1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



515 



"Mr. Hudson's observation is very much 

 strengthened by the liean farminj? of Ea^t Lothi- 

 an, crack county of Scotland. The land is par- 

 tially wrought in February and March, drills are 

 opened as for green crops, rough but well moist- 

 ened farm-yard dung is spread along the inter- 

 vals, the beans are sown, and the drills are re- 

 versed. During these operations, the weather, 

 being unsteady at that early season, often inter- 

 rupts the progress, and leaves the farm-yard 

 dung lying in heaps, and even spread along the 

 drills, exposed to every change of weather — 

 washed by the rain and snow, bleached by th" 

 frost, and dried by the strong winds, for many 

 weeks ; the crop of beans has been, in every case, 

 superior to the lands manured in the usual way." 



This writer, however, admits that his notions 

 are not in accordance with those of others. He 

 says, after giving other facts to the same point, 

 "all the above statements clash with the doc- 

 trines of chemistry, and are against even the 

 most approved and. settled practice ; but facts 

 are stubborn things." And again — "However 

 much these statements may clash with the chem- 

 istry of Kensington or Hanover Square, such 

 facts are stubborn things." 



Now, at "Hanover Square" is the office of the 

 Secretary of the Eoyal Agricultural Society, 

 where they hold their regular weekly meetings, 

 and where I had the pleasure of seeing and hear- 

 ing some of the first agriculturists of all Eng- 

 land, and to my mind the writer's admissions 

 that his theories are in conflict with the '"doc- 

 trines of chemistry" and "the most approved and 

 eeitled practice," and his slurs at "Hanover 

 Square" are rather stranger than his own facts. 



In the Country Gentleman of about Dec, 1857, 

 — the date is gone — there is an article by J. W. 

 Clark, on "Spring and Fall Manuring." It is 

 there stated that 



"Prof. Stoekler of the Royal Agricultural 

 College, Cirencester, England, together with 

 Prof. S. W. Johnson, of Y de, and several far- 

 mers in the State of New "Vork and elsewhere, 

 are, it seems, convinced that manures hauled out 

 and spread broadcast on the soil during late fall 

 and winter, do not suffer any material loss of 

 ammonia, and other plant food, from such expos- 

 ure ; that the evaporation which invariably af- 

 fects manure in such conditions, does not carry 

 off any considerable quantity of the elements 

 used as food by the plants, and which therefore, 

 it is desirable to prevent the waste of, whether 

 such waste results from evaporation or other- 

 wise." 



The writer's idea in brief is, that ammonia, the 

 principal substance supposed to be lost by ex- 

 posure of manure to the air, is not set free ex- 

 cept by fermentation, and that considerable heat 

 is requisite to produce this fermentation, and 

 that manure exposed in winter would not there- 

 fore lose much by this process, "because fermen- 

 tation is prevented by the cold air of this season, 



and no loss of nutriment takes place by the mere 

 evaporation of water without fermentation ; 

 hence manure does not lose its ammonia by be- 

 ing exposed during the winter, even if it l)low and 

 rain and snow and freeze." 



If manure be spread, there are certain portions 

 of its fertilizing substances which are washed 

 out by the rains, but which are not thereby lost, 

 but are taken into the soil. I will not attempt to. 

 talk like a chemist, because I am not one, but 

 there are evidently valuable elements of fertility 

 which cannot be evaporated. Common salt is of 

 this class. It may be dissolved in water and ex- 

 posed to the sun. The water evaporates, but the 

 salt remains. .John Johnson, near Geneva, N. Y., 

 in the Country Gentleman, of June 16, 1859, 

 goes the whole figure for surface manuring. 



"If I had no foul seeds to destroy, and my 

 manure had not a large quantity of straw in it, I 

 would take it right from the yard to a grass field, 

 in April or early in May ; spread it on the sur- 

 face, letting it Liy one or two years before plow- 

 ing ; at least I would try." * * • * 



"I notice Prof. Mapes, also, comes out in the 

 N. Y. Tribune again.st surface manuring, ft is 

 possible that plowing down the manure may 

 answer a better purpose for the Professor in 

 raising carrots, beets, turnips, squashes and 

 pumpkins, but not for our crops here. Surface 

 manuring, like under draining, has to meet with 

 much opposition for a time, but it must ultimate- 

 ly, like under-draining, become an established 

 necessity in successful farming. 



"I know it is difficult to change the minds and 

 plans of men so far advanced in life as S. W. 

 and myself, (Prof. Mapes I h^.ve never seen.) 

 but surface manuring is gradually getting into 

 favor with all progressive farmers ; and before 

 ten years, will be generally adopted ; but there 

 may be some, as in the chess question, who may, 

 against all opposition, still stick to the old cus- 

 tom of plowing the manure down a foot deep." 



Here, again, we find the writer's language has 

 a double edge. He advocates surface manuring, 

 and cites Prof. Mapes as authority against the 

 practice. Now, Prof. Mapes is not only a man 

 of science, but one of the most successful far- 

 mers in getting a profit from his land, within my 

 knowledge, and so we cannot help having more 

 faith in science illustrated by practice, than in 

 practical results by men who pretend to no sci- 

 entific knowledge. The man of science is always 

 a more accurate and reliable observer than the 

 merely practical man. 



The object of this article is not to talk dog- 

 matically, but rather to present fairly the views 

 of "good men and true" who differ in their ideas. 

 Perhaps my own opinion should be given. I will 

 state my practice, which I see no occasion at 

 present to change. For grass, I prefer to lay 

 down my land in August or September, either 

 with winter rye or nothing, as winter wheat does 



