28 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New England Fanner. 



FERTILIZING INFLUENCE OF THE 

 ATMOSPHERE. 



Mr. Editor : Ffinncrs arc indebted, in a great 

 measure, to atmospheric influences, in restoi-ing their 

 land to fertility. The continued croppiiig of land will 

 reduce it to sterility, unless a constant stimulus bo 

 kept up by the application of manure ; nor does it 

 appear that manure of itself will prove a substitute 

 for particular fertilizing elements derived from the 

 air. Our knowledge of making manure is so limited 

 that wc arc dependent upon the atmosphere to supply 

 the dclieiency, which our chemical knowledge is not 

 adequate to perform, in composting our dung heaps. 

 It is known to every experienced farmer, that his 

 land will improve on having rest from exhausting 

 crops ; over stimulating produces premature decay ; 

 and land, like the animal or vegetable, stim\ilat- 

 ed to excess, will prematurely exhaust itself, and 

 fall into decay. The fertilizing qualities derived 

 from the atmosphere are not sent down in sudden 

 showers, but the process is a gradual one : whether 

 these fertilizers descend in the rain, frost, snow, or 

 proceed from the winds, or are blessings unseen, 

 ■which a drought produces, is a question I shall not 

 attempt to answer. 



The land must have rest at stated periods. In this 

 tiijie of rest, the air is administering its restoratives. 

 Li a time of drought, the land is unproductive, and 

 consequently in a state of rest. It was said by an 

 ancient farmer, that dry seasons would enrich his 

 land equal to a good manuring. Be that as it ma}', 

 after a succession of a few dry seasons, and on the 

 return of rainy ones, I have seen the grass revive 

 and grow on lands which previously Mid been almost 

 barren, producing fine crops of a good quality with- 

 out the aid of manure. In the twenty-llfth chapter 

 of Leviticus, we find these directions from God him- 

 self to the children of Israel : " Six years thou shalt 

 sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy 



-vineyard ; but the seventh year shall bo a Sabbath 



mi rest unto the land ; " " thou shalt neither sow thy 

 field nor prune thy vincyai-d ; and the Sabbath of 

 the land shall be meat for you," — intimating that 

 there should be great increase. It is not probable 

 that God would have given these directions to the 

 children of Israel, but for wise purposes. In this 



.year of rest, the land was receiving a supply of 

 •• atmospheric influences " which tended to fertilize 



-the soil by decomposing vegetable matter, or distrib- 

 uting their imperceptible fertilizers. It is to be wished 

 that there could be some niethod contrived to enrich 

 our land, less tedious and exponsive than the never- 



. ending and back-breaking process of composting 



: manure. 



Physiologists tell us that vegetables derive a con- 

 siderable portion of their nutriment from the air. 

 The ploughing in of grass crops would render the 

 ground no benefit, if the nutriment which supplies 

 the green crops was all derived from the earth, as 

 the earth can restore nothing but its own. The samo 

 proli!ic principle, sujiplied from the air, which nour- 

 ishes the growing plant, fertilizes the earth in its Sab- 



. bath of rest. I have an idea that the nutritive gases 

 which escape from manure into the air, descend 

 again to the earth, on meeting a condensing agent, 

 and assist in the growth of vegetables, as well as fer- 

 tilize the soil. The atmosjihcre is a magnificent 

 chemical laboratory, where affinities, attractions, and 

 combinations take place. Whatever this fertilizer 

 may be, — whether nitre, ammoiiia, or some other 

 agent, — we are much indebted to it for assisting us 

 in making our fields more productive. 



SILAS BIlO^\^. 

 WiLMiN-GTOX, Mass., Dec. 22, 1849. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 IMPROVING GRASS LANDS, &,c. 



Mr. Editor : I have read your paper with great 

 profit and pleasure for the last year, and I promise 

 myself the like advantage another year. I believe 

 you have fully redeemed your promises to the public. 

 There is a field in agriculture which is well occupied 

 by the New England Farmer. I write now to express 

 my sympathj' in your views, and the object of your 

 paper, and shall endeavor to gain for it more readers 

 in Petersham. I wish you a happy new year, and 

 many new subscribers and contributors. 



I have some interest in farming, although my pro- 

 fession calls me to other pursuits. If it will not 

 weary you too much, I will say, in few words, what 

 I have done in the way of farming. I purchased, 

 last year, some forty or fifty acres of land — pasture 

 and mowing ; the pasture grown up to brush, and 

 the mowing run out. I have caused the pasture to 

 be mowed twice, and thoroughly cleared up. By that 

 operation, with the addition of " fixins," I can pas- 

 ture four cows, where before I Avas told two could 

 only be pastured. If you will remember, the early 

 part of December, a year ago, was very mild. I im- 

 proved it by buying manure and top-dressing some 

 of the old mowings, which, I venture to say, for ten 

 years had never known manure, save what was 

 dropped by cattle feeding them down to the roots. 



I made experiments of top-dressing with loam, and 

 with horse and pig-pen manure, upon wet "runs" 

 and high land. And my experience is veiy strongly 

 in favor of this mode. Many have asked, in passing, 

 why certain parts of the mowing seemed so green, 

 when other parts were so brown and dry. I spread 

 on a small square of a few rods some ten bushels of 

 ashes ; the grass there was almost three feet high ; 

 while all around the spot, with equal advantage — 

 except the ashes — the grass was hardly five inches 

 high in July. You may be sure that no theory 

 against top-dressing shall prevent my pursuing a plan 

 that works so well. Of course, I clo not hope to 

 renovate the land otherwise than by thorough plough- 

 ing. But it is idle to talk against the advantage of 

 top-dressing, when jDropcrly done. 



I will only add one experiment on making soil. I 

 ploughed up a piece of land, formerly a barn-yard, 

 and carted off on to the wet and uneven mowings the 

 sods, and filled up hollows, grass side up. I then 

 ploughed up the soil which was under the sod, and 

 spread that also on the grass land. This last spring, 

 I ploughed the spot over and over again, putting on 

 ashes, charcoal, plaster, and privy manure, with long 

 green manure from the cattle, and from that piece of 

 land, stripped of sod and soil, I raised, by accurate 

 calculation, at the rate of seventy-two bushels of 

 corn to the acre ; -while in the field where I manured 

 in the hill, besides spreading green manure, I could 

 get only sixty- six bushels to the acre. 



Mr. Editor, I want to make manure enough for 

 ten acres of land. I have four cows and one horse, 

 and have had, through last summer and spring, two 

 pigs. How shall I do it ? 



JONAS AGRICOLA. 



For the New England Fanner. 



FOWLS. 



Mr. Editor : Notwithstanding the subject of 

 "fowls" has been pretty fairly discussed, for the 

 past three months, I am induced, by a good feeling 

 towards all jjoultry-raiscrs and venders, to offer a few 

 remarks to add to this mooted subject. I consider 

 myself among the number of those who have bcon 

 keeping hens for profit, and can truly say that I foci 



