THE GENESEE FARMER. 



^,e glass vessels, have demonstrated the 



of cajsillaiy attraction to raise water over 



J feet ; and under favorable circumstances, we 



. discover no hmit to the ascent of water in o-ood 



am. Clay or chalk. Plants standin- on an in^per- 



ious stratum of hard-pan, or upon a rock that un- 



derJies the surface soil, sutler most from drouth 



because (he supply of water from below is cut oft' 



JJews do not, ni such cases, supply growinL^ crops with 



th3 ncedtul moisture. 



_ Sous are not wholly dependent on capillary attrac- 

 tion lor their moisture in dry weather, drawino- damp- 

 ness from belo^ upward. The porositv of finelv 

 comminuted earth enables it to condense the ex- 

 tremely diffiised particles of water as they exist in the 

 dryest common atmosphere. Soils dried artificialiv, 

 tirst m a stove and then under an exhausted bell 

 pass, on bemo- again exposed to the atmosphere take 

 train It from ten to twenty per cent, of their weight 

 Of water, according to their qualitv. How much of 

 this atmospheric water the thirsty I'ootlets of ao-ricul- 

 tural plants can absorb, and literallv ixmip o°it by 

 tlie direct rays of the sun acting upon their curlino- 

 leaves, neither agricultural meteorologv nor chemistrv 

 informs us. We suspect, however, ihnt no soil can 

 draw trom the atmosphere in drv weather, either hv 

 condensation from dews or otherwise, water enouo-h 

 to meet the wants of any cereal, legume or oth°er 

 common plant. By showers, the watering pot or 

 other irrigation, water must be conveyed into the 

 soil; and the subsoil, which looks in the direction of 

 all our wells and spings, will yield water, if one makes 

 XVI '?^?r arrangement to draw it up from below. 

 VV hat Mr. Young says about dews yielding " a black 

 earth fine enough for the pabulum or food of plants " 

 IS an obviotis error into which he has thllen by fol- 

 lowmg some writer who was incompetent to do jus- 

 tice to the subject. Dew is the purest distilled "wa- 

 ter that na ure any where forms. It does not fall 

 hke ram and snow, some distance through the atmos- 

 phere, but IS formed at the point of contact where 

 invisible vapor touches a cold body, like a glass filled 

 with ice-water, the outer lea^-es on a forest tree, or 

 those of _grass in a meadow where dews are most 

 abundant ^ ery little dew falls on a summer fallo^v 

 a diw road, or on sand, which cool very slowly after 



WHEAT AFTER CORN. 



. ?f ?• Tri-'^iax Pattixgill, of Wales, Erie countv 

 m this btate, raised fifty-two bushels of wheat on an' 

 acre, sown on the 16th of Septeml^er, 1851, on ground 

 hat had produced a good crop of corn that year, it 

 having been well manured for the purpose, 'it ha« 

 long appeared to us like sound farming to sow wheat 



■ J !i?7T'' '^ i""'!- ''"'' f '''•^'^ *« "^^"•^'•e l"s corn land 

 ^ell before planting; for the immediate return in corn 

 and corn fodder, wheat and wheat straw, gives one a 

 handsome snm of money without cultivating a lar-e 

 area. Uood manure, and a pjentv of it, enables^ 

 farmer to shine in his profession; but wheat and corn- 

 giwers often find it next to impossible to enrich all 

 their grain fields. As in the case of Mr Pattex- 

 GiLL, a single acre, by receiving forty loads of stable 

 manure, may be made to yield a' premium crop 



This IS howevel^ an imperfect system of tillage; for 

 these forty loads of manure deplete two oi" three 

 other acres from which the manure was di-awn, in 

 order to grow the extra corn and ^^■heat harvested on 

 he single acre. It is at best only robbing one field 

 enrich another. So much manure ought to be 

 obtained from the crops of corn and wheat, and 



ciop of 18.)3 after the wheat, equal to that of 1851; 

 and the wueat crop of 1S54 equal to that of 1852, or 

 htty-two bushels per acre. With a fair supply of 

 manure for tne com crop, why may not a largi vield 

 be obtained every alternate year, and that be fol- 

 lowed by crops of wheat equally remunerative? 

 With_ wheat at a dollar a bushel, corn fiftv cents and 

 and m a first rate condition, farming is a capital 

 business I he most common failure is in the ele- 

 inens of crops in the soil; and this arises not so 

 much from the natural sterility of the earth as the 

 almost universal practice of taking va.stly more out 

 of the soil in agricultural plants than is restored to it 



f"\p.!'^ f \^'' ^'"'^ ''^^^0^1 '''^V so few acres pro- 

 duce fifty bushels of wheat, or one hundred of corn 

 m this country. AH classes unite their labors to 

 consume and waste the raw material indispensable to 

 the cheap production of grain, vegetables and pro- 

 visions These extract the elements of crops Lm 

 all arated fields, pastures and meadows, which ele- 

 ments being sent to distant cities for consumption 

 are here cast into such rivers as the Thames, Seine, 

 _±luclson and Mississippi. Such national folly desolates 

 islands and continents, without benefitting one hu- 

 man being; for all alike need their daily bread, and 

 the raiment manufactured from the farmers wool 

 tlax, cotton and hides. ' 



As a cultivator of corn and wheat on a worn-out 

 farm, the writer feels deeply tlie need of more ma- 

 nure, and is willing to say or do almost any thing that 

 shall serve to arouse the great agricultural interest to 

 take some ^action in behalf of our American soil, 

 ^very year s delay involves the needless loss of hun- 

 dreds of millions of dollars. 'The agricultural sta. 

 tistics of the State of iNew York foi" 1845, havino- 

 been taken in a more searching manner than any ever 

 before or since, in accordance with schedules prepared 

 by the editor of this journal, we are now able to say 

 that the farmers of Erie county, in Western New 

 1 ork, report their average crops of wheat at only 

 twelve bushels per acre. Their corn crops averaged 

 twenty-two and a half bushels per acre only. Next 

 year, we are to have another State census"; and we 

 sincerely hope that a little closer investigation into 

 the soil will not be denied the friends of improve- 

 ment The Erie Canal enlargement is soon to he 

 completed ; and every atom within two feet of the 

 surface of our so-called improved lands that will form 

 wheat, corn, beef, pork, cheese, apples and potatoes, 

 will be converted into these and other staples and 

 sent to market. The deeper we plow, and the laro-er 

 our annual harvests, the greater is the lasting inhvy 

 which we inflict on the natural resources of our virdn 

 earth. Our grand canal conveys a million tons of- The 

 elements of fertility taken from the soil to tide water 

 where it brings back one ton of these elements to 

 restore the great balance of organic nature. How- 

 ever other agricultural papers may bhnk this question 



