

rpi a 



l\.j.JASJShs> 



Agriculture is the most Healthy and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and TTsefol pursuit of Man, 



VOL. XI. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y.— MAY, 1850. 



NO. 5. 



"ON THE COST OF PROD0CING OOHN.'' 



The above is the heading of an interesting paper in 

 the March number of the Farmers' Magazine, (Lon- 

 don,) whicli discusses a subject of universal moment 

 to all cultivators of the soil. By the term " corn," 

 the American reader is to understand "wheat," 

 although barley, rye, and oats are sometimes inclu- 

 ded, as well as maize and rice — the word " corn" 

 being used in a generic sense. The cost of produ- 

 cing wheat is the subject which we propose to con- 

 sider at this time. 



In looking over the back volumes of the New York 

 State 'Agricultural Society, and of several of the 

 leading agricultural journals of the country, we are 

 unable to find any estimate of the value of the raw 

 material in the soil, which is consumed or wasted in 

 producing twenty bushels of wheat on an acre. Tliis 

 is a remarkable omission, and one which it is difficult 

 to account for in any satisfactory manner. There 

 are scores of estimates of the cost per bushel of 

 growing wheat ; but no one presumes to indicate the 

 value of the fertilizing atoms extracted from the 

 earth to form the crop ; and nothing is allowed for 

 replacing the phosphorus, sulphur, potash, magnesia, 

 soluble flint, carbon, and ammonia, removed from the 

 field in the seeds which are sent to a distant market. 

 Is the supply of phosphorus in the soil unlimited ? 

 If BO, why does it .sell in all cities at from two to 

 three-dollars a pound? It is only obtained in any 

 quantities from the bones of domestic animals ; and 

 they of course derive it from their daily food and the 

 soil. Although carbonate of lime is an abundant 

 mineral, such is not the fact with apatite, or phos- 

 phate of lime. It is true that phosphoric acid is 

 combined with other bases than lime, in both surface 

 and sub-soils, and especially with alumina and iron. 

 We have long believed that one of the most impor- 

 tant functions performed by lime, when applied to 

 wheat bearing lands, is the decomposition of phos- 

 phates of alumina and iron by the alkaline base, 

 which has a strong affinity for the acid named. By 

 this union of phosphoric acid and lime, bone earth is 

 formed, and rendered available to meet the wants of 

 all cultivated plants. But after land has been limed 

 and cultivated for many years, sad e.xperience proves 

 that the supply of phosphoric acid, potash, sulphur, 

 magnesia, chlorine, and ammonia, fails. Hence, in 

 producing wheat, the farmer consumes his capital 

 without an equivalent, unless ho provides for restor- 

 ing to his fields all the elements of the crop, so far 



as nature does not furnish them in inexhaustible 

 quantities. 



The Rev. Mr. Hextablr of England, lately pub- 

 lished a pamphlet, in which he rashly assumed that 

 ordinary wheat lands in that country will bear the 

 loss o-f sixteen bushels of wheat a year per acre, 

 without deterioration. This assertion is shown to 

 be untrue, unless it be in peculiar localities. There 

 are some marine deposits so rich in phosphates, sul- 

 phates, and chlorides of lime, potash, soda, and mag- 

 nesia, as to bear severe cropping forages, with little 

 or no detriment. So, too, where the waters of rivers 

 like the Nile can be made to irrigate large districts, 

 they, as in portions of Egypt, may export the fruits 

 of two thousand harvests, and still retain their virgin 

 fertility. But these well marked exceptions only 

 prove with increased certainty the soundness of the 

 principle, that common soils can endure no such 

 treatment. If they will not yield sixteen bushels of 

 wheat a year, without impoverisliment, what number 

 can they produce ? This is a question of the highest 

 importance, not merely to farmers, but to every human 

 being in America, who depends on the fruitfulness 

 of its soil for the means of subsistence. 



There is but a small part of the area of the United 

 States that can spare twenty bushels of wheat per 

 acre every third year, and keep good the supply of 

 raw material for making this crop, by extracting the 

 same from the sub-soil and the atmosphere. There 

 is reason to believe that some choice wheat lands 

 will do this for centuries, simply returning the straw, 

 but none of the grain. But such soils must abound 

 in lime, gypsum, and bone earth ; in potash, common 

 salt, and magnesia ; and clover, peas, or some simi- 

 lar renovating crop, to form a mold rich in organic 

 nitrogen, must also be grown in rotation with wheat. 



Both the art and the science of wheat culture are 

 in tlieir infancy. Although all the experiments in 

 growing wheat after wheat in England have failed, 

 and mainly because land became exceedingly foul 

 with weeds, yet we believe that means will be found 

 to obviate this impediment ; and the manufacture of 

 wheat in the same workshop, year in and year out, 

 will be fomid both practicable and profitable. Weeds 

 do not grow without seeds, and the vitality of these 

 may be destroyed. 



Before wheat can be grown for many years in 

 succession on the same land, the crop, including 

 grain and straw, must be consumed so near, that all 

 the essential elements of both may be economically 

 restored to the earth whence they were taken. It is 



