186 



NEAV ENGLAND FARMEH. 



April 



Mr. Denny, of Barre, had cultivated carrots 

 and fruit on gravelly soil by deep tillage. 



W. J. BacKMiNSTER recommended mixing 

 soils as the most available means of renovating 

 ■worn-out lands. If there Avas manure enough the 

 problem would at once be solved, but there was 

 not. He would add sand to clayey lands, and 

 clay to sandy lands. There had been remarkable 

 results from covering soil, by which saltpetre and 

 nitre was engendered. Keep something grow- 

 ing and keep turning in green crops. This would 

 very much benefit the soil. If the process of 

 growing could be kept up, something would be 

 growing. It was their business to know by what 

 process s*s would grow stronger or Aveaker. 

 Deep tillage was important, for it enabled the air 

 to permeate the soil and deposit its gases. The 

 atmosphere was the great renovating store-house. 

 Burnt materials, as burnt clay, were good for 

 soil. Pulverized granite was also good. The 

 soil asked but little beside the atmosphere, if the 

 plow was kept going. 



Mr. Spakhawk, of Boston, wanted to know 

 the cause of the deterioration of our pastures. 

 Young cattle took from a pasture different ele- 

 ments from those taken by fat cattle. Cows 

 again took different elements from either of the 

 others. A young animal takes from the soil much 

 nitrogen, which goes to form the bone, horns and 

 hair. (Jows consume the important ingredient 

 of phosphorus. Fat cattle take no carbon. A 

 compost of liquids, muck, ashes, salt, &c., was 

 the thing needed on worn-out pastures. It de- 

 pends upon your pasturage Avhether you make 

 good butter and cheese. Sand was an important 

 fertilizer, but it must be combined with potash. 



Mr. Howard, of the Cultivator, thought the 

 plan of renovating pastures by compost manures 

 could only be available in exceptional cases. — 

 Draining Avas an important desideratum in re- 

 deeming this class of lands for the purpose of 

 getting rid of a deposition of substances on the 

 subsoil injurious to vegetation. Among these 

 substances was iron, which could not be decom- 

 posed except by draining or subsoiling. Next to 

 draining, irrigation might be of great advantage 

 Water consisted of various elements, and it was 

 only a certain part of these that were beneficial 

 Running water best contributed these fertilizing 

 elements. Among the fertilizers, wood ashes 

 composted with muck Avould operate favorably 

 upon granitic soils. So of plaster. Guano had 

 in some instances quadrupled the crop of grass 

 on moist pastures. He had known farmers to 

 pen their cattle at night, and then apply the 

 droppings to those parts of pasture land most in 

 need of manure. It might be well to use the 

 )dow. if manure was to be plentifully applied : 

 otherwise i' would be better not to plow. He 



believed we had much land in Massachusetts 

 upon which no attempts of renovation should be 

 made — lands which would be worth more for 

 wood. This discrimination should be used in 

 regard to this matter. As a rule, manures must 

 be made on the lands themselves. 



Mr. Sheldon, of Wilmington, said a good 

 many j'ears ago, farmers plowed up their Avorn-out 

 pastures, and sowed them to rye and grass seeds. 

 But railroads had made Avood valuable, and the 

 farmers in his section had found it the best poli- 

 cy to let their worn-out pastures groAV to Avood, 

 turn out some of their fields to pastures, and 

 then redeem swamp land for pi)tatoes, &c. They 

 had found it more profitable to clear their 

 SAvamps than to redeem their pastures. Worn- 

 out lands in his section could be bought for $10 

 an acre, and it would pay, he thought, more than 

 the interest of the money in Avood. The speak- 

 er alluded to the great supposed loss of ammo- 

 nia. He thought it was not all lost, but that the 

 atmosphere took it up and returned it to the soil. 

 Those disagreeable east Avinds of the spring 

 months carried ammonia back on the farms fast- ' 

 er than a four ox-team could do it. To shoAV the 

 practicability of turning Avorn-out pastures into 

 Avoodland, the speaker mentioned a case within 

 his knowledge, Avhere in thirty years wood grew 

 from the seeds at the rate of forty cords to the 

 acre. 



Kev. Mr. Sanger, of Dover, remembered that 

 thirteen years ago this Avinter, the subject of dis- 

 cussion Avas AVorn-out pasture lands. Gov. Lin- 

 coln presided, and recommended the harroAving 

 of such lands. In Norfolk, Plymouth, Barnsta- 

 ble, &c., he would let such pastures grow up to 

 wood. It would be more profitable than money 

 at compound interest. Mr. Morrill, of Pembroke, 

 had tried this Avith great success. 



Mr. Haavks, of Deerfield, said the gentleman 

 who recommends the application of compost man- 

 ures to pastures didn't say hoAV much it Avould 

 cost. He thought it AAOuld be rather expensive, 

 and that it Avould be bettpr policy to let Avorn-out 

 pastures groAV up to AVOod. He had found a 

 bushel of plaster to the acre on hilly pasture 

 land to Avork very beneficially. We carried on 

 too much land. It Avas better to raise 80 bush- 

 els of grain to the acre, than 40 bushels. In the 

 interior plaster Avas worth about 40 cents per 

 bushel. 



Mr. Cheney, of Holden, thought plaster the 

 cheapest fertilizer for our pastures, unless the 

 soil Avas sandy. On hilly lands Avhere there Avas 

 a clay subsoil it worked profitably in producing 

 white clover. 



Hon. Mr. Russell, of Princeton, wished to 

 confirm the remarks of the tAvo last gentlemen. 

 He never raised better potatoes than on pasture 



