S62 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



the animal will increase somewhat more when fed 

 on peas than on com, yet he will eat till he has 

 obtained the necessary amount of carbonaceous 

 matter, and of wliich corn contains much more 

 than peas. The foct is, that nitrogenous substances 

 are in excess of the availaile carbonaceous. Other- 

 wise, why is it that we strip the nitrogenous bran 

 from the stiirch of wheat? Why is it that we 

 churn so much milk for its carbonaceous compound 

 — butter; while its nitrogenous matter, casein or 

 curd, is given to the hogs in the buttermilk ? Why 

 is it that we eat so much fat meat and pork? 

 How is it that sugar has become a necessary to 

 nine-tenths of tlie world ; and that rice and tapioca 

 are found in every household? All these sub- 

 stances contain a large amount of available carbon, 

 and little or no nitrogen. For feeding purposes, a 

 food is valuable in pro])ortion to the amount of 

 available carbon it contains ; yet the more nitrogen 

 it has united with this carbon, the greater will be 

 its fattening quality. 



A natural conclusion, from these facts, would be 

 to grow those plants, as food for animals, which 

 contain the most available carbon; or, in other 

 words, the most starch, sugar, oU, etc. 



But agriculture is a complex art. We must be 

 careful how we jump at conclusions. In Mr. 

 Laweib' wlieat experiments, systematically con- 

 tinued on the same soil for fifteen successive years, 

 the most important fact demonstrated is this : The 

 wheat plant^ during its growth, destroys ammonia. 

 That is to say, that much more ammonia is required 

 to produce a crop of wheat than the entire crop of 

 grain and straw contains when fully matured. It 

 was found, in several hundred experiments, that an 

 application of ammonia increased the crop up to a 

 certain point, dependent on climatic influences, in 

 proportion to the amount supplied ; but that about 

 five times as much ammonia is required to produce 

 a given increase of wheat than it contains when 

 grown. 



Mr. L awes' experiments on turnips, peas, beans, 

 clover, etc., show that these crops do not destroy 

 ammonia during their growth; and that if suffi- 

 cient available inorganic matter be present, they 

 can ottain sufficient ainmonia for an average crop, 

 from the atmospliere. Whether corn, oats, barley, 

 timothy, and other cereals, destroy ammonia, is 

 not yet proved, but it is highly probable. Let us 

 admit that those cereals, like wheat, destroy 

 ammonia during their grow th, and that peas, beans, 

 clover, lentils, etc., do not, and see how it affects 

 the subject of rotation. 

 On a farm, then, where wheat, maize, barley, 



and oats, are grown, as well as timothy and other 

 grasses, for feeding purposes, it must be evident 

 that there is an immense destruction of ammonia ; 

 and that if we are to obtain largo croj)s, large 

 quantities of ammonia must in one way or other be 

 placed in the soil. The cheapest way, under most 

 circumstances, of increasing the ammonia on a farm 

 is, by growing those crops which do not destroy 

 it during tlieir growth, but, on the other hand, 

 retain that which is brought to them in rain from 

 the atmosphere. 



At least one half the dry food given to an 

 animal is consumed in the production of animal 

 heat, and escapes as carbonic acid and water in 

 breath and perspiration. The nitrogen of the food, 

 however, is not given off in a gaseous state, bat, 

 except a small portion, retained in the increase of 

 animal, is all thrown out of the system in liquid 

 and solid excrements, the former containing often 

 six times as much as the latter. 



A crop of clover, in root and branch, often con- 

 tains 80 lbs. of nitrogen, the greatest part of which 

 is probably derived from the atmosphere ; and this 

 clover, plowed ia or eaten on the farm by animals, 

 would furnish 80 lbs. of ammonia for a wheat, corn, 

 or timothy crop, which would be increased accord- 

 ingly. This 80 lbs. of ammonia can not be pur- 

 chased in an artificial form for less than $12. A 

 good average crop of peas contains about as much 

 nitrogen as the clover, and, like it, obtains most of 

 it from the atmosphere. The same can be said of 

 turnips, mangels, beets, carrots, beans, tares, etc. m 



It win be seen, then, that while maize in one 

 sense is much more nutritious than peas — contain- 

 ing more available carbon, — yet this nutritious 

 quality is produced at such an expense of the 

 ammonia of the soil, that it can not be grown for 

 feeding purposes, unless a high price is obtained 

 for the meat. Peas, though in one sense less 

 nutritious, have been produced at so little expense 

 to the soil, as compared with corn, and besides 

 contain so large a quantity of nitrogen, that tlioir 

 growth and consumption on the fiirm can not fail 

 to be comparatively profitable. The comparison 

 between timothy grass and clover is equally, and 

 for the same reasons, unfavorable to the growth of 

 timothy for the purpose of feeding to animals on 

 the farm. Not only does it contain less nitrogeu, 

 but it has consumed much ammonia during its 

 growth. If this is correct in theory, it can not be 

 far wrong to say that the average yield of wheat, 

 maize, barley, oats, and timothy, on any farm, will 

 be in direct proportion to the quantity of clover, 

 peas, tnmips, etc., raised and consumed on the farm. 



