40G 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



square inch of the surface of the 6eld, and if 

 the surface is porous it is continually receiv- 

 ing this vapor and passing it along among the 

 particles of soil, icatering and manuring them. 



Watering them, because when it gets down 

 where the soil is cooler than the vapor, the 

 vapor is condensed into real water, — aijd ma- 

 nuring then), because the soil abstracts the 

 manures which the air contains, such as am- 

 monia, carbonic acid and oxygen, and keeps 

 , them in store for the use of the roots of plants 

 as their needs require. 



If water stands upon the land it is because 

 the surface is hard and compact, and it grad- 

 ually disappears by evaporation, which cools 

 the soil and is of very great injury to its powers 

 of producing crops. AVhen the evaporation of 

 water is rapidly going on by the assistance of 

 sun and wind, a large quantity of heat is ab- 

 stracted and the soil becomes cold and plants 

 Avill not grow. When water is sprinkled on 

 the floor it cools the room. When a patient 

 with fever is bathed with water, it is to carry 

 oif the hfi2it of the body, and standing water 

 on the land operates upon the same principle. 

 This is anotiier r^.asoD why the sui'face should 

 be kept fine and open. - It ought to be remem- 

 bered that when water assumes the form of 

 vapor, it takes np 1723 times as much heat as 

 it contained while a liquid. 



Such, then, is the condition in which the 

 soil should be, In order to receive the greatest 

 benefit from the manures which we supply, 

 and the atmospheric manures, which the heav- 

 ens are kind enough to furnish to the soil, if 

 we put it in order to receive tliem. 



We have said that ammonia, carbonic acid 

 and oxygen are atmospheric fertilizers. Let 

 Hs see what they will do where the soil is pre- 

 pared for them. Ammonia reaches the soil in 

 two ways ; from the air circulating through 

 the soil, or by rains carried to the earth. It 

 'is the most important of all organic manures 

 in the soil. Clayey, or peaty soils, retain it 

 •the best- Soils that are nearly pure sand, will 

 iflllow it to evaporate immediately after a 

 shower, and therefore need to be dressed with 

 <'lay, peat, and a portion of charcoal dust. 

 Plants do not, probably appropriate ammonia 

 'by their leaves. 



Carbonic acid is received from the atmos- 

 phere both by the leaves and roots of plants. 

 If there is caustic lime in the soil, it unites 



with it and makes it milder and finer. It is 

 absorbed by the water in the soil, and gives it 

 the power of dissolving many more substances 

 than it would do without the carbonic acid. 



Oxygen oxidizes or ru-its some of the con- 

 stituents of the soil, and prepares them for 

 the uses of plants. 



If there are acids in the soil, the oxygen 

 will prepare some of the mineral matters in 

 the soil to unite with and neutralize them. 



The next agent is water, and may be con- 

 sidered an atmospheric manure, as it is re- 

 ceived from the air in the form of rain or dew, 

 and is charged with fertilizing substances. 



Atmospheric manures cost nothing, and are 

 of great value. In the course of nature they 

 are supplied to the soil without the immediate 

 attention of the farmer, but it is not beyond 

 his power to manage them in such a manner 

 as to arrest them in greater quantity. 



But we hoe, also, to kill weeds, because 

 they occupy the soil to the disadvantage of 

 crops ; because they exclude light and heat 

 from cultivated plants, and thus interfere with 

 their growth ; because they take up mineral 

 and other matters from the soil, thus depriving 

 crop? of their use, — and because, if allowed to 

 perfect themselves, their hardy nature and 

 persistent growth would occupy the land to 

 the exclusion of all other plants. 



By frequent hoeing or stirring of the soil 

 we keep ic in its best chemical condition, and 

 that is the condition which will produce the 

 most abundant and the most profitable crops. 



The how and when this should be done, we 

 will leave to others to say. 



PROP. VILLE'S KE-W SYSTEM. 

 Many farmers have little faith in science. 

 The blunders and failures of those book-wise 

 men who have attempted to analyze soils, to 

 compound manures, and to direct the opera- < 

 tions of the farm generally, are the ground- 

 work of this scepticism. But are scientific 

 men the only ones that blunder and fail ? How 

 has it been with the inventors and makers 

 of agricultural implements? Did not the 

 first horse-rakes — "man-killers'" as they were 

 called, — the first mowing machines, reapers, 

 and many other labor-saving contrivances, 

 now in general use, work their way to public 

 favor through a long course of failures, and a 

 still longer course of improvements .'' Science, 



I 



