good Peruvian guano, even to this improved superphosphate of lime, especially if the 

 sample sent us is a fair specimen of the article. 



As conservators of the agricultural interest, we make these remarks simply to put 

 farmers on their guard against the indiscri7ninate use of these various artificial manures; 

 and that, if they try them (jis we hope they will on a small scale as manures for wheat 

 this year,) and the result is not beneficial, they may not indiscriminately condemn all 

 book-farming, science, and artificial fertilizers as unmitigated humbugs. 



^A^ 



SOIL BEST ADAPTED FOR THE CULTURE OF WHEAT. 



All of our commonly cultivated plants are composed precisely of the same elements, 

 the only chemical difference between the vast varieties of plants being the relative pro- 

 portion in which the same elements unite to form the plant ; so that if a soil will produce 

 any one of our cultivated crops, it possesses the capacity, so far as the elements of plants 

 are concerned, of growing any other crop, to some extent. In judging of the best kind 

 of plants to be cultivated on any particular soil, therefore, we have to look to the rela- 

 tive proportion in which the elements of plants exist in the soil, and adopt that class of 

 plants which requires most of the particular elements in which the soil abounds, or 

 requires least of those in which it is deficient. This would seem to be a common sense 

 view of the subject, yet there are many other circumstances, often overlooked, which, if 

 considered, would materially affect our conclusions. In a large crop of corn there are 

 all the elements which a large crop of wheat contains, and also in larger quantities, yet 

 there are thousands of acres of land that produce immense crops of corn that cannot be 

 profitably cultivated with wheat. A good wheat soil will always produce a good crop 

 of corn, if properly tilled, while much of our best corn land will not produce wheat 

 under ordinary culture. The cause of this great difference is not, we have shown, owing 

 to a deficiency in the soil of any element of the wheat plant ; for the requirements of the 

 corn crop are identical in kind and greater in quantity, than that of wheat. It must, 

 therefore, be owing either to the manner in which the various elements are assimilated 

 by the plant, or to the existence in the soil of some substance, which though sufficient of 

 it may exist in a corn soil for the actual demands of the wheat crop, yet from the differ- 

 ent habits of growth of the two plants, a much larger quantity may be necessary for the 

 performance of the healthy functions of the wheat than of the corn plant. This sub- 

 stance is most probably clay ; for all soils which experience proves to be best adapted to 

 wheat culture, abound with this substance and lime. The reason why clay is so much 

 more necessary and beneficial for wheat than for corn, is not clearly understood. In 

 light soil ,the wheat plant is found to throw out its lateral roots very near the surface, 

 while in a clayey or heavy one it is more inclined to tap, and the lateral, fibrous roots 

 are at a greater depth. In the former case the plant would be more exposed to the 

 influence of frost and thaw, and would be more likely to heave out in the spring, while 

 in the latter it would be better able to stand all the vicissitudes of cold and heat, from 

 the roots being at a greater depth, and having a firmer hold of the soil. It is therefore 

 probable that one of the benefits which the wheat plant derives from clay, is its prevent- 

 ing the extension of fibrous surface roots, and forcing the plant to throw out a single 

 tap root, which descends much deeper and takes a firmer hold of the soil. 



If this is a right view of the subject, we should loosen the subsoil of all our wheat 

 fields, by deep plowing and subsoiling ; while on soils rather too light for wheat, every 

 possible means should be used to render the surface soil compact and firm. Treading 

 the wheat in the fall with sheep has been practiced with advantage ; but in doing so, cau- 

 tion is necessary to prevent serious injury in case winter immediately sets in. On all soils 



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