1853.. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



^3 



"Innoculating is the operation of transferring 

 any desirable variety of tree upon the stock of an 

 inferior or wild variety. The operation is princi- 

 pally practised on small trees, and only durinp; 

 the time the sap flows freely, and chiefly during 

 the months of August and September. Select for 

 the buds the ripest young tvrigs of the present 

 year, and cut off" the leaves, leaving the footstalk 

 entire. Having selected a smooth place in the 

 stocli, make a perpendicular slit downward, quite 

 through the bark, an inch or a little more in length. 

 Make a cross cut at the top of this slit quite 

 through to the wood, a little slanting downward ; 

 nest with theivory haft of the budding knife-, raise 

 the bark on both sides from top to bottom, being 

 very careful not to injure in the least the cambium 

 or sap wood. Next and with expedition proceed 

 to take oiF a bud ; this is effected by entering the 

 knife a little more than half an inch below the bud 

 or eye, quite through the bark, and separating the 

 bark from the wood to the same distance above the 

 eye, always leaving a very thin slip of wood of about 

 one-third of the length of th« bud, this thin slip 

 of wood occupies the middle section of its length. 

 The bud is to be inserted in the stock to the bot- 

 tom of the slit, and between the bark and wood : 

 and the top of the bud being squared even with 

 the cross cut, every part except the eye, is firmly 

 bound and covered with strong wet bass string or 

 matting." 



F-or the New England Farmer. 

 MANURES AGAIN. 



Mr. Editor : — Your very pleasant correspond- 

 ent, B., seems to doubt the correctness of my crit- 

 icism upon his fireside talk. Now, sii", I would 

 not set myself up as an instructor of others, nor 

 ■would I say a word tliat looks like controversy 

 with so courteous a writer, nor would I cavil about 

 words or forms of expression. Perhaps I did not 

 make myself clearly understood. ]My object was 

 to inquire whether the nutriment which vegeta- 

 bles derive from the soil may not, near!)/ all, be re- 

 turned to the soil, as food for future crops, after 

 the vegetables have been used as food for animals. 

 I believe it is generally conceded .that vegetables 

 derive their carbon from the atmosphere, and their 

 oxygen and hjdrogen from water. So that as 

 these elements are not derived from the soil, they 

 need not be taken into the account in this in- 

 quiry. 



But, notwithstanding the apparent Irishism citn- 

 tained in the remark that follows my query, yet I 

 see no reason to doubt the correctness of the gen- 

 eral proposition contained in the query itself, 

 which was — "If the manure, liquid and solid, pro- 

 duced by feeding on the estover of an acre would 

 not return to the ground nearly the value it has 

 given out, of mineral matter!" 



Suppose "the cow'lays in her bone and milk 

 from the lime of the cornstalk?" In the adult 

 animal, do not the excretions go on pari passu, 

 ■with the secretions ? Are not the particles of old 

 bone, muscle, hair, &c., carried off, as fast as new 

 particles are deposited ? At the end of. the year, 

 is there more bone and other tissues than there 

 were at the beginning? After the milk has passed 

 througli the calf, the pig, or the human stomach, 

 does not its lime find its way back to the soil 1 And 

 do not the_bones, hair, wool, muscle, &c., of the 

 c h the same destination at last 1 Have 



not ground woolen rags and bone dust become im- 

 portant articles of commerce because of their value 

 as fertilizers? 



As to the loss of mineral matter by the urine, 

 this will not take place to any great extent — when 

 the stable has a proper cellar furnished with suit- 

 able materials for absorliing this excrement. Nor 

 will there be much loss even in the yard, when 

 this IS properly provided with soil and cfirhonaoeous 

 matters designed to absorb it. Evaporation is 

 supposed to leave the mineral matter moEtly be- 

 hind. So that the loss of mineral matter.^ except 

 the small amount of potash and soda can-icil off in 

 the perspiration, really amounts to very little, and 

 e^'en the potash and soda of the perspiration most- 

 ly dries upon the skin and hair, and is rul)bed off 

 by the Ciird and brush. But it seems B. did not 

 say "mineral matters," but "fertilizing raatter," 

 a-od he refers to the carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and 

 nitrogen contained in the cornstalk. The consti- 

 tuents of vegetables may be divided into three 

 classes, ist. The non-nitrogenous, as woody filjre, 

 sugar, starch, fat, oil, &c. 24, The nitrogenous, 

 as albumen gluten, caseine &c.. And ad. The 

 mineral, as lime, silex, potash, sulphur, &c. Most 

 vegetables contain but a small amount of the 2d 

 class, and what they do cont-ain, is chietly in their 

 seeds. I have never seen a chemical analysis of 

 corn or the corn stalk. But wheat straw contains 

 960 parts of organic matter in a thousand, and 

 only 4 parts of nitrogen. Oat straw contains 970 

 parts of organic matter, and only 3 of nitrogen. 

 Wheat itself contains 20 parts of nitrogenous mat- 

 ter in a hundred. Oats contain 14. If we may 

 judge at all from analogy, we may suppose the 

 corn stalk to consist of woody fibre, sugar, starch, 

 lime, silex, potash, and traces of nitrogen and sul- 

 phur. But woody fibre, sugar and starch consist 

 wholly of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, and may 

 be converted the one into the other, by changing 

 the proportion of their elements. Probably corn- 

 stalks contain some 950 or GO parts in 1000 of or- 

 ganic matter, mostly carbon. But carbon has of 

 itself but little value as a manure. Its chief value 

 is as a retainer of ammonia, for which it has a 

 strong affinity, and as a vehicle by which this, and 

 mineral matters, are conveyed to the roots of 

 plants. 



Some have denied that carbon is ever taken up 

 by the roots of plants. It certainly never is, ex- 

 cept in the form of carbonic acid dissolved in wat- 

 er, and probably in that f )rra only in small quan- 

 tity, except when the roots are stimulated by ni- 

 trogen and mineral substances. The carl)on used 

 in building up the frame work of plants and trees 

 is mostly obtained from the carbonic acid contained 

 in the atmosphere, by means of the leaves. By a 

 curious chemical process in the leaf, the cai'bon is 

 separated from the oxj'gen, and each element is 

 appropriated to the use for which it is wanted. 

 Hydrogen and oxygen are also obtained by the de- 

 composition of water in the leaf, to wliich it is con- 

 veyed from the soil — and hy which it is absorbed 

 along with carbonic acid, from the atmosphere. 

 From all which it results that the chief .value of 

 the corn stalk as a manure, resides in the mineral 

 matter it contains. If B. would enrich his soil, 

 and thus secure a large crop by burying his corn- 

 stalks in the ground, he must, to use another 

 Irishism, bury the corn along with them, and then 

 he will get a tolerable amount of nitrogen— the 



