imprudent course of cropping: for several successive years, 

 had f>ecome a good doal impoverished. The analysis 

 showed, as I was fully apprized before, a deficiency of vege- 

 table matter, as well ns of several important mineral ele- 

 ments of the wheat crop, e-specially phosphoric acid, of 

 which there was only 0,1)2 per cent ; there was also a lack 

 of potash, but a pretty fair supply of lime, about two per 

 cent. 



Now, what course would you recommend as the most 

 economical for increasintr the quantity of phosphoric acid ? 

 I am now prcparinpr the ground for a crop of winter wheat, 

 in order to seed down to clover, the clover sown last year 

 havinar been almost .entirely deslroyed in consequence of 

 the severe protracted drouth. Would it pay to purchase 

 bone shavings, or meal, in New York, adding the cost of 

 transportation here, to sow widi the wheat this fall? If so, 

 what quanty per acre wotdd suffice the purposes of the 

 present crop of wheat ? We have no bone mills in this 

 btate, and sulphuric acid can not be purchased short of 

 New York at a reasonable price. Wm. E. Souuvlek. — 

 Marshall, Calhoun county, Mich. 



Tlie above letter opens up a question of more 

 importance to the people of this country than 

 any other which is likely to engage their atten- 

 tion in the nineteenth century. How can farm- 

 ers in Michigan and otlier states, constantly 

 remove phosphoric acid and potash in crops, and 

 by the stirring, washing and leaching of the soil, 

 and not impoverish the land? At present prices 

 of bone dust, potash, guano and superphosphate 

 of lime in New York, it will not pay to tram-port 

 either to Marshall, Michigan, for agricultural 

 purposes. We have a farm to rejuvenate which 

 lies within a mile of tide water where vessels 

 come on the Potomac, and find it cheaper to 

 make manure on a poor soil than to purchase it 

 in a city two miles distant. It may be different 

 in Marshall, or Calhoun county, where our cor- 

 respondent resides. Our system is to sell noth- 

 ing but air from the farm, in the shape of butter, 

 fat pigs, and the like, while phosphoric acid and 

 alkalies are drawn mainly from the subsoil, but 

 partly from purchased wood ashes. For the 

 present, wheat culture should be given up, 

 except for home consumption, to those who are 

 williug to impoverish their fields. Nightsoil, if 

 properly saved in all cities and villages, would 

 go far to supply the fertilizers needed to grow 

 wheat. 



If Mr. S. can sell fat hogs at $4, per 100 lbs., 

 net weight; he may buy corn at forty cents a 

 bushel, and obtain all the manure the corn will 

 make as a profit for his trouble of feeding it. The 

 gain in meat will pay for the corn. Instead of 

 buying corn, we are raising it almost expressly 

 to make manure. If we sell only the butter and 

 fat meat which may be extracted from corn 

 plants, the manure derived from the crop will 

 possess nearly all the anmonia, and other mineral 

 elements which the stems, leaves and seeds 

 of maize contained. On ordinary land well 

 tilled, one can make a fair crop with wood ashes 

 and a little guano ; and with corn he can make 



rich manure. In Michigan, clover may anewer 

 better than corn, although we doubt it. 



To aid the soil in bringing a good crop of 

 clover, try 100 bushels of ashes as an experiment, 

 if you can" buy them at a moderate price in 

 Marshall. Pick up all the bones you can find, 

 and boil thera in strong lye until they fall to a 

 powder, and then mix the lye and bones with an 

 old dry compost, or dry loam, and scatter it 

 evenly over your wheat fallow, or field, as a 

 top-dressing. Turnips are a valuable crop for 

 making manure; and with a little pains they 

 may be grown at a very cheap rate. In the 

 present half civilized condition of society, when 

 the inhabitants of cities prefer pestilence to 

 cleanliness, and are unwilling to feed the land 

 that feeds them, the farmer must rely mainly on 

 his own home resources for the raw material of 

 crops. Not until the soil is vastly more impov- 

 erish than it now is, will the American people 

 begin to study agriculture as a profession. 



(J. H. Wallace, Casey, 111.) We have none of 

 the African wheat at present, but shall procure a 

 small quantity after harvest, and shall then be 

 happy to send you some. 



Information Wanted. — Last season my father had a 

 meadow of twenty acres of timothy, which had been seed- 

 ed three years, and yielded a good crop of hay each year, 

 until last year, it came up thick in the spring, and grew 

 finely until six or eight inches high, and then all died. 

 This year he has a lot of sixteen acres affected in the same 

 way, only not so bad. Can any of your correspondents 

 give any information concerning the cause ? The ground 

 is very full of wire worms, but we hardly think that the 

 cause. We have a fine growing crop of corn on the twenty 

 acre lot this year. A. M. — Seneca Falls, N. Y, 



HORTICULTURAL. 



I take this opportunity of to ask your advice in regard to 

 cultivating the Pear upon Quince stocks. 



1. Is it profitable ? 



2. How many would you allow to an acre ? 



3. What might be the production of an acre properly 

 managed ? Tuos. M. Gkauam. — Shepherdeiown, Belmont 

 counti/, Ohio. 



(1.) It may be made profitable by planting the 

 most suitable varieties on deep and rich soil, and 

 giving them careful judicious cultivation. The 

 profits upon dwarf pears, like the profits on other 

 branches of culture, depend upon their manage- 

 ment. 



(2.) Ten feet apart, each way, is a good dis- 

 tance, and this gives some four hundred on the 

 acre. 



(2.) Tliey begin to bear at four years old, and 

 the crop then and for a few years after will be 

 light, although enough to pay expenses. At 

 about eight years old they may bear a bushel, 

 and in a few years more — double that. By 

 taking into account the value of pears in your 

 market, you may form some idea of the value of 



