322 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



An old, wormy garden was spread over with a Of the different modes of applying day we 

 heavy coat of coal dust a few years since. The Lather prefer that of hauling it on to t°he land in 

 worms have died, or ceased their depredatbns, it Lr, , , i ^ ..u c l ^ . , 



matters not which, since beets, radishes and onions 1*^' autumn,^ spread, and let the frost do its work 

 now grow, fit to be seen before they are eaten. "P*^'^ '^ ^^ winter. 



As a dressing lor young trees, coal-dust has 

 proved valuable. It cljocks, rather than cherishes, ^<"" "** ^^"' England Farmer. 



that bore of horticulturists— the borer. Of about MANURES—THEIR NATURE AND CON- 

 thirty trees around which it was placed, hardly STITUENT PRINCIPLES. 



one has been injured ; while of about the same 

 number in a contiguous field, around which ma- 



A manure may be defined to be any fertilizing 



nures from the barn were spread, nearly all bear compound or simple ingredient added to a soil of 

 u •' which it IS naturally deficient ; and as all c 



the marks of the hidden worker. 



I simply state the results, and leave it for others 

 to shed the light of science on this dark subject. 



Chester, N. H., May 25, 1853. m. 



Remarks. — The results which our correspond- 

 ent states, ought to lead others to copy his exam- 

 ple in the use of coal hearths. We hope to hear 

 from him often. 



cultiva- 

 ted lands should contain the earths, silica, carbon- 

 ate of lime, clay, magnesia, decomposing organic 

 matter, and certain saline substances, it is evident 

 that in cases where any one of these is contained 

 in the land in insufficient quantities for the supply 

 of vegetables, then the addition of that substance, 

 either in its simple or compoand form, constitutes 

 the great art of manuring. Fertilizers, therefore, 

 naturally divide themselves into three classes. 

 First, the earthy, which is by far the most per- 

 OOMPOSTING manent portions of a soil, and are usually applied 



. „ ' in the largest proportions. 



A trOOD Compost for Sandy Land.— Take 10 Second, the organic, vegetable and animal, which 

 loads ot stable or barnyard manure, 5 loads of day, are the least permanent, and are used in much 

 M bushels of ashes, and twenty bushds of lime ; smaller quantities than the earthy, and, 

 mix the whole well together, and let it remain in Third, the saline, which are the most sparingly 

 pile a few weeks ; then turn it over, and it will be used of all fertilizers, are the most readily absorbed 

 fat to apply to the land. by plants, and whose period of duration in the 



1 he above will make a better dressing for an soil are longer than the organic, but less than the 

 acre of land than twenty-five loads of stable or 'earth v. 

 barn-yard manure alone, and will last longer 



American Farmer 



In all composts intended for light, sandy soils, 

 clay is one of the most valuable ingredients that 

 can possibly be used. One reason why sandy 

 lands are so little capable of vegetable production, 

 is their want of adhesiveness. It is almost impos- 

 sible to consolidate them sufficiently to secure that 

 degree of retention so essentially and indispensa- 

 bly necessary to the decomposition of those organic 

 matters which are applied in the course of cultiva- 

 tion as manure. 



The quantity of day required to change the con 



earthy. 



A manure is either useful to vegetation by af- 

 fording in a simple or a decomposed state, direct 

 food or constituents of food, or else it is a fertili- 

 zer, by giving to the soil additional powers to ab- 

 sorb and retain atmospheric gases and moisture. 

 I shall be able to explain hereafter that most ma- 

 nures applied to land assist in the growth of plants 

 in both ways. Looking at the question abstractly, 

 it must be evident that as animals receive almost 

 the whole of their nutriment, either directly or in- 

 directly, from the vegetable kingdom, their excre- 

 ment or their decomposing bodies returning to 

 the soil, must form the best manures. With re- 

 gard to some- inorganic substances, clay of the 

 earthy manures, and some of the saline fertilizers. 



stitutional texture of such lands, is necessarily ^^^ P^.'^^^P-'i^lj^y *h«i^. absorption and retention 



^. , .,, . T i.- c L , I of moisture, trvnsum and sihca, it is true, enter 



great ; yet with copious applications of putrescent j^^^ ^j^^ composition of the grasses, and in minute 

 substances, and the regular and systematic mani- " " - - - ... 



pulations of judicious husbandry, the task of sup- 

 plying as much as may be necessary effectually to 

 ameliorate and permanently to improve the tex- 

 ture and productive capacity is by no means te- 

 dious. 

 There are few farmers who could not devote 



proportions other salts do the same, but if we ex- 

 eept the phosphate of lime, (the earthy parts of 

 bones) none of the salts can be considered to be a 

 very general direct food for plants. Davy very 

 clearly explains the desirable objects in the fertil- 

 izing of soils : he says that the plants growing in 

 a soil incapable of supplying them with sufficient 

 manure or dead organized matter, are generally 



three or four days in the year,with their teams, to i very low, having brown or dark green leaves, and 

 carting on day from the low grounds, or to accu- ^^^eir woody fibre abounds in earth. Those vege- 



,r..iiof;,,,,u ;,, fi.«;,. „„ ^ ii i. ^ u xi itating on peatv soils, he says, or on land too co- 

 muiattng it m their yards and hog-styes, to be then! -7 ^ v i -J • \ * ii t.^ 



,° J -^ ,.,'?''.'. „ piously supplied with animal or vegetalue matter, 



worked up and composted with the voidings of the'^apidly expand, produce large, bright green leaves, 



animals and other materials capable of imparting 'abound in sap and generally blossom prematurely. 



fertility to their lands. Excess of poverty or riches, is equally fatal to the 



The more day one can afford on such improve- h^P^s of the farmer, and the true constitution of 



ments, the better ; for there is little danger, in any*''^ T^' ^T *-'^ ^'!f '"'"''P-^' '' *^^^ '" '''''''''' *^^ 

 ~ r- i 1 o 1 11 T earthy materials, the moisture and manure, are 



case, of applying too much. Sand on day lands, p.^.p/^i^ assodated, and in which the decomposing 

 IS equally beneficial, and perhaps, in most cases, vegetable or animal matter does not exceed one- 

 even more so. 'fourth of the weight of the earthy constituents. 



