1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



557 



in many places ; light frosts on the mornings of 28 

 and 29 ; 31, warm and dry. 



September 1, rain, first since August 4 ; 2 to 10, 

 plenty of rain, weather fine, fires extinguished, grow- 

 ing season at an end. From the 4th to the last of 

 August the drought was the most rapid, and the 

 evaporation the greatest I ever knew in so short a 

 space of time, which may he accounted for from the 

 circumstance of the great heat and deficiency of 

 dews, 



1855. 



jSIay 1 to 8, cold, frosty and dry ; 9 and 10, 

 wind north-east, cold and cloudy; 11, moderate; 

 15, warm and dry ; 16, began to rain, which contin- 

 ued through the night ; 17, fair and cool ; 18 to 23, 

 very cold and cloud}', a few drops of rain ; 24 

 frost, A. M. ; warmer, with lightning, P. M. ; 25, 

 warm ; 26, cold and windy ; 27, 28 and 29, frosty 

 mornings and cold dry days ; 30 and 31, cool and 

 dry, apple blossoms begin to fall. May has been a 

 cold, dr}- month who can wonder that the croj)s of 

 English hay should be short and the other crops 

 backward at the end of such a May ? 



June 1 to 3, violent south wind lasting three 

 days doing much damage, accompanied with clouds 

 and very little rain ; 4, 5 and 6, cool and dry ; 7, 

 rainy, M'ind north-east ; 8, windy and cold ; 9 to 12, 

 light shov,ers and cool ; 13 and 14, cool ; 15, rain ; 

 16 and 17, cool; 18, frost; 19, rain through the 

 night; 20, cool, all vegetation very backward; 21, 

 warmer, with soaking showers ; 23, warm and grow- 

 ing weather with plenty of rain up to the 27th ; 

 28, 29 and 30, extreme heat and a little rain to fin- 

 ish out the month. 



July 1 and 2, hot and drj- ; 3 and 4, fine weather ; 

 5 and 6, showers ; 7 and 8, great north-cast rain ; 9 

 and 10, fair and cool; 11, rainy; 12 to 19, warm, 

 good hanng ; 20 to 31, showery, poor hay weath- 

 er. July has been a favorable month for vegeta- 

 tion. 



August 1, the first fair day for a long time ; 2, 3 

 and 4, good hay weather ; 5, 6, fair, plenty of dew ; 

 7, fine shower ; 8, cool; 9, soaking rain ; 10, fair and 

 cool ; 11 to 15, cool ; 16 to 17, showers ; 18 to 22, 

 cool and frosty mornings ; 23, warmer ; 24 and 25, 

 fair and warm ; 26, light rain ; 27, very cool ; 28 to 

 30, fair, cool and frosty mornings ; 31, a hard frost 

 which jnit a check to the growth of vegetation, in- 

 jured the corn and other crops, and nearly ruined 

 the cranljerry crop, and put an end to the growing 

 season for the present year. 



Thus we see in defiance of all our wise plans and 

 anticipations, our corn, cranlierries and many other 

 productions were cut off or injured last year l)y heat 

 and drought, and the present year by cold and 

 frosts ; but, thanks to a good Pi'ovidencc, we have 

 enough of every good thing left Init gratitude to the 

 liountiful hand wliich has dealt M'itli us so liberally 

 heretofore. Our best policy will be to "go ahead" 

 with renewed energy in preparation for another 

 year by collecting materials for manure. I have 

 lately dug out and carried on to the "field of oper- 

 ations" some 300 loads of mud in preparation for 

 another attempt at su])plying our bodily wants, in- 

 dependently of any nation living at any of the four 

 points of the comjjass. S. Bkown. 



Ililimngton, Stpt. 12, 1855. 



Nkw York Horticultural IIevikw. — Some 

 time since, we received the first number of a work 



with the above title, edited and published by C 

 Reagles, Esq., New York city. It is illustrated 

 with landscape sketches, fruits, plans of buildings, 

 &c. It is printed in convenient 12mo. or small 8vo. 

 form, and filled with well written, practical articles. 

 Among the contributed articles is an excellent one 

 on shade trees, by our old friend and correspondent, 

 WiLLL\M Bacon, Esq., of Richmond, Mass. The 

 articles, generally, are attractive, and indicate a 

 knowledge of the wants of the people on the part 

 of the editor. We Avish the enterprise gi-eat suc- 

 cess. 



EXHAUSTION OF THE SOIL. 



"There is, on an average, about one-fourth of a 

 jiound of i)otash to every one hundred pounds of 

 soil, and about one-eighth of a pound of phosj)horic 

 acid, and one-sixteenth of a pound of sulphuric acid. 

 If the potatoes and the tops are continually remov- 

 ed from the soil, it will soon exhaust the potash ; if 

 the wheat and straw are removed, it will soon ex- 

 haust the phosphate of lime ; if com and the stalks, 

 it vAW soon exhaust the sulphuric acid. Unless 

 there is a rotation, or the material that the plant 

 reqmres, su])plied from abroad, your crops will soon 

 run out, though the soil may continue rich for other 

 plants." 



An acre of soil twelve inches deep would weigh, 

 say 1,600 tons. According to the above figures, it 

 would weigh 8000 lbs. of potash, 4000 lbs. of phos- 

 phoric acid, and 2000 lbs. of sulphuric acid. Esti- 

 mating that potatoes contain 20 per cent, of dry 

 matter, and that 4 per cent, of this is ash, and that 

 half of the ash is potash, we only remove in a crop 

 of 250 bushels, 60 lbs. of potash. Say that the 

 tops contain 20 lbs. more, and we have pottish 

 enough in an acre of soil to produce a crop of 250 

 bushels of potatoes, each year for a century ! 



A crop of wheat of 30 bushels per acre, contains 

 about 26 lbs. of ash, and half of this, say, is phos- 

 phoric acid. Allowing that the straw, chaff", &c., 

 contain 7 lbs. more, we remove from the soil in a 

 crop of wheat of 30 bushels per acre, 20 lbs. of 

 phosphoric acid. According to the above estimate, 

 then, an acre of soil contains sufficient phosphoric 

 acid to produce annually a crop of wheat and straw 

 of 30 liushols per acre,/o;-/u'o hundred years ! 



We M'ill pursue the calculation no farther. The 

 writer of tlie paragraph quoted above, selected out 

 the crops and elements best suited for his purpose; 

 but it will !)e seen, that even according to his own 

 estimate, there is sufficient potash and phosphoric 

 acid in the soil to give the present wicked genera- 

 tion all the jjotatoes and wheat they may need. 



But let us t;\ke another view of the subject. No 

 intelligent farmer removes all the potatoes and tops, 

 all the wheat, straw and chaff", and all the corn, 

 stalks, &c., from his flirm. According to Dr. Salis- 

 bm-v, a crop of corn of 75 bushels per acre removes 

 from the soil 600 lbs. of mineral matter; Init the 

 grain contains only 46 lbs. The remaining 554 lbs. 

 is contiiincd in the stalks, leaves, siieatlis, husks, 

 tassels, 6cc., all of whicli are generally retained on 

 the farm. It follows from this that, when only the 

 grain is sold off the farm, it takes more than 13 

 crops to remove as much mineral matter from the 

 soil as is contiined in the whole of one cro]). Again , 

 the ash of the grain contains less than 3 per cei»t. 



