"^^ERICAN HERD-BOOTi 



DE VOX ED TO 

 AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND' RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



Perfect Agriculture is the true foundation of all trade and indtistry. — Libbio. 



Vol. VIII.— No. 12.] 



7th mo. (July) 15th, 1844. 



[Whole No. 114. 



POBLISHED MONTHLY, 



BY JOSIAH TATUM, 



EDITOR AND PROPttlETOR, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Price one dollar per year. — For conditions see last page. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 What Manures does my soil Want? 



It is a remark not unfrequently made, — 

 and I think we shall be obliged to acknow- 

 ledge its truth — that we apply manures to 

 our land and seed them for crops, with far 

 too little reference to their actual necessi- 

 ties in the one case, or their adaptation in 

 the other, for the production of what we are 

 expecting from them. For instance, we ap- 

 ply all kinds of manures to all kinds of soils, 

 without asking the very important question, 

 whether or not they are adapted to each 

 other. We know pretty well that in stable 

 manure, there can be no mistake ; it may be 

 used on all soils which are not absolutely 

 wet, without any fear of its not proving 

 beneficial, and we are therefore too apt to 

 conclude it is even so with other manures. 

 Animal or vegetable matters applied to the 

 soil in the shape of manures, seldom fail to 

 perform all we can ask of them, whether 

 those substances be the common produce of 



Cab.— Vol. VIIL— No. 12. 



the farm-yard, or in the shape of poudrette, 

 or guano, or ashes, &c. The main question 

 in relation to these,, does not seem necessa- 

 rily to be, will they suit the soil, — but, which 

 is cheapest. We are told that stable ma- 

 nure contains everything essential to th& 

 growth of plants ; it can therefore, scarcely 

 come amiss. But it should be borne in mind^ 

 this is not the case with inorganic sub- 

 stances : if lime or plaster of Paris, should 

 be applied to soils in which those substancea 

 already abound, they will of course, be of no. 

 immediate benefit ; but it would be unwise 

 in the farmer who has applied them without 

 advantage, to conclude they would be equally 

 useless on the land of his neighbour. It is 

 an important point in the economy of farm- 

 ing, to be able to judge of the expediency 

 of applying certain manures — I mean more 

 particularly, those composed of inorganic 

 matters — to particular soils. Without this 

 knowledge, we may not only be led to en- 

 tire disappointment in our expectations, but 

 may also be involved in much unavailing 

 expense. "None can observe," says Thomp- 

 son, in his Prize Essay on Manures, " with- 

 out a lively gratification, the important ad- 

 vances that have been made and are still 

 making in the preparation and application 

 of agricultural fertilizers. But there is still 

 much to be learned, and still much to be 

 forgotten. Practical agriculturists will not 

 even yet, with a few exceptions, ask them- 

 selves, individually, the question, — What 

 does my soil require to render it fertile? 



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