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THE GENESEE FARMER 



DISCUSSIONS AT THE NEW YORK STATE FAIR. 



MfKTiNOS for discussion were held every evening 

 during the State Fair, in tlie City Hall at Utica, and, as 

 Ofiual, were well attended — many of the best farmers 

 in the State being present. The subject selected for 

 discussion the first evening (Tuesday) was : 



*^The most economical method of supphjins; the surface 

 soil with the mineral food of plants, whellwr Inj its direct 

 application, by stibsoiling, or by the plowing in of deep 

 rooted plants." 



The queslion to be restricted to those cases where the surface 

 soil h.is been sulyect, f r a period of at least fifteen years, to the 

 ordinary methods of cultivation by a rotation of ciops, and where 

 the subsoil, wliether ol sedimentary or primary fonnaiion, is not 

 beloAT (lie surface of an average distance of over six feet. Jn all 

 instances of such soil and subsoil adduced fir illustration in the 

 ducussion, the same to be accurately described. 



The Hon. A. B. Conger, of Rockland county. Pres- 

 ident of the Meetings, opened the discussiou. He re- 

 marked that it was now well understood that land 

 which had been under ordinary cultivation for fifteen 

 or twenty years, was deficient in mineral plant food — 

 the crops removed from the land robbed the soil of 

 mineral ingredients. Many soils that formerly pro- 

 duced good crops, now fail. It had been thought that 

 the climate had changed, but agricultural chemistry 

 had shown us that the soil had been robbed of the 

 food of plants. It is thought that fifteen years of 

 such cropping as is frequently adopted, would ab- 

 etract so much of the food of plants that the soil 

 would no longer give an adequate return for the labor 

 bestowed in its cultivation. 



It might excite some surprise that the question was 

 restricted to a soil where the subsoil was not more 

 than six feet below the surface. Many plants throw 

 their roots to a greater distance than six feet, and 

 bring up food from the subsoil. The Hon. Geo. Ged- 

 DB8 had sent a clover plant to the Society's Rooms at 

 Albany, that had a root four feet two inches in length. 

 Lucern will throw its roots over thirty feet ; rape, over 

 six feet — and many other plants send out roots to a 

 much greater distance than is generally supposed. 

 Now if the surface is deficient in mineral plant-food 

 and the subsoil is rich, subsoiling will allow the roots 

 to penerate this rich subsoil. The small fibrous roots 

 will take up the mineral plant-food, and it will be de- 

 posited in the bulbs or larger roots near the surface ; 

 and when these are plowed under, the surface soil 

 •will be enriched for the following crops. 



This is one way of furnishing the surface soil with 

 mineral plant-food. There is another — purchasing 

 mineral manures. Wheat requires phosphoric acid. 

 Partners usually provide this in bones and Ameri- 

 can gtiano. The practical question is, wliether it is 

 more economical to purchase mineral manures, or to 

 break up the subsoil and allow the roots of plants to 

 penetrate it, and bring up mineral food to the surface ; 

 and if the latter, the qu.-stion will then arise whetlier 

 to plow under these plants, or feed them to stock and 



return the manure. In growing wheat is it best to 

 buy bones, or to subsoil and plow in the clover ? He 

 would call on Joskpu Hakrus of the Genesee Farmer, 

 for his views on the suuject. . 



Mr. Harris said that he had received no intimation 

 that this subject would be brought before the meeting, 

 and he was not aware till an hour ago, that he had 

 been selected to open the discussion. He was entirely 

 : unprepared to speak on the subject. Taking the 

 I question as it stood, and confining ourselves to the 

 I mineral food of plants, he had no hesitation in ex- 

 I pressing the opinion that the most economical method 

 would be to purchase mineral manures. The mineral 

 food of plants consists essentially of eight ingredi- 

 ents — four acids and four alkalies, or alkaline earths. 

 The former were phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, 

 silicic acid and chlorine ; the latter, potash, soda, lime 

 and magnesia. We could get phosphoric acid in 

 bones or phosphatic guanos, such as Jarvis' or Baker's 

 Island, which were exceeditigly rich in phosphoric 

 acid. Sulphuric acid, as well as lime, could be 

 cheaply purchased in the form of plaster, (gypsum or 

 sulphate of lime.) Chlorine, as well as soda, could be 

 had from common salt, (chloride of sodium. ) Silicic 

 acid or sand, we need say nothing about. Four 

 pounds of bones, or three pounds of Jarvis' or Ba- 

 ker's Island guano, contained phosphoric acid enough 

 for a bushel of wheat. But will an addition of four 

 pounds of bones to the soil, or three pounds of guano, 

 give us an extra bushel of wheat ? We all know it 

 will not. All the mineral matter in a tun of barn-yard 

 manure, could be purchased for 25 cents. But grant- 

 ing that we supply the soil with a sufficient quantity 

 of mineral plant-food, is that all we need, to grow 

 large crops ? Jt is not. Mr. Lawes, of England, has 

 grown wheat from the same soil for twenty years in 

 succession, and the averaiie yield of the linmanured 

 plot is 16^^ bushels. On another plot, supplied with 

 an abundant supply of phosphates, potash and other 

 nnneral manures, the average yield was l&i bushels, 

 or only an increase of two bushels per acre. While i 

 on another plot; where ammonia had been added to > 

 the minerals, the average yield was over 34 bushels i 

 per acre — or an increase over minerals alone of 16 i 

 bushels per acre. Plants must have mineral manures, 

 but these alone will not give us large crops. We need 

 ammonia, and there is no practical or economical 

 method of furnishing ammonia, that dod^ not at the 

 same time furnish all the mineral matter which th» 

 increase caused by the ammonia requires. ' 



Solon Robinson — Tell us how to get ammonia ! 

 Joseph Harris — Sow clover, peas, beans, '&c. Con- 

 sume them on the farm, and carefully preserve and 

 ' return the manure to the soil. Feed more grain ; 

 straw will not make rich manure. Clover liay will 

 i make manure four times as rieh as straw, and nearl/ 



