1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



285 



always be fruitless. There is a power in the vital 

 principle, whether in animal or plant, which con- 

 trols chemical action, and defies the laws which 

 govern dead matter. How and why some substan- 

 ces promote vegetable or animal growth, while 

 others destroy life, science can probably never as- 

 certain. It is profitable, however, to note careful- 

 ly, the practical results of experiments, although 

 we are obliged to confess that they are inexplica 

 ble. 



Some facts stated in the article referred to, as 

 to the power of soils to absorb organic matter, 

 and to purify the most offensive substances, are 

 both interesting and useful. Mr. Huxtable had 

 stated that he had made an experiment in the 

 filtration of the liquid manure in his tanks, 

 through a bed of an ordinary loamy soil, and 

 that after its passage through the filter-bed, the 

 urine was found to be deprived of color and 

 smell — in fact, that it went in manure and came 

 out water. Prof. Way gives a series of experi- 

 ments which corroborate the fact stated, as to 

 the action of soil in removing color and smell 

 from putrid substances. He says : 



"They have been repeated with many diiferent 

 soils, and, under every possible combination of 

 circumstances, but still with the same effect. 



"Similar results were abtained by acting upon 

 putrid human urine, upon the stinking water in 

 which tlax had been steeped, and upon the water 

 of a London sewer. That the power of the soil, in 

 all these cases, is due to the clai/ contained in it, 

 there is not the slightest doubt; many similar ex- 

 periments were made with sand, but although the 

 color, so far as it was due to suspended matter, 

 was in some dej;ree reduced, the offensive charac- 

 ter of the solutions was but sightly modided. So- 

 iutioRs of different coloring matters, such as those 

 of logwood, sandal-wood, cochineal, litmus &c., 

 when filtered through, orshaken up with a por- 

 tion of clay, are entirely deprived of color." 



The learned professor also states that he has 

 been told that the American Indians are in the 

 habit of taking skunks and burying them in the 

 earth, by which means they are speedily deprived 

 of their offensive odor, and rendered fit for food. 

 Most New England people probably know that 

 the garments of boys who have come in contact 

 v.'ith that same spotted animal, are sometimes 

 deodorized by burying them for a time in the 

 earth. It is said, too, that nothing will so soon 

 remove the smell of onions from a knife, as leav- 

 ing it in the ground. The extent of this power 

 of absorption is an all-important inquiry. How 

 much manure will a given quantity of soil absorb 

 and retain for use ? We have seen that this de- 

 pends very much upon the proportion of clay 

 which it contains. 



Professor Way found by experiment with 

 sewer-water and clay, that four pounds of the 

 clay used was sufficient to filter five pounds of 

 the sewer-neater, so as to deprive it of color and 



smell, and nearly all its fertilizing properties. 

 The soil of an acre ten inches deep is estimated 

 to weigh 1000 tons, so that it would seem that 

 1000 tons or 224,000 gallons of such sewer-water 

 might be poured upon an acre of such clay, and 

 most of its fertilizing properties be retained in 

 the ten inches of surface soil. 



Most soils, however, are by no means so pure 

 clay as that used in this experiment. Again, the 

 soil of a field is not equally permeable as that 

 used in a small experiment, and all clay soils 

 contain splits or fissures which let down water 

 perpendicularly to considerable extent. 



The practical conclusions from the facts and 

 principles stated would seem to be, 



That sandy lands, in which roots strike deep- 

 er than in clays, are in more danger of loss by 

 the sinking of manures, and require deeper 

 draining to retain them : 



That such lands are improved by claying : 



That, as the power of a soil to absorb manure 

 depends on its bulk, or in other words is limited, 

 the deeper the drains within the reach of the 

 roots of the crop, the better the security against 

 loss, because a greater mass of soil is fitted for 

 absorption, and for the penetration of roots. 



For tite New England Farmer. 

 TTrRK"IP CBOPS— WINTEB WHEAT. 



Me. Editor : — In looking over my January 

 number of the A^. E. Farmer, (monthly,) I have 

 been somewhat interested in the discussion of 

 the root crop there presented. Most of the writ- 

 ers are of the same opinion as myself, that the 

 raising of turnips is profitable, as well as being 

 a crop that is just suited to the wants of the far- 

 mer. I never have raised turnips very extensive- 

 ly, but always have fed out more or less to my 

 cattle during the winter and spring, and consid- 

 er them a very healthy food. Some object to 

 giving them to milch cows because they give the 

 milk and butter a turnip taste, but I never have 

 experienced any trouble of this kind when given 

 in moderate quantities. 



In order to keep a stock of cattle in a healthy 

 and thriving condition they must be supplied 

 with a variety of food. Most of the farms of New 

 England possess soils that are adapted to grow- 

 ing the different kinds of grasses, grains and 

 roots, and these seem to be what cverj' farmer 

 needs. Perhaps on some of our New England 

 farms, a certain kind of product can be raised 

 more advantageously than another ; as, for in- 

 stance, on a very moist or wet farm, Indian 

 corn cannot be grown with the same profit as 

 grass; therefore it would be judicious for the 

 owner of such a farm to direct his attention to 

 raising grass more than to anything else ; but 

 farms containing equal soils all over them, wheth- 

 er of a wet or dry nature, are rare. 



My advice to farmers owning lands that will 

 produce the various farm products profitably, is 

 to raise a medium quantity of each, rather than to 

 grow all roots and no corn, or all corn and no grass. 



