464 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



the drought equal to any other land ; part of it is 

 founded on a hard iron pan subsoil, which, when 

 exposed to the air, slakes into a coarse red sand very 

 porous. I have found draining this land by ditch- 

 ing has improved it, and that a sujjei-ficial plowing is 

 better than deeper. All below the organic soil ap- 

 pears to be an inert ii'on colored sand, if not poison- 

 ous, entirely destitute of any fertilizing principle, 

 only fit to sustain the upper stratum, and the nigher 

 I have applied the manure to the surface, the better 

 my crops of potatoes, oats and grass have been. 

 On the whole, I have concluded that the dispute 

 about deep and shoal jjlowing will compare with 

 that about the color of the chameleon. Every thing 

 relating to success depends uj)on the situation and 

 kind of soil we work upon, and the care and manner 

 of doing the work ; and every farmer must judge 

 from observation whether deep or shoal plo\\ing 

 mil afford him the best crops. For one, I am fully 

 persuaded that deep plowing in soils of certain com- 

 binations, which I am not chemist enough to define, 

 is altogether best, and that with our scanty supply 

 of manure, generally, shoal plowing in many loca- 

 tions will better reward the farmer's expectation. 

 Wilmington, 1855. S. Brown. 



For the Neto England Farmer. 



PEAT FOR MANURE. 



Peat, muck and meadow mud consist largely of 

 decomposed and decomposing vegetable matters, 

 ■which have gro\\ni on the spot where they are found, 

 or been washed into their present localities from 

 the surrounding high lands. Being covered up and 

 excluded from the action of the atmosphere, decom- 

 position goes on very slowly. In proper peat there 

 is present more or less tannic acid, which preserves 

 it from decomposition. In adcUtion to the vegeta- 

 ble matter in peat and mud, there are present such 

 mineral elements as existed in the vegetables of 

 which it is composed, and such as have been washed 

 from the neighboring soils. Of course there will be 

 found some difference in their composition, arising 

 from the nature of the surrounding soils. The min- 

 erals principally found in peat are silica, lime, mag- 

 nesia, iron and alumina. I find on record analy- 

 ses of about thirty samples of mud, and the average 

 of them gives 79 per cent, of vegetal)le matter, more 

 than half of which is in an insoluble state, that is, 

 not comjjletely converted into humus, or liut par- 

 tially decayed. One quality in peat and muck which 

 adds greatly to its value, is its strong affinity for 

 ammonia, Avhich it absorbs with great avidity and 

 retains for the use of plants. Dried peat has an al- 

 most unUmited power of absorbing and retaining 

 this element so necessary to vegetation. When 

 peat is quickened by an admixture of substances 

 containing ammonia, it becomes one of the very 

 best fertilizers that can be applied to light, sandy 

 soils, and indeed to all soils that have been deprived 

 by cultivation, of vegetable matter, that was present 

 in them when they were first brought under the 

 plow. It restores the very elements which they 

 need. 



When we say a soil has been exhausted, we mean 

 that the vegetable and mineral elements on which 

 plants feed have been eaten out of them. Peat and 

 mud abound in the ponds and swamps and mea- 

 dows, and by the sides of the creeks that are so 

 liberally distributed throughout the eastern States. 



They are so many reservoirs in which have been ac- 

 cumulating for centuries, the very materials that are 

 needed to renovate the light soils upon their bor- 

 ders. These soils, since the wood has been cut from 

 them, and they have been brought under cultiva- 

 tion, or used for pasturage, have been exposed to 

 the fidl action of the rain, which has dissolved and 

 washed the salts and soluble humus into the low 

 grounds adjacent, where they are stored ready to 

 be returned to the soil from which they were taken. 

 An inexhaustible supply is thus provided, ready to 

 be used over and over again by succeeding genera- 

 tions of cultivators. Nature is thus furnishing ma- 

 terials to ensure the fertility of the soil for all com- 

 ing time. But nature Avill not apply it to the soiL 

 Man must do his part of the work. It is for him 

 to apply the materials thus provided for him, to the 

 soil which is most in need of it, or which his conve- 

 nience may lead him to cultivate. This he must 

 learn to do at the proper time, and in the most 

 economical way. 



Nature is ever at work for man ; but she does 

 not do everything for him. She intends that he 

 should be a worker too. She provides for him, aU 

 the materials he needs, and points out to him the 

 deposits m which they are stored, and compels him 

 by his wants and necessities, to bring them to light, 

 and apply them to use. Thus when he finds the 

 soil, by continued cultivation, so far exhausted that 

 it refuses longer to supply his A\ants, he is com- 

 pelled to examine its composition, and see Avhat it 

 has lost, and inquire how it can be restored to that 

 state of fertility in which he found it when he first 

 put it under cultivation. He com])ares his worn- 

 out field with a portion of virgin soil. He finds the 

 decayed vegetable matter, and some or all the salts, 

 have disaj^peared. The remedy then is obvious. 

 The vegetable matter, the staple food of hving 

 plants, and the wanting salts, must be restored. But 

 where are these to be found ? This becomes the 

 subject of anxious inquiry. He notices that the 

 lighter and more soluble j^ortions of his lands are 

 being constantly carried by the rains and melting 

 snows into the valleys and basins and lowlands, and 

 that vast accumulations have here been made, and 

 upon examining them, he finds the very elements 

 which are wanting in the soil wliich he has been 

 cultivating. Here then he has found the very thing 

 he wants, the means of restoring to fertility his 

 worn-out and exhausted land. His own industry 

 and ingenuity must do the rest. Here nature leaves 

 him to \vork alone. She has provided the material 

 which he needs, and stored it up in vast deposits 

 within his reach. When man has cut off the for- 

 ests around his dwelling, and destroyed the fuel 

 upon the surface of tlie earth, he examines the bow- 

 els of the earth, and there he finds vast store-houses 

 of fuel pro^dded for his wants, by the beneficent 

 hand of nature. But by his own ingenuity and la- 

 bor he must bring it to the surface, and prepare it 

 for use. Thus it is with the fertilizing elements 

 which he has used up in the land from M-hich he 

 has drawn the means of sustaining his life. Be- 

 cause his land grows less and less productive by 

 continued cultivation, he need not fear that it will 

 ultimately become barren, and cease to supply his 

 wants. Nature, with fai'-reaching sight, has fore- 

 seen this very emergency, and ])ro\ided for it long 

 liefore his necessities led him to make the cUscovery, 

 and now his own labor and skill must do the rest. 



Concord, Aug. 10. J. K. 



