NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



261 



EFFECT OF PLOUGHING- IN GREEN 

 CROPS 



AS COMPARED WITH FEEDING TIIE.M. 



It is yet a common notion that herbiverous ani- 

 mals have some distinct and peculiar mode of ac- 

 tion upon the various constituents of their food, by 

 which those parts expelled as excretae are rendered 

 more fit for the food of plants than could be the 

 original food, lotted or decomposed in any other 

 way. It is also ordinarily received that the de- 

 posits of a number of animals fed upon an acre ol 

 any green crop, will be more beneficial to the land 

 than an acre of the same crop, ploughed in and 

 properly decomposed in the land. 



For some years past, I have endeavored to com- 

 bat these opinions, but as they are still retained in 

 some quarters, I intend in this letter to repeat my 

 arguments, and to give instances where prac/ice has 

 proved the truth of theoretical deductions. 1 shall 

 not here argue as to the amount of profit and loss 

 attached to either mode of proceeding, as in fact, 

 must always depend upon circumstances, of which 

 the farmer is the best judge. Nor shall I attempt 

 to prove that under all possible circunistances, to 

 plough in a green crop will give a greater produce 

 than to feed it off. For in case of exceedingly 

 light lands, the mechanical action of the treading 

 of the feet of the sheep, however, is, that under 

 general circumstances, in ordinary soils, the plough- 

 ing in of any green crop, and its subsequent decom- 

 position in the soil, will give more manure to that 

 soil than if the crop had been fed off; and that the 

 effect of this greater amount of manure will be 

 seen in the subsequent crops. The arguments in 

 proof may be stated as follows: — 



Firstly: It is well established that animals in 

 breathing, give back more to the aii than they de- 

 rive from it. They receive nitrogen and oxygen, 

 and return them again, plus a certain excess of ni- 

 trogen, carbonic acid, and aqueous vapor. Ani- 

 mals also transmit to the air much insensible and 

 sensible perspiration. 



Secondly: The experiment of Boussingault and 

 others have shown that the liquid and solid excre- 

 ments of animals weigh less than the food from 

 which they have been derived, and that as regards 

 the food excretee are deficient in nitrogen, carbon 

 and hydrogen. 



Thirdly: It is well known that animals consume 

 a considerable portion of the farinaceous and oleagi- 

 nous portions of their food for the production of 

 animal heat, and the greater portion of the excess 

 is laid up in the form of fat; that of the nitroge 

 nous portion is consumed by the voluntary and in 

 voluntary motions of the muscles, and part forms 

 fresh fiesh for the growing animal. Of the inor- 

 ganic matters of the food, a portion is required for 

 the formation of bone. It is, therefore, quite clear, 

 that there must be less manuring matter in the ex- 

 ciements than in the food, of which they are mere- 

 ly the unconsumed remains — the ashes. 



Fourthly: It is known that animal and vegetable 

 substances are composed of the same original ele- 

 ments; that all animal particles have first had vege- 

 table life; that though the proximate changes and 

 combinations of their aliments are most innumer- 

 able, yet that the results of the ultimate decompo- 

 sition of animal and vegetable matter in contact 

 with air are the same. 



Fifthly: To sum up; if as it has been proved, 

 he excretae of animals weigh less than the food 



they have eaten; if there is a diminution of the 

 most valuable of the ingredients in passing through 

 the animal; and il"in their ultiiuate decomposition, 

 the food and the excreta; give the same products, it 

 follows that the poductsof the decomposition of the 

 original food will be greatest in quantity and rich- 

 est in quality; but practical experiments are, in this 

 instance, so easily made, that I should be wrong if 

 I omitted to mention some of the numerous facts 

 which experimentally prove the truth of my asser- 

 tions. Mr. ^Y. Trumper, JNlr. Oakley, and others, 

 have forwarded me the results of trials made on 

 their respective farms. Mr. Trumper, in a field of 

 rape part fed off by sheep, and the other ploughed- 

 in, found in the succeeding wheat crop a difference 

 of a quarter per acre in favor of ploughing-in. — 

 Mark Lane Express. 



CHEMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICUL- 

 TURE. 



The true principles of farming are just begin- 

 ning to be understood. It is but a few years, at 

 least in this country, since the farmer has sought 

 assistance, in his important vocation from the safe 

 and sure guide of science. The processes of the 

 culture of the soil have been handed down from 

 father to son for a lone period of time withouc any 

 attempt at improvement. The time has already 

 past when the tiller of the soil was content to pro- 

 duce just a sufficiency for the support of animal life, 

 and that too of an indifferent kind. He has already 

 begun to reap the advantages of calling in scientifie 

 princiides to his assistance. 



Within a few years much has been done to im- 

 prove in a high degree the choice and delicious 

 fruits of our climate. Our markets are now loaded 

 with fruits of the most tempting kind, which by 

 their abundance are brought within the reach of 

 all classes of society. Who can estimate the amount 

 of happiness and substantial comfort thus bestow ed 

 upon mankind 1 



For the last fifty years the energies of science 

 have been in an unparalled degree bestowed upon 

 inventions and discoveries in the principles of me- 

 chanics and the multifarious modifications in ma- 

 chinery, growing out of the motive power of steam. 

 Let the same amount of scientific energy be applied 

 to the investigation of the laws which govern or- 

 ganized bodies, both vegetable and animal, and the 

 result of such investigation will no doubt be the 

 knowledge of organized matter astounding as those 

 remarkable physical laws which we are daily wit- 

 nessing. 



The whole community are beginning to be waked 

 up to the importance of this matter. Our schools, 

 especially in this State, are introducing the study 

 of the principles of chemistry, as applied to agri- 

 culture. The guardians of the State Normal School 

 are doing very much towards disseminating a 

 knowledge of these principles, by preparing its ]>u- 

 pils for teaching the same in the schools which 

 they may hereafter be called to take charge of. 

 When the teachers of our schools can be made to 

 feel the importance of this new branch of education, 

 we may expect rapid and permanent improvenuMit 

 in farming. It is in our common schools alone that 

 a large portion of our farming ]iopulat)on are edu- 

 cated, and for this reason it would seem very pro- 

 per that considerable attention should be given to 

 this branch of education in these schools. Let all 

 who are entrusted with the supervision of schools 



