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T6 THE GENESEE FAEMEE. 



the heavy soils the day retains the ammonia of the vain and air. In sandy soils we have 

 not this retaining substance to any extent, and must therefore supply one. We are 

 privately informed that Mr. Way is very sanguine in regard to manufacturing tliis 

 double salt we have spoken of, and that he is now experimenting on the subject. We 

 hope he may succeed, and that the method of composting it will be such as every 

 farmer can practice on his. own farm; otherwise the weight of the article will prevent its 

 extensive use. Carting marls on to sandy soils has been practiced in England and this 

 country, to great advantage ; but if wo could pick out the particular ingredient of value 

 in these marls, and apply it easily to light soils, the advantage would be obvious, and 

 such as to secure its universal adoption. In the mean time, we must grow plants that 

 retain this ammonia of rain and air. Wheat, corn, barley, oats, buckwheat and tim- 

 othy, destroy ammonia during tftieir growth. Clover, turnips, peas, beans, lentils and 

 vetches, retain the ammonia brought to them in rain ; and wh«u consumed on the land, 

 or plowed under, furnish the required ammonia for the following wheat or corn crop. 



The proper management of sandy soils is here indicated. Grow fewer wheat, corn, 

 barley, and timothy crops ; and more clover, pons, and roots, and let these all bo con- 

 sumed on the farm. Under ordinary circumstances, never sow wheat without 'seeding 

 the land down with twelve pounds of red clover in the spring. Do not let it lie in 

 grass more than two years, for as clover is a biennial plant, the third year you will get 

 very little but cereal grasses. Turnips may be sown with corn after the last hoeing, 

 and though you get little but leaves, these will help to increase the amount of available 

 ammonia on the ftirm, and so do good service. 



As long as good crops of clover can be obtained, we may rest assured that there is 

 no deficiency of mineral matter in the soil. But the time will come, and that soon, on 

 sandy soils, when good clover crops can no longer be grown. To prevent this, apply 

 all the leached and unleached ashes, bones, and lime at your disposal, on the clover 

 crops, and they will do good service. On no consideration let them be wasted. They 

 will be needed sooner or later to restore the phosphates and potash removed in the 

 grain and bones of animals sold otf the farm. 



Superphosphate of lime, drilled with the seed, will be found the best of all manures 

 for ruta baga and other turnip crops. It is on sandy soils that turnips succeed best; 

 and it is these soils that are most improved by the growth of turnips and clover. The 

 light, blowing sands of Norfolk, England, which fifty years ago were barely worth culti- 

 vating, have been made by turnip culture and sheep husbandry the most valuable and 

 productive land of Great Britain. Sandy soils, or " turnip soils," are now far more 

 valuable than the heavy, or " wheat soils." If we might believe English protectionists, 

 the heavy wheat soils cannot now, with free trade prices, be cultivated with wheat with- 

 out serious loss, and must be laid down to permanent meadow. 



With the increase of ])opulation and manufactures, wo shall obtain higher prices for 

 meat. Its production, and the growth of turnips, clover, and other cattle food, will be 

 attended with more direct profit than at present. More turnips and clover will be 

 raised as food for cattle, and our average yield of wheat and corn will be greatly in- 

 creased. Sandy soils will be benefited by such a change more than our heavy, good 

 wheat lands. 



On sandy soils there is often accumulations of muck or peat rich in nitrogen, contain- 

 ing from one to two per cent, of this valuable fertilizer. (Ordinary barnyard manure 

 contains only one-half of one per cent, of nitrogen.) It will be seen that this muck, if 

 dried and decomposed, will bo a most valuable manure for sandy soils. It is necessary 

 to decompose the muck before its constituents can be taken up by plants. Ashes and 

 lime readily decon)pose it, and are often used for this purpose by first rate farmers ; but 

 we should no more think of mixing lime or ashes with muck than we should with farm- 

 yard manure. Their tendency in both cases is to drive olf the ammonia, and to render 



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