders; as it requires six hands, women or boys, to follow up what is usually called a head of carts, the number of carts to a head being regulated by the distance of the dunghill, or the kind of road over which it is to be carried.
The quantity of dung usually given for turnips is from twelve to fifteen double cart loads, of one and a half cubic yards each, to a Scots acre. In some eases only ten loads are given: but the land ought to be in high condition where such a small quantity is bestowed. In fact, no soil can be made too rich for turnips or other green crops, peas excepted; but the object to be attended to in this, and every other care, is an allotment of the manure collected on the premises, in such a way as that the greatest possible return over the whole farm, not from a particular field, may be gained by the occupier.
The culture is in several respects similar to that of turnips, but in others it differs materially. Potatoes are planted earlier in the season than turnips: the ground rarely receives so much work; the soils upon which they are cultivated are more variable, and the dung considered to be most suitable for promoting their growth, does not require such high preparation. Many farmers, notwithstanding these circumstances, follow out the same process as described under the head of turnips. After the ground receives three, or at most four, ploughings, the drills are made up, dung deposited in the intervals, the seed planted above the dung, and the drills reversed; after which, say at the distance of two or three weeks, a slight harrowing is given. They avoid making up drills, but dung the ground in what may be called the broadcast way; and, entering the plough, the seed in every third furrow, into which only the dung is raked; and so on till the whole is finished. Before the young plants appear, or even after they are above the surface, a complete harrowing is given, which is considered as equal to a handhoeing; and from the dung being completely covered, scarce any of it is dragged up, while the seed, being undermost, none of it is disturbed by the operation. Some farmers do not dung their potato fields; but, reserving the manure till the crop is removed, find the remainder of the rotation greatly benefited. Potatoes scourge severely, and, in general cases, require a larger quantity of dung than turnips, but, as the extent of land under this culture is not great in common farming, few people grudge this extra quantity because, except in a few favored situations, a good crop cannot otherwise be reasonably expected.
Upon all soils incumbent on a wet or close bottom, whether characterized as clay, loam, or moor, it may be laid down as a primary principle, that dung cannot be so profitably applied, as while the ground is under the process of summer fallow.
When the ground is under the process of summer fallow, it is then the best and most appropriate time for applying manure to clayey soils. When under this process, the soil, comparatively speaking, is reduced into minute particles, which affords an opportunity of conveying the virtues of manure through the veins or pores of all its parts. The soil at that time, is also freed from its aboriginal inhabitants, quickens and other rootweeds, which claim a preferable right of support; hence the artificial plants, afterwards cultivated, possess, without a rival, such supplies as have been granted without any deduction whatever. In short, without laying any stress upon elementary effects during the process, it does not admit of a doubt, that the same quantity of manure bestowed upon the ground when summer-fallowed, will produce a greater return to the occupier, than if it had been applied at any other stage of the rotation.
Dung should not be laid upon fallows before they are completely cleaned; though, no doubt, in wet summers, that operation is not easily accomplished.
To make sure work, the fallows, if possible, should be early stirred, and no opportunity slipped of putting them forward with the utmost expedition, for it rarely happens that much good can be done towards the destruction of rootweeds after the month of July. Before that time a judicious farmer will have his fallow dressed up, and in a suitable state for receiving dung. It should be well harrowed, if the weather is favourable, previous to the dung being laid on; and if rolled, or made smooth, the spreaders will be enabled to perform their task with much more precision.
At the proper season every other operation ought to be laid aside, so that dung may be expeditiously spread out. To do it in wet weather is attended with pernicious effects; the horses are oppressed, a longer time is required, the land is poached, and in some measure deprived of all benefit from the previous fallow. These circumstances will be reflected upon by the attentive farmer; they will stimulate him not to lose a moment when the weather is favourable, and prevent him from forcing on the work, when injury, rather than benefit, may be expected. After all, seasons are so perverse as to render every rule nugatory. These must, however, be taken as they come, avoiding at such times to break the land down, acclivating the ridges sufficiently, and keeping the waterfurrows completely clear.
The quantity of dung usually applied to fallows in ordinary condition is from fourteen to twenty double loads per acre; though often good crops are reaped when twelve loads only have been given. Much, however, depends upon the condition of the land, upon the quality of the dung, and the way in which the carts are loaded. A decent load may contain one cubic yard and three-fourths, and weigh a ton, or thereabouts. It also deserves notice, that less dung will serve some lands than others, especially if they have lately been ploughed from grass; but, at all events, sixteen such loads as are mentioned will answer for any sort of soil, unless it has been previously quite wrought out. Even if it were in this forlorn state, it is better management to dung upon the stubble of the first crop than to give an over-dose when under summer fallow.
All dung laid upon summer fallow ought to be spread the moment it is pulled out of the cart. It can at no other time be done so well, or so cheaply, though on many farms, small ones especially, where a full supply of hands is wanting, this beneficial practice is much neglected. Four spreaders, boys or girls, with an attentive oversman to follow up and supply any omissions, are sufficient for one head of carts; the number included in a head being regulated by the distance of the field from the dunghill. Some farmers employ a person on whom they can depend to draw the dung from the cart, who has judgment to proportion it according to circumstances, and is responsible for any failure in the execution; but the carter is the person usually employed, though, unless a boy is given him to drive, a regular distribution can hardly be expected. To insure accuracy in laying down, fields are sometimes thrown into a dam-broad figure; and, a heap being drawn into each square, you could have nearly ascertained the quantity required for the whole. The great object, after a regular and economical distribution, is to shake and part the whole completely; as, by minute attention to this circumstance, a much greater effect is necessarily produced.
After the fallows are dunged, the remainder in hand is reserved for what may be called the intermediate dunging, generally bestowed either upon clover stubbles, upon wheat stubbles previously to taking beans, or upon bean stubbles before the seed furrow is given for wheat. It is obvious, that the farmer must be regulated, in this intermediate dunging, by the weather at the time, though it rarely happens but that dung may be got out upon clover stubbles at one time of the winter or other. When applied to beans, a beneficial practice, the dung, as we said above, is by some people laid upon the wheat stubble, and ploughed down before winter; hence it is in full action in the spring, when the seed furrow is given. Others make up drills at seed time, depositing the dung in the intervals, as for turnips or potatoes; but it seldom occurs that weather can then be got, at least on real bean soils, for executing this management.
Many arable farms, under the strictest economy, are unable to furnish supplies for an intermediate dunging, at least to its full extent; but persons so circumstanced have it always in their power to overcome the defect, and preserve a regular rotation, by keeping certain fields longer in grass, which of course will yield weightier crops when broken up, and stand less in need of manure during the after rotation. As, for instance, in a rotation of six, and it is here that the greatest shortcoming is felt, grass seeds to a certain extent, say a half, may be thrown in with the crop of wheat taken after fallow, which is the second year of the rotation; this part may be pastured for three years, and broken up in the sixth for oats, which concludes the course. Again, in a rotation of eight, grass seeds, in like manner, may be sown with a part of the fallow wheat, which part can be pastured for three years, then broken up for oats, succeeded by beans and wheat. By such arrangements, made according to circumstances, it is an easy matter to preserve a regular rotation, and to proportion the corn crops to the quantity of manure collected upon the premises.
The practice of soiling or feeding horses or cattle in the house or farm yard, is eminently calculated to increase the quantity of manure upon every farm, and improve its quality.
The soiling of horses, in the summer months, on green clover and rye-grass, is a practice which prevails in many grain districts where farm labor is regularly executed. The utility of the practice does not need the support of argument, for it is not only economical to the farmer, but saves much fatigue to the poor animal; besides, the quantity of dung thereby gathered is considerable.
Oxen and cows of all sorts, might be supported and fed in like manner, daring the whole of the grass season. It is well known that milch-cows have, in several instances, been so kept, but it has rarely happened that other descriptions of cattle have been fed for the butcher according to this mode, though it is perfectly practicable.
The chief benefit of soiling may be considered as arising from the immense quantity of fine dung which would thus be accumulated, and which can be returned to the ground in the succeeding season, after being properly fermented and prepared. In all grain-farms, at least those of clayey soils, it is a work of great difficulty to rot the straw produced upon it; and much of it is misapplied, in consequence of such soils being naturally unfit for raising green winter-crops.
If a numerous stock of cattle were kept either in the house or in separate divisions of the fold yard, all the straw threshed in the summer months might be immediately converted into dung, the quality of which would be equal, if not superior to what is made from turnips consumed at the stake.
Dung is the mother of good crops; and it appears that no plan can be devised by which a large quantity can be so easily and cheaply gathered, or by which straw can be so effectually rotted and rendered beneficial to the occupier of a clay-land farm, as the soiling of grass in the summer season. In a word, the dung of animals fed upon green clover, may justly be reckoned the richest of all dung. It may, from the circumstances of the season, be rapidly prepared, and may be applied to the ground at a very early period, much earlier than any other sort of dung can be used with advantage.
The use of manure, in the shape of compost, or ingredients of various qualities, mixed together in certain proportions, has long been a favorite practice with many farmers: though it is only in particular situations that the practice can be extensively or profitably executed. The ingredients used in these composts are chiefly earth and lime, sometimes dung, where the earth is poor; but lime may be regarded as the main agent of the process, acting as a stimulus for bringing the powers of the heap into action; lime, in this view, may be considered as a kind of yeast, operating upon a heap of earth as yeast does upon flour or meal. It is obvious, therefore, that unless a sufficient quantity is given, the heap may remain unfermented, in which case little benefit will be derived from it as a manure.
The best kind of earth for compost is that of the alluvial sort, which is always of a rich greasy susbstance, often mixed with marl, and in every respect calculated to enrich and invigorate barren soils, especially if they are of a light and open texture. Old yards, deep headlands, and scourings of ditches, offer themselves as the basis of compost-middens; but it is proper to summer-fallow them before hand, so that they may be entirely free of weeds. When the lime is mixed with the soil of these middens, repeated turnings are necessary, that the whole may be suitably fermented, and some care is required to apply the fermented mass at a proper time to the field on which it is to be used.
The benefit of such a compost in nourishing soils is even greater than what is gained by dressing them with dung.
Let the peat-moss, of which compost is to be formed, be thrown out of the pit for some weeks, or months, in order to lose its redundant moisture. By this means, it is rendered the lighter to carry, and less compact and weighty when made up with fresh dung for fermentation; and, accordingly, less dung is required for the purpose, than if the preparation is made with peat taken recently from the pit. The peat taken from near the surface, or at a considerable depth, answers equally well.
Take the peat-moss to a dry spot convenient for constructing a dunghill to serve the field to be manured. Lay the cart-loads of it in two rows and of the dung in a row betwixt them. The dung thus lies nearly on an area of the future compost dunghill, and the rows of peat should be near enough each other, that workmen, in making up the compost, may be able to throw them together by the spade. In making up, let the workmen begin at one end, and, at the extremity of the row of dung (which should not extend quite so far at that end as the rows of peats on each side of it do), let them lay a bottom of peat, six inches deep and fifteen feet wide, if the grounds admit of it, then throw forward, and lay on, about ten inches of dung above the bottom of peat; then add from the side rows about six inches of peat, then four or five of dung, and then six more of peat; then another thin layer of dung; and then cover it over with peat at the end where it was begun, at the two sides, and above. The compost should not be raised above four feet, or four feet and a half high; otherwise it is apt to press too heavily on the under parts, and check the fermentation. When a beginning is thus made, the workmen will proceed working backwards, and adding to the columns of compost, as they are furnished with the three rows of materials directed to be laid down for them. They must take care not to tread on the compost, or render it too compact; and, in proportion as the peat is wet, it should be made up in lumps, and not much broken.
In mild weather, seven cart-loads of common farm-dung, tolerably fresh made, is sufficient for twenty-one cart-loads of peat-moss; but in cold weather, a larger proportion of dung is desirable. To every twenty-eight carts of the compost, when made up, it is of use to throw on, above it, a cartload of ashes, either made from coal, peat, or wood; half the quantity of slacked lime, the more finely powdered the better.
The compost, after it is made up, gets into general heat, sooner or later, according to the weather, and the condition of the dung. In summer, in ten days or sooner: in winter, not perhaps for many weeks, if the cold is severe. In the former season, a stick should be kept in it in different parts, to pull out and feel now and then; for if it approaches blood-heat, it should either be watered or turned over; and, on such an occasion, advantage may be taken to mix with it a little fresh moss. The heat subsides after a time, and with great variety, according to the weather, the dung, and the perfection of the compost; which should then be allowed to be untouched, till within three weeks of using, when it should be turned over upside down, and outside in, and all lumps broken: then it comes into a second heat, but soon cools, and should be taken out for use. In this state the whole, except bits of the old decayed wood, appears a black free mass, and spreads like garden mould. Use it weight for weight, as farmyard dung, and it will be found, in a course of cropping, fully to stand the comparison.
Peat, nearly as dry as garden-mould in seedtime, may be mixed with the dung, so as to double the volume. Workmen must begin with using layers; but, when accustomed to the just proportions, if they are furnished with peat moderately dry, and dung not lost in litter, they throw it up together as a mixed mass, and make a less proportion of dung serve for the preparation.
The rich coarse earth, which is frequently found on the surface of peat, is too heavy to be admitted into this compost; but it makes an excellent top-dressing, if previously mixed and turned over with lime.
The importance of moss as a manure is now generally admitted by all who have had an opportunity of making experiments on that subject. The Rev. Dr. Rennie, of Kilsyth, having proved the utility of filtration, has recommended, in private letters, to water the collected heap of moss for about ten days, once each day, very copiously; and when that is done, to trim it up to a compact body, allow it to dry, and to receive a gentle degree of heat. The degree of heat necessary for accomplishing that end, is sufficient, though not discoverable by the hand. If it only affects the thermometer a little, it is declared to be a manure. The doctor also declares, that moss can be converted by filtering steam through it, and more expeditiously still, by exposing it to a running stream of water. If the water penetrates the moss, it expels its poisonous qualities sooner and more effectually than any other mode ever devised. When it is sufficiently purified by any of these means, it must be laid up to dry, and is in a short time ready fur applying to the land.
This mineral, after undergoing the process of calcination, has long been applied by husbandmen as a stimulus to the soil, and, in consequence of such an application, luxuriant crops have been produced, even upon soils apparently of inferior quality, and which would have yielded crops of trifling value had this auxiliary been withheld. In fact, the majority of soils cannot be cultivated with advantage till they are dressed with lime; and whether this beneficial effect shall be considered as an alterative, or as a stimulant, or as a manure, it will be found to be the basis of good husbandry, and of more use than all other manures put together. Wherever lime has been properly applied, it has constantly been found to prove as much superior to dung, as dung is to the takings of roads, or the produce of peat-mire.
In respect of operation, it is immaterial whether lime be used upon grass land or summer-fallow. Upon old grass land, it is perhaps best to plough first, and to summerfallow in the second year when lime can be applied. On new and clean grass land, it may be limed at the outset, that is before the plough is admitted.
To lime moorish soils is a hazardous business, unless dung is likewise bestowed: but to repeat the application upon such soils, especially if they have been severely cropped, is almost a certain loss; a compost of lime and rich earth is, in such cases, the only substitute.
Strong loams and clays require a full dose to bring them into action; such soils being capable of absorbing a greater quantity of calcareous matter. Lighter soils, however, require less lime to stimulate them, and may be injured by administering a quantity that would prove moderately beneficial to those of a heavy nature.
Upon fresh land, or land in a proper state for a calcareous application, lime is much superior to dung. Its effects continue for a longer period; while the crops produced are of a superior kind and less susceptible of injury from the excesses of drought and moisture. Finally, the ground, particularly what is of a strong nature, is much easier wrought; and, in many instances, the saving of labor would almost tempt a judicious farmer to lime his land, were no greater benefit derived from the application than the opportunity thereby gained of working it in a perfect manner.
It may be added, that though strong soils require to be animated with a strong dose of lime, those of a light texture will do well with little more than half the quantity requisite on the others, especially if they are fresh, or have not already received an application of calcareous matter.
In many places the value of land has been much augmented by the application of marl. Treating of this article in a practical way, it may be divided into shell-marl and earth-marl. Shell-marl is composed of animal shells dissolved; earth-marl is also fossil. The color of the latter is various, its hardness being sometimes soft and ductile, like clay; sometimes hard and solid, like stone; and sometimes it is extended into thin beds, like slate. Shellmarl is easily distinguished by the shells, which always appear in it; but the similarity betwixt earth-marl and many other fossil substances, renders it difficult to distinguish them.
Shell-marl is very different in its nature from clayey and stone marls, and, from its effects upon the soil, is commonly classed among the animal manures: it does not dissolve with water as the other marls do. It sucks it up, and swells with it like a sponge. Dr. Home says, that it takes six times more of acids to saturate it than any of the other marls which he had met with. But the greatest difference betwixt the shell-marl and the other marls consists in this, the shell-marl contains oils.
This marl, it would seem from the qualities which it possesses, promotes vegetation in all the different ways. It increases the food of plants; it communicates to the soil a power of attracting this food from the air; it enlarges the pasture of plants; and it prepares the vegetable food for entering their roots.
The shelly sand, often found deposited in beds in the crevices and level parts of the sea-coasts, is another substance capable of being employed both as a manure and stimulant, not only on account of its containing calcareous matter, in greater or less proportions, but also from the mixture of animal and vegetable substances that are found in it. The portion of calcareous matter contained in these substances must vary according to circumstances; but, when the quantity is any way large, and in a reduced or attenuated state, the quality is so much the more valuable. On that account the quantity which ought to be applied to the soil, must be regulated by the extent of calcareous matter, supposed, or found, upon trial, to be contained in the article.
The clayey and stone marls are distinguished by their colors, viz., white, black, blue, and red. The white, being of a soft, crumbly nature, is considered to be the best for pasture land; and the blue, which is more compact and firm, for grain land. In the districts where marl is much used, these distinctions of management are attended with advantage, if the following rules are adhered to:
If marl is of the blue kind, or of any kind that is compact or firm, lay it upon the land early in the season, so as the weather may mellow it down before the last plough; and, if on pasture land, let it also be early laid on, and spread very thin, breaking any lumps afterwards which are not completely separated by the first spreading. If marl is of the white, or any of the loose or crumbling sorts, it need not be laid on so early; because these varieties break and dissolve almost as soon as exposed to the weather.
Sea-weed is driven ashore after storms, and is found to be an excellent article for manuring light and dry soils, though of little advantage to those of a clayey description. This article may be applied on the proper soil with advantage to any crop, and its effects are immediate, though rarely of long continuance. As the coast-side lands of Great Britain are, in every case, of superior fertility to those that are inland, we may attribute this superior fertility to the great quantity of manure found upon their shores after every storm or high tide, whereby the resources of the ocean are in a manner brought forward for the enrichment of the lands locally situated for participating in such benefits. The utmost attention has long been paid to the gathering and laying on of this valuable manure.
Sea-weed is applied at all seasons to the surface, and sometimes, though not so profitably, it is mixed with untrodden dung, that the process of putrefaction may be hastened. Generally speaking, it is at once applied to the soil which saves labor, and prevents that degree of waste which otherwise would necessarily happen. Sea-weed is, in one respect, preferable to the richest dung, because, it does not produce such a quantity of weeds. The salt contained in seaweed, and applied with it, is the real cause of the aftercleanliness. This may be inferred from the general state of coast-side lands, where sea-weed is used. These lands are almost constantly kept in tillage, and yet are cleaner and freer from weeds than those in the inland situations, where grain crops are not so often taken.
When a coast-side farm contains mixed soils, the best management is exercised, by applying sea-weed to dry, and dung to clay-land. In this way, the full advantage of manure may be obtained, and a form so circumstanced is of infinitely greater value, with respect to manuring and laboring, than the one which contains no such variety.
The practice of burning the surface, and applying the ashes as manure to the soil that remains, has been long prevalent in Britain; and is considered as the most advantageous way of bringing in and improving all soils, where the surface carried a coarse sward, and was composed of peat-earth, or other inactive substances. The burning of this surface has been viewed as the best way of bringing such soils into action; the ashes, furnished by the burning, serving as a stimulant to raise up their dormant powers, thereby rendering them fertile and productive in a superior degree to what could otherwise be accomplished.
Mounds of seven yards in length, and three and a half in breadth, are kindled with seventy-two Winchester bushels of lime. First, a layer of dry sods or parings, on which a quantity of lime is spread, mixing sods with it, then a covering of eight inches of sods, on which the other half of the lime is spread, and covered a foot thick, the height of the mound being about a yard.
In twenty-four hours it will take fire. The lime should be immediately from the kiln. It is better to suffer it to ignite itself, than to effect it by the operation of water. When the fire is fairly kindled, fresh sods must be applied. I should recommend obtaining a sufficient body of ashes before any clay is put on the mounds. The fire naturally rises to the top. It takes less time, and does more work to draw down the ashes from the top, and not to suffer it to rise above six feet. The former practice of burning in kilns was more expensive; did much less work; and, in many instances, calcined the ashes.
I think it may fairly be supposed that the lime adds full its worth to the quality of the ashes. Where limestone can be had, I should advise the burning of a small quantity in the mounds, which would be a great improvement to the ashes, and, at the same time, help to keep the fire in.
The general adopting of the system of surface and soil clay-burning, is likely to be an important discovery for the interests of agriculture.
The following directions for burning moss along with the ashes are of considerable importance: Begin the fire with dry faggots, furze, or straw, then put on dried moss finely minced and well beaten with a clapper; and when that is nearly burnt down, put on moss less dry, but well minced and clapped, making holes with a prong to carry on the fire, and so adding more moss till a hill of ashes, something of the size of a wagon load, is accumulated, which, when cold, carry to the bins, or store heaps, before the ashes get wet.
The best method of improving moss land is by the application of a calcareous substance in a sufficient quantity to convert the moss into a soil, and by the occasional use of animal or other extraneous manures, such as the course of cultivation and the nature of the crops may be found to require.
After setting fire to the heap and herbage on the moss, and ploughing it down as far as practicable, Mr. Roscoe ploughs a thin sod or furrow with a very sharp horse plough, which he burns in small heaps and dissipates; considering it of little use but to destroy the tough woods of the ediophorus, nardus stricta, and other plants, whose matted roots are almost imperishable. The moss being thus brought to a tolerably dry and level substance, then plough it in a regular furrow six inches deep, and as soon as possible after it is turned up, set upon it the necessary quantity of marl, not less than 200 cubic yards to the acre. As the marl begins to crumble and fall with the sun or frost, it is spread over the land with considerable exactness, after which put in a crop as early as possible, sometimes by the plough, and at others with the horse-scuffle, or scarifier, according to the nature of the crop, a quantity of manure, setting on about twenty tons to the acre.
Moss-land, thus treated, may not only be advantageously cropped the first year with green crops, as potatoes, turnips, etc., but with any kind of grain.
In the county of Bedford, England, peat ashes are sold as manure, and are used as a top dressing for clovers, and sometimes for barley, at the rate of from forty to sixty bushels per acre. They are usually spread during the month of March, on clover, and on the surface of the barley-lands after the seed is sown. Peat ashes are also admirably useful as manure for turnips, and are easily drilled with or over the seed, by means of a drillbox connected with a loaded cart.
After the quantity required has been cast, a portion sufficient to kindle a large heap (suppose two cart-loads), is dried as much as it intended for winter's use. A conical pile is then built and fired, and as soon as the flame or smoke makes its appearance at any of the crevices, it is kept back by fresh peat, just sufficiently dry to be free from water; and thus the pile is continually increased until it has burnt thirty or forty loads, or as much more as may be required. The slower the process the better; but, in case of too languid a consumption, the heap should be stirred by a stick, when ever the danger of extinction seems probable.
In case of rain, the workmen should be prepared with some coarse thick turf, with which to cover the surface of the cone.
Coal ashes may likewise be made a most useful article of manure, by mixing with every cart-load of them one bushel of lime in its hottest state, covering it up in the middle of the heap for about twelve hours, till the lime be entirely slacked, and incorporating them well together; and, by turning the whole over two or three times, the cinders, or half-burnt parts of the coal, will be reduced to as fine a powder as the lime itself. The coal-ashes should, however, be carefully kept dry; this mixture will be found one of the best improvers of moorish and benty land.
The practice of lime-burners in Wales has formerly been to burn lime in broad shallow kilns, but lately they have begun to manufacture that article without any kiln at all.
They place the limestone in large bodies, which are called coaks, the stones not being broken small as in the ordinary method, and calcine these heaps in the way used for preparing charcoal. To prevent the flame from bursting out at the top and sides of these heaps, turfs and earth are placed against them, and the aperture partially closed; and the heat is regulated and transfused through the whole mass, that notwithstanding the increased size of the stones, the whole becomes thoroughly calcined. As a proof of the superior advantage that lime burnt in these clamps or coaks has over lime burnt in the old method, where farmers have an option of taking either lime at the same price, a preference is invariably given to that burned in heaps. This practice has long prevailed in Yorkshire and Shropshire, and is also familiar in Scotland.
Make an oblong enclosure, of the dimensions of a small house - say fifteen feet by ten - of green turf-seeds, raised to the height of three and a half or four feet. In the inside of this enclosure air pipes are drawn diagonally, which communicate with holes left at each corner of the exterior wall. These pipes are formed of sods put on edge, and the space between so wide only as another sod can easily cover. In each of the four spaces left between the airpipes and the outer wall, a fire is kindled with wood and dry turf, and then the whole of the inside of the enclosure or kiln filled with dry turf, which is very soon on fire; and, on the top of that, when well kindled, is thrown on the clay, in small quantities at a time, and repeated as often as necessary, which must be regulated by the intensity of the burning. The air-pipes are of use only at first, because if the fire burns with tolerable keenness, the sods forming the pipes will soon be reduced to ashes. The pipe on the weather side of the kiln only is left open, the mouths of the other three being stopped up, and not opened except the wind should veer about. As the inside of the enclosure or kiln begins to be filled up with clay, the outer wall must be raised in height, at least fifteen inches higher than the top of the clay, for the purpose of keeping the wind from acting on the fire. When the fire burns through the outer wall, which it often does, and particularly when the top is over-loaded with clay, the breach must be stopped up immediately, which can only be effectually done by building another sod wall from the foundation opposite to it, and the sods that formed that part of the first wall are soon reduced to ashes. The wall can be raised as high as may be convenient to throw on the clay, and the kiln may be increased to any size by forming a new wall when the previous one is burnt through.
The principal art in burning consists in having the outer wall made quite close and impervious to the external air, and taking care to have the top always lightly, but completely covered with clay; because if the external air should come in contact with the fire, either on the top of the kiln or by means of its bursting through the sides, the fire will be very soon extinguished. In short, the kilns require to be well attended, nearly as closely as charcoalpits. Clay is much easier burnt than either moss or loam - it does not undergo any alteration in its shape, and on that account allows the fire and smoke to get up easily between the lumps - whereas moss and loam, by crumbling down, are very apt to smother the fire, unless carefully attended to. No rule can be laid down for regulating the size of the lumps of clay thrown on the kiln, as that must depend on the state of the fire. After a kiln is fairly set going, no coal or wood, or any sort of combustible, is necessary, the wet clay burning of itself, and it can only be extinguished by intention, or the carelessness of the operator, the vicissitudes of the weather having hardly any effect on the fires, if properly attended to. When the kiln is burning with great keenness, a stranger to the operation may be apt to think that the fire is extinguished. If, therefore, any person, either through impatience or too great curiosity, should insist on looking into the interior of the kiln, he will certainly retard, and may possibly extinguish, the fire; the chief secret consisting, as before-mentioned, in keeping out the external air.
The above method of burning clay may be considered as an essential service rendered to agriculture; as it shows farmers how to convert, at a moderate expense, the most worthless barren sub-soil into excellent manure.
The following process for the decomposition of green vegetables, for manure, has been practised with great success in the of counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, England:
Place a layer of vegetable matter a foot thick, then a thin layer of lime, alternately, in a few hours the decomposition will begin, and, unless prevented by sods, or a fork full of vegetables, will break out into a blaze; this must be guarded against; in twenty-four hours the process will be completed. Weeds of every description will answer for vegetables; two pounds worth of lime will produce manure for four acres. Use the vegetables as soon after cutting as possible, and the lime fresh from the kiln, as distance will allow.
Mills are constructed for the purpose of bruising (not pounding) bones, and the dust riddled therefrom is reckoned a still stronger manure. The same person selects the best bones, which are sawn into pieces, for button-moulds and knife-handles: and the saw-dust from this operation is particularly useful in gardens and hotbeds. It suits every vegetable, hot-house, or green-house plant.
Bone manure is best adapted for cold and light sandy land. The usual quantity per acre is seventy bushels, when used alone; but when mixed with ashes, or common manure of any sort, thirty bushels per acre is thought quite enough. It is applied at the same periods as other manure, and has been found in this way to remain seven years in the ground. The rough part of this manure, after being five years in the ground, has been gathered off one field and thrown upon another of a different soil, and has proved, even then, good manure.
The bones which are best filled with oil and marrow are certainly the best manure; and the parts generally used for buttons and knife-hafts are the thigh and shank bones. The powdered bones are dearer, and generally used for hotbeds in gardens, being too expensive for the field, and not so durable as bruised bones, yet, for a short time, more productive.
A dry, light, or gentle soil, is best adapted for the use of bone-manure; as it is supposed that, in land which retains wet, the nutritive part of the bone washes to the surface of it and does not incorporate sufficiently with the soil.
Bruised bones are better when mixed with ashes or any other manure, as the juice of the bone is then more equally spread over the field. Bone manure ought to be ploughed into the land in tillage. On the grass the powder should be sown in the hand.
To Liebig is due the greatest credit for the theory that the organic matter of plants is supplied abundantly by nature from air and water; that the ashes of plants exhibit the mineral matters most needed for a fertile soil; that the ashes of the most valuable parts, such as the husk of wheat, especially show what matters are required for the most abundant production of those parts; that soils are most frequently deficient in phosphoric acid, which should be supplied in the form of bones, guano, and more especially as a more or less soluble phosphate of lime. Long and extensive experience has proved the great value of a fertilizer which contains a portion of so-called super-phosphate of lime; that is, a bone-phosphate of lime, which is treated with sulphuric acid, so that more or less of the phosphate will dissolve in water. Of course a true chemical super-phosphate would wholly dissolve, but such a one is impracticable in use; moreover it is found by practice that a few per cent. of phosphoric acid in a fertilizer is sufficient to insure its promotion of fertility. Hence some fertilizers in commerce consist almost wholly of a phosphate of lime mixed with a little sulphate of lime (plaster), resulting from the action of the sulphuric acid, so that it contains 15 to 20 per cent. phosphoric acid, one-third or one-fourth of which readily dissolves in water. These fertilizers are found to yield excellent results when applied to the soil.
The superiority of these nitrogenous superphosphated fertilizers over all others may be summed up in a few words. They surpass stable manure in their extremely small bulk and weight for the same fertilizing effect, and consequently in the greater ease and less expense of their handling, hauling and spreading, and yet further in their never fouling land by the seeds of weeds and noxious plants. They excel bones and phosphatic guano in their more rapid action and their yielding a quicker return. They excel Peruvian guano in continuing their fertilizing effects for a longer period of time, in their being less violent at first and yet sufficiently energetic to yield a return the first season of their application. Most of our land is either poor by nature or through exhaustive cropping, and there is nothing that will more rapidly restore and increase their fertility than the ammoniated super-phosphates. It may be yet further observed, that there is scarcely any soil to which their application will not prove a decided benefit, and scarcely a crop which they will not improve, whether grain, vegetables, cotton, tobacco, fruits, etc.
J. B. Bailey, Esq., presented to the Agricultural Society of Manchester, the followings enumeration of substances which may be applied usefully as manures instead of stable dung, viz., mud, sweepings of the streets, and coalashes, night-soil, bones, refuse matters, as sweepings and rubbish of houses, etc., sea-weeds, sea-shells and seagravel, river-weeds, sweepings of roads, and spent tanner's bark to mix with lime. Peat or moss, decayed vegetables, putrid water, the ashes of weeds, etc., the refuse of bleacher's ashes, soap suds, or lye, peat ashes, water infloating, refuse salt.
The use of liquid manure, so long common in China and Japan, is gaining in favor with agriculturists everywhere. Peruvian guano is one of the important discoveries of modern times: with its use ground a most barren may be made productive; it is available for almost all kinds of crops.
Plaster of Paris is used as a manure in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. The best kind is imported from hills in the vicinity of Paris: it is brought down the Seine, and exported from Havre de Grace. The lumps composed of flat shining spicula are preferred to those which are formed of round particles like sand; the simple method of finding out the quality is to pulverize some, and put it dry into an iron pot over the fire, when that which is good, will soon boil, and great quantities of the fixed air escape by ebullition. It is pulverized by first putting it in a stamping-mill. The finer its pulverization the better, as it will thereby be more generally diffused.
It is best to sow it on a wet day. The most approved quantity for grass is six bushels per acre. No art is required in sowing it more than making the distribution as equal as possible on the sward of grass. It operates altogether as a top manure, and therefore should not be put on in the spring until the principal frosts are over and vegetation has begun. The general time for sowing in America is in April, May, June, July, August, and even as late as September. Its effects will generally appear in ten or fifteen days; after which the growth of the grass will be so great as to produce a large burden at the end of six weeks after sowing.
It must be sown on dry land, not subject to be overflown. It has been sown on sand, loam, and clay, and it is difficult to say on which it has best answered, although the effect is sooner visible on sand. It has been used as a manure in this state for twelve years; for, like other manure, its continuance very much depends on the nature of the soil on which it is placed.
This is a very rich ingredient, as well for arable as pasture lands, when mixed at the rate of one ton of blubber to twenty loads of mould, and one chaldron of lime, per acre. It must be turned over and pulverized; and when it has lain in this state three or four months, it will become fit for use, and may be put upon the land in such quantities as the quality of the land to be manured requires. It is a very strong manure, and very excellent.
Early in autumn, after the hay crop is removed is the most convenient and least objectionable period for the purpose. The common practice is to apply manures during the frost, in the winter. But the elastic fluids being the greatest supports of vegetation, manures should be applied under circumstances that favor their generation. These will occur in spring, after the grass has, in some degree, covered the ground, the dung being then shaded from the sun. After a frost much of the virtues of the dung will be washed away by the thaw, find its soluble parts destroyed, and in a frosty state the ground is incapable of absorbing liquids.
Alternate husbandry, or the system of having leguminous and culmiferous crops to follow each other, with some modifications, is practicable on every soil. According to its rules, the land would rarely get into a foul and exhausted state; at least, if foul and exhausted under alternate husbandry, matters would be much worse were any other system followed. The rotation may be long or short, as is consistent with the richness of the soil, on which it is executed, and other local circumstances. The crops cultivated may be any of the varieties which compose either of the two tribes according to the nature of soil and