THE GENESEE FARMER. 



WILL PLOWING IN CLOVER EXHAUST THE SOU 1 



In answer to this question, we have space this 

 month to mention only one important fact, brought 

 to light by the experiments of Lawes and Gilbert : 



It was found, that to grow a crop of turnips, 

 clover, etc., more available inorganic matter is 

 needed in the soil than is required for a crop of 

 wheat. Thus, on the same kind of soil on which 

 a crop of wheat of fifteen bushels per acre was 

 annually obtained for ten successive years, without 

 any manure, turnips, the second and third years, 

 did not grow larger than radishes; yet, supplied 

 with superphosphate of lime, this soil annually 

 produced good crops of turnips. We have, then, 

 the remarkable fact that, while the ash of wheat 

 contains five times as much phosphoric acid as the 

 ash of turnips, the turnip requires for its growth 

 the presence in the soil of more available phos- 

 phoric acid than is required by the wheat plant. 



From this it follows that a soil wiU be sooner 

 leficient of inorganic matter for a crop of turnips, 

 clover, or peas, than it will for wheat; and that 

 these crops contain more inorganic matter than is 

 required by the increase of wheat produced by 

 their ammonia. It follows that so long as we can 

 grow clover and peas, we need not fear any 

 deficiency of the ash constituents of wheat. 



FATTENING STOCK ON POTATOES. 



It has been found, by experiment, that potatoes 

 will fatten hogs, or other stock, much faster, and 

 with less waste, if they are deprived of the non- 

 nitrogenous elements contained in them. Liebig 

 says : " German agriculture has been led by expe- 

 rience to a very simple method of converting pota- 

 toes into a fattening fodder, similar to grain in its 

 composition. This method is the foundation stone 

 of the profitable agriculture of Germany ; and it 

 consists in removing, entirely or to a great extent, 

 and by a purely chemical process, the non-nitro- 

 genous part of the potatoes, and using the residue, 

 which contains all these plastic constituents, to feed 

 stock. The potatoes are reduced to a thin paste, 

 and placed in contact with malt, by the action of 

 which the starch is converted into sugar. The 

 mash, as it is called, is now mixed with beer yeast, 

 wliich causes it to ferment, and the whole of the 

 sugar is thus destroyed. By distilling the fer- 

 mented mash, the starch of the potatoes is ob- 

 tained in the form of spirits, and the residue or 

 dregs forms the most valuable food for fattening 

 stuck." f MAO. 



Remakes. — "We think our correspondent fails to 

 get the true idea of the quotation from Leibig. It 

 is absurd to suppose that potatoes are more fatten- 

 ing when deprived of their starch. The refuse of 

 potato distilleries may be more nutritious, weight 

 I for weight, than the potatoes th«m6elves. But of 



this we have some doubt. Certain it is, that if we 

 take a bushel of potatoes and submit them to a 

 process whereby all the starch is removed, the 

 remaining nitrogenous matter will not afford as 

 much nourishment as the original bushel of pota- 

 toes would have done. A given weight of the 

 refuse may be as nutritions as potatoes, but to sup- 

 pose that the starch which has been removed is 

 not nutritious also, is ridiculous. eds. 



COTSWOLD SHEEP. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer: — On my return from 

 Chicago, I see, in your October number, page 308, 

 your note seems to misunderstand my position. 

 If you wUl have the goodness to look over my 

 communication, you will find I did not take any 

 but usual sale prices for my calculation. I put the 

 31 at $10 each against "Z. B. S.'s 31 at $2.80= 

 $86.80" — his own claim. This was the rate of my 

 sales each year — only yearlings, and all I had. 

 Was not that fair ? I did not calculate my higher 

 sales at all, only my lowest, and that only part- 

 bred. 



I did leave out of the question " the fact that 

 such large sheep as the Cotswolds will consume 

 more food than the smaller breeds," because my 

 experience is just the reverse. I do not think it at 

 all possible to judge of the comparative amount of 

 grass necessary for the consumption of each breed ; 

 that must necessarily be theory ; but I have fully 

 tested the comparative quantity of grain necessary 

 to fatten them, and find the Cotswold sheep, even 

 yearlings, will consume much less, and fatten much 

 faster. They do not travel oflf their food like others, 

 but fill themselves, and lay down and ruminate, like 

 cattle. Their propensity to lay on fat is notorious, 



BerryvUle, Virginia, J. W. WARE. 



Remarks. — We have not space, this month, to 

 discuss this subject with our experienced corres- 

 pondent, but must content ourselves with saying 

 that the most reliable experiments which have ever 

 been made, in regard to the comparative value of 

 the different breeds of mutton sheep, fully prove 

 that sheep consume food in proportion to their live 

 weight — and that a Cotswold weighing 200 lbs. 

 will eat as much again food as a South Down 

 weighing 100 lbs. The same experiments prove, 

 however, that the Cotswolds will produce more 

 mutton for the food consumed than any other 

 breed. bds. 



Temperature of the Earth. — A paper read be- 

 fore the British Scientific Association states that, 

 with a thermometer sunk to the depth of three 

 feet in the earth, the greatest cold was experienced 

 in February ; at six feet deep, the lowest tempera- 

 ture was in March ; at twenty feet deep, in April ; 

 and at the depth of twenty-four feet, it was cold* 

 est in July. 



