THE GENESEE FARMER. 



19 



TILLAGE MEANS MANURE. 



We have frequently called attention to the fact 

 that the etymological meaning of the word manure 

 is hand labor — from manus, hand, and ouvrer, to 

 work. To manure the land originally meant to 

 cultivate it, to hoe, to dig, to plow, to harrow, or 

 to stir it in any way so as to expose it to the at- 

 mosphere, and thus render its latent elements assim- 

 ilable by plants. 



"When our first parent was sent forth from the 

 Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he 

 was taken, he probably did not know that the 

 means necessary to kill the " thorns and thistles " 

 enhanced the productiveness of the soil. Yet such 

 was undoubtedly the case. 



The farmer for centuries was simply a " tiller of 

 the ground." Guano, though formed, according to 

 the opinion of Bottssingault, long ages before the 

 creation of man, was not then known. The copro- 

 lites lay undisturbed in countless numbers in the 

 lias, the greensand and the Suffolk crag. Super- 

 phosphate was not used. Sulphate of ammonia, 

 nitrate of soda, poudrette and fertilizing salts were 

 unknown terms. We can hardly imagine what the 

 agricultural papers of those days, if there were any, 

 could find to talk about. There were no "Frauds 

 in artificial fertilizers " to be exposed ; nothing to be 

 said for or against u the mineral manure theory;" 

 the "exhaustion of the soil" — the most fertile sub- 

 ject of modern days — was never thought of. The 

 grateful Earth, fresh from the hands of her Creator, 

 needed only to be tickled with a hoe to make her 

 laugh with a harvest. Nothing was said about oil- 

 cake ; the nutritive effect of foods might be con- 

 sidered without any reference to the fertilizing 

 value of the elements derived from their consump- 

 tion. Nothing was said of underdraining or steam 

 plowing. For many centuries, the hoe, the spade 

 and the rake constituted Adam's whole stock in 

 trade. 



At length a great discovery was made. A Ro- 

 man farmer stumbled on a mighty truth. Manur- 

 ing the land — that is, hoeing and cultivating it — in- 

 creased its fertility. This was well known — had 

 been known for ages, and acted upon. Stercutius, 

 who was undoubtedly a close observer, discovered 

 that the droppings of animals had the same effect! 

 What more natural than to apply the same term to 

 things that produced the same result! But it is to 

 be regretted that, till recently, the original signifi- 

 cance of the term manure should have been for- 

 gutten. 



It has long been known that "summer fallows" 



caused the land to produce greater crops. But the 

 real significance of the face was not appreciated. 

 Many have decried, and still decry the use of sum- 

 mer fallows. But at length the causes of their 

 beneficial effects are beginning to be understood. 

 Stirring the soil, exposing it to the air, induces im- 

 portant changes and sets free its latent plant-food. 



In the Genesee Farmer for September, 1861, we 

 called attention to an article in a leading British 

 agricultural journal, headed " Cultivation and Ma- 

 nure as Fertilizing Agents," and remarked that 

 such phraseology would not have been understood 

 a few years ago. We have just read an article in 

 the London Agricultural Gazette received this 

 morning, which commences as follows : " A fair 

 autumn well used is worth another guano island to 

 the country. The operations of the last two 

 months upon our stubbles have been as good a 

 guarantee of next year's crops as if the contents of 

 such an island had been spread upon their surface." 



It may be that this is a little extravagant. But 

 we can not help teeling a certain degree of pleas- 

 ure that views which we have long entertained are 

 beginning to receive the sanction of some of the 

 ablest scientific writers of the day. We hear little 

 now of "soil analyses" — of finding out what par- 

 ticular element is needed, and then dusting it over 

 the land from a snuff-box! Scientific men are 

 turning their attention to the operations of practi- 

 cal agriculture. They are beginning to investigate 

 the causes of practices which the experience of in- 

 telligent farmers has proved to be judicious. 



That tillage and manure are one and the same 

 thing, is a great truth. For some years, too much 

 attention has been given to mauure to the exclu- 

 sion of tillage. Let us not now run to the other 

 extreme, and bestow so much thought on tillage as 

 to forget the importance of manure. Let us culti- 

 vate the ground well and make all the manure we 

 can. Both are needed. 



The Potato Disease — Digging Early. — Now 

 as winter is fairly upon us, I wish to compare notes 

 with the correspondents of the Genesee Farmer in 

 respect to the potato rot.fas the disease prevails to 

 a considerable extent in this vicinity. I had some 

 potatoes dug as soon as the tops began to die, and 

 got them into the cellar. At this time (Dec. -3) 

 there is scarcely any rotten ones among them; 

 while some others, dug the latter part of October 

 when the ground was wet, are badly diseased. I 

 have sorted them all over once, and taken full one- 

 half out, and the cook complains loudly of bad 

 potatoes even now. The former were dug during 

 September while the ground was dry. The varie- 

 ties in both parcels were English Flukes and Pur- 

 ple Mercers. The Mercers suffered most. The soil 

 in the two cases is a heavy loam. — D.,' Gates. 



