NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



575 



some quantity of lime. The answer was, "Lime 

 exhausts my land." 



Why did it exhaust the land? It was applied 

 so as to make the soil very active, or, which is 

 about the same, it hastened the vegetable matter 

 of the soil to such a state as to be taken up by the 

 growing plants. 



Another man inquires concerning a piece of land, 

 and I advise him to apply all the ashes he can 

 save, because it is evident that the soil has not a 

 proper supply of potash. But he tells me that he 

 used ashes on a piece of ground some years ago, 

 and believes that it exhausted the soil. The fact 

 undoubtedly was, that he applied ashes in sufficient 

 quantity to quicken the action of the soil, obtained 

 a good crop, and the crop exhausted the soil. The 

 ashes did no mischief. 



"I don't like guano," says another, "for I find 

 that it exhausts the soil." What is the matter 

 now? Why, the man has used a little guano up- 

 on an almost ruined soil, just enough to stimulate 

 it, and obtained an extra crop. But the next year 

 the soil appears poorer than ever. So we hear the 

 complaint about guano, that it exhausts the soil. 

 The truth is, however, that there is no just cause 

 of complaint in the case. Not enough guano had 

 been used in the case to enrich the soil, nor even 

 to sustain it, under the year's cropping, and as a 

 larger crop was taken off by the addition of a very 

 little, the soil "Was of course exhausted. In the 

 use of guano I am quite of the opinion that it may 

 be most profitably applied in the hill for our plant- 

 ing grounds, when unfermented manure is spread 

 upon the land. There is, to me, no doubt at all 

 of the great profit of such a use of guano. But a 

 light manuring with guano, upon an almost worn- 

 out soil, will bring the remaining properties of the 

 soil into use, and a single crop may take them up. 

 If so, that crop must exhaust the soil. This is the 

 state of the case with much of the land that is 

 said to have been injured by lime, ashes, and guano 



Every crop exhausts the soil, and the larger the 

 crop the more the soil is exhausted. All kinds of 

 crops are not alike as to power to exhaust the soil 



Some of the French agricultural chemists have 

 maintained that a crop of clover would not exhaust 

 the soil. There is little doubt that the clover 

 plant is an excellent agricultural chemist, and will 

 do much to supply what it takes away from the 

 soil. But there, are some mineral properties in 

 clover which must be derived from the soil. When 

 these properties are taken up in any quantities the 

 soil is so far exhausted. 



The great inquiry of some people for non-exhaust- 

 ing kinds of grain is about as sensible as an inquiry 

 would be for a kind of animal which could live 

 without eating. 



The great matter to the farmer is to produce 

 exhausting and yet profitable crops, and at the 

 same time know how to keep up his land. The 

 most exhausting crops are generally the most prof- 

 itable for him to raise. 



It would be of the greatest consequence to the 

 farmers of New England to know in what proper- 

 ties our soils were generally most wanting, and 

 then what of our common crops will most exhaust 

 the soil of those properties. It is certain that a 

 very large portion of the land of New England is 

 now greatly destitute of vegetable and mineral 

 strength for producing the most valuable crops so 

 as to be profitable. Pr< ifitable farming must hence- 



forth be that which tends to reclaim the soil, while 

 year after year taking profitable crops from it. 

 Year after year lias disminished the power of the 

 soil for producing profitable crops, while many mil- 

 lions of dollars lie buried in swamps, within New 

 England, which one-quarter of the hardihood and 

 perseverance necessary to success in gold-digging 

 in California would bring into use. It is very poor 

 policy for farmers to avoid every outlay for work- 

 ing up the "raw material" which they hare on 

 hand in the shape of swamp muck, &c. They have 

 the material for reclaiming the worn soils of New 

 England mostly upon their farms. Why not use 

 them, and cease to inquire so much for non-ex- 

 hausting crops 1 Every acre of land should be put 

 in such a state that the cultivation of it must give 

 a good profit to the cultivator. It is all idle to 

 think that every dollar spent for lime, salt, plas- 

 ter or guano, for use upon the land, is extrava- 

 gance. And while the great body of farmers will 

 laugh at a man who digs out muck, and complain 

 that their farms are worn-out, it is no wonder that 

 "the boys" seek some other way to make money, 

 than working the worn lands which their ignorant 

 fathers have been practicing robbery upon all their 

 life time. If any of the farmers' boys want to dig 

 a little gold, I would advise them to begin at the 

 muck swamp nearest their dwelling. c. 



Mason, N. H. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PAINT AND WHITEWASH. 



The remarks of one of your correspondents in 

 regard to white painted houses in the country, 



reminds me of our friend Bishop from the 



South, on a visit at our country seat some years 

 since, after admiring the stately forest trees and 

 complimenting us on the neat appearance of the 

 grounds, sagely remarked, looking at some grave 

 looking rocks which had been left as mementos of 

 what the place had once been, "One thing you 

 have to do, get your rocks whitewashed." Our 

 friend liked a cheerful color. 



This was some eight years ago. Since that time 

 some advance has been made in cultivating rural 

 tastes, and the day of white houses, whitewashed 

 fences, whitewashed trees, and such staring dis- 

 figurements of nature's beauties, has nearly gone 

 by, except, with those who, thinking what al- 

 ways has been must be right, maintain their own 

 opinions against any new-fangled notions. 



Your correspondent who has lived 30 years in a 

 red house suits me a shade better. But why paint 

 his house at all I Is it not a far more agreeable 

 object, to behold one of our old weather-washed 

 farm houses shaded by a graceful elm, than one 

 with enough of this durable red paint sticking to 

 it to remind one of a tannery ? 



For my part I like nature in the country, nor 

 do I believe we can eclipse her with either paint 

 or whitewash. Our wealthy cit gets his country 

 seat, and the first thing he does, if he has money 

 to spare, (or if he has not, for other purposes) 

 is to cut down a graceful natural hedge of sweet 

 briar, barberry or privet, perhaps a fine tree, to 

 make room for an expensive wall, well plastered 

 and capped ; turning our grateful shaded lane into 

 a glaring street. True, the stonework, at first 

 glance, excites the admiration of some and the 

 notice of all. But is it really an improvement on 

 unmolested nature ! Walls and fences in their 



