THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



511 



— to the soil furnishes soda for the plant, and is 

 often the best application that can be made ; this, 

 however, is a disputed question. In passincr, we 

 wish to say that brine is a gjreat vermin antidote, 

 and if carefully applied to the soil and to the com- 

 post heap will do quite as much good as harm. 

 Caustic soda, produced by boiling the common 

 carbonate of soda with quicklime, is dangerous to 

 the vegetable. Common salt and lime mixed 

 together and used in composting is very valu- 

 able as a supply of soda, for the plant is thus ob- 

 tained. 



Lime. The reader may perhaps consider him- 

 self posed in reference to this alkali. But its im- 

 portance to the plant is oftener under than over- 

 estimated, and it is often blindly applied, and often 

 not applied at all when it should be. It sweetens 

 the soil, decomposes vegetable matter, and as a 

 sulphate is a good absorbent of the different gases. 

 But the importance of this inorganic part of the 

 plant to the agriculturist must be the subject of 

 another chapter. 



Phosphoric acid, although combining with any of the 

 alkalies, is most important when compounded with 

 lime. It is composed of phosphorus and oxygen. 

 The white smoke of a match when it is ignited is 

 phosphoric acid, created by the union of the phos- 

 phorus on the end of the match with the 

 oxygen of the atmosphere. Its importance will be 

 understood when we tell you it forms nearly one- 

 half of the ashes of wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, 

 barley, peas, beans, fcc, and enters largely in the 

 perfection of vegetables and animals ; and yet it is 

 found in limited quantities in most soils, particularly 

 those where cultivation has not been remunerative — 

 where the whole system has been to get all possible, 

 and pay nothing to tiie soil for its harvests. 



This acid does not exist in nature in a free state, 

 and hence, isolated, does not affect vegetation ; but 

 as we have said, it unites with the alkalies and forms 

 phosphates, wliich are essential to the growth of the 

 plant, without which, perfection in the development 

 of grains and roots cannot be obtained. It is solid 

 and colourless, soluble in water, sour, corrodes and 

 destroys animal and vegetable substances. It is 

 found in combination in all plants, hence its necessity 

 to them as an article of food ; and yet it must be 

 diluted or mixed, hence the double importance of 

 the different alkalies as fertilizers. 



The intelligent, thoughtful reader will not wonder 

 at the constant diminution of fertility in cultivated — 

 aye, skinned soils. \VIiat debts would some farmers 

 have to pay, if the earth were to make the demand 

 to each one, " Pay that thouowest," in the shape of 

 inorganic matter taken from their farms, and never 



returned ! It is estimated that in every hundred 

 bushels of wheat sold, there arc removed permanently 

 from the soil on which it grew, sixty pounds of 

 phosphoric acid ! and that for each cow kept on a 

 pasture throughout the summer, there arc carried off 

 in veal, butter, and cheese, not less than fifty pounds 

 of phosphate of lime, of which perhaps nearly or 

 quite one-fourth is phosphoric acid. 



Warring says well, " This would be one thousand 

 pounds for twenty cows ; and it shows clearly why 

 old dairy pastures become so exhausted of this sub- 

 stance, that they will no longer produce those nutri- 

 tious gases which are favourable to butter and cheese 

 making." We may as well quote the next paragraph, 

 and endorse it, viz. : " That this removal of the 

 most valuable constituent of the soil has been the 

 cause of more exhaustion of farms, and more emigra- 

 tion in search of fertile districts, than any other 

 single effect of injudicious farming, is a fact which 

 multiplied instances most clearly prove." 



He instances the once world-renowned wheat- 

 producing Genesee Valley. It is well known that its 

 fame as a wheat country does not belong to the 

 present. And yet how many of the Western farmers, 

 or Eastern either, can tell to-day what phosphoric 

 acid is, or that such matter exists ? They have as 

 little idea of it, its importance to the soil, its charac- 

 ter, and how it is found, as they have of the size of 

 brain of the inhabitants of the planet Saturn ; and 

 how willing to let their children grow up in the same 

 sort of ignorance, and with the same indifference to 

 what grows, and what causes it to grow 1 They want 

 them to read, write, and cipher — it was the schooling 

 they had, and they get along ! 



fellow farmer, insist upon that boy and girl of 

 yours knowing something of this earth, beside its 

 shape, diameter, and circumference, and who circum- 

 navigated it. Require that the teacher should at 

 least know something of plants this summer; be 

 capable of teaching your child the beauties, pecu- 

 liarities, and ofSce of plants and flowers — in short, 

 insist he must know something of botany. But we 

 have left the acid, though we may have exliibited 

 some acidity ; if so, we cannot help it, for we feel 

 very much like scolding at the indifference manifest 

 to these important departments of education. 



Phosphoric acid is indispensable then; it must 

 exist in some form in the land. If you want intelli- 

 gent animals, they must be fed with plants contain- 

 ing phosphoric acid, for phosphorus is contained in 

 and is necessary to the health of the brain. We 

 have said enough perhaps to set you thinking, to 

 prove the importance of this acid in agriculture. In 

 combination with alkalies we shall have more to say 

 of it hereafter. —Emery's Journal of Agriculture. 



AUXILIARY MANURES. 



The farmers of this country have become so I that they will be brought into such a position, 

 much accustomed to the use of guano, superphos- 1 These manures are offered in great abundance, 

 phate of lime, and other light manures, that they I The stores of Peruvian guano in this country are 

 would find themselves in a difficult jjosition for a ' double what they were last year; and great efforts 

 time if they were called upon to do without them, have been made by importers and manufacturers 

 There is nothing, however, at present to indicate to insure abundant supplies of phosphatic manures. 



