418 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



we have ever seen, and may be examined at the 

 stable of the proprietor, near the depot in Concord 



For the New England Farmer. 



ANALYZING SOILS— FARMING SCI- 

 ENCE, &C. 



Mr. Editor: — At the present day much is writ- 

 ten and said about analyzing soils on the farm. 

 Some contend that each l)arren field should have 

 its soil analyzed, and then what ingredients are 

 wanting to make it productive might be easily add- 

 ed in the shape of "special manures," and then, 

 as each field could be gone over with, the whole 

 farm would be renovated. While others say that 

 an analysis of soil is very well in its way, and is 

 important, yet no cultivator must expect that 

 from a simple analysis he can go forward and make 

 his barren fields at once highly productive by add- 

 ing a few mineral manures. This latter doct;-ine 

 looks much the most reasonable of the two to any 

 candid, well-meaning, practical cultivator. This 

 bringing upa ''barren field" to a high or good 

 state of cultivation in a few weeks, in the way we 

 have named, is but a humbug, and it is just as 

 well to say so in the first place, as to mince 7nat- 

 ters about it hereafter. All real, substantial farm 

 improvements are brought about gradually, from 

 year to year ; although it is not necessary, always, 

 that a farmer should be a certain number of years 

 in renovating a barren field. Of course much of 

 this vrill .depend on the means, skill and manner 

 in which the farmer manages to bring about the 

 improvement. But the only sure way to have 

 these improvements tliorough is for the farmer to 

 spend a short life in practical labor on the farm, 

 in connexion with a large share of patience, per- 

 severance, cares, troubles and disappointments 

 from all quarters ; if he can live above all these, 

 and still keep his eye on the main chance, im- 

 provement, all will come out right in the end. — 

 But we have plenty of "agricultural chemists" 

 now, who tell us that the best way to improve our 

 worn-out lands is, to send them a specimen of soil 

 for analysis, and they will sell us a special ma- 

 nure which will restore it, and that, too, at a 

 much_ cheaper rate than by the ordinary way of 

 farm improvements. 



But there seems to be a clashing of ideas among 

 the "chemical manure operators" themselves in 

 this business. Hence we see one of these men 

 advertises the "Superphosphate of Lime," as man- 

 ufactured by him, to be a great fertilzer. Reading 

 on still further down the column, we find another 

 advertisement headed the "Improved Superphos- 

 phate of Lime," which is manufactured by the 

 subscriber at so much per hundred or ton, war- 

 ranted a pure and good article, &c. We have no 

 doubt but this is a very good special manure, if 

 well made. So is Guano, Poudrette, Gypsum, 

 Bone-dust, and many other kinds of these ma- 

 nures. But when the manufacturers of these pa- 

 tent tnanures tell the farmers that for ordinary 

 farming purposes they are cheaper and better than 

 barn-yard manure, they are telling that of which 

 there is no truth in, to say the least of it. 



While on this point, we cannot do better than 

 to give an extract from the late Prof. Norton's ad- 

 dress before the New York State Society, in 1848. 



"Jt will have been noticed, perhaps, that I have 

 during all my remarks spoken of inorganic and or- 



ganic manures as alike necessary ; this may have 

 seemed strange to those who have seen many of 

 the views now entertained by others on these 

 points. No agricultural questions have been more 

 vexed. At first we were required by a high au- 

 thority to fasten our faith upon 'ammonia' alone ; 

 if we succeeded in adding that to the soil, the 

 work was nearly all done. Within the last two 

 or three years, however, a wonderful change has 

 occurred; the same high authority assures us that 

 all our trouble in trying to catch ammonia, our 

 precautions to prevent its escape have been, per- 

 haps, not exactly useless, but rather unnecssary, 

 for inorganic manures are what we want ; ammo- 

 nia is very good, but there is an abundance of it 

 in the soil already. The ammonia theory was very 

 beautiful, and was received with great eagerness, ' 

 but by the time that the mineral manure theory 

 appeared, many had tired of nothing but mineral, 

 others were disappointed in their expectations of 

 success through its use, and all of these turned 

 naturally to the new light. In England, specific 

 mineral manures were patented, which were to 

 work wonders under all circumstances. There 

 was a manure for wheat, one for oats, one for tur- 

 nips, and so on, all infallible. It is just to say 

 that there is no doubt but many of these extrava- 

 gancies were put forth by interested parties in 

 England, witliout the knowledge of the inventor. 

 Tliose who have pieserved the English agricultu- 

 ral papers during the last few years, cannot have 

 failed to perceive how general has been the disap- 

 pointment in the use of these manures, and how 

 much harm has resulted to the cause of rational 

 improvement." 



Without doubt Prof. Norton had particular re- 

 ference to the great German chemist, Liebig, who 

 was, we beheve, the great author and leader of 

 the ammonia theory, as he is now of the special 

 manure theory. 



After reading such language, from the source 

 whence it comes, we ask every candid, thinking 

 man or farmer to judge for himself, and see how 

 far it will do to trust these special manures to do 

 up the work of farm improvement. On the point 

 of the analysis of soils. Prof. Norton is equally ex- 

 plicit. In fact, we have no confidence ourselves 

 in farmers turning chemists, or that they can learn 

 to analyze a soil in three or four weeks' practice, 

 nor any thing like it. The analyzing of soils is a 

 nice business, which belongs strictly to the labo- 

 ratory, to the student and practical chemist, of 

 which a two years' course of study and practice is 

 a short time enough for the most quick and expert 

 scholar to make a good and thorough analysis. — 

 And if an analysis is not a thorough and correct 

 one, what is it good for, only to lead the farmer 

 further in the dark. In Prof. Norton's "Elements 

 of Scientific Agriculture and Scientific Farming," 

 in the chapter on Chemical Analyses, he says : 



"Among all of the subjects that have been pre^ 

 sented to the consideration of fiirmcrs, since the 

 work of agricultural improvement commenced, 

 none has been less understood even by many of 

 those who have pretended to be its expounders, 

 than that of analytical chemistry as applied to 

 agriculture. Many authors and speakers have la- 

 bored to establish it as a fact that there is no diffi- 

 culty in chemical investigations beyond what may 

 be overcome by a few days of study ; thus a large 

 portion of the farming community have been led 



