1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



315 



For the New England Farmer. 



CHEAP FERTILIZERS. 



been much written and said, of late years, con- 

 cerning the value of liquid Avastcs, but, as I am 

 \r,, V^^rrr^r, . P„fl„.+- .1 -J , [ incHncd to th i ulf , wl th a verv i nadeciuatc idca of 



and ran^llv ,T ^ ^^ "P"" V" 7'^- '^"'""^ '• ^^'''' ■"^^'''^^'^ ^''^l^*'^' «^ ^^ ^hj most judicious and 

 nnl« .?. ^h rTt^^ '"^^"'^^ ^^^; ff <^^'S^ ma- effective method of employiug them. 

 ooSuotTofW^^ Generally, even thos/ who have been most 



oZTr? I f f f^^^ impressed with the importance of 



search rthen^^n^'njVnr"' 'V^'' '' "^^''1^"'^ ^■^^^^^^^' ^^^'^^ ^'^'^''^ t''<^i^ ^"^"tion to tl>e 

 search loi the means of fe rt.hzation, there is not j discovery of the best absorbents, with a view to 



a very considerable sprinkling of humbug, such 

 as developed itself in the morus multicaulis, ro- 

 han potato fevers, &c. Can it be that our re- 



their application to the earth in a solid form. 

 x\nd herein I tliink they have, to some extent. 

 fixUen into error. As compared with the oL. 



sources are exhausted, and that we are reduced to ;=:fur^^;;^ dS^^^r^^rii^Sd;. 

 such naked poverty in respect of our agricultural | fuse, upon a few wheellun-row loads o/ ll m 

 operations, that we must needs look to the distant through the sink, or pouring it into some ina«-e 

 ^f reclemi.r?' ,7 *^^^ ^^^f'? ^^-'^-^^ions sible stone pit, thei? effurfs are entitled to hg. 

 ?i^li tionf t' ^^-^ *•'« f^'^^tia elements of fei- 1 praise as valuable improvements; but as con- 

 thzation? To answer (as numbers virtually do) irasted with thei ' '-■ 



this question in the affirmative, implies, as it ap- 

 pears to me, a very imperfect knowledge of the 

 essential conditions of agricultural economy, 

 while the practical application of the theory in- 

 fers the total neglect, or very partial appropria- 

 tion, of materials which nature has placed in 

 abundance within our reach. Such neglect is an 

 error which lies at the doors of nearly the whole 

 farming community. 



The primary want of the flirmer, at least here 

 in the older States, is manure. From whence, 

 and by what methods, can this be most readily 



r immediate application to th_ 

 soil, in a liquid state, whenever this is practi- 

 cable, they must still be pronounced rude and im- 

 perfect. 



Liquid manures are vastly more efficacious than 

 solids in their influence upon vegetation, and the 

 reason for this must, we should suppose, appear 

 obvious to all who give the subject a nioment's 

 thought. _ Liquids are already in the conditio;) 

 which solids must assume before they can become 

 the food of plants. Nothing can become food foi- 

 plants except in a state of solution, and liquid.- 

 are exempt fiom the waste irom atmospheric in- 



r>hf-n;.Tori ;o j-u„ ui 1-7,. -— ..j, aic t-vt^mpb nom tne wasie irom atmos 



Jnltr T! hP',''^''^'''^"'^'^'''^/'"'!'"'''' to fluence 4hich takes place with solids. A ver^ 



next to UiL old esHhHl.?/^ generally proposed, i simple experiment will settle the matter satisfaJ- 

 Sie barn tc isf i I ? appropruitions from tori ly. Let any quantity of solid manure li. 

 rhuZck^^^V^ P^^-c'i^f of outlying mate- steeped fully in water, and the solution applied 

 l^l"^^'."^.^' ^ :^^P° 2 S^\^"«'. poudrette, either to a garden, or grass, and the same qki- 



or phosphate of lime, &c. Now is this\vise hus- 

 bandry? I think not. And furthermore, I am 

 fully persuaded that those who adopt this method 

 are chasing an ignis fatuus, while the substantial 



tity be applied to another piece of equal size, ... 

 a solid form, and the effects of the former will 1) 

 to the latter as three to one. 



If I have not already trospas.sed on your pa- 



<T,.n,-l wI,;;tV, +i,;„ „. t • _ - ----- ■^-— ".-. XI i iKive not auvuuy rrospas.sea on your i/a 



f^^sLandlot ^S ''';r^'' '^'l' i-e^^f., istience, perhaps I cannot b.tter illustrate ths. 

 Weof nnnv- ^^^^ me th,.3 rule has all the views than by the relation of some experiments o, 

 under?akrthee,^;;T^^V''''^ "^'^'^« ''"^■■"S ^'"^ ^^^^^ three o? four yea^ 



can enricu sulhciently troui his own resources.'' ' "^ .•''■. . ■> - 



Or, to state it in another form, there are j)laccd 

 within the reacli of tlie farmer ample materials 

 to fertilize all the land which he can fully and 

 profitably occupy. 



It is a law of our existence, wiiich we can 

 neither alter or set aside, that all which we ab- 



stract from the earth we must return to it a<^ 

 in some form or other. But althougli the law it- 

 self IS absolute, the methods of its fulfilment are 

 essentially within our control. The debt we owe 

 the earth must be paid, but it is for us to deter- 

 mine whether it shall be paid in such a manner 

 as to beautify and adorn its surface, or in such a 

 way as to multiply its pollutions and increase the 

 sum of human suffering. It is ours to determine 

 wlicther tiie enormous amount of exuvia3, evolved 

 by our great cities, shall be suffered to stagnate, 

 saturating the ground and becoming the dismal 

 parent ot every disease, or returned with a wise 

 hajid to the earth in such a manner as shall invi- 

 Drate the vegetal)le world and reproduce new 

 forms of beauty and usefulness. It is for us to 

 I ec.dc whether the morbid matter of our house- 

 tit iff ''^nate in sinks, drains, &c., creating 

 ^esspoolsoffi..ns.ve to every sense, or poured into 

 the open bosom of the soil to multiply all that 

 ministers to our physical comfort. There has 



mg experience I was much perplexed with ... 

 general, and occasionally with the total, inefficac\ 

 of solid manures when applied as a top-dressin"- 

 to grass land. Keeping no team, and not beii,|i 

 in a condition to expend much for plowin<>-, i 

 looked about for a remedy. I h.id had some°e.\- 

 perience of the powers of liquid manures applir ; 

 around fruit trees and determined to test them in 

 relation to grass. I procured a convenient viss. . 

 for tlie purpose and caused every species of wast 

 liquid to be thrown into it, and once or twice r, 

 day spread it methodically upon my land. Ti)*- 

 piece I selected was good land, but so exhausted 

 by long cropping that the j^ear previous I hardly 

 considered it worth mowing. Now for th(! re- 

 sults. The next season the hay on that piece was 

 more than quadrupled. I then began to put luv 

 ashes into the same receptacle and commenced a 

 regular course of action, extending from the last 

 of July to the last of IMay. 



In this way, without tlie loss of an hour's time, 

 or a cent of outlay, I have produced results 

 which could not be wrought by thirty horse loads 

 of solid manure accompanied by days or even 

 weeks of severe labor. Ln this way I can manure 

 in the most effectual manner upwards of an acre 

 and my land thus treated will proJuce three ton 

 to the acre, although it has been in grass for 



