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Vol. 9. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. — JUNE, 1848. 



No. 6. 



THE GESTESEE PARBIER: 



Issued on the , first of ench month, at Rochester, N. F., by 

 D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. 



DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. 



p. BARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. 



FIFTV CENTS A YEAR: 

 Five copies for ^"2. and any larger number at the same rate 

 ;f directej to individuals. Light copies for $3. if only directed 

 to one person — and iiny larger number, addressed in like man- 

 ner, at the same rate. All subscriptions payable in advance, 

 and to coramevico with the volume. {)r?=- iJack numbers sup- 

 plied to new subscribers. 



[Editorial Correspondence of the Genesee Farmer.] 



IIow shall the Soli b3 Improved? 



Under the above heading an Albany corres- 

 pondent of the American Agriculturist, writing 

 over tlie signature of "P." criticises our '-The- 

 ory of Agriculture" at some length, and par- 

 ticularly oiijects to our remark "that, if the far- 

 mer will only restore all the e.nrthy part of each 

 harvest to the field whence it was taken, he may 

 grow any crop year after year without injury to 

 the soil." 



The study of agriculture as a science is con- 

 fessedly in its infancy ; and seeking as we do at 

 all times fur light, and trutk in all matters that 

 pertain to the impruve-nent of the soil and its 

 cultivators, it becomes us to e.xamine this subject 

 with great care. "P." remarks: "In regard 

 to susiaining or restoring fertility by the appli- 

 cation of inorganic manures (ashes) only, 1 

 Nvish to inquire whether the plan has been prac- 

 tically demonstrated ? Since the tlieory was 

 first broached several seasons have passed, during 

 which it might have been brought to the test ot 

 experiment. But do we hear of soils totalhj 

 destitute of organic matter having been brought 

 to fertility by the application of ashes manure, 

 or inorganic substances i.nly V' 



We never said nor intimated, that there are 

 *' soils totally destitute of organic matter" any 

 where, nor, in case such a spot of naked, min- 

 eral earth should be f )und, the inorganic ele- 

 ments of crops would al >ne suffice to make them 

 grow and llourish therein. " P." misappre- 

 hends our vie>-.'s, and misconstrues our language. 

 in 3 recent article published in this journal on 

 " The Food of Plants," we said : " 100 pounds of 

 gypsum often add 2,000 pounds of clover hay 

 to an acre ; and could you fairly estimate the 

 increase of clover roots, and all below where 

 Iho scythe clips, the net giin would be 8,000 

 pounds." Here, according to our "theory," 

 one third of all the organic matter in clover 

 plants is left on and in the soil, at the harvest. 



Considering ttie very small amount of organic 

 matter in a clover seed, our opinion is that, on 

 poor soils, such as the farmer would naturally 

 wish to improve, the roots of clover and of most 

 other plants, leave more organized carbon, o.xy- 

 gen, hydrogen and nitrogen in, and on the earth, 

 than is consumed in organizing the crop. If 

 this were not the case, prairies which have 

 been annually burnt over for one or two centu- 

 ries would certainly lose all their mould, (organic 

 matter,) for that portion of it transferred into 

 the stems and leaves of grass and other plants 

 and every year discharged into the atmosphere 

 by fire, could not get back into mould again. 



If the stubble and roots of wheat left at the 

 harvest supply as much material for making new 

 mould as the crop consumed, (as we have reason 

 to believe they will,) then the restoration to the 

 soil of all the earthy elements contained in that 

 portion of the plants taken out of the field in 

 straw and grain, will balance the account. Let 

 us suppose that all of the straw, chafi" and wheat 

 taken from an acre is eaten by adult horses, 

 which neither gain nor lose in weight while con- 

 suming, and voiding, in dung and urine, this 

 food ; and that all of their excretions is evenly 

 spread over the acre where the crop grew. In 

 that case, not one half of the organic matter re- 

 moved in the crop would be restored in the ma- 

 nure ; and we respectfully a.sk the practical far- 

 mer to study this important matter. Not far 

 from one half of the solid substance of wheat 

 straw, and wheat, will make cnal, if carefully 

 burned like wood in a coal pit, with atmospheric 

 air nearly excluded. Tins coal chemists call 

 carbon. Now, whilst the horses were consunnng 

 the wheat and straw taken from the acre of land, 

 every body knows that thsy will breathe both 

 night and day every minute, and that the air 

 expelled from their lungs is unlike the air that 

 enters them. Among other thing-!, the expelled 

 air contains on*? hundred times more carbon (in 

 the form of carbonic acid) than it did when it 

 entered the lungs. M. Boussingaui.t f jund tiiat 

 a horse while eating 17 lbs. 4 oz. of hay, and 

 .') lbs. 2 oz. of oats, daily consumed in such food 

 10 lbs. 6 oz. of carbon. Of the latter element, 

 ill his dung and urine gave, from the above food, 

 only 3 lbs. 11 oz. 7 dwt. — tioo-thirds or there- 

 abouts of the c^irbon taken into the stomach, 

 having passed out of the system through the 

 wind pipe, by ceaseless respiration. Organized 

 liydrogen and oxygen in grass, hay and grain 

 pass out of thelung.s, after the food has been de- 

 composed, in the sliape of vapor, wiiich is often 

 visible when horses are driven hard in a cold 



