Vol,. 0. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



27 



The raw materials to form 36,000 pounds of ripe 

 wheat plants are not expensive in this section cf 

 countiy. Nor is the knowledge expensive to com- 

 bine and use these materials, so as to save a consid- I 

 crable portion of the ordinary cost of producing 40 | 

 bushels of this grain. But to render this informa- 

 tion entirely satisfactory and generally available, an 

 Experimental Farm is needed, to demonstrate prac- 

 tically how much of the ingredients contained in a 

 field (i. e., what per-centage) comes from the air, 

 and what from the soil. 



Although I have spent much time in investigating 

 this interesting subject, not only as regards wheat, 

 but corn, oats, and peas, yet I am not prepared to 

 speak very confidently at present in the matter. My 

 impression, however, is that not more than ten per 

 cent, of corn and twenty per cent, of wheat, under 

 the most favorable circumstances, come from the 

 earth. I will state a few facts which form, in part, 

 the basis of this opinion. 



A few years since, the mayor of Albany {Friend 

 Humphrey, Esq.,) planted three acres in corn, 

 on the poor sand plain, near that city. The quantity 

 of vegetable mould, or organic matter, in the soil 

 was small. As an experiment, he dropped in each 

 hill on two acres, with the seed, a few grains (or 

 perhaps drachms, of horn shavmgs. The other acre 

 received nothing as a fertilizer. On the former he 

 harvested 60 bushels per acre of shelled corn ; on 

 the latter about 15. 



I learn from the Southern Planter, that farmers in 

 that neighborhood, as an experiment, have paid so 

 high as $3 per 100 pounds for guano — the price of 

 good pork, in many places — to feed to corn and other 

 plants ; and find the food not too expensive for pro- 

 fit. Thousands of tons of this fertilizer ai-e annu- 

 ally consumed in Great Britain, at the cost of 20 or 

 more dollars per ton. 



The mere soaking of seeds in strong solutions of 

 common sal-ammoniac and saltpetre of the shops, 

 enables plants to increase largely their weight. 

 Now, the question is — Do they derive this additional 

 nourishment, which, as in the case of the horn sha- 

 vings, adds 45 bushels of grain to the acre, and 

 stalks in proportion, from the soil or the atmos- 

 phere ? 



From the known sterility of the soil, I think at 

 least 90 per cent, of the grain comes from the air. 

 In a mellow, deep soil, where the roots can easily 

 expand, and be accessible to atmospheric influence, 

 no matter how destitute it may be of organic sub- 

 stances, plants gain the most by the aid of concen- 

 trated fertilizers. 



M. Boussingault heated a fair clayey soil to a high 

 temperature for some time, till he had burned out all 

 the organic matter. In this earth he planted a few 

 peas, and watered them with pure distilled water. 

 Some of them blossomed and bore perfect seeds, 

 drawing all their carbon and nitrogen, as well as ox- 

 ygen and hydrogen, from air and water. Had these 

 peas had the benefit of common rain-water, there 

 can be no doubt that the carbonic acid and ammonia 

 which it contains would have been of essential ser- 

 vice in promoting their growth. 



An acre of land wholly destitute of vegetable 

 matter, and containing all the minerals required for 

 the plant, might produce a small crop of peas. The 

 game is probably true of corn, clover, and arti- 

 chokes. Mons. B. tried a similar experiment on 

 wheat, but it would not grow to maturity without 

 the aid of some organic matter. To prepare a field 



to produce a good crop of this grain, other plants 

 which draw nearly all their nourishment from the 

 air, should be first cultivated and " plowed in" to en- 

 rich the earth. There is good reason to believe, 

 however, that nearly all lands in Western New 

 York lack, not so nmch vegetable mould, or organic 

 matter, as some of the mineral or purely earthy in- 

 gredients necessary to produce large crops of wheat. 

 This opinion is not lightly formed. It will take up 

 too much of your time, however, to go into details 

 to explain the facts and reasons on which it is found- 

 ed. 'Thorovgh draining, deep ploiring, and a per- 

 fect pulverization of the soil, i I'egard as of great 

 importance, and calculated to improve our present 

 system of farming. On the subject of draining we 

 have much to learn, and more to practice. 



Deep plowing has the double advantage of letting 

 ofl", to some extent, any surplus water, and of bring- 

 ing to the surface those saline substances without 

 which no plant can flourish. When any of these 

 arc wholly wanting, there is no remedy but to apply 

 them. Fortunately, only a very small per-centagc 

 of most plants is mineral matter. 



One hundred pounds of wheat straw give only 3i 

 pounds of a.A ; and 81 per cent, of that is called 

 silica — the basis of common sand. Before this sand 

 can enter into the circulation of plants to form the 

 hone of their stems, to keep them upright, (and 

 many a field of wheat has fallen down, and been lost 

 from a lack of this vegetable bone,) it must combine 

 with potash or soda, to render it soluble in water. 

 Loose, sandy soils are usually barren, because all 

 the alkalies are dissolved and leached out. With- 

 out these, pure sand cannot enter the roots of plsnls, 

 and they die from the lack of their natural almient. 

 The application of wood ashes to such soils increases 

 largely their fertility, although they contain very 

 little organic matter. 



In clayey soils, the potash, soda, and magnesia 

 are not washed out. After they have been partially 

 exhausted by injudicious cropping, the application of 

 lime sets the beilance free to unite with silica, and 

 form silicate of potash or soda, or double salts, which 

 are soluble in water, and thus enter the roots of 

 plants. These salts are decomposed in the chemical 

 laboratory of vegetables. Silica is deposited in 

 their tissues, and becomes again insoluble. But a 

 small part of wood ashes, when put up in a leach, 

 will dissolve, although every particle of them was 

 dissolved before it entered into the organic structure 

 of trees or smaller plants. On the decomposition of 

 the compounds of silica, potash and soda return to 

 the earth, combine with, and render soluble, more 

 fand. This is carried, with its circulating fluids, 

 into every part of the vegetable, and deposited where 

 needed. It is doubtless in this way that a small 

 quantity of alkali Vv'ill serve to convey into the stems 

 of corn, grass, and grain the large per centage of 

 silica, flint, or sand, which they are known to 

 contain. 



Thus, if a soil had a moderate supply of organic 

 matter, and only lacked one or two simple mineral, 

 you can readily see how a farmer might pay, as do 

 some in Virginia, at the rate of $60 a ton for ingre- 

 dients to be transformed into plants, and sold, per- 

 haps, at $10 a ton. It is, however, bad economy to 

 waste the raw materials of cultivated plants — the 

 very constituents of our daily bread and meat — and 

 then trust luck to purchase, at a dear rate, something 

 nearly as good brought from Africa, or the Tacific 

 Ocean, 



