THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS. 



541 



loss sustained from the tree ; the next thing 

 was to ascerlain what that loss might be on 

 arable land. The mean of three tiials upon 

 wheat under the shade of trees, compared 

 with equal spaces in the middle of the field, 

 was for 9 perches a diminution of grain to 

 the amount of 1 bushel and 1 gallon ; sup- 

 posing, however, that it might amount to 2 

 bushels, which is almost double the result of 

 actiiid experiment, it would be far more than 

 replaced by 3 cwts. of leaf manure ; but in 

 order to biing the proof within a narrower 

 compass of known facts, I farther ascertained 

 that by reducing the leaves to ashes there 

 would remain about 34 lbs. of inorganic ma- 

 nure ; now, since the few i)oujids produced 

 by burning the roots caused an increase of 

 26 lbs. of grain upon 32 perches, which is 

 l-5th of an acre, five times that amount will 

 give 130 lbs. per acre, which is more than 

 the weight of 2 bushels of the best wheat. 

 But here the quantity of manure is not strictly 

 detemiined ; in the foregoing experiments 

 the quantities are known, but only the phos- 

 phates and the sulphate of soda will serve for 

 comparison, as being wholly inorganic ; but 

 the ibrmer salts depend so entirely upon com- 

 bination for the activity which they then pos- 

 sess, that they cannot fonn the basis of any 

 fair calculation, although both the acid and 

 the bases are found in leaves upon analysis ; 

 the sulphate of soda, therefore, alone remains, 

 and even this is very disadvantageous lor the 

 purpose, because 17 times more potash, of 

 which the leaves principally consist, are re- 

 quired lor a crop of wheat than of soda. 

 Nevertheless it appears that the application 

 of 12 ounces of this inorganic manure m- 

 creased the crop by 3^ lbs. ; taking it, how- 

 ever, at only 3 lbs., and multiplying it by 4.5, 

 which is in round numljers the amount of 

 equal doses contained in 34 lbs., the increase 

 would be in return for the leaves 135 lbs. of 

 corn, which again is more than the weight 

 of the 2 bushels supposed to have been lost 



by the tree. If any one should object that 

 trees only restore to the soil the food of which 

 it had previously deprived it, the objection 

 is quite erroneous, for the plow takes care 

 to cut off all the roots near the surface, and 

 the subsoil only is concerned, and the rest 

 penetrate to a depth which the roots of the 

 crop caimot reach, and there elaborate fresh 

 materials of fertility, and bring up again the 

 soluble manure which had filtered through 

 the soil, or been carried down by the rains. 

 It has now been proved, therefore, that the 

 injury inflicted by trees, though more imme- 

 diate and obvious to the eye than the bene- 

 fits they confer, is amply compensated in the 

 ultimate results, and that we are not justified 

 in defonning the counh-y in order to increase 

 its food. I am quite sensible tliat the pres- 

 ervation of these leafy screens may be car- 

 ried too fai- ; the best things become bad ia 

 excess. It is good for the soil to be warm, it 

 is not good that it should be parched ; it is 

 good that it should be moist, it is not good 

 that it should be deluged ; it is good to have 

 the benefit of the sun, it is not good to have 

 no shade ; it is good to have a free circula- 

 tion of air, it is not good to be exposed to 

 violent wnids. I cannot, therefore, under- 

 stand how those who at great expense scru- 

 ple not to cover acres of ground, which 

 might bear wheat, with fold-yards and cattle- 

 sheds, because they economize manure and 

 food, and favor the health of the animals, can 

 prf)scribe, as an intolerable usurpation, pro 

 vided they are kept within rfloderate bounds, 

 those natural manufacturers of manure and 

 shelterers from the storm which cost them 

 nothing, and jiay well for any apparent dam- 

 age, and are a refreshment to the eye and 

 an ornament to the landscape, and a source 

 of fuel for the poor, and a supply of timber 

 for the use of the farm. 



L. VERNON HARCOURT, '* 



West Dean House. 



THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS. 



It much concerns the American farmer and planter to know what is likely 

 to be the effect upon British mind and British interest of the Free Trade 

 policy, so called, under which their Corn Laws were suspended, to let in our 

 grain free. For his agency in the agitation of the Free Trade question, on the 

 affirmative side, it will be recollected that its advocates presented Mr. Cobdea 

 with the snug little purse of three-quarters of a million of dollars. We should 

 like to see some Member of Congress, or any other man of power, entitle him- 

 self to a like donation from American cultivators of the soil, for diverting to the 

 promotion of agricultural knowledge and improvements, one-fourth of the sum 

 now levied on them, indirectly, for the worse than useless purposes of war. 



A writer in a late number of the Mark-Lane Express, thus speaks of the effect 

 of Free Trade. If those in power should be brought by experience to his 



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