August i, 1884-] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



IGt 



surface of the islands, becomes converted into this sub- 

 stance. In the Terra del Fuego, nearly every patch of 

 ground is covered by two species of plants, which, by their 

 joint decay, compose a thick bed of elastic peat. 



How may peaty soils be improved? — The first step of 

 improvement is to acquire command of the water, and ob- 

 tain an outfall, by digging a ditch, which will take thu 

 place of the winding stagnant rivulet frequently found in 

 bogs. A system of draining must then be pursued, adapt- 

 ed to the extent of the ground, and the levels that can 

 be obtained. The draining completed, paring and burn- 

 ing should be followed. When the dry easterly winds of 

 spring set in. the breast ploughs should be put to work, 

 the surface pared and turnd over, and, when dry, piled in 

 heaps and burned to ashes. 



Eape, or seeds being established as the first crop after 

 the breaking up, the next crop is usually oats. They are 

 drilled in upon a very shallow furrow, with plenty of seed, 

 and well pressed with a press roll, as well before they 

 have come up as afterwards, in order to guard against 

 the wire worm, the enemy to be feared on Such laud. 

 This first crop of . oats is generally beaten down by the 

 weather, being weak and long in the straw ; and though 

 not a bad crop, looks better than it really is. On land 

 which is not peat, but peaty, some farmers grow barley. 

 There is a large crop of straw, and it is therefore liable 

 to be laid ; the grain, too, is thin. The advocates of barley, 

 however, assert that a bad sample of barley is better than 

 a bad one of oats, because thin barley may be ground, or 

 may be used for seed, whereas seed oats should be as plump 

 as can be found. The oats or barley are followed by rye 

 grass, which has been sown among then ; but if these have 

 been laid, as they often are, large patches of the rye grass 

 will soon be destroyed. 



M'hen wheat is sown on ground that is at all peaty, it 

 will almost certainly lose plant in large patches, even though 

 the land has been dunged, and the young wheat has been 

 trodden in by women, as is sometimes done. This is be- 

 cause there is some principle defective in the soil; that 

 principle is cohesion, and can oidy be supplied by clay. 

 The fen farmers of Lincolnshire, accordingly, apply clay 

 to peat land, by a prooess which has been carried on for 

 many years. Mr. Outhbert Johnson disapproves of the 

 practice of paring and burning, being of opinion that it 

 merely furnishes the soil, by an expensively rapid process, 

 with the freed earths of the peat, which its gradual de- 

 composition would, by other modes, more profitably and 

 steadily effect. He recommends the breaking up as deeply 

 as possible, by the common and the subsoil ploughs, the 

 surface of the peat; and then, if good well burnt lime can 

 be procured, there is no earthy addition so rapid and so 

 powerful in dissolving and rendering pliable the peat as this. 

 A few ploughings, assisting the combined operations of the 

 atmosphere and the lime, will in a few weeks bring the 

 soil into such a state as to enable it to bear a first crop. 

 The quantity of the lime should be about 250 or 300 bushels 

 per acre ; but the quantity, of necessity, must vary with the 

 readiness with which the lime is procurable. Where it is 

 very expensive, the cultivator is obliged either to reduce 

 the quantity, or mix it thoroughly with a proportion of clay 

 or marl, before he spreads it over the surface of the peat. 

 "Where limestone is to be obtained in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood, and other fuel is not to be readily procured, peat 

 may be employed in many cases iu the process of lime 

 burning without much difficulty, it chiefly requiring that 

 the peat should be thoroughly dried previous to its being 

 used. 



For a first crop on the thus reclaimed peat soils, I have 

 found no other crop equal to potatoes. These are best 

 planted in ridges; the horse hoe plough can then be easily 

 kept at work, which not only considerably promotes the 

 decomposition of the peat by facilitating the introduction 

 of the moisture and gases of the atmosphere; but this 

 operation adds very materially to the vigor and produce of 

 this valuable root, than which no plant more delights in 

 fresh soils, such as that produced by well chained fresh 

 earth dressed peaty lands. It is well to avoid for a year 

 or two all attempts to produce corn crops on land like 

 that now described. The course of cropping which the 

 farmer will almost always find the most profitable is to 

 follow the potatoes with peas, then turnips, oats, grass seeds, 

 peas, wheat. In all cases, too, he must remember in what 



small proportions some of the essential ingredients of his 

 crops ate at li,M existing in this peaty soil, and how valu- 

 able even a slight dressing of clay or marl will be found 

 in supplying such deficiencies. 



Example of Improvement.— The fens .of Lincolnshire have 

 been increased in productiveness at least 100 per cent, 

 merely by applying to the surface of the peat the clay 

 which is found at depths varying from 2 to- 5 feet below 

 it. This application is made thus :— Trenches, parallel to 

 one another, are made 11 yards apart and 3 feet wide, 

 down to the clay ; and then 2 feet in depth of the clay 

 is thrown out, one-half on each side. The efiect of this, 

 after the second year, is greatly to increase the product- 

 iveness of the soil— in many cases to double it. This rnodo 

 of improving peaty soils extends over a large district; in- 

 deed it is equal in extent to the extent of the fens, for, 

 although the whole of the fen land in Lincolnshire, North- 

 amptonshire, Huntingdonshire and Oambridgeside has not 

 been so treated, yet there is scarcely a farmer but has 

 begun and is now proceeding with this improvement. — 

 Gardeno's ami Farmer's Season Why. 



«. 



ON COTTONSEED AS FEED. 



Prof. John -A. Meyers, of the Mississippi Agricultural 

 College, delivered an address, not long since, on cotton- 

 seed as a feed for stock. He said : — 



Iu this age of science we must run our engines, raise 

 our crops, produce our stock, cultivate our soil and acquire 

 our wealth under high pressure. The man who can send 

 his products into the market first, obtains the highest 

 price. The people demand juicy, tender, fat, young beef. 

 In order to produce this class of meat, scientific cattle 

 feeders have carefully studied the best means of feeding 

 stock so as to attain the desired end. Looking at a feed- 

 stuff as chemical body he considers it, so far as his objects 

 are concerned, as composed of four constituents, viz., 

 protcine or albuminous matter, carbohydrates, fats and 

 mineral matter. Of the latter we have nothing to say, 

 but the first three play an important part in determining 

 the character of the rations. Troteine matter goes chiefly 

 to the building up of the muscular tissue of the body. 

 The carbohydrates and a portion of the fats are oxydized 

 to produce the necessary warmth for the animal system, 

 and the remainder of the fat is probably utilised in build- 

 ing up the fatty matters of the body. By nutritive ratio we 

 mean that the percentage of proteine matter present iu food 

 bears to the sum of the carbohydrates and fat as shown 

 by chemical analysis. It is an important element to take 

 into consideration in the preparation of a ration. 



The giving of a large quantity of food to an animal or 

 the using of a badly balanced food does not accomplish 

 as much as a smaller quantity, all of which is relished 

 and digested. For every 1,000 pounds of live weight, 

 from twenty-four to twenty-six pounds of dry matter is all 

 that cattle or horses will digest, and should have, ap- 

 proximatingly, the nutritive ratio of 15. The fats may 

 have ratio to the albuminoids of from 1] to 13, and should 

 vary with the age of the animal and the object to be 

 attained. In preparing the rations for an animal we take 

 as our standard milk and the very best hay. 



By experiment we find methods of using a large amount 

 of material for food which could not otherwise be utilized. 

 We may also devise rations which will be especially suited 

 to the animal when being worked or while at rest, or when 

 being fattened for slaughter. In the preparation of these 

 rations we are not very particular what we use as feed 

 stuff, just 60 we, get the proper amount of digestable in- 

 gredients into the rations, and do not have a flavor present 

 that will cause the animal to reject the food. The pre- 

 paration of food according to scientific principles, should 

 have in view the using of such materials as are within 

 reach; the feeding of the animal with as little expense 

 as possible ; the preservation of the animal iu good health. 

 and the stimulation of its digestive organs, so as to cause 

 it to develop rapidly in order to be ready for the market 

 as soon as possible. Li order to secure a food having all 

 of the properties it is necessary very often that the food 

 should be well ground or cut, and in some cases cooked 

 or steamed. 



As chemists, to within reasonable limits, we understand 

 the office to be performed by the food taken into the 



