348 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



Or for the five years of Lucem, 171 kilos. 

 per year, as the whcnt of the last year did 

 not take aiiy from the atrnos[)here. 



Now as the residues of these green crops 

 which remain in the soil, contain a corre- 

 sponding quantity of nitiogen, they are the 

 means of transferring to it such porli(jns of 

 that element as serve, if not fully to sustain 

 its fertility', at least prevent the exhaustuig 

 action of the white crops from being so soon 

 or so severely felt. This is still more fiilly 

 carried into effect when these crops, or the 

 last growth of them, in place of being con- 

 sumed, are plowed into the soil, where they 



act as the best form of manure, their fresh 

 and juicy structure facilitating their decompo- 

 sition, and their composition being such as to 

 provide almost every element subsequently 

 required. 



The substitution of these plants as sources 

 of food for the animals of the farm, for the 

 common, or, as they are called, the natural 

 gi-asses, has been one of the mo.st important 

 improvements in husbandly. The liillowing 

 table, which is collected from the best ati- 

 thorities, exhibits the quantity of actual nu- 

 tritious material which is usually derived 

 from an acre of land : 



It i.s here seen that turnips and carrots 

 yield from five to seven times the actual quan- 

 tity of food that the corn crops give, also that 

 potatoes and clover yield twice as much, and 

 as it should be always the object of the farm- 

 er to do as much as possible in a given time, 

 on a given space of ground, he should fix his 

 attention on those systems of culture which 

 thus produce the greatest quantity of food, 

 and by the least exhaustion of the soil. 



Practical experience bears out fully the 

 principles I have here endeavored to ex[)lain. 

 The Board of Agi-icultu)-e in England direct- 

 ed special uiquiries as to this point, and the 

 result led to the general conclusion, that one 

 year of tares, rape, potatoes, turnips, or cab- 

 bage, gives thrice as much food as one year 

 of medium pasture grass. In his very usefid 

 Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry, Profes- 

 Hor Johnstone adopts the same general propo- 

 sition, but he couples it with some money 

 estimates which I consider it important to 

 notice. He says : " With the exception of 

 rich pastures, it is said that land under clo^ or 

 or turnips will produce three times as much 

 food for cattle as when under gi-iiss. If such 

 a green crop, then, alternates with one of 

 corn, the land shoidd every two years (second 

 year) produce as much food for stock as if it 

 had been three years lyuig in gi-ass, besides 



the crop of corn as food for man, and of straw 

 for the production of manure." Professor 

 .lohnstone then proceeds to tliscuss the money 

 value of the produce of similar pieces of 

 gi-ound under such crops, and concludes, that 

 " Although more food is raised by converting 

 the land to arable purposes, and more people 

 may be sustained by it, yet more money 

 would be made by meadowing the land, 

 where a ready market exists for the hay', 

 where it is allowed to be sold off the farai, 

 and where abundance of manure can be ob- 

 tained for the purpose of top-dressing the 

 land every year." In order to arrive at tliia 

 result he takes the price of produce as follows; 



Hay, £5 ($25) per ton. 

 Turnips, 10s. ($2 50) per ton. 

 Barley, 4s. ($1) per bushel. 

 Wheat, 7s. ($1 75) per bushel. 



Such a price for the hay could certainly b< 

 obtained only in excepticmal cases ; the other 

 circumstances he mentions could only be re- 

 aliz(Hl in some few localities, and tiiere is no 

 <loiibt but that, as a general prmciple in Agri- 

 culture, the cultivation of gi-een crops and 

 aitificial gras.ses is not only that by which the 

 largest (juantity of food is raised, but idso that 

 by which the greatest money return is atliird- 

 ed to the famier. 



[The reader will bear in mind that while tlierc are in this chapter facts and information of 

 practical value, to be read profitably, he must not forget the diflbrenco in the cost of labor, which 

 in Kngland encourages the growth of hoed crops, and the difference in the greater moisture of 

 the climate of that Island, which favors the production of grass throughout the year. In onr 

 country, the dcaruess of labor would go to encourage grazing in preference to cultivation where 

 the country will admit of it; as in our Eastern States, and also in the South and West, whore the 

 moantain range, in summer, is connected with great fertility and abundant production of Indian 

 com in the adjacent country for winter use in fattening hogs and cattle. £d. Farm. fAh] 



foR THE IIovE IN Catti-e. — No better cure hos yet been found than an egg-shell filled 

 with tar. The second application seldom fails. 

 (732) 



