

THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



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Unrtiriiltiirnl Deprtinetit. 



CONDUCTED BY P. BAEET. 



Those who are in the habit of perusing the agricultural and horticultural journals, must 

 have observed that every year, and indeed every month, the subject of preparing and 

 applying fertilizers of the soil, assumes more and more importance. In all the older 

 States the primitive fertility of the soil is becoming exhausted, and people are finding 

 out in the declining produce of their fields and gardens, that they must either apply 

 manures or move further back. Twelve years ago, in the city of Rochester, manure — 

 good stable manure — could be had in abundance for nothing. Thousands of loads were 

 annually emptied into the river. Now it commands twenty-five cents a two-horse 

 wagon load, at least ; and that in a fresh, rough state, as it comes from the stable floor. 

 Every year it grows dearer and scarcer, although the land has not increased, while the 

 quantity of manure produced annually has more than quadrupled. 



This shows the growing importance of manure here; and it is so in other places. 

 Patent manure and poudrette companies, and searches after fertilizers in the bowels of 

 the earth, are all so many proofs that we are no longer ignorant of the value of manures ; 

 and proofs, top, that a better sj^stem of culture is rapidly gaining ground. It is a fact 

 that every man who cultivates a field, an orchard, or a garden, should remember well, 

 that to be successful, he must understand the making as well as the application of 

 fertilizers. Without it he can not produce a remunerating crop on his farm, nor fine 

 fruits or flowers in his garden. Our object at this time is not to discuss the subject in a 

 general way, but to point out now, at the commencement of the growing season, a mode 

 of fertilizing more particularly applicable to the garden, although in other countries 

 practiced extensively on farms, as will presently be seen. 



It is well known that manure, before it is in a proper condition to be taken up by the 

 roots of plants, must be in a state of solution. When solid barn-yard manure is applied, 

 it remains ineflfective until the moisture of the ground and rains dissolve it. But in this 

 couutrv we often have dry summers, during which manures often remain solid during 

 the whole season of growth, and turn up in the autumn almost as fresh as when turned 

 in ; the plants, meantime, starved. In such a chmate, it is evident that old, well decayed 

 manure, will be the most effectual ; and if in a liquid state, better still, in all cases where 

 we wish a rapid and luxuriant growth, as is the case with most garden vegetables and 

 other annual plants. It supplies the place of both rain and manure — essentials of good 

 growth. The liquid manure tank will become an indispensable adjunct to every Amer- 

 ican garden. The subject is attracting great attention even in the rainy climate of Eng- 

 land, and we extract the following from a late number of the Gardener^s Chronicle, 

 offering some important suggestions in regard to the proper mode, and proper periods 

 in growth, of applying it to the best advantage : 



"Tlie great importance of the Liquid If annre question, and the numeroiia inquiries made of na as 

 to the application of this fluid, lead us onc€ more to resume the subject, restricting ourselves on the 

 present occasion to a single point, namely, the period in the growth of a plaut when it may be most 

 advantageously applied, or should be altogether Avithhcld. 



" In order to understand this part of the question, it must be borne in mind — 1, that liquid mannre 

 is an orient readj/ for immediate use, its main value depending upon that quality ; 2, that its cjf'rct is 

 to produce exuberant growth ; and 3, that it will continue to do so as long as the tcmperat^ire and light 

 required for its action are sufficient. These three propositions, rightly understood, point to the true 

 principles of applying it ; and, if they are kept in view, no mistakes can well be made. Tliey render 

 it evident that the period in the growth of a plant, at which it should be applied, depcuds entirely 

 upon the natnre of the plant, and the object to be gained. 



"If, for example, wood and leaves are all that the cidtivator desires to obtain, it will be evident 



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