ECONOMY OF FARMING. 83 



whilst the hay value of the fruit mown at this time, is not much less than the same 

 fruit in a ripened state. As with the appearance of the blossom, besides moisture 

 plants draw little more nutriment from the soil, so the collective deposit in the 

 roots and stalks gradually conduct the ears to tlie formation of seeds. Since the 

 longer time before the blossom the plants are cut, so much better is the success of 

 the after-fruit, therefore so much the more nutriment remains in the soil. But the 

 longer period after the flowering the harvest is gathered, so much the more is the 

 power of the soil weakened. 



" The progress of the exhaustion of power may be observed in the plants for fodder. 

 The further indeed the meadow grasses or kinds of clov^er are advanced at the time 

 of being cut in their flower or formation of seed, so much the v/eaker does the after- 

 increase show itself, compared with those places on which the first cutting was made 

 before the approach of the flower. On this is based the remarkable exhausting 

 power of fully ripe clover. 



" But the highest gradation of the exhaustion ofpower is seen in the so-called yellow- 

 ripe or dead-ripe fruit, in which the plants likewise are dried up and have lost all 

 vegetable life. This state should be avoided as much as possible. The plants of the 

 usual husk-fruit ripen not suddenly but gradually, so that the greater part of the fruit 

 may be ripe, whilst the tips of the plants yet bear flowers, or at least are yet green. 

 The collective production of these plants will therefore rarely be dead-ripe or over- 

 ripe, and on that account the exhaustion of power is less with them in general than 

 with the grain-fruits which are usueilly cut yellow-ripe." 



Again, on p. 341, he says : " As the manure is to be viewed in a progressive de- 

 composition, and the most nutritious animal substances are already consumed for the 

 most part the first year after manuring, or are escapedby evaporation, the less easily 

 decomposed or harder dissolving undergo a decomposition somewhat later; as soon 

 indeed as the condition of the putrid fermentation operates upon them ; thus the 

 power of the manure gradually disappears from the soil even without the cultivation 

 of plants. It is estimated that of the nourishing parts of the manure in the 1st year 

 at least 50 per ct., in the 2d, 25 to 33, in the 3d, 15 to 20, and in the 4th, 10 to 15 per ct. 

 are consumed. On soil which possesses no old stock ofpower, other circumstances 

 being equal, the decrease of production will nearly correspond to the decrease 

 of the manuring power, but not on grounds possessing old power of the soil, upon 

 which, as we have already shown, the diminution of production according to the dis- 

 tance of the plants from the time of manuring, will scarcely be 25 to 30 per ct. But 

 it is ever the rule, that the fruit to which the manure is given will consume most 

 of it, and indeed so much the more as it is according to its nature the more capable 

 of nourishment ; demands a stronger working over of the soil ; the less it shadows the 

 soil ; the more active the soil is ; the more dissolved the manure is, and the longer the 

 period of vegetation is." Again, p. 345, " Plants, other things being equal, are very 

 different in respect to the need of manure and compensation for it They are di- 

 vided thus : 



" 1. Into such, the whole product of which employed for the production of manure 

 would scarcely cover half the need, and which, after the withdrawal of the usual 

 parts to be sold with the remaining part for the manufacture of manure, can supply 

 only from a 4th lO a 3i] part of the need of manure. They are therefore consuming 

 in the proportion of f to f, or their need is to their supply of manure : as 6 — 8 : 4. 

 Here belong flax, poppy, tobacco, hemp, dec. 



" 2. Those, the collective product of which including the roots and stubble remain- 

 ing in the soil, equals or wholly covers the need of manure as all the cereals, rape, 

 &c., which therefore are f , or in the highest f consuming. 



" 3. Those, f to f of the product of which suffices for the supply of the consumed 

 manure^ wherefore they are only consuming at the rate of f to 'f, as the usual husk- 

 fruits, and root and knob-vegetables. 



" 4. Those one-year fodder-plants which are cut in their green state, f to f of 

 the product of which are set off for the need of manure, as a mixture of fodder, peas, 

 buckwheat, rye, &c. These are usually called soil-power saving (bodenkraft- 

 schonend). 



"5. Into those perennial plants for fodder, the whole production of the fodder 

 from which goes to the manufacture of manure, and of the mass of the stubble and 

 roots remaining in the soil, half answers to supply the consumed manure, and half 

 remains for surplus to increase the power of the soil. The quantity of manure going 



