Vol. 6. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



101 



PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



Prof. Haywood, in a lecture before the ''Norton 

 Farmer's Ci;ib," En<>-lan,l, cstimite.s the weight of 

 the ijhosiihate of iiirie anJ niac:nesia consume.] by a 

 man in the course of a year, in his food, at 60 lbs. 

 Unles-; he add to the substance of his bones, an 1 in- 

 ciease his fiesh, and whole weight, ol course all this 

 earthy matter mu^t escape from h;s system. As the 

 grain which he will consume in the next twelve 

 i7ionths, must contain just as much bone earth, as 

 did the grain that has fed him during the past year, 

 his waste of these in.li.-pensable ingredients, obvi- 

 ously deprives the soil of its capability to sustain 

 animal life, to the full amount of his consumption. 

 The sum total of pho.'^phorus available to plants in 

 an acre of land, is usually quite small. Its annual 

 waste in the liquid excretions of the 2,800,000 peo- 

 ple now living in this statr-, exceed five millions of 

 dollars. Guano is the only substance found in any 

 conside:able quantities, which contains phosphorus, 

 as well as other constituents of our c'aily bread, 

 meat, and milk, now daily thrown away. The loss 

 of manure coming frtim our domestic animals, and 

 the waste of decaying vegetables, are as five to one, 

 when compared with that from the waste of all the 

 materials that both feed and clothe our whole popu- 

 lation. 



We ought certainly to do as much as to save all 

 the bones of our domestic animals taken from the 

 soil, and put them back again in some form. In 

 many countries, cows are kept up the year round, 

 expressly to save all the salts contained in their 

 food. Instead of dropping them down on two square 

 feet, killing the grass, and robbing two square rods 

 of the very things that form the grass eaten by the 

 cow, they distribute those saline ingredients derived 

 from the food of the animah, equally over the same 

 surface from which the grass was taken. In this 

 way the soil is enriched, instead of being made poor- 

 er and poorer. Three good cows are kept o" a plot 

 of Ian;!, which, under our wasteful system of hus- 

 ban.lry, would keep but one. Every blade of grass 

 consumed by any domestic animal, contains some of 

 the most valuable substances of the earth on which 

 it grew. That substance must be restored, not 

 within one or two rods, or a half a mile of the place 

 whe»^ce it was taken, but in contact with the very 

 root of the plant. In some soils of extraordinary 

 fertility, many succeeding crops may be removed, 

 without either leaching out their salts, (as potash is 

 washed out of a tub of ashes,) or carrying them off 

 in the stomachs of aninr^ls, or in wagons and carts. 

 But these cases are the exception to a general rule, 

 and not the rule itself. So long as a bushel of 

 wheat shall be worth eighty cent*, the raw materi- 

 als that nature requires to elaborate that amount of 

 grain, must be worth at least thirty cents; and soon 

 will be worth forty. A ton of pure guano will al- 

 ways be worth in New York, as much as one thou- 

 sand pounds of good wheat flour, to make into wheat. 



NUMBER OP ANIMALS IN AUSTRIA. 

 From the late census returns, as issued by the 



minister of commerce, in Austria, it appears to 



contain: 



Horses, 2,300,000 



Cattle, ] 0,400,000 



Sheep, 2.500,000 



Pounds of wool per annum, 5,500,000 



Swine, 5,800,000 



Goats, 1,245,000 



PRACTICAL HINTS ON HAY-MAKING, 



The season for making hiy has now arrived. Ac- 

 cording to ih;' con us returns of i 8 10, the crop of that 

 vear exceed ^i th>-ce millions of tons in this Stitg. 

 It was foolishly estimai.ei at ten doUirs a ton — 

 making its a^-gregate value more than thirty mill- 

 ions of dollars. Putting it at an average of Jive 

 dollars a ton, our crop of hay is then worth more 

 than any other harvested in New York. 



Good fa-mers differ in opinion as the time in point 

 of maturity at which grass should be cut. Some 

 commence their haying so soon as the plants are 

 i'airly it blossom, whether herds-grass, timothy, or 

 clover ; while others wait until the seed is nearly 

 ripe. Something is due to the consideration how 

 much work in haying one has got to perform, how 

 much "help"' to execute the task, and how pressing 

 the harvesting of wheat, barley, oats, and other 

 crops may affect the farmer's arrangements for 

 securing his hay. If one can choose his time, we 

 think that all gramineous plants should be cut while 

 the seed is in the milk, or just at the time when the 

 seed begins to form. At that period the nutritious 

 elements — those that form the starch and gluten of 

 all seeds — are largely diffused through the stems 

 and leaves of grasses. 



Much sound judgment needs to be exercised in 

 cutting grass at the right time, in avoiding rains and 

 dews, and in curing hay just enough ; or, neither too 

 much, nor too little. If it were practicable, hay 

 would be much better if cured in the shade, and free 

 alike from the decomposing power of the heat and 

 !i(rht of the direct rays of the sun. These dissipate 

 much of the aromatic oil, and peculiar coloring mat- 

 ter in new made, and badly ma'le hay. 



It is a well knovyn fact, that butter and cheese 

 made from milk drawn from cows fed on ordinary 

 hay, is palp and insipid when compared with the 

 richly colored and admirably flavored butter and 

 cheese made from milk which is itself made from 

 green, and richly scented grass. Indeed, the fact 

 is v/ell known, that some soils abounding in alkalies, 

 \nd free from an excess of moisture, yield plants of 

 a more fragrant and oily character than others, 

 which make better milk than is derived from plants 

 that grow on sour, wet soils. 



Rest assured, kind reader, that the alkalies pot 

 ash and soda, and the alkaline earths lime and mag- 

 nesia, have much to do, not only in correcting min- 

 eral acids in the soil, but they perform in the labora- 

 tory of plants an important function in chaniring 

 vegetable acids into starch, sugar, and oils.-— 

 These valuable substances are iergely developed in 

 maize. And here let me digress to say, that as the 

 crop of grass is very light this season, it is not too 

 late to sow a few acres to corn, for fodder, and get 

 a fair yield. I should sow two bushels to the acre. 

 The seed should bo soaked in brine 12 hours before 

 sowing. Several farmers have assured me that they 

 cut last year from six to ten tons of corn stalks per 

 acre, equal to the same weight of good timothy hay. 



It is batter not to cut grass when there is a heavy 

 dew early in the morning, if it can well be avoided. 

 It requires a longer exposure after it is mown to the 

 sun, than is desirable. Get your grass into winrow 

 and cock as soon as it will answer ; and then, by 

 shaking it up light for the air to pass through the 

 heap, finish the curing with as little sun as practica- 

 ble. 



In curing all medicinal plants, they are dried in 

 the shade. 



