1838] 



FARM E R S ' R J] (J 1 S r E R 



461 



year, divide it into several portions, and rake each 

 portion in succession; so as to >Tet hb large a pro- 

 portion as possible of tlie oldest and most rotten 

 leaves. Tlieir course should lie ))recisely diiler- 

 ent; and if new leaves enoutrh cou'd he secured^ 

 and with equal ease, it would be belter to let aiorte 

 those of previous j-ears, which have been already 

 robbed ot'the <xrealer part of their (erliii'/infi; injirc- 

 dients. It is not meant that, when raking a i)iece 

 of wood-land, the lower and older leaves should be 

 left. That Avould cause much more trouble in the 

 separation, than gain in the ditlerence ol" quality. 

 Rut, alter having once removed the whole cover 

 of the leaves, it will be more profitable to raUe the 

 same land every succeeding year, and thus obtain 

 recent leaves only, rather than to go elsewhere lor 

 a thicker and more rotten layer, formed princi- 

 pally of leaves which have been soaked in every 

 rain that has Tallen in two or three years. This 

 opinion, however, is deduced entirely from reason- 

 ing, and has not been tested by experiment. 



li; however, in the absence of proper experi- 

 ments, any one doubts the great waste of the so- 

 luble matter of leaves, let him take some that have 

 recently fallen, and are quite dry, and soak them 

 for 12 hours in a vessel of water; and the color 

 given to the water, alone, will show that there is 

 much loss, in that short time. Every heavy, or 

 long-continued rain, has fully as much eti'eci on 

 all the dead leaves then exposed. The much 

 greater part of this rnatter extracted by infusion, 

 sinks immediately into the earth below, and is not 

 seen, and, therelbre, cannot be t^ppreciated. But, 

 on poor soils, (or all very deficient in calcareous 

 matter,) after heavy and continued rainS; the pud- 

 dles and streams of water arc all more or less 

 deeply tinged with the brown-colored extract from 

 the leaves; and the permanent streams, mill-ponds, 

 and even lakes and rivers formed oi" water flow- 

 ing from such lands, are always so colored. Such 

 examples are numerous in lower V'irginia, where- 

 ever the lands are naturally poor, and there is no 

 calcareous matter in the soil over which the water 

 passes. No such coloring matter remains in the 

 water on calcareous strata, or on good natural 

 soils, the goodness of whicli is evidence of lime 

 being contained. In such cases, the vegetable 

 extract is seized on by, and combines with, the 

 lime, or the soil containing lime, and is saved lor 

 fertilizing use, if the soil is in a state fit to pro- 

 duce any valuable crop. Rut, if the land on which 

 the colored water flows, or stands (in ponds) or sinks 

 into, has not the natural constitution io enable 

 it to attract, and chemically combine with, ve- 

 getable extractive matters, or vegetable manures, 

 then this kind of food for plants will not be re- 

 tained, nor be profitable to be applied thereto, any 

 more than other putrescent manures on the most 

 ungrateful soils. The propriety and profit of ap- 

 plying leaves, as of every other putrescent ma- 

 nure, of course depends on the fitness of the .soil 

 to receive such benefit. This is not the place to 

 set forth the causes of such different qualities of 

 soils, (and which has been done elsewhere,^ and 

 in all the remarks on the benefit of applying leaves 

 as manure, it is understood to be on soils which 

 would return good profit for the use of other ve- 

 getable manures.* 



* See Essay on Calcareous Manures, second edition, 

 chap. 2, 3, and 8. 



I If the opinions expressed above are correcl, the 



I proper practice in collecting leaves, and one tolally 

 j dillerent from the common mode, may be readily 

 i inlerred. Those who collect leaves lor manure, 

 I seldom rake up and heap any soo.i alter they have 

 I hdlen, and belbre they have been soaked by many 

 I successive rams. Tlie raking is most generally 

 done at leisure times, in the latter [)art of winter 

 j and ill spring, and is sometimes continued ihrough 

 I summer and autumn, to nearly a year alter the 

 newest of the leaves have been lying on the 

 earth, soaked by rains, and wasting continually. 

 If this litter, so used, is /ound highly advantageous 

 by improving and judicious farmers, (of which 

 there can be no doubt,) it is even more certain that 

 th"ir profits from it would be much greater, if the 

 collection and application were made without per- 

 mitting such waste previously to take place. 



The raking up and heaping of the leaves, in the 

 woods, ought to be eifi^cted as soon as possible 

 after nearly all have lallen in the early part of 

 winter. The work is done much the easier if ilui 

 leaves are wet; and iherelbre a slight or slow rain, 

 just before, is desirable. Even a single heavy rain, 

 if not continuing very long, may assis; the collect- 

 ing and removal of the leaves, more than il will 

 diminish their soluble and enriching parts. Re- 

 sides, by being put up wet, decomposition will 

 proceed in tlie heaps; but if heaped dry, and es- 

 pecially il principally of oak (or any other than 

 pine) leaves, the upper part of each heap, forms 

 a thatch almost impervious to rain, and the inte- 

 rior of the heap may remain dry and unchanged 

 for a year. Every eflbrt siiould be made to have 

 the leaves raked up, and put into goo<i stout heaps, 

 as early as possible after the proper lime. Rut al- 

 ter beinir heaped, and secured from the wind by a 

 lew hoefuls of earth, ihej' will lose lillle or no- 

 thing by waiting months, or periiapseven a year, 

 for a convenient time to be carted away and 

 spread on the fields. 



The poorest lands, when not annually raked, 

 yield the greatest bulk of leaves; because the 

 acidity of such soil retards the rotting so much 

 that the leaves ol' five or six years may be on the 

 surface at one time. On calcareous and rich soils, 

 there being not only no acid, but also a strong 

 chemical action or attraction between the soil and 

 any vegetable matter in contact, the leaves soon 

 disappear, ij" not raked up and heaped. On a 

 small piece of wood-land, of soil both calcareous 

 and very rich, I had the leaves raked into heaps 

 during winter; and when hauled away the next 

 autumn, the heaps were well rotted, and as 

 "short" and as black as old fermented and dry 

 farm-yard manure. Heaps made about the same 

 time on the poor huckleberry ridge forest lands, 

 in the same space of time were but little altered. 



The greater proportion of pine there is in ihe 

 Ibrest growth, the n)ore valuable the cover of 

 leaves; and of course the old worn-out lands, bear- 

 ing a second growth of unmixed pine, are the 

 best to furnish this manure. There is more of 

 substance and weight in the same bulk; the pine 

 leaves are more easily handled in every process; 

 and from their narrow and compact form, they op- 

 pose no impediment to the young spires of any 

 crop on which they may be laid, and for the same 

 reason they are not liable to be carried off by the 

 winds. Farmers more experienced than myself in 

 their use, and whose opinions are therefore of 



