May , 184^ 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



71 



siiliject in the full belief tliat the inojilietic hiii- 

 giiuire of our bard will be true prophecy for iimiiy 

 a century to come. 



•■ With footsteps slow shnll travellers go 



Where Lovewell's I'ond shines clear and bright. 

 And mark the place where those are l.iid, 

 Wlio fell in Lovewell's bloody fight." 



From the American Agriculturist. 



Relative Value of the different Manures. 



To show the extreme care with wliii;h Eiiro- 

 Iio;iiis iiusbaiiil their iiiuniires, wo sulyoiii a li.«t 

 of some articles systematically collected for this 

 purpose, and their relative fertilising properties. 

 We cannot too earnestly inculcate upon our read- 

 ers the necessity of the strictest attention to this 

 important subject. Manures are the Ibunilation 

 of the farinei-'a |#roaperity. He can do noihini? 

 withoiit— hecando every thing with them. Their 

 importance has been hitherto undervalued by a 

 large portion of our countrymen, in consequence 

 of their occupying new land.s, which, being charg- 

 ed with the inulisturbed remains of vegetable 

 inntter accumulated through centuries, need little 

 assistance from art to sustain successive crops, 

 sufficiently large to satisfy the occupant. But 

 we have two remarks to apply to jiersons culli 

 vatiiig such lands : there is comparatively little 

 land, e.xcept the richest of the alluvir.n bottoms, 

 that cannot be made to increase its crops by ma- 

 in ue ; and a .series of crops will soon exhaust 

 even the best, unless it is subject to a periodical 

 renewal of its fertility, by accessions from allu- 

 vial de|)0sites furnished by the overflowing of 

 streams. 



A strong example of this is shown in the Vir- 

 ginia laiKis, which at one time were as rich as 

 any on this Continent, but by severe cropping for 

 a long tiine, many of them have become so much 

 impoverished, as to be comparatively worthless, 

 and in many cases have been absolutely aban- 

 doned. In this condition they will prob.ibly re- 

 tnain fill exhausted Nature is allowed to recruit 

 herself by the decomposition of such fertilising 

 mineral resources as abound in most soils ; and 

 the accumulation of fresh vegetable matter has 

 restored her former enbrgies. But in the interim, 

 the land is abandoned and worthless, and the 

 capital invested in it, totally unproductive. This 

 disastrous result may not only be avoided by a 

 careful application of manures produced on the 

 farm when properly stocked, but the original fer- 

 tility of the soil be"gnidually augmented. That 

 we do not mistake this case, it is sufficient to 

 quote recent European experiments in confirma- 

 tion of our opinion, which show that the urate 

 liroduced from a single adidt in one year, affords 

 nitrogen sufficient to" produce 800 lbs. of wheat, 

 or over 1.3 bushels ! And this with all the exere- 

 mentUiotis matter aboimding on every farmer's 

 premises, if carefully collected and retained to be 

 applied to the proper crops, and at the proper 

 season, would rapidly increase its productive 

 powers, even while undergoing a severe cropping. 

 There is no difficulty under ordinary circumstan- 

 ces, in getting good crops from good land, and we 

 shall feel it particularly incumbent on us there- 

 fore, to provide our readers most liberally with 

 all information relative to manures. 



The following articles have been recently ana- 

 lysed liy Koussinganit and Payeii, with reference 

 to their ferliliziiig principlesas manures ; and the 

 figures below indicate the number of i>ounds re- 

 spectively, which in their ordinary or moist state 

 contain the equivalent of nitrogen to be found in 

 1000 lbs. of farm yard manure. 



lbs. 

 Woollen rags 22 



1 Codfish (damaged, washed and press- 



ed) 23 



Feathers 2i5 



Blood, dry (insoluble) 

 Horn raspings 

 Cow hair 

 Miiscidar flesh 

 Blood, dry (soluble) 

 Graves 

 Pigeon dung 



2 Bones boiled 



Do. fat (exposed to air) 



Do. liioist 

 Linseed cake 

 Rape cake 



3 Bolloni's poudrette 



4 (drains of white hiiii'.i 



5 Cockeliafers 

 Blood liquid 

 Urine of the horse 

 Pea straw 

 Binied root of clov 



127 



140 

 153 

 223 



248 

 29t) 



Wheat straw, being 5 from the upper 



end including the tlireshed-out ear 300 

 Animalized charcoal (recently pre- 

 pared uiih night-soil) 322 

 Soot fiiini wood 347 

 Wheat cIkiIV, and carrot to[is, each 470 

 Dung hill drainings IJ77 

 Potatoe haulm, and horse dung, each 727 

 Saw dust, oak 740 

 To|)s of green beet root 800 

 Saint foiu straw 8.33 

 Urine of the cow 909 

 Farm yard manure 1000 

 Cow dung and ovster shells, each 1250 

 Oat straw " 1428 

 Saw dust. Acacia 1559 

 Wheat straw 1660 

 Barley do. 1739 

 Sawdust, fir 2119 

 Rye straw 2352 

 It must not he supposed that this li.«t indicates, 

 under all circumstances, the value of these ma- 

 ?s, even with reference alone to their nitrogen. 

 It is only the analysis of each in certain states, 

 and those states vary materially. Still it affi)rds 

 a good general criterion of comparative value, 

 and m.iy now and then be of some u.'^e to the 

 ler under certain circumstances. When bis 

 own farm yard dung is deficient, he may be able 

 to make uj) from other sources within his reach, 

 -some substances which, properly managed, will 

 afford a good substitute for the ordinary supply 

 of the farm. 



1 Frequent in Roman Catholic countries. 



2 It will be seen that "boiled" give more nitrogen 

 than ■■' moist'' or •* fat bones." This refers to equal 



i-eights. With equal measure the result would probably 

 be the reverse. 



3 Poudrette is slowly dried and old night soil. 



4 These are absolutely grown for manure on the Tirscan 

 Appenincs, whence more bulky crops are not easily trans- 

 ported, (lathered when nearly ripe, their seeds contain 



rly all the azotized principle of the plant. They are 

 boiled or baked to destroy vegetation. 



In the south, where these dies abound, they are col- 

 lected to prevent the damage done to crops by the grub, 



ich quantities as to render them available for ina- 



Oi' Mixed Earth and Creek Mud. — " What 

 experiments have been made of creek or har- 

 bor iniiil from the sea flats.' what ol mud tak- 

 en from fresh-water ponds.' what of the soil 

 taken from swamps overflowed .' bow have they 

 been used .' on what soils, for what crops, for 

 what gr.tsses, in what manner, in what quanti- 

 ties, and what advantages has been derhed froiiv 

 them ?' 



Mr. Berden, of Wcthcrsfield.—K piece of laud 

 in my neighborhood w;is manured with earth 

 thtit "had been leached to make saltpetre— the 

 earth had been leached JO years before— the land 

 has borne surprising t rops ever since this earth 

 has been applied. I have never witnessed so 

 great and lasting efiects from any s|)ecies of ma- 



Mr. Hurt, of Berlin. — One of my neighbors 

 carried on to his up-land mowing a number of 

 loads of earth from under an old barn. It has 

 improved his land surjirisingly. For several 

 years the crop has been very great. 



Mr. Abel Bronson, of IVaterbury. — I have tried 

 the earth, taken from the ditches in my meadows, 

 but never foutid that my land received any bene- 

 fit. I have cairie-d large quantities into my hog 

 stye and barn yard, in autumn, and in the spring 

 have manured my Indian corti with it. I have 

 found a load of 'this mixture of the earth and 

 manure, as beneficial as a load of unmixed ma- 

 nure, from the barn yard or the stye. I have used 

 the mixture, when it has lain in this situation a 

 year, and never found any dung better. 



Of Yard or StableDu.ng, Tan.nek's Bark, 

 &.C.— '• What methods liave been taken to i _ 

 ment the manures taken from the yard or stable? 

 What means have been found to succeed best for 

 that purpose .'" 



Mr. Andrew Hall, Jr., of Cheshire.— I have found 

 no maniu-e so beneficial, on poor land, for pota- 

 trips, as the dro|)ping-j of the cuttle intermixed 



with straw, thrown into the yard to make mix- 

 ture, even before it is matured. 



Mr. Abel Bronson, of Walerbury, — I have thrown 

 pumice, tanner's btirk, &c., into my hog stye, and 

 tbiind them to become very good mainire. 



.Mr. Blakeslei/, of Plymouth. — More than twenty 

 years past, I had a large nursery of fruit trees. 

 To prevent weeds, &c., from growing, I covered 

 the ground over with tanner's bark. It prevent- 

 ed every thing but the trees from growing. Af- 

 ter some years had elapsed, when the trees had 

 all been taken from the nursery, I sowed the land 

 with oats and clover. The oats were good, and 

 the clover excellent. Since the clover has gone 

 out, the natural grass has come in, and the land 

 has continued tis good as any I have. I have 

 fbimd bark one of tlie best kinds of manure. 



1 find, from experiment, that two loads of dung, 

 carried on the land in the spring, are worth three 

 loads carried on in the fall. 



To the Editors of the .\merican Agriculturalist. 

 Plaster of Paris. 



Gents. — We have heard many complaints 

 among our farmers who use this important stim- 

 tilaiit, and particularly from those who have but 

 recently commenced its application, that it failed 

 in nmnerous instances last year in developing its 

 usual benefits. They doubt the goodness of the 

 article, or its adaptation to their soils. 



Our solution to their complaints and inquiries 

 is, that it requires rains to dissolve or decompose 

 the plaster, without which its application to crops 

 is fruitless. The spring and summer of 1841 

 were unusually dry throughout a great part of 

 the Northern States. For two or three mouths, 

 we had little or no rains, and the grass, and early 

 grairt crops were uncommonly short. This we 

 apprehend is the principal cause of the failure. 

 We advise our agricultural liiends, however, to 

 repeat their regular course, and soon the present 

 season may give a good account of the last year's 

 application. At all events, om- confidence is in 

 no way impaired in the virtue of this stimulant. 

 Yours truly, F. 



As the application of Sulphate of LiME,inore 

 familiarly known as Selenite, Gypsum, or Plaster 

 of Paris, i:= extensively and most beneficially 

 maile in this country as a manure, perhaps we 

 cannot occupy the attention of our readers more 

 advantageously, than by throwing together some 

 fads connected with it. Of theories, we have 

 many: but as they have not yet attained that 

 certainty which we deem essential to any subject 

 claiming the attention of practical farmers, the 

 rule we have adopted for our present limits, will 

 not allow our communicating them. The mate- 

 rials of gypsum, are lime, chemically combined 

 with sulphuric acid; commonly known i\s oil of 

 vitriol, or vitriolic acid; which is one of the 

 strongest nfincral acids, and consists of sulphur 

 and o.xygen, with the addition of a little water. 

 This cotnbination is essential to be understood 

 by such as are making experiments on its use, 

 and will serve to throw much light on the reasons 

 fur the difTereni results obtained. 



And, 1. It generally has little or no eflTect on 

 strong clay lands; unless applied in large quan- 

 tities, say 15 or 20 bushels to the acre, when it 

 has been known to change the character of a stiff 

 clay in a single season, to a loose, friable, mellow 

 and rich soil. 



2. It is used with great effect on dry, sandy, 

 (not a barren sand,) or loamy soils. 



3. One to two bushels per acre, is considered 

 a sufficient quantity to apply at once, though as 

 high as six, liave been sowed with marked ad- 

 vantage. 



4. Its eflfects last through two seasons, and fre- 

 quently much longer. 



5. It should be sown generally in April or May ; 

 (and always applied when the ground is dry,) 

 thus affording an opportunity for dissolving it by 

 the rains. Its application to crops as late as June, 

 have frequently been attended with decided ad- 

 vantages, though the large quantity of water re- 

 quired for dissolving it, being about 500 parts of 

 water, at a temperature of 60 degs.to one of gyp- 

 sum, renders the advantage much more conspic- 

 uous when sown earlier. 



6. The efiects are much more striking when 

 applied with manure, and sometimes with lime. 



7. It is a stimulant, as well as manure, and baa 

 a tendency to exhaust the humus or geine already 



