NEW ENGLAIND FARMER. 



Published by JOHN B. RUSSELL, kthe corner of Conjrrs-ss and Lindall Streets, Boston — THOMAS G. FESSEMJE.V, Eiiiror.. 



YOl>. IV. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 182G: 



No. 2f 



AN AIS2JRSSS, 



Delivered before the Derkdiire AESot:iation for (he pro 



.motion of AgiiciiUure and Manufacturrs, at Pittsfuhl, 



Oct. G, 1825, h3' Samuel M. .McKay, Tresident of the 



Society. — 



(Cortc/urferf /rem ;)ffir« ICU.) 



The writing' of scieniilic men give n ,grcnt j 



mass of tarts In favor of llie a|)|)licalion of liafn- 1 



yard manure in a recent stale. But the |irac- ! 



tice of intelligent farmers ubrnad and at liome 1 



will 1)0 e^iteemed of higher authority. The eel- 1 



ehrated Mr Coke, whose leinitalion as an ex- 1 



tensive practical Farmer lias reached most ol iif 



across the Atlantic, assures us, that he hasab»n-| 



(loned the practice of fermenting manures preyi- 1 



ous to their ap/ilication, (or many years; atv'j 



that he is satisfied that the unfermenled manurei 



will go twice as far. ?dr Lorrain, whom I havoj 



already mentioned, stales, that he was in the 



habit of taking his coarse manure from his cat- j 



lie-yards, in \vhicli he fed out his corn husks, j 



stalks and straw, and of ploughing it nuder early ; 



iu the Sfiriug I'or his corn crnj). This lie did } 



tipon '-loams, a stilV relenliie clay, and upon al 



liglit sandy soil." He also practised this course 



in a varie'ty of climates. The result of a serie? 



of esperinsents satistied liim, that the manure is 



most effeciualhj decomposed after it is ploughed. 



under'the soil, and that "top dressing, with pu-' 



trescent maniiresi is very wasteful." This 



method has also been adopted by some of our 



farmers in this town. 1 am informed by"yhp 



Hon. Jonathan Allen, late President of our So-; 



ciety, that he has made the experiment the 



present season to his entire satisfaction. He 



applied long or unfermenled manure to a corn 



crop, which was raised by the side of another 



cornfield, that was dressed with muck or short 



manure. The soils were as nearly the same as 



might be — hut the difference in the two crops 



was very remarkable. Gen. Root and several 



gentlemen on our east street have adopted the 



same cultivation with unil'ortn success. 1 made 



the experiment the last season and raised a very 



fair crop of corn on a dry gravelly soil, whichs 



was poor, and from which I expected a poor 



crop. I spread the horse litter and manure 



upon the furrow and harrowed it in previous to 



planting. 



The use of septic substances combined with 

 animal and vegetable matter lor the formation 

 of composts, and that too upon the authoriiy ol 

 intelligent agricultural writers, has given rise 

 to very erroneous opinions. A distinguished 

 member of the "Philadelphia Society lor pro- 

 moling agriculture," whose zeal and exertions I 

 most cordially appreciate, deprecates the use ol 

 iinfermented manures. He is of opinion that 

 the process of fermentation in the soil, " bursts 

 the vessels of valuable plants," produces '■ smut, 

 blight and mildew in grain crops," and " myri- 

 ads of mice and moles in potatoe crops."* Il 

 would be difficult to reconcile these opinions 

 with the practice of making hot beds, as we do 

 with unfermenled manure, and upon which ive 

 iaise the most delicate plants — also with the 



*' See Memoirs Philadelphia Agric. Soc. vol. iii. 



fact, that " mildew and smut frcqiipnlly occur 

 where no manures have been applied." In co- 

 iiiridence with similar opinions, masses of veg- 

 etable mould, and in some insla.ices animal ma- 1 

 nure, have been mixed ivith lime, and much la- 

 bor has _been worse than llirovvn away in mak-! 

 ing composts. To a soil containing' much solu-j 

 ble vegetable manure, the application of quick I 

 lime should always be avoided. This remark 

 applies, also, to niosi of the animal manures. It' 

 toiuis to render their extractive matter insoluble. ! 

 The experiments of Sir Humphry Davy on this 

 )»oinl are conclusive. Where soils contain inert i 

 librous vegetable matter, wliich cannot be acted 

 upon by the ordinary manures, the elicct of lime 

 »vill be good; and I believe the best method of 

 applying it is to spread it upon the furrows and 

 '■ harrow in" with long manure, if any be pill 

 upon ihe-land. Thus the lield of cultivation be- 

 iiuiies the compost heap, and we secure all the 

 Veiieiit to be derived I'rom the process of fer- 

 ricntalioii; we also save the expense oCiligging, 

 hauling and spreading the co.mpost as it is usual- 

 ly made. 



Hut to combat the opinion that " fermenting 

 nanure infects the grouiul with a durably dele- 

 terious laint,instead of I'ertilizing it wilh wholi!- 

 ■ome capacities,"* I will stale I'urther, that I 

 nade the application of horse litter and manure 

 b my forc:;! and fruit trees the last spring, 

 vhich I spaded in so as to secure beneath the 

 lurface, the etiecls i'rom the process of ferinen- 

 iation — the trees have never done so well, al- 

 though the season has been unusually dry. 1 

 carried the experiment further — in IrMO'planl- 

 K"- young apple trees, I covered ibe bottom ol 

 Ih'i hole in wliich 1 placed one of the trees with 

 ho^t; litter and manure perl'ecdLy unfermenled 

 — 1 placed the roots of the tree immediately in 

 conl(ct with this manure, and to my surprise il 

 has lived and outgrown its follows, which were 

 set al the same time by its side. The opinion 

 of Sit Humphry Davy Is perfectly sustained by 

 every fact with which I am acquainted; and I 

 cannot doubt that a very great loss in the sub- 

 stance of manure is annually incurred from the 

 practice of suffering it to lie in the yards, until 

 the first fermentation has subsided. 



In connexion with what has already been said 

 of Ihe natural process by which the earths are 

 fertilized and soils formed, I would suggest the 

 advantages of a system of summer fallowing, 

 with buckwheat or clover cro|>s. The system 

 of naked summer fallows has been called by an 

 eminent Scottish I'armer the main spring oi' 

 Scottish husbandry. But this is practised for 

 Ihe purpose of cleansing the lands from weeds, 

 as well as enriching them. The practice ! 

 would lecommend would lie wilh reference to 

 the fertilizilion of the soil. Perhaps there is 

 not a farmer present who has not a few acres o; 

 worn out land, which now yields him little oi 

 nothin". and who could not well afford to los< 

 Ihe use of it for two or three years, if by raising 

 buckwheat, rlover, or other green crops, and 

 ploughing them in, it would be made at the end 



of the time as good btnd as the rest of his farm. 

 This we have seen is nature's mctho<l for iorm- 

 ing and enriching the soil — and as I have al- 

 ready remarked, iv« may hasten the process by 

 culllvatioii. " -Mi green and succulent plants 

 contain saccharine and mucilaginous matter, and 

 when employei! lor enriching the soil, ihe^y 

 should be ploughed in at the time they are in 

 flower, or blossom — at this time they contain 

 Ihe larger quantity of easy soluble matter." It 

 has occurred to me that Indian corn sown broad 

 cast would afford an excellent green crop for 

 summer fallow. lis first growth is very rapid. 

 I believe it contains •• saccharine and mucilagi- 

 nous matter" in large quantities, and it produces 

 an immense burllien. 1 have been favored with 

 a communicalJon from Nathan Pierson, jr. Esq. 

 of Ivichmond, staling his particular management, 

 and the result of a corn crop sowed broad cast, 

 as a substitute for a grass crop. It was cradled, 

 if 1 mistake not, while in Ihe blossom, it was 

 bound and " s(onhcd ?//)" — where il cured itself, 

 giving as little trouble as our corn stalks ordi- 

 narily do. Mr Pierson wa.s kind enough to 

 weigh a sufficient number of the Ixmdles lo ob- 

 a fair average wci-jht — the result is, that on 

 live acres he has raised something above eight- 

 pen tons — giving an average of three tons and 

 a half to tbfc acre of cured corn stalks. 



This crop, as a substitute for hay, has already 

 been tried by several of our enterprising f'arm- 

 ers, and I believe it is a very important one. As 

 a green cr'-p t^i' summer fallow, il might be 

 ploughed i!i : i about the time it tassels out, or 

 peibinfs :> lit\ie sooner^ At this lime I thirdt it 

 would be converted into manure by lerm<«-.U!!!or!._ 

 as readily as is a clover ley, and that it would 

 be equally valuable. 



In the'use of Ihe slimulanl manures 1 com- 

 menced a course of experiments the last spring. 

 It was my intention to have availed mysell of 

 Ihe assistance of a cliemist, whose interest in the 

 concerns of the Society .would have induced him 

 most cheerfully to render his services, had cir- 

 cumstances permitted. Such have been my own 

 engagements for Ibe last three weeks,that 1 could 

 norottain an analysis of the soil, as 1 anticipat- 

 ed,* and Ihe experiments agriculturally arc barey' 



* See Memoirs Philadelphia Agricultaral Society,vol. 

 iii. pages 131 and 2i3, 



* Thefiillotving article on the Analysts of Soils is ri 

 jjublished from the New Encland Farmer, a weekly^ 

 pa-per printed in Boston, which 1 would lake this oppor- 

 lunily to name as the first periodical agricultural publi- 

 cation wilh ti'hich I am acquainted. 



'• In our paper vol. ii, p. 22, we intimated an intention 

 to give the different modes of analysing soils, recom- 

 nunded Ijy writers on husbandry, and now proceed to 

 liiifil our promise. We would premise, however, that 

 ihere is a proci ss for this purpose, recommended by Sir 

 HuiMpbry Uavy, in his Lectures on Agricultural 

 Chemistry, which is probably more accurate, but much 

 more ccmpliratcd than either of the modes which we 

 here jdace betore our readers. Sir Humphry L'avy'a 

 •netli -1 requires a knowledge of chemistry which very 

 few practical farmers have attained, and requires in- 

 struments ol analysis which not n any ol our readers 

 would be able or willing to procuie. Besides, these 

 ■Gentlemen who have a -Kish to n.ake use ol his [ iccfss 

 °ave. generally, it is to be prtsi idk', his tr»a:iM in 

 l^ofsesrion. W- (h« refcre give a df .■C'ij I'rn c; ctber 

 processes, Tfhich are more sinipie, and ve teline suf-- 



