156 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



July 



1^ 



expected 1 Not to Iry to escape the infliction, is 

 treating one's enemies with unmanly forbearance, 

 anil evinces a belief in fatalism worthy a disciple of 

 Maliomed. 



HI. — ANALYSIS OF SOILS, MARLS, AND FERTILIZERS. 



Something sliould be done in reference to the anal- 

 ysis of soils, fertilizers, marls, and other minerals, 

 constantly sent to the Patent Office for that pnrpose. 

 For many years chemists and pliilosophers have been 

 investigating the affinities and other peculiarities of 

 " molecules," or ultimate indivisible particles of mat- 

 ter. These scientific researches have revealed many 

 important truths and natural laws, which have a 

 direct bearing on all the economical purposes of agri- 

 culture. Some pains should be taken to impart a 

 knowledge of these laws to all practical farmers. 

 When we consider how little opportunity the mass 

 of agriculturists have to study the chemical composi- 

 tion of their soils and crops, it will readily be seen 

 that information of this kind is greatly needed in all 

 operations which aim to feed cultivated plants with 

 their appropriate aliment. 



Professor Henry, the distinguished Secretary of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, has authorized me to say 

 that the e.Ntensive chemical apparatus and excellent 

 laboratory of the institution will be at the service of 

 any reputable chemist, to make investigations for the 

 increase and diffusion of knowledge in this brancli 

 of science. 



I have compiled for this report about one hundred 

 analyses, embracing most of the cereals, several 

 grasses, clovers, legumes, roots, cotton, tobacco, flax, 

 and the ash of fruit and forest trees, from the latest 

 European and American authorities. These analyses 

 will be found valuable for reference. 



An elaborate paper on the "Study of Soils," giv- 

 ing the chemical composition of their parent rocks, 

 the amount of the elements of cro])s in a cubic foot 

 of earth available as food for [ilanls, together v/ith 

 researches Into the annual production and consump- 

 tion of mold, the variini',Mi of the temperature and 

 hygromotric pro|iertics of soils, has been deferred, to 

 keep this document within a moderate size. For a 

 similar reason, no space has been allowed for mere 

 gvessesat the quantity ofgraiu and other crops grown 

 in the year 1849. 



IV. — THK I'RKSKKVATION OF FROVISIo:«S. 



The science of preserving meat, lard, butter, cheese, 

 and other animal as well as vegetable substances 

 used as food for man, lias received very little atten- 

 tion in this country. This neglect causes a loss of 

 many millions every year. To say notliing of the 

 bad taste of eating so mucli frowy and rancid butter 

 at home, full one-half of all that is sent to England 

 and other foreign countries is sold at half the price 

 of sweet butter, by reason of the defective manner in 

 which It is manufactured and put up for market. 

 American farmers have great advantages for the 

 economical production of beef and pork, mutton and 

 wool ; and it will render them a valuable service to 

 obtain from Europe correct information of all discov- 

 eries and improvements, either in the growing and 

 feeding of domestic animals or In the curing of pro- 

 visions. 



V. — IMPROVBMF.NT OF DOMKSTIC AIIIMALS. 



Few are aware how susceptible of Improvement Is 

 the living machinery which elaborates milk for nearly 

 every family in the Union. There is a reliable 



account in this report, of a dairy of forty-one cows 

 kept in the State of New York, which yields $02 in 

 butter, cheese, and milk, as the product'of each cow 

 a year. From the returns of the last State census, 

 it is safe to say that 1,100,000 cows are now milked 

 in that State, vvhich are supposed to yield about §20 

 per head. To Improve these up to an average annual 

 product of $31 each, (that is, to one-half what the 

 best large dairies in the country now yield,) would 

 add $12,100,000 to the income' of the citizens of a 

 single State. This gain by the improvement of.one 

 kind of rural machinery would be equivalent to crea- 

 ting a capital of $200,000,000, and placing the money 

 where it v.'ould yield over six per cent, interest in 

 perpetuity. If the thirty millions of sheep in tlie 

 United States gave as good returns in wool for the 

 food consumed as the best 100,000 now do, it would 

 add at least 60,000,000 poimds to the annual clip of 

 this important staple. ' 



In one of his letters to Sir John Sinclair, Gen. 

 Washington says, in substance, "that at the time 

 he entered the public service in the war of the Rev- 

 olution, his flock (about 1,000) clipped five pounds 

 of wool per fleece. Seven years after, when he re- 

 turned to his estate, his flock had so degenerated that 

 it gave an average of only two and a half pounds per 

 head, which was the common yield of Virginia sheep 

 then, as it is now.'' 



Although the numerous importations of superior 

 sheep, cattle, horses, and svpine, have greatly bene- 

 fited the country, it must be admitted that much has 

 been lost by suft'ering improved animals to deteriorate. 

 Every wool-grower should ponder well this fact. If 

 two and a half pounds of wool will pay tlie whole 

 cost of keeping a sheep a year, five pounds will pay 

 one hundi'ed per cent, profit on that cost. Wash- 

 ington was eminently a " book-farmer," and was 

 anxious to gain knowledge from the educated agri- 

 culturists of Europe and his own country. His over- 

 seer believed in keeping sheep as his father did, and 

 was opposed to all innovations in husbandry. 



There are now not far from 6,000,000 horses and 

 mules in the United States ; and It is not too much 

 to say that, in a few generations, these animals may 

 be improved full $30 a head on an average. If so, 

 the gain by this increase of muscular power, and its 

 greater durability, will be $180,000,000. If we 

 study critically the machinery for converting grass, 

 ro:)ts, and grain, into beef and pork, the difference is 

 found to be still more striking. If the facts relating 

 to this subject were spread before the people, great 

 improvement would soon follow, and all classes share 

 equally in the profits of more protluctive labor. 



VI. — THK mSTRlBUTION OF SIMvDS ANO CUTTINGS. 



It Is a law of nature now fully recognised by men 

 of science, that all cultivated plants and fruits, as 

 well a? :ill animals, are subject to constitutional de- 

 terioration, and arc susceptible of organic improve- 

 ment. Hence, one thousand seeds of one variety of 

 wheat, corn, cotton, or tobacco, will produce a larger 

 crop, under equal advantages of climate, soil, and 

 culture, than a like number of seeds of another 

 variety. 



Plants propagated by buds, like sugar-cane, pota- 

 toes, and fruit trees, are peculiarly liable to constitu- 

 tional weakness, and arc less able to endure rude 

 treatment in violation of the laws of vegetable life. 

 On many plantations, the vital force of the sugar- 

 cane is nearly exhausted : and this office is strongly 



