i62 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



November, 184:2 



mires. Through the simimer mid fiill months 

 you can from time lo time U\ki: into your yards 

 peat 01 swainp muck, rorten wood, hrakes, briers, 

 leaves of trees or any oilier vefretable matter and 

 unite them vvilii common stable manure in the 

 ratio of three to one. Then, in the spring abont 

 a month before we wish to use it, we mix with 

 the compost common imleached ashes, or potash, 

 or recently slacked lime, aiiil in this way, sayi 

 Dr. Jackson, " we fienerate froiri the de<-omposi 

 tion of the animal matters a great qnantity of 

 ammonia, which will lie alisorheil hv the vejiela- 

 bie acids, and the coiii|i(ists will he 'thus power- 

 fidly aniimented in strenu'lh and value."' 'I'he 

 quantity of lime used in prepann<; a compost of 

 this kind may be used in the ratio of one part of 

 lime to ten of the other substances, ai>d sixteen 

 bushels of common ashes will be an equivalent 

 for one cask of lime. In this way, one ton of 

 solid barn yard manure will make four tons of 

 compost, and every thing that has been once pan 

 of a vegetable or aninial substance i-an be con 

 verted into corn, jrrass or roots. 



Dr. Coventry of E(lirilinrj;b estimates that the 

 straw of an ordin.-iry acre of "rain, computed at 

 one ton, may be converted by the liquids of the 

 stable or cattle yards into three and a half tons of 

 manure, one half of some earth being properly 

 coird(ined with the straw to constitute this kind 

 of compost. Your own information atvd es|>erj- 

 ence on this snhject niirst iiave convinced you 

 that the nianiiliicture of the conmion and ordina- 

 ry (luantity of barn yard manure Irom the stock 

 farmers are now abie to keep will not be siiffi- 



that compost manures applied to any sail i«i the 

 hill or spread broadcast and plonched in, or used 

 as a top-dressing upon irni-ss, in quantities quad- 

 ruplinsrthe ordinary su[iply of yard iiwuinre, will 

 furnish the sure and successful means of reform- 

 ing our husliandry. Lord Mcadowbank of 

 Scotland, who first called the aUentiori of the 

 public lo this subject of composts, say .s " that in 

 every diversity of soil it h:is i;iven returns in no 

 wise interior to the best yard manure, and l)eing 

 applied in the same cpianiity, it is equal if not 

 preferable in its effects for tiie fii-st lliree years, 

 and decidedly superior afterwards." An able 

 wi iter in l\lass;iclinsitis who becomes ipiite en- 

 thusi.rslic OH this topic, remarks that "the qilan- 



nf thai State is sntlicicni to icmlc-r all her barren 

 hills as fertile as the I'r.iirics of tlie West ; and 

 that now the only (liliiinliy uas to persuade 

 farmers to prepare it and apply it to iheir soils." 



It is one of the characteristics of the yaiikee, 

 before be will embrace any new theory, or adopt 

 any new practice, to ask ymi to ■Cfiiw.inct; him 

 that it will give him more snhstanrial profit than 

 the old one. Our request is lo all wtio doubt or 

 hesitate to practice the new Imsbaiidry in rela- 

 tion to compost manures, that they would in goorl 

 fiiith try the systein according to tlieir abilily thv 

 the space of two years: if then Iheir judgments 

 be not convinced, if the lights that have well 

 "guided others, (irove hut a phantom lo lure and 

 deceive" all this time, then I s.iy, it will be soon 

 enough to reject the practice and resort to old 

 expedients again. Try this process of manuring 

 as Arthur Young did his fifty years ago. I speak 

 of a man who breathed into British" husbandry 

 the breath of life. He planted his potatoes upon 

 six equal plats of ground — three of which were 

 manured, and three were not, each plat having 

 the same natural advantages and the same culli- 

 vation. The manure land produced 472 bushels, 

 yielding a net profit of $100. The ;liree ad- 

 joining produced 1.32 bushels, yielding a net 

 profit of $2. How many farmers liave ha<l 

 similar rewards from similar experiments? 



But, to pursue the subject a little further, there 

 are other classes in our conunimity, who can en- 

 rich themselves and the farmer too by a little at- 

 tention to this subject. All animal substances 

 constitute by decomposition most powerfid ma- 

 nures. They are rich in ammonia, and all the 

 salts essential to siqiport the vesetable organs. 

 They furnish the albumen and gluten, that the 

 wheat kernel must have. Now every tanner can 

 raise up a compost heap, that will make the car- 

 den or the wheat field smile with gladness', by 

 the use of the flesh, the hair, the skin, the horn 

 combined with the lime, the animal or other 

 juices of his yard that now hut manure the at- 

 mosphere around him, or are swept off" In the 



swift stream that usually floats by him. Let the 

 tanner then study this new source of profit. 

 Bones too are found the richest material of all 

 manures. Ground to a dust they are now used 

 very -extensively as a manure. About §800,000 

 worth are annually imported into Great Britain 

 for this purpose. Writers of intelligence in 

 coimtry have estimated that this tliere adds to 

 tfie annual product iriore than sixteen millioi 

 bushels of grain. It is a historical reminiscence 

 not WTlhoiit its lesson that the bones of the horse 

 and the rider l-lmt lie bleaching upon the plains 

 of Waterloo were gathered together some uioi 

 afler the great battle and brought into Eiigli 

 to enrich her wheat fields. Belgitmi may h 

 her field of glory, but English cupidity grasps the 

 profits of "andiition's bloody fray." The wool- 

 en mannfactmer must also contribute bis stock 

 to this great firm. The refuse of the wool and 

 woolen rags and other substances used at woolen 

 manufactories contain an oil which render tl 

 excellent manin'e.s. The paper manufacturer 

 fi-ouL the .salts of his bleacheries and the offal of 

 his rags can furinsh a good material. And in 

 this belialf, we find none giving more pronqit 

 and liberal payment to all reasonable demaiule of 

 the husbandman than Dr. Franklin's geutlei: 

 The borsejockey too, who has brought his old 

 steed to Ihs final account, instead of casting him 

 into the mill potKl or river, or dragi'ing him out. 

 as food for the crow, or wild lex, sliould lay him 

 down in some sequestered nook, and throw 

 around him a whole monimient of earth and 

 scribe on it the words of my Lord Meadowbauk 

 "That a carcass of a dead horse has been happily 

 employed in decomposing twenty tons of peat 

 earth and transforming it into the most variable 

 maimre." I fear you will say I bat my Lord M 

 must iiave inherited something beside the knowl- 

 edge of making manure from the liimous Barony 

 of Manchau.sen. 



But again, after all our industry jmd economy 

 in amassing tnanures, there still will be portions 

 of many of our farms lying waste for the lack 

 thereof They may be too far from the owner, 

 too inaccessible by reason of water, or high hills, 

 or some otiter cause. Judge Buel remarks, that 

 as a general rule it will not be profitable to haul 

 manures over two niile.«, because we can adopt 

 still another system of renovation — we allude lo 

 the prai'tice of turning in green crops. Some- 

 times the farmer when his lands have beeti im- 

 poverished by cro[ipiiig without manuring, will 

 let them lie a few years at rest. They thus ac- 

 quire such a degree of ti-itility as to bear a crop 

 of some sort that rewards his toil. If this ha[)- 

 pen lo unseeded huid, thrown out as waste, bow 

 much sooner may it be recovered, when sown 

 with hnck« heat, oats, rye or clover, and the <'iop 

 svhen ill full blosiiom turned in? If the first 

 product be small, let the land be again sown, and 

 the second crop ploughed in. A judicious farm- 

 er rcconiniends this course: Sow a crop of oats 

 and plough ihcin in: then sow clover seed. The 

 next spring plough in clover, and having rolled it 

 <lown, plant directly upon the furrows with |K>ta- 

 toes or corn. The -suHace then should be tilleil 

 witii the cultivator or hoe, so as not to disturb 

 the sod. A litlle alkali from the use of lime or 

 aslies will not disturb the harmony of this sys- 

 tem. 



A Mr. Dackett of England efFectually renova- 

 ted a sandy farm by this system. An intelligent 

 farmer of tlie state of Delaware writes that lie 

 boiiL'lit a liuin remarkable for its gejieral poverty 

 of soil and succeeded in bringing it to fertility in 

 this way cheaper thati he could by any other plan. 

 This experiment has been extensively tested in 

 many parts of New England — very successfiilly 

 by one gentleman at least in this country, and it 

 is a system of cultivation found equally adapted 

 to clayey, as well as sandy soils. 



We have already slightly allude<l to the prac- 

 tical benefits arising from the admixture of soils. 

 In relation to the use of clay on sandy soils, 

 Judge Buel recommends that it be scattered 

 broadcast on the soil in tlie fall exposed to the 

 atmos|iheric frosts, snows and thaws of the win- 

 ter, harrowed over and ploughed in with other 

 manures in the spring. Dr. Jackson, our learn- 

 ed State geologist, .suggests the propriety of burn- 

 ing clays for a manure. This practice has lately 

 been revived and prosecuted to a considerable 

 extent in England, and in such a manner as to 

 preclude all doubt of its efficacy. On stiff clay- 



ey soils it b IS in the iirnclice of many fanners 

 superseded the use of lime, li is (oumj that clay 

 so burnt as to reduce it to the consistency of 

 ashes, will not again when wet witli rains, recov- 

 er its original texture of a close compact sub- 

 stance. It will not be too tenacious of water, 

 nor will it when dry become too hard for the 

 roots freely to |ienetrate. 



The method of burning is by means of a 

 smotliered fire, as we burn a coal pit. The clay 

 is piled in difl'ereiit strata, located at a proper dis- 

 tance lor ihe iipcinlidn of wood and fire, by the 

 a.~Msiaiu'c i>l' a llw liiick suitably arched, then 

 coveieil «itli caiih ;iiiil tin!' and' burned. Dr. 

 Cartw right says, he used six hundred of brick in 

 preparing a pit of eighty-five cart-loads, and that 

 it cost him about five tlollars to burn it, and that 

 it was worth as much as yanl manure on any 

 soil. Many of onr liirmeis are beginning to 

 searcli lijr hitherto Ijidden ircasmes in their nu- 

 merous clay banks; and we donlit not from their 

 fertile ashes, there will spring out before us a 

 more beautiful and profitable Phoenix than the 

 one we have recently found at Charlestown, Mas- 

 sachusetts. 



We have now in a very brief and discursive 

 manner sketched a limited outline of some of the 

 means to be resorteil to in order to recruit our 

 New Hampshire soils. Your own good sense, 

 seasoned by close oliscrvatioii and the study of 

 our good writers on this interesting subject, will 

 enable you to fill up the picture. You find I have 

 considered manure of some kind as the suic qua 

 non of all gooil husbandry, as the liird that brings 

 to the flirmer the golden egg, .iiid uhose life is 

 therefore not to be taken with inipunily. It lies 

 at the foundation of our productive labor. It is 

 the secret power which has raised Flemish and 

 English and Scottish soils, originally no better 

 than onr own, to tliat high and palmy state of 

 fertility as to enable them annually to produce 

 their twenty-six, thirty, yea forty husliels of wheat 

 to the acre, while New England scarcely yet av- 

 erages her fifteen bushels, and the whole United 

 States but little exceeiling twenty bushels to the 

 acre according to the agricultural returns of 

 18;!9. 



From our railroad facilities we now find our- 

 selves the near neighbors of the great West, 

 bringing daily their rich products to our very 

 dooi-s. We must meet our new brethren in our 

 old market as powerful competitors, as generous 

 rivals. To meet this emergency we must |)Ut 

 forth our whole strength, draw upon all our le- 



and skill and cnKipiize never did yet in the hour 

 of trial sni cinuli, or yield the prize. Our new 

 position as well. us the uu-sellled state of our cur- 

 rency may require of us some sacrifices, and em- 

 barrassment may demand of us the study of 

 close economy, may ask us for a time to eat the 

 bread of carefnhiess, yet under the smiles of a 

 lienignant Providence, we trust the day is far oflf 

 when our enlightened, well directed industry 

 shall not receive Its kind rewards. Take courage 

 then. Be not luggers in the swift and steady 

 march of improvement. Struggle manfully to 

 win the race. Speed the plough and shuttle with 

 your whole skill and strength. Give your hard 

 soils, already as strong as granite can make them, 

 more strength. Bring out of them in abundance 

 those rich elements tliat give to individuals, and 

 to nations their substantial comforts anil real 

 greatness. Study your relative and already ex- 

 alted stations in .society, and raise still higher the 

 standard of excellence of the New Hampshire 

 tanner. Insist on the influence always due lo 

 sound heads and virtuous hearts and the bright 

 example of liberal hands. Give a generous cul- 

 ture to your minds as well as to your soils. Then 

 may we ."ay with a verity, that soon our waste 

 places will smile — the hills rejoice, and the wil- 

 derness blossom like the rose. 



There are those to whom a sense of religion 

 has come in storm and tempest; there are those 

 whom it has summoned amid scenes of revelry 

 and idle vanity; there are those, too, who have 



eard "its still small voice" amid rural leisure 

 and placid retirement. But perhaps the knowl- 

 edge that causeth not to err is most frequently 



tnpressed upon the mind during the season of 

 affliction, and tears are the softened showers 

 which cause tlie seed of heaven to spring and 

 lake root in the human heart. — Halter Scott. 



