120 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Makch 



table matter, but by the minerals of the soil 

 having been exhausted by corn crops. 



The rain, dew and snow, supply all the ma- 

 terial of a vegetable nature, which we com- 

 monly suppose to be necessary for enriching 

 our land ; nature never fails to give us in the 

 rain, dew, and snow, all the elements con- 

 tained in decomposed vegetable sub.-tances. 

 The peat lands of New England contain but a 

 small amount of fertilizing matter. Some of 

 them none at all, and to haul tliera into the 

 barn to make manure is wasting time to no 

 purpose, as they are but decomposed vegetable 

 matter, and to use them is only to attempt to 

 complete what nature has already perfected. 



Some suppose that manure is injured by dry- 

 ing; this also is a mistake. All that leaves 

 the manure in drying, would leave it if it were 

 under the surface of the soil, and all that does 

 leave in drying or in heating may as well leave, 

 since the rain, dew and snow, will supply 

 ■sufficient of the same to the soil. 



When a farmer turns his manure heap, he 

 wnly increases the fermentation and releases 

 its useless parts. The more he turns his heap 

 the finer the manure and the smaller the pile. 

 The value of the manure is not diminished by 

 fermentation, nor is there any less fertilizing 

 matter present by reason of the quantity being 

 less. Take four loads of horse manure, allow 

 it to burn itself until it is reduced to one load, 

 and you have then, just as much fertilizing 

 matter there as when you had four loads. 

 Take a stick of wood, allow it to lay on the 

 ground to rot, it would be sometime in decora- 

 posing, but finally the land on which it de- 

 (!aved would be enriched no more than it would 

 have been if the wood had been burnt in the 

 stove, and the ashes hadbeen spread on the 

 same land. 



As of common barn yard manure, so of 

 guano and pho-^phate of lime ; only from thirty 

 to forty per cent of these are of service to the 

 land, and while we pay 8'JO per ton for them. 

 all they contain that is of service to the land 

 can be provided lor S7.oO. 



Ploughing orchards is useless. Put on min- 

 erals, then we shall have fruit and the trees 

 •will be healthy; the trees being healthy, we 

 shall have no horers living on our sickly dis- 

 eased trees. So of potato rot, lack of min- 

 eral in the soil induces disease, use it and the 

 disease will disappear, and large crops will be 

 the result. 



A common manure heap is composed of car- 

 bon 2 pans ; nitrogen 7 ; mineral 1 ; and wa- 

 ter 90 ; in all 100. Of these, one part is of 

 service and ninety-nine useless. 



To illustrate the matter, suppose we employ 

 one hundred men to make one hundred loads 

 of barn yard manure, it will be as if ninety 

 ■were emplo\((l to bring water, seven to bring 

 carbon, two to bring nitrogen, and one to 

 bring min- rals ; the last is the only useful per- 

 son employed, tlu- lat)or of all the others lost. 



Strange enough, he would recommend the 



saving of the solid and fluid manure of cattle, 

 because the solid contained two per cent of 

 mineral, and the fluid six to seven per cent. 



lie then stated that if we would buy his 

 book, and follow his instructions, if we did 

 not succeed as he had promised we can do, he 

 would then-cease to lecture and burn his books. 



The speaker, in all respects, appeared to 

 believe his own theory, and he certaudy spoke 

 as though he was bred up to and had lived by 

 farming. He seemed to think we were in- 

 clined to unbelief, and said, that once a man 

 induced his neighbor to go with him to hear a 

 preacher explain universal salvation, and when 

 he inquired of him, how he liked what he heard, 

 he answered, "i like his doctrine, and would 

 give my yoke of oxen if it could be proved to 

 be true." John FjuemijS'G. 



Sherborn, Jan. C, 18G8. 



Remarks. — Though we have little faith in 

 the Dodge Hayward theory, we are perfectly 

 willing he should have a hearing. We hope 

 his lectures and his book will induce his pupils 

 to think, experiment and compare results. 

 Years ago Prof. Wells analyzed the soil of 

 Massachusetts and that of the wonderfully fer- 

 tile meadows of the Sciota valley, and was 

 forced to the conclusion that the cause of the 

 difference in fertility could not be detected in 

 the mineral constituents of the soils of these 

 two localities. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 DOMESTIC TRAINIJVG.— NO. 3. 



Some time during the past year, a lady wrote 

 to the Farjieh respecting a set of "young 

 olive plants," in whose management she pro- 

 fessed to find rather more difficulty than in 

 making doughnuts and gingeii)read for their 

 food. Perhaps the fV)Ilowing, which I have 

 heard a lady relate, may inspire her with pa- 

 tience for the present and hope for the future. 



A friend of hers was frequently annoyed 

 and almost discouraged by her noisy, harum- 

 scarum boys, who liked to skate, slide and 

 play ball, regardless of the wear and tear of 

 their clothing, or of their mother's sensitive 

 nerves ; while, as if to make the case wor.se by 

 contrast, the .sons of her opposite neighbor 

 were just as good and (piiet as could be — wil- 

 ling to sit still all the time. As the noisy boys 

 grew to manhood, however, the rouiih, boister- 

 ous element gradually vanished, and they be- 

 came useful, honored citizens ; whereas the 

 good, quit t boys remained good and quiet — per- 

 fectly willing to sit in the hou'^e all the time, 

 and quite unwilling to do an\ thing else. 



It seems to be easier for healthy boys to rim 

 than to walk, more n.atural for them to shout 

 than to smile, and this should be taken into 

 account in their training. Yet they should not 



