1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



217 



other bone-making materials in our grass, 

 which is supposed to pi'oduce those diseases 

 manifested by cattle, in gnawing bones and 

 other hard substances. The working of bugs 

 in peas, so common here, is not usual in new 

 countries with unexhausted soils. Mr. E. W. 

 Bull uses only plaster, bones, ashes and other 

 mineral manures for his grape vines. Animal 

 manures give them a too rapid growth, which 

 is "loose," "spongy," "unripe,-" and subjects 

 them to the liability of various diseases and 

 winter killing. (See 12th Annual Report of 

 Sec'y Flint— ISG-i, pages 6-1-70.) Is not 

 this samo loose, spongy, unripe, unhealthy 

 growth of our fruit trees, this lack of solidity, 

 just the preparation required for the working 

 of the borer ? I advance no opinion ! I sim- 

 ply inquire after the truth. There ai'e otiier 

 illustrations which I would give, but for the 

 sake of brevity. Certainly no lack of organic 

 food can over conduce to these results. 



There are no organic elements which are 

 not being continually conveyed through animal 

 and vegetable organizations — through the at- 

 mosphere, the waters, the soils — always on 

 their ceaseless rounds. Now does Nature, in 

 her workings, give any evidence toward the 

 solution of this problem ? I mean in relation 

 to the use of nitrogen. How is it in her con- 

 tinued production of vegetation without local 

 exhaustion of plant food, where no artificial 

 application of this element is made ? 



Take the prairies for example. They have 

 been known to Europeans for more than two 

 and a quarter centuries. Huge crops of veg- 

 etation have grown, and by the processes of 

 decay or combustion have been decofnposed ; 

 the principal part of their organic matter hav- 

 ing been thrown oif to the atmosphere, the 

 ashes remaining. Thus^ you see those im- 

 mense crops have been mainfained while in a 

 state of nature, and the soil still kept in an 

 inexhaustible state of fertility, by the simple 

 application of their ashes. And we all know 

 how small this application must be. We all 

 know how burning or decay will reduce a heap 

 of hay, vines, brush or other animal or vege- 

 table substance ; and thus we see how small a 

 portion is mineral and how large organic. 

 And here is no artificial application of nitrogen ! 

 What it obtains is all fiom the great store- 

 house of nature. But how is it with mineral 

 properties P When these soils are cultivated 

 and the crops removed, then their exhausti- 

 bility becomes apparent. Their inorganic fer- 

 tilizing properties are then carried off, while 

 their organic properties are removed just as 

 much, and no more, than when in a state of 

 nature. 



But where does the adoption of a theory 

 which makes the artificial application of or- 

 ganic substances unnecessary lead us ? I have 

 not adopted it, remember ; laut I ask the ques- 

 tion. Burning only disunites the elements 

 composing any substance, leaving the ashes ; 

 while the organic properties pass away ; there- 



fore, burn up your manure heap, and you gtill 

 have its full value remaining, only in a con- 

 centrated mass. There is where it leads us. 

 Professor Nichols tells us that in a cord (oOOO 

 pounds) of common barn-yard manure, there 

 are only seventy- four pounds, or a trifle less 

 than two and a half per cent, of fertilizing 

 materials. These are the "mineral salts," 

 and they contain some substances which he 

 does not give in his receipt for a perfect ma- 

 nure. (See Sec'y Flint's 14th Annual Report, 

 page 2.32.) Some of the best chemical author- 

 ities give the amount of water — pure oxygen 

 and hydrogen — in fresh cow dung, at within a 

 fraction of ninety per cent. ; and thoroughly 

 rotted dung at about sixty per cent. . (I quote 

 from memory.) Now, as an artificial manure, 

 farmers give no attention at all to water, and 

 so we see that a very large per cent, of our 

 farm yard manures are useless, whatever our 

 opinions may be in regard to other elements. 



The statements made above in relation to 

 the diseases, consequent upon the lack of bone 

 material in food, which cattle suffer, lead to 

 another application of the principle, as it re- 

 lates to thii preparation of food. Dr. Allen, 

 in his physical history of various nations, al- 

 ludes to the increasing decay of teeth ; mainly 

 resulting, he says, from the extensive con- 

 sumption of fine Hour, from which that por- 

 tion has been bolted which contained the prin- 

 cipal part of the bone material. 



The people of new countries and mountain- 

 ous regions, — the soils of which contain a 

 large proportion of inorganic fertilizing ma- 

 terials, — are larger and more bony, than thosa 

 of older portions of the country, where the 

 soils are partially exhausted, and the crops are 

 consequently less highly stocked with these 

 mineral substances. 



According to Liebig, all the animal excre- 

 ments, liquid and solid, produced from a crop, 

 can never supply all the material for the repro- 

 duction of that crop, — a part of the material 

 having been appropriated by the consumer in 

 the manufacture of bones, and other portions 

 of the physical system. 



Now do not the facts which we see in nature 

 seem to give evidence, (I wijl not say proof, 

 which may require a combination of evidences) 

 that if a crop is reduced to its ashes, either by 

 decay or combustion, those ashes fully re- 

 stored to the soil, in their perfect condition, 

 will reproduce that crop with the simple aid of 

 nature, as she universally manifests herself? 



Some of the ideas expressed above, were 

 suggested by Mr. Dodge Hayward, in his le«- 

 tures. 



In regard to the truth of his theory, its 

 proof rests on the test of practical experience. 

 And to give Mr. Fleming an opportunity to 

 learn something of the results of its application, 

 I will refer him to two citizens of Milford, 

 both men of a high degree of intelligence and 

 reliability. 'These are Mr. S. P. Carpenter 



