573 



amougst these one of the most important is the power of separating 

 from the air and laying up large supplies of ammoniacal compounds, 

 which are of the utmost importance in the growth and maturing of 

 nitrogenous plants. It also has the power of decomposing other com- 

 pounds which contain potash, magnesia, and of reconstructing them in 

 such subtle forms that they easily enter into the composition of plants. 

 But to do all this the earth must be stirred eflBciently and thoroughly. 

 A single crop of thirty-live bushels of wheat taken from an acre of 

 ground, with two tons of straw, at the same time will take from the 

 field where it was grown two hundred and seventy-seven pounds of 

 mineral substances, in the following proportion: silicia 170 lbs., 

 phosphoric acid 30 lbs., sulphuric acid 8 lbs., lime 16 lbs., magnesia 

 10 lbs., potash 40 lbs., soda 3 lbs. Now ten crops of the same grain 

 would carry off over a ton of these valuable minerals from the 

 field, while according to the usual plan of cultivation not a pound 

 would have been added to it; and no effort having been made by 

 increasing the depth of the soil, or otherwise, to make up for the loss, 

 by putting it in a condition to be acted upon by the elements, is it 

 strange that we so often hear of farms which once produced thirty-five 

 or forty bushels of wheat per acre, being now worn out, and their pos- 

 sessors moving away in search of new land to which the depleting 

 process has not yet been applied, but which they are quite competent 

 to commence and carry on ad infinitum? 



The property of the soil to recuperate itself is recognized by every 

 farmer who submits his land to the process of a naked fallow for the 

 purpose, as he says, of letting it re^t. But during this period the land 

 does not rest; it is busy laying by, and storing away on every portion 

 of its surface exposed to the sun and air, substances which will prove 

 of the utmost service to the growth and maturity of the future crop. 



We hear a good deal said about the invention of machines which 

 will eventually supersede the plow. The attempts made within the 

 past five years have not been very numerous, and as yet but Itttle if 

 any progress has been made. The machines that have been presented 

 to the public have been found too unwieldy, or not efficient enough to 

 cause any one to throw aside the plow as yet. Undoubtedly when the 

 hour and the man come, we shall have a horse power digger which 

 will prove as labor saving as McCormick's reaper ; but until they come 



