622 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



could he with it, and any one of the elements or means employed for reproduction. He 

 would soon find that it would be of no avail to combine it with earth without moisture — nor 

 with earth and moisture without heat — nor with these without air — nor with all these with 

 out light ! Nay, even with the aid of earth, air, and moisture, and light, he would find other 

 elements indispensable : he must have in all these certain kinds of food, adapted to its par- 

 ticular nature, to be consumed and digested by that particular crop. And then, again, to 

 till, to I'eap, to gatlier, to thresh, with a profitable economy, and not to have its produce cost, 

 like the Indian's gun, more than it comes to, he must have implements of various kinds, and 

 these, again, must be constnictcd on certain principles of mechanical philosoj)hy, to make 

 them most efficient and available, and is any man bold enough or blind enough to contend 

 that it does not require education, thought, acquirement, to ascertain whether and in what 

 proportion these elements of subsistence be present, and in what quantity ? Whether these 

 implements are constnicted on trae jninciples and the animals employed of tme form and 

 constitution ? Why, then, will not the Press of the country give its aid in bringing about this 

 great consummation ? Let us not be told that the public mind is not prepared lor it. It is 

 exactly in the right condition to receive the jjroper impulse : it has begun to feel it. There 

 must be a beginning to all great moral movements. The time was when our British ances- 

 tors went naked, or wore deer-skin breech-cloths. From that age to the present the world 

 has been meliorating, with occasional Providential or barbarous checks, such as pestilence 

 and war ; but the average movement has been gloiious for the cause of humanity, civiliza- 

 tion and the arts. The next great step is to be suitable education for the agricultural class ; 

 and we tmst there is no hann in saying, may God speed it ! 

 p. S- Let the reader note the locale of the following: 



For The Fanners' Library. 



MANURING PEAT LANDS. 



Dutchess Co. (N. Y.) Agricultural Institute, Feb. 22, 1847. 



The question otten arises in the minds of the agriculturist, Whi/ do Peat Soils 

 require an application of 7nanure ? Experiment has almost invariably proved that 

 if yard or mineral manures are copiously incorporated with peat soils, the favor 

 is as promptly reciprocated as when they have been employed upon a diluvium 

 or alluvial soil. 



Individuals of practical information only reason upon the subject something 

 after this wise: that the substance composing peat beds once possessed vitality, 

 and that all the essential elements for maintaining life and growth were present ; 

 consequently these essentials must still abound in the semi-decayed body, and 

 why should these soils require additional organized matter in the form of yard 

 manure to induce a good degree of productiveness ? We conceive that there may 

 be three reasons why productiveness is vastly augmented upon those lands by 

 applying manures : firstly, an excess of deleterious acids ; secondly, want of ap- 

 propriate inorganic nutriment; tliirdly, want of one essential organic element. 



First, that there is excess of deleterious acids which retard the growth of cul- 

 tivated crops. 



This proposition will be readily conceded, when we inquire from what class 

 or classes of plants peat has originated. The first impulse given to a peat pro- 

 duction is the transportation of organic fragments by water to horizontal or 

 slightly inclined grounds, Avhich produce a marsh. 



Mosses, lichens and reeds take root upon tiiis marsh, flourish through the 

 summer, but are stricken down by aulunmal frosts, and are succeeded by a more 

 luxuriant grov/lh the following season. Thus the destruction and reproduction 

 of these annuals are perpetuated, each season's product becoming nutriment for 

 their successors. 



In a few years there is such an immense accunmlation of organized matter, 

 from perishing cryptogamous plants, and from the accessions made by water, that 

 plants containing more woody tissue begin to thrive, such as the brake and fern. 

 These disappear after a time, and are succeeded by marsh grasses {Carexcs) and 

 stinted lowland shrubs ; these, again, are followed by larger shrubs and trees. 



Lastly, wlien l.ie bed lias become deep, some drier and more perfectly decom- 



