1846. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



8.*J 



ized nitrogen docs it contain to form gluten in wheat? — 

 Dissolve any way you please, the live pounds of carbon, 

 oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen it contains, and then tell 

 us how many i)ounds of good wheat your nitrogen will siqj- 

 ply. This is a very important question, because the value 

 of wheat for making bread is measured by the amount of ni- 

 trogen it contains in gluten and albumen. We will answer 

 the question. Provided your vcgetxiblo mold is as rich in ni- 

 trogen a.*; wheat straw dissolved into compost, it will take 6| 

 Ibs^ of the organic matter in the soil, to form one pound 

 Qii wiieat.* Hence it is demonstrated that, throwing llie am- 

 monia and nitrogen out of the account, nature must decom- 

 pose organic matter, and take up through the circulation of 

 wheat plants, five times more carbon than she needs tofonii 

 kernels of wheat, to obtain what nitrogen is nece.s.sarj' to 

 perfect the seeds of this plant ! Can anything be more un- 

 likely ? 



At best, the natural supply of available nitrogen to form 

 40 bushels of wheat on an acre is (hjiclent. Hence, ammo- 

 nii — a compound formed by Uie union of 14 parts of nitro- 

 gen with 3 of hydrogen — is an essential ingredient in the 

 10 per cent, of a wheat crop, which should bo applied to the 

 goil — allowing as we do 90 ]ier cent, to come from water and 

 air. 



In our last number we staled that, an acre of good clover 

 often has 3693 lbs. of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitro- 

 gen, organized in a solid form, after all the moisture is ex- 

 pelled. It frequently happens that 100 Ih.s. of gyp.sum adds 

 2000 lbs. to the carbon, oxygen, ifcc, organized in a crop of 

 clover. From whence comes this immense gain of carbon, 

 if not from the atmosphere ? 100 lbs. of guano have addet! 

 5000 lbs, to a crop of potatoes. Does any body believe that, 

 this manure decomposes several thousand pounds of addi- 

 tional vegetable matter, in the soil, to fonn these 5000 lbs. 

 of potatoes ? From some experiments which we have tried, 

 we have reason to believe that you may weigh 100 lbs. of dry 

 soil, moisten it with rain water, and grow in the same 25 

 lbs. of potatoes more than your seed, and on drying the soil 

 again, it will not have lost but one pound. We have often 

 weighed carefully 500 grains of soil, planted it with wheat 

 or corn, and then weighed the crop when well dried as well 

 as the soil in which it grew ; but we have not eliosen to 

 publish the results till w« can repeat the experiments with 

 the advantage of a very delicata and accurate balance, for 

 wciighing every clement. 



We see millions of acres of prairie grass annually con- 

 sumed by fire, and all its combustible elements scattered by 

 the four wind* of heaven, year after year, for centuries in 

 succession. Is the soil exhausted by the operation that 

 sends from it countless tons of carbon and nitrogen into the 

 atmosphere? Kot at all. It is most admirably fitted to 

 bear, by the ashes which have been left behind, prodigious 

 crops of wheat and corn. So seon as said ashes shall be 

 washed out of the .surface soil, or removed in hay and grain, 

 down will go their crops to the old Virginia average. If a 

 man ,?ells notliing but air and water off his farm, no matter 

 in what shape they go, showers and winds will soon fill the 

 vacancy. But when he sells in bones and ashes, whether 

 in wheat, corn, or hay, all the minerals that nature uses 

 io form his crops, let him know that, his children will 

 have to leave " the old homestead," or give twice as much 

 toil for a loaf of wheat Iwead as they ought to give. 



We shall be the last to undervahie the use of mannre. — 

 All we contend for is, that the fertilizing elements in a dead 

 korse, which escape into the air, fall some where to make 

 grass and milk, by chance to feed a living colt. As the 

 water that evaporates in one state may fall in another, so 

 the prairie grass burnt in Illinois, with .a strong west wind, 

 may fertilize the meadow of a farmer in Ohio — falling ojf 

 course in dew or rain. But remember that, neither the bones 

 of a dead horse, nor the ashes of plants go with thefr gaseous 

 elements. 



With 59 counties in the State of New York, ai;d Monroe 

 far from being the largest, produces one-tenth of fill the 

 wheat grown in the State. This county has no more car- 

 bon or nitrogen in its soil than Chenango county, nor has it 

 greater means for making barn-yard manure. Why, thon, 

 do the people of Chenango import most of their flour, while 

 those of Monroe export some 200,000 bhls. ? It is only be- 

 cause the soil of Cherjango lacks some of the mineral ele- 

 ments, found in tlie seeds of this bread-bearing plant, whjch 

 exist in the soil of this region. It is owing to her phosjdiates 

 of lime and magnesia, her chloride of sodium, and sulphate 



* See Boussingault, p. 343. 



of ])ot:ish in an available form, that Monroe county shows 

 by the recent census an aggregate yieldof grain of all kinds, 

 worth $600,000 more than the product of any other county 

 in the State. The quality of a soil must be judged by it* 

 mineral constituents, rather than by the amount of muck or 

 mold it may happen to possess. Where the former are 

 right, as in the recent lavas of Etna and Vesuvius, with 

 proper seeds, the dews, rains, snows, and winds of heaven 

 will soon i>ring carbon and nitrogen enough to cover the na- 

 kedness of the land. When we say that, in forming lUOO 

 lbs. of wheat, nature takes 900 pounds on an average, from 

 water and air, and 100 from iIk; s'lbstance of the soil, of 

 which 24 are minerals and 76 organic elements, wc proba- 

 bly credit the soil with more carbon and nitrogen than it 

 really furnishes. Nor can we see how this view of the sub- 

 ject discredits the value of manure, which gives both saline 

 and gaseous elements directly to the roots of plants. — 

 If carbonic acid in rains and dews will aid in dissolving the 

 carbonate of lime, so also will the same gas as it is set free 

 from dung rotting in the earth. If the nitrogen that escape* 

 in the perspiration of a horse will aid in making oats and 

 clover for him to cal, so also will the nitrogen in his other 

 cxcreli(mg if applied near tlie roots of plants. It by no means 

 follows that, because our Maker is as bountiful as he is mer- 

 ciful, therefore we should abuse his bounty, as we do his 

 mercy. 



Constitution for an Ag. Society. 



Mr. G. W. Barr, of Western Pennsylvania, requesta its 

 to publish a Constitution for an Agricultural Society. We 

 give below the Constitution of the Madison Co. (N, Y. ) Ag- 

 ricultural Society, which is perhaps as good as any we 

 could furnish in the space it occupies. There is a spsrit of 

 inquiry and improvement maiiifested by the farmers of 

 Western Pennsylvania, which cq.nnot fail of proving highly 

 beneficial. We wish them God-speed in their endeavors 

 to " improve the son. and the kind." 



Aetici.e 1. This Society shall bo called the "Madison 

 CouNTV Agricultural Society," for the advancement of 

 Agriculture, Horticulture, and the Domestic Arts. 



Article 2. Any person may become a member of this 

 Society by paying into its Treasury one dollar, on admis- 

 sion, and one dollar annually thereafter, during his contin- 

 ance as a member. Any person paying ten dollars, on ad- 

 mission may become a life member. 



Article 3. The officers of tliis Society shall be a Presi- 

 dent, three Vice-Presidents, Corresponding Secretary, Re- 

 cording Secretary, Treasurer, and fourteen Managers, (one 

 from each town,) who shall, together, constitute the Exec- 

 utive ComiTiiltee. They shall be elected annualy by a ma- 

 jority of votes present, and shall have power to fill vacan- 

 cies in their own body. * 



Article 4. It shall be the duty of the President to pre- 

 side at all meetings of the Society and of the Executive 

 Committee, and to call special meetings of the Executive 

 Committee when deemed necessary. 



Article 5, The Executive Committee shall appoint Lo 

 cal Committees in the several towns of the County, whose 

 duty it shall be to examine farms and crops, which may be 

 offered for premiums ; to obtain members, collect fee,?, and 

 perform all necessary labors connected with the operations 

 of the Society, ii) their respective towns, 



Akticle 6. It shall be the duty of the Executive Com- 

 mittee, (five of whom sliall constitute a quorum,) to exer- 

 cise a general supervision of the afthirs of the Society ; to 

 appropriate the funds of the same, in such manner as shall 

 best subserve the interests and forward the objects of the 

 Society ; to offer premiums, and to appoint Committees to 

 award them, and to distribute all seeds, plants, books, &,c., 

 received for the Society, and to n)ake their annual report at 

 the annual meeting. 



Article 7. The Exocutive Committee shall determine 

 the time and place, and make the necessary preparations for 

 an Annual Fair, and give sufficient previous notice of the 

 premiums to be awarded thereat. 



Article 8. All competitors for premiums must be mem- 

 bers of the Society. 



Article 9. This Constitution may be altered at any an- 

 nual meeting, by a vote of two-thirds of the members pres. 

 ent, 



