

I 



and he knows which elements are least abundant in 

 his soil and in the atmosphere, and least available 

 for use. 



Stable manure kept under shelter, gypsum, salt, 

 bones, ashes, and above all, the fertilizers that may be 

 had from the vaults of privies in cities and villages, 

 are rich in the elements of bread, meat, potatoes and 

 cheese. If 100. lbs of dry ^OTid;-e/<e will give 300 lbs. 

 of wheat, why refuse to use this inodorous substance ? 

 Instead of planting five acres to raise 100 bushels of 

 corn, why not try to grow that quantity on two acres 

 or on one and a half? 



Recollect that to waste the liquid excretions of a 

 domestic animal, is to throw away half the value of 

 its food, according to the experience of the best Bel- 

 gian farmers. It is quite impossible to produce cheap 

 food for cattle, horses, sheep and swine, without con- 

 triving to have cheap food for cultivated plants. A 

 horse can live on nothing, or on pure flint sand, quite 

 as long as a common vegetable. Make the econom- 

 ical improvement of land a particular study. It will 

 repay you ten fold for the time so spent, in preventing 

 the unskilful application of farm labor, and the unwise 

 expenditure of money. Draining and liming are far 

 from being as generally practiced as will prove advan- 

 tageous to the soil. 



GYPSUM-rrS ELEMENTS AND VALUE. 



Eds. Gen. Farmer: — In the last Genesee Farmer I 

 was pleased to see a brief notice, in a part of your 

 late Address on Tillage, of the importance of gypsum 

 to the farmer. Having been a subscriber for some 

 time, I have long hoped to see in your paper a full 

 analysis and description of this article. I am 

 annually selling to cultivators of the soil, large quan- 

 tities of Manlius Plaster, and I should esteem it a 

 favor if you would turn your attention to this subject 

 in your next. 



1. — What are its elements as a fertilizer ? 



2. — Is its beneficial action upon the vegetable 

 effected by absorption of mineral fertilizers from the 

 earth, or from atmospheric gases, or both ? 



3. — Is its annual application to the same meadow, 

 pasture or grain, prejudicial to the soil in the way of 

 exhaustion ? 



Your answers, accompanied with such additional 

 remarks as my questions may naturally excite, will 

 not only much oblige a subscriber, but will doubtless 

 be liighly afcceptable to a large portion of your numer- 

 ous patrons. P. J. W. — Fort Plain. .V. Y., Jcin'y, 

 1850. 



Answer to tik above. — Our correspondent and 

 all others are welcome to copy into any paper whatever 

 appears in this journal, only not omitting, as too many 

 do, to give the Genesee Farmer credit for its contri- 

 butions to the agricultural literature and science of the 

 United States. 



tlllESTIO 



fertilizer ?' 



Isl. — " What arc tho elcmenlH of gyp»inn i 



Answer.— Su/p/(i(r and limr. As dug from the 

 earth, 100 pounds of this mineral usually contains 

 some 21 lbs. of water, which can be driven off by 

 burning at a red heat just as the much larger percent, 

 of water in alum may he expelled when placed on a 

 hot shovel, in making burnt nlum. Tiurned gypsum 

 consists of 41 J parts of limo combined chemically 

 with flSJ parts of oil of vitriol, or sulphuric acid. In 

 40 parts of the oil of vitriol there are 16 of sulphur 



and 24 of oxygen. Omitting small fractions, there are 

 in 100 pounds of ground gypsum the following in- 

 gredients ; 



Lime, 33 lbs. 



Oil of Vitriol, 46 '• 



Water 21 ■• 



Total, 



In the oil of vitriol there are not far from 18J lbs. 

 of sulphur. 



QiESTioM 2d. — " Is its beneficial- nfiiun upon vegetable.') 

 eflected by absorption of mineral fertilizers from the e.irth ; 

 or from atmospheric gassos, or both'.'" 



Answer. — A bushel or one or two hundred pounds 

 of this salt of lime spread pretty evenly over an acre, 

 will soon be dissolved in rain or snow water, and can 

 not essentially, if at all, increase the natural capacity 

 of water to absorb common air or any fertilizing gases 

 it may contain from the rotting of vegetables and 

 animals on the surface of the earth. O'vpsum doe.« 

 not, therefore in the opinion of the writer, contribute 

 to the growth of plants from the fertilizers which it 

 draws directly from the air, or from the soil. Ileing 

 sufficiently soluble in water for all useful purposes, 

 it enters directly into the roots of clover and other 

 plants, and supplies their tissues with available sul- 

 phur and lime, from the lack of one or both of which 

 the crop is diminished both in quantity and profit. 

 In most soils it is available sulphur, more than avail- 

 able lime which is wanting; and ground plaster sup- 

 plies this want. In 100 pounds of wool or hair there 

 are five pounds of pure sulphur; which can only come 

 from the grass, hay, and other food of sheep, cattle, 

 and other domestic animals. The flesh and nerves of 

 all animals, from man to the worm, contain sulphur. 

 This comes from their aliment, which is derived pri- 

 marily, from plants and the soil. When gypsimi has 

 enabled young clover, corn, peas, beans, and other 

 plants to extend their roots in all directions, these 

 extended root^ imbibe food of every kind, including 

 sulphur salts as well as phosphates, salt.s of ammonia, 

 kc, which, without the aid of the gypsum, the com- 

 paratively few stunted roots had never reached, nor 

 imbibed. The same law of vegetable development 

 which enables the roots to descend deeper into the 

 earth, and to extend themselves laterally, is equally 

 operative in developing more and larger leaves above 

 ground for the discharge of vapor and gases into the 

 air; and probably, for imbibing aliment through the 

 same organs. In this way, l.^or 20 grains of sul- 

 phate of lime spread over a cubic foot of earth, will 

 enable little clover seeds, or the genus of the pea or 

 bean plant to extract from that earth, more sulphur 

 than the gypsum contained, and more of all else 

 needed to form the plants named, both from the soil 

 and the atmosphere. 



Gypsum is not a "stimulant," for no plant has 

 nerves or muscles, which can be stimulnterl. It is a 

 simple, plain, every-day food, and nothing more. In 

 all well drained, well-tilled land, -ulphur salts need to 

 be often added; because of their solubility and defi- 

 ciency in quantity, in the soil. Form a stagnant 

 swamp, or permit nature to do the same, and it will 

 soon abound in the sulphate of iron, (copperas) in the 

 sulphate of alumina and potash, (alum) in the sul- 

 phate of soda and magnesia, (ep.soni and glauber 

 salts) and in the sulphate of lime, (gypsum.) Drain 

 your swamp well, and away runs all your copperas, 

 alum, glauber and ep-som salt.s, and gypsum. Farm- 

 ers must learn to feed their cultivated plants as they 



