134 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



The price of flour has fnllon nearly one half in 

 two years ; the princ orniitlle is at this moment as 

 high as it has been for the last five years; so tiiat 

 the increased price cannot be entirely from the de- 

 precial.ion of the eircnlatinj- medium. The fact is, 

 the whole country is behind hand in the growth of 

 cattle ; there are not enoiigli oxen for the work of 

 the fanners; the largest and the best of them are 

 enticed off by the high prices paid for them; and 

 although myriads of calves are raised, these do not 

 fill up tlie demand, because so many young cattle 

 of two and three years growth are slanglitered in 

 place of the scarcer foil grown oxen and cows. 

 The supply of cattle is nut now, and will not be 

 for years, equal to the demand ; of consequence 

 there can be no present danger of raising too many 

 calres. The better policy of the farmer who 

 purchases is, to buy tlie younger cattle even at the 

 higher price. 



Mammoth r>oiliict. — Smith Sr.nborn, Esq. has 

 sent the editor of the Visitor specimens of blue 

 joint, being the native intervale grass of the Mer- 

 rimack river banks, more than eight feet in length. 

 Of this growth he had about eight acres this year 

 on his farm in Canterbury, near Boscawen plain. 

 The growth is upon the natural meadow overflow- 

 ed without manure. 



From r lie Hiiiiad. F.inrier's Ciitiliict. 

 Agricultural Chemistry. 



The many very important facts and hints con- 

 tained in Sir Huinplircy Davy's Agricultural 

 Chemistry, and the cogent arguments on many in- 

 teresting subjects with which it abounds, renders it 

 very important that it sliould be introduced to the 

 farmers of this country ; but the expense and dilH- 

 culty of disseminating it amongst our farmers, has 

 induced me to go over it, and cull from it various 

 interesting matters that admitted of separation, 

 without injury to the sense ; tliese I have copied 

 out and forwarded for publication in the Farmer's 

 Cabinet, hoping they may be useful to your numer- 

 ous readers. Agkicola. 



No manure can be taken up by the roots of plants, 

 unless water is present; and water or its elements 

 exist in all the products of vegetation. The ger- 

 mination of seeds does not take place witJioul the 

 presence of air or oxygen gas. 



Plants are found by analysis to consist principal- 

 ly of charcoal and aeriform matter. Tliey give out 

 by distillation volatile compounds, the elements of 

 which are pure air, inflammable air, coally matter, 

 and azote, or the elastic substance whicli forms a 

 part of the atmosjdiere, and which is incapable of 

 supporting combustion. These elements they gain 

 either by their leaves from the air, or by their roots 

 from tlie soil. 



All manures from organized substances contain 

 the principles of vegetable matter, which, during 

 putrefaction, are rendered either soluble in water 

 or aeriform — and in these states, thcj' are capable 

 of being assimilated to the vegetable organs. No 

 one principle affords the pabulum of vegetable lit'e; 

 it is neither charcoal nor hydrogen, nor azote, nor 

 oxygen alone ; but all of them together, in various 

 states and various combinations. 



Plants require only a certain quantity ef ma- 

 nure ; an excess may be detrimental, and cannot 

 be useful. 



Slaked lime was used by the Romans for manur- 

 ing the soil in which fruit trees grew. This we 

 are informed of by Pliny. 



Nothing is more wanting in agriculture than ex- 

 periments in which all ttic circumstances are mi- 

 nutely and scientifically detailed. -Tills art will ad- 

 vance with rapidity in proportion as it becomes ex- 

 act in its methods. 



Discoveries made in the enltivation of the earth, 

 are not merely for the time tnd country in which 

 tliey are developed, but they may be considered as 

 extending to future ages, and as ultimately tending 

 to benefit the whole human race ; as atfordinor sub- 

 sistence for generations yet to come ; as irulli|dv- 

 ing life, and not only multiplying life, but likewise 

 providing for its eiijoyment. 



Plants, being possessed of no locomotive powers, 

 can grow only in places where they are supplied 

 ■with food ; and the soil is necessary to tlieir e.\is- 

 tence, both as aft'ordlng tliein nourishment and en- 

 abling them to fix theinselve.s in such a manner as 

 to obey those mechanical laws by whicli their radi- 

 cles are kept below tlie surface, and their leaves 

 exposed to the free atmosphere. 



Herbs, ia general, furnish foiu or five times, and 



shrubs two or three times, as much potashes as 1 

 trees. The leaves produce more than the branches, 

 and the liranches more tlian the trunk. Vegeta- 

 bles burnt in a green state produce more ashes than 

 in a dry state. The following table contains a 

 statement of the quantity of potashes ati'orded by 

 some common trees and plants. 



10,000 parts of oak furnishes 15 parts of potash. 



" " elm " 3!' " " 



" " beech " 1'3 " " 



" " vino " ■'>•'> " " 



" " poplar " 7 " " 



thistle " r.:i " 



" " fern " 6^ " 



" " cow thistle " V.ii " " 



" " wormwood " 730 " '* 



" " vetches " 275 " " 



beans " 200 " 



" " fumitory " 7(j0 " " 



The eartlis found in plants are four; silica or the 

 earth of flints,alumina, or pure clay, lime, and mag- 

 nesia. They are procured by incineration. The 

 Irtne is usually combined with carbonic acid. This 

 substance and silica, are much more common in the 

 vegetable kingdom than magnesia, and magnesia 

 more common than alumina. 



Potatoes in general afford from ono-fiflh to one- 

 seventh of their weight of dry starch. 



One-fourth part of the weight of the potafoe at 

 least maybe considered as nutritive matter. 



Mr. Knight says that he has found the best pota- 

 toes heavier than the inferior varieties. 



Fruits, in the organization of their soft parts, ap- 

 proach to the nature of bulbs. They contain a 

 certain quantity of nourlsliment laid up in their 

 cells for the use of the embryo plant ; mucilage, 

 sugar, starch, are found in many of them often 

 combined with vegetable acids. 



If a solution of lime in water be exposed to the 

 air, a pellicle will speedily form upon it, and a sol- 

 id matter will gradually fall to the bottom of the 

 water, and in a certain time the water will become 

 tasteless; this is owing to the combination of the 

 lime, which was dissolved in the water, with car- 

 bonic acid gas which existed in the atmosphere. 



The principal consumption of the carbonic acid 

 in the atmosphere, seems to be in affording nour- 

 lsliment to plants; and some of them appear to be 

 supplied with carbon clilefly from this source. Car- 

 bonic acid gas is formed during fermentation, com- 

 bustion, putrefaction, respiration, and a number of 

 operations taking place upon the surface of the 

 earth ; and there is no other process known in na- 

 ture by which it can be destroyed but by vegeta- 

 tion. 



It is evident, that in all cases of tillage the 

 seeds should be sown so as to be fully exposed to 

 the influence of the air. And one cause ot'the un- 

 productiveness of cold clayey adhesive soils, is 

 that the seed is coated with matter iinpenncable to 

 air. 



In sandy soils the earth is always sufficiently 

 penetrable by the atmosphere ; but in clayey soils 

 there can scarcely be too great a mechanical divis- 

 ion of the parts in the process of tillage. Any seed 

 not foully supplied witli air, always produces a weak 

 and diseased plant. 



The great object in the application of manure 

 should be to make it alford as much soluble matter 

 as possible to the roots of tlie plant; and that in a 

 slow and gradual manner, so that it may be entire- 

 ly consumed in forming its sap and organized 

 parts. 



AU green succulent -plants contain saccharine 

 mucilaginous matter, with woody fibre, and readi- 

 ly ferment. They cannot, therefore, if intended 

 for manure, be used too soon after their death. 



It is usual to carry straw that can be employed 

 for no otlicr purpose, to the dunghill, to ferment 

 and decompose ; but it i.-i worth exjierlment, wheth- 

 er it may not he more economically applied when 

 chojiped small by a proper machine, and kept dry 

 till it is ploughed in f'or the use of a crop. In this 

 case, though it would decompose much more slow- 

 ly, and produce less efl'ect at first, yet its influence 

 would be mucli more lasting. 



Manures from animal substances, in general, re- 

 quire no chemical preparation to fit them fur the soil. 

 The great object of the farmer is to blend them 

 with eartliy eonstltuv'iits in a proper state of divis- 

 ion, and to prevent their too rapid decomposiiion. 



By covering dead animals with five or six times 

 tbeij bulk of soil, mixed with one part of lime, and 



suffering them to remain a few months, their de- 

 composition would impregnate the soil with soluble 

 matters, so as to render it an excellent manure, and 

 bv mixing a little fresh quick lime witli it at the 

 time of its removal, the disagreeable effluvia would 

 be in a great measure destroyed ; and it might be 

 applied In the same way as any other manure to 

 crops. 



The refuse <if the difl'erent manufactures of skin 

 and leather form very useful manures; such as the 

 shavings of the currier, furrier's chlpplngs, andthe 

 oft'als of tlie tan-yard and of the glue-maker. The 

 gelatine contained in every kind of skin is in a 

 state fitted for its gradual solution or decomposi- 

 tion ; and wlieu buried in the soil, it lasts for a con- 

 siderable time, and constantly affords a supply of 

 nutritive matter to the plants in its neighborhood. 



From Dr. J.ickson's Third Annual Report on the 



Geologif cf Maine. 



Agricultural Geology. 



Of all the arts, I know of none more likely lobe 

 improved by geological examinations, than that of 

 Aoriculture ; since the composition of soils indi- 

 cates their fertility, or capabilities of improvement, 

 and the causes of barrenness. The science of ge- 

 ology demonstrates the origin, and distribution of 

 the mineral matters, constituting the basis of all 

 soils, to which they chiefly owe their peculiarities. 

 I know that it is a favorite opinion with many agri- 

 culturists, tliat the mineral constituents of a soil 

 have but little, if any influence on their fertility ; 

 and that they suppose the whole secret resides in 

 the iiresence of certain vegetable or animal mat- 

 ters; but such a theory is at once exploded by an 

 attentive examination of the natural soils, with 

 their peculiar vegetation ; for it will be seen that 

 there are regular zones of vegetation, peculiar to 

 each geological district, in which the same vegeta- 

 ble or animal matters are present, but which differ 

 essentially in their mineral constitution. Thus 

 how difl'erent is the soil derived t'rom granitic rocks, 

 from that which is formed by the disintegration and 

 decomposition of limestone and slates. How pe- 

 culiar is the vegetation whicli follows the great 

 bands of trap rocks, and how remarkable is the 

 growth on the ancient clay loams, of tertiary de- 

 position. Whoever considers the attempts made to 

 raise wheat upon soil totally destitute of lime, will 

 at once appreciate the value of that mineral sub- 

 stance, and its importance in the production of 

 srrain. An imperfect or blighted product is sure to 

 Tbllow tlie planting of this grain upon soils desti- 

 tute of lime, while it is well known that certain 

 districts, where the soil contains tills mineral, are 

 always favored with luxuriant and heavy crops. 

 This is one of the settled points In agriculture, and 

 one which every farmer should duly appreciate, if 

 he wishes to prosper in his art. Indian corn re- 

 quires but l.ttle, if any lime, and hence we see ex- 

 cellent crops of tiiat grain raised upon sandy 

 plains, unsuited to wheat. Rye, likewise, will dn 

 pretty well without it, but it is always more full 

 and heavy where it exists in the soil ; and by at- 

 tending to tills elrcumstancc, the value of the crop 

 may be greatly improved 



Tlie overlapping of soils, from diluvial causes, 

 is also a point greatly illuminated by a knowledge 

 of geology ; and we are able, by means of a good 

 geological map, to predict the nature of a soil in a 

 given district, with as much certainty as we refer 

 back certain rounded and transported stones to 

 their native beds. It is also easy hy the geological 

 and topographical features of" the country, to pre- 

 dict the nature of the alluvial or intervale soils, 

 which have been washed down fi-om the hills and 

 mountains by brooks, rivers and rain ; and such 

 knowledge not only helps us to account for the 

 phenomena in question, but also in the selection of 

 suitable grounds for our various crops. 



The situations in which are fbund'snbstances ca- 

 pable of being used for the amelioration of soils, is 

 also pointed out in a geological survey ; and a sci- 

 entific farmer soon learns to avail himself of the 

 natural resources of the country. We also are a- 

 ble to indicate by the natural growth, the nature 

 of the soil, and to point out to the farmer tracts of 

 country which will form the best settling lands ; 

 and by the apjdieation of the science of chemistrv, 

 we indicate to him the peculiarities of the differ- 

 ent kinds of soils, and the modes of renovating 

 those which are deemed to be exhausted. 



There are certain tracts, upon whieli gypsum 

 acts favorably, while on others it does no good ; 

 and there are those where liming is required, and 

 others where it is n^^'t. Some soils require the in- 

 troduction of a quantity of vegetable matter, and 

 we show the farmer the cheapest mode of Introduc- 

 ing it; otbersjlaro wanting ^in certain saline mat- 



