20 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



one load an acre, and we are doubtful if it will amount 

 to half a load. Can it be wondered, then, that, under 

 such reckless management, of returning to the soil 

 only a quarter or an eighth of what we take from it 

 of the food of plants, our lands should continue 

 to grow poor till they no longer yield a reward to 

 culture ? The cultivated lands in this state are esti- 

 mated at eight millions of acres. On the supposi- 

 tion that one half of them is appropriated to tillage 

 and meadow (and this is a low estimate), we might 

 produce and apply annually, under the new system 

 of husbandry (and we ought to do so), sixteen mill- 

 ion tons of manure, worth to the country, at a low 

 computation, sixteen millions of dollars ; whereas 

 we now produce, under the old system, certainly not 

 more than four million tons, thereby suffering an an- 

 nual loss, independent of the certain and constant 

 diminution in the product and value of our lands, of 

 twelve millions of dollars in the single item of ma- 

 nures ! This is not a visionary speculation ; it is 

 sober truth ; and we ask any intelligent man to show, 

 from facts, a less unfavourable conclusion. 



We will merely remark here, in regard to the ap- 

 plication of manures, that, if used in an unfermented 

 state, they should be buried with the plough, and ap- 

 plied to a hoed or autumn-ripening crop ; if used in 

 a rotted state, they may be blended with the sur- 

 face, and applied to a summer-ripening crop. We 

 will give two reasons for this practice. Manure fer- 

 tilizes in two ways : by the gaseous matters which 

 are evolved in fermentation, and which rise ; and by 

 liquid matters, which sink. If used before it has part- 

 ed with its gases, manure should be buried, that the 

 incumbent soil may imbibe these fertilizing elements. 

 If the manure has been rotted, it has parted with its 

 gaseous matters, and all its remaining fertilizing 

 properties are liable to be carried down by the rains ; 

 nence this latter may be deposited near the surface 



