1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



203 



afterwards it was again cultivated, and tlie suckers 

 Diilled off. About the last of June it was again cul- 

 tivated, niaKing tnree times the same way, as it was 

 laid ofl'but one way. 



F.xpense of culture, gathering, and crib- 

 bhig, was - $17 10 



Product ;i"43 bushels, at 3U cents,.- 117 10 



l^'rofit on three acres, $100 (10" 



The evidence on which a premium was awarded 

 was such as siiould satisfy any one that ithreo hun- 

 dred and seventy-four bushels were grown on three 

 acres of land, and at a cost not exceeding $17.10, 

 delivered in the crib. This is producing corn at less 

 than five cents a bushel. 



Wliether the statement be true to the letter or not 

 it shows conclusively the great value of a rich soil 

 for making cheap corn. The Board of Agriculture 

 estimate the crop of Ohio last year at 70.000,000 of 

 bushels. Taking the United States as a whole, 

 probably the crop of corn was never better than in 

 the vear 1849. One that has rich land needs only to 

 plow it deep and well, plant in season, and cultivate 

 the earth properly vvith the plow or cultivator, to 

 secure the growth of a generous crop. On poor soils 

 ihe case is very different. 



To raise a good crop of corn on poor land, and at 

 the least possible expense, requires some science and 

 much skill in tlie art of tillag'e. Take the same field 

 to operate in. and one farmer will grow one hundred 

 bushels of corn at half the cost per bushel that an- 

 other will expend in labor, which is money. It un- 

 fortunately happens that very skillful farmers are 

 few in number, in comparison with those who have 

 failed to study and practice all attainable improve- 

 ments. Men who can grow maize on common soil, 

 place the crop in a crib at from six to ten cents a 

 bushel, and pay a fair price for the labor, need not 

 go to school to learn the practical part of corn cul- 

 ture. There are, however, five or six States in the 

 Union in which this is done. Mr. Lukens, of Ohio, 

 has told how they do it in that State : and the prac- 

 tice is very similar elsewhere. To produce cheap 

 corn on poor land, one needs a clear understanding 

 of what elements of the crop air and water will fur- 

 nish, and what they can not supply. It should be 

 remembered that the atmosphere is precisely the 

 same over ground which yields one hundred bushels 

 of corn per acre that it is over that which produces 

 only five bushels per acre. Now, the whole matter 

 which forms the stems, leaves, roots, cobs, and seeds 

 of corn, where the crop is one hundred bushels per 

 acre, is not part and parcel of the soil. A harvest 

 equal to fifty bushels per acre can be obtained with- 

 out consuming over ten per cent, of earth, as com- 

 pared \\ ith the weight of the crop. No plant can 

 imbibe more of the substance of the soil in which it 

 grows, than is dissolved in water or rendered gaseous 

 by the decomposition of mold. 



The quantity of matter dissolved, whether organic 

 or inorganic, during the few weeks in which corn 

 plants organize the bulk of their solids, is small. 

 From 93 to 97 parts in 100 of the dry matter in a 

 mature, perfect plant, including its seeds, cobs, stem, 

 leaves, and roots, are carbon (charcoal) and the ele- 

 ments of water. It is not only an important, but an 

 exceedingly instrnctive fact, that the most effective 

 fertilizers known in agriculture are those that least 

 abound in the elements of water and carbon. The 

 unleached, dry excrements of dunghill fowls and 



pigeons have five times the fertilizing power on all 

 cereal plants that the dry dung of a grass-fed cow 

 has, although the latter has five times more carbon, 

 oxygen, and hydrogen,* per 100 pounds, than the 

 former. Although it is desirable to apply to the soil 

 in which corn is to grow as much of organized car- 

 bon and water as one conveniently can ; yet, where 

 fertilizers have to be transported many miles, it is 

 important to know thai so much of the manure as 

 would form coal, if carefully burnt, can best be spared. 

 The same is true of those elements in manure which 

 form vapor or water, when the fertilizer decomposes 

 in the ground. 



Carbonic acid and nascent liydrogcn evolved in 

 rotting .stable manure are truly valuable food for 

 plants, and perform important chemical offices in the 

 soil : but they are, nevertheless, not. so indispensable 

 to the economical production of crops, as uvoihihle 

 nitrogen, potash, silica, magiwsia, tulphur, and phos- 

 phorus. These elements of plants being less abund- 

 ant in nature, and quite indispensable in forming 

 corn, cotton, and every other product of the soil, their 

 artificial supply in guano, nightsoil, and other highly 

 concentrated fertilizers, adds immensely to tlie har- 

 vest, through the aid of a small weight of matter. 

 If a moiety of the elements of bread and meat, milk, 

 fruit, and garden vegetables, annually consumed by 

 the twenty-two millions of people in the United 

 Stales, and then throv\ ii away, were judiciously ap- 

 plied to the produce cd' grain crops, the yearly profits 

 accruing would be many millions. In all sections 

 where corn is worth thirty cents, and over, a bushel, 

 great benefits may be realized by the skillful manu-. 

 facture and use of pouilrette. This article is an in- 

 odorous compound of the most valuable constituents 

 of human food and clothing. It is the raw material 

 of crops. 



It is not necessary to restore .to a corn field all the 

 matter re.moved in the crop to maintain its fertility. 

 A part of each seed, however, ought to be carried 

 back and replaced in the soil, to make good its loss 

 by the harvest. 



In every barrel of meal or flour sent to market (196 

 pounds) there are not far from 186 pounds of carbon 

 (coal) and the elements of water. When a bird eats 

 wheat or corn, I have reason to believe, from several 

 experiments, that over 80 per cent, of the food 

 escapes into the air through its capacious lungs in 

 the process of respiration ; and yet, the 20 per cent, 

 of guano left will re-produce as much wheat or corn 

 as was consumed. Imported guano' which has been 

 exposed to the weather for ages, often gives an in- 

 crea.se in the crop of wheat equal to three pounds of 

 seed to one of fertilizer ; while it has given a gain 

 of seven to one of corn, and fifty to one of green 

 turneps. 



Chemists have ascertained that the air expelled 

 from the lungs of man and his domestic animals in 

 breathing, contains 100 times more carbonic acid 

 than it possessed when it entered the organs of res- 

 piration. 



While carbon or coal in bread, meat, potatoes, 

 grass, hay, and straw, consumed by warm-blooded 

 animals, is constantly passing out of the system as 

 carbonic acid gas, the elements of water (oxygen 

 and hydrogen) are also escaping from the lungs in 

 the form of vapor, which in cold weather is often vis- 

 ible. Over 50 per cent, of the solids consumed by 



* Oxygen and hydrogen form water, or are its elements. 



