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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



absorbents, and that is why we urge composting 

 with it ; it saves for the use of the plant the am- 

 monia in the manure mixed with it. Attend then 

 to this matter, and save the liquid portion of the 

 manure in your yards and stables. 



Deep ploughing has to do with the production 

 of ammonia. It enables the roots of plants to pe- 

 netrate and fill the subsoil with vegetable matter, 

 which, by its decay in the confined atmosphere, 

 where the access of the oxygen of the air is not 

 easy, gives rise to the production of ammonia. 

 When thus formed, it is chemically prepared, and 

 enters the roots of the bearing plant to assist its 

 growth. We said, the ammonia of the atmosphere 

 is absorbed by rain, dews, &c., and returned to the 

 roots; hence, the necessity of rain and dews— the 

 latter particularly, where vegetation is rankest and 

 "growing most rapidly, requiring continual supplies 

 of nitrogen. Who can estimate the value of a 

 heavy body of snow during four months of the 

 year succeeding a fruitful season ? Here is matter 

 for inquiry and reflection, fellow farmer. How 

 wonderfully accurate is the action of God's great 

 laws of compensation — of supply and demand ! 



We have hitherto been talking of the organic 

 parts of plants — those parts that burn away, of 

 which nothing visible remains after combustion. 

 Those parts which remain in the form of ashes 

 are called the inorganic — are derived by the plant 

 from the earth, and when the plant is decayed be- 

 come earth again — were obtained from the soil, 

 and have become soil again by combustion. The 

 inorganic parts of plants are in small projjortion to 

 the organic, and yet they are numerically greater. 



Let the reader remember that carbon, oxygen, 

 hydrogen, and nitrogen are the four kinds of mat- 

 ter comprising the greater and organic portions of 

 plants ; and yet the inorganic portion, though 

 smaller, consists of nine or ten different parts. 

 We are now to consider these. We may learn 

 something new, and digressions will be in order if 

 we find it for the interest of the reader to extend 

 our science to its practical application. It involves 

 the manure question at every point, and here we 

 may discover, possibly, whether the rich and so- 

 called exhaustless (!) virgin soil of the prairies, will 

 need to be prostituted by theapphcation of the foul 

 stuff caWed barn-yard manure. 



Burn a plant, a mass of weeds, a stack of wheat 

 or other straw, reader, and how little of it is left! 

 this you have noticed. How small in proportion 

 to the bulk consumed, and the bulk of ashes that 

 remain ! This is the inorganic part ; very seldom 

 amounts to twelve or fifteen per cent, of the weight 

 of the vegetable substance burned. If it be straw 

 you have burned, the weight of the ashes will sel- 

 dom exceed four or five per cent, of the weight of 

 the straw consumed. Yet this part of the plant is 

 as important as any other, comes from the soil 

 and must exist in the soil, so that the plant may 

 take up the proportions required in its structure — 

 in its growth. 



Burn a ton of straw, weigh the ashes, and you, 

 who return nothing to your fields in the shape of 

 manure, estimate the amount of inorganic matter 

 you take from your farm annually, saying nothing 

 of the ashes, or inorganic part of the grain the 



straw yields. How long can you continue to crop 

 your land without impoverishing it, by this no- 

 return process ? We want you to have time to 

 ponder upon the figures you may make, by calcu- 

 lating that five per cent, of every ton of wheat- 

 straw you take from your farm is actually taken 

 from the soil, and must be supplied in some man- 

 ner, and if you are not supplying it, you are grow- 

 ing poorer. Let the figures tell you how fast you 

 are growing poorer. When you liave aroused 

 5'ourself from the stupor of insensibility, you will 

 be in fit mood to search into the character of these 

 several inorganic parts of plants ; for it is not re- 

 garded by moderns as " stealing trash " to steal 

 our purse. 



Having sufliciently pondered on the amount of 

 inorganic matter taken from the soil in every ton 

 of straw, and which must be replaced or the soil is 

 constantly impoverished, let us inquire what are 

 these inorganic parts ? Potash is an alkali — one of 

 the four alkalies found in the ashes of plants. It 

 is lound in most plants. Fill a barrel with wood 

 ashes, and leach with water — the ley contains the 

 ])Otash of the ashes. The pearlash of commerce is 

 only potash and carbonic acid, a union of the two 

 produced by the exposure of the former to the air, 

 and if the quantity of carbonic acid is increased, 

 saleratus is the result. 



Many of our readers, perhaps, have had expe- 

 rience in the manufacture of pearlash. In early 

 days, when the heavy forests of the North and 

 East were being cleared, it was no unusual thing 

 for the settler to turn a penny by the rustic manu- 

 facture of this alkali into an article of commerce. 

 We have not unfrequently found it in the large 

 open fire-places of the borderers, and secured it for 

 the good dame's use, by using the "poker" among 

 the ashes. 



Plants, trees, and animals require potasli in their 

 construction. Hence it must be found in the soil, 

 and supplied if cropping has diminished the 

 supply. 



The importance of this supply in the soil will be 

 seen when the reader understands that every acre 

 of wheat absorbs over thirty-two pounds of potash 

 from the soil, barley over sixty-eight pounds, red 

 clover over one hundred and forty-four pounds, 

 and other common crops in different proportions. 

 How is it to be supplied ? Remember this is only 

 one of the inorganic parts that yoti exhaust in this 

 quantity from each acre of soil grown in wheat, 

 barley, clover, &c., annually. Is it not a great ex- 

 hausting process ? Is there no necessity for sup- 

 plying this food, of ploughing deeper, of manuring 

 more ? If your soil is wanting lime, ashes may be 

 substituted. But this supply of inorganic matter 

 in some form inust not be withheld from your 

 farm. It is a great study to learn how to econo- 

 mically supply it — of great importance you should 

 learn. Potash may be used on sandy soils with 

 good effect, and is a valuable application as a 

 top-dressing for young plants, for insects do not 

 like it. 



Soda is another alkali found in the ashes of 

 plants, and is not unlike potash in its office in the 

 construction of the plant. Common salt contains 

 it; hence the application of this thistle-killer — salt 



