1879.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



73 



ground or dissolved bone, a large supply of 

 excellent manure can be accumulated by 

 spring for tlieir tobacco. Dissolved bono 

 sbould be used if the time for composting is 

 short, otherwise ground bone should l)e pre- 

 ferred, as it is less apt to be adulterated ; and 

 that made from bones which have not been 

 steamed or subjected to heat has not had any 

 of its nitrogen driven off. This is not so im- 

 portant if the farmer has a liberal sup|)ly of 

 stable and farm-pen manure to furnisli the 

 nitrogen, which, however, is not often the 

 case. For the compost made in the fall, and 

 say up to Christmas, we may well iise the 

 ground bone, and after that dissolved bone. 

 If the farmer, from any cause, should not use 

 his tobacco stalks and shattered tobacco in 

 the comi)osl, then he must furnish the potasli 

 in some other form, either Kainit or sulphate 

 of potash, which is belter for tobacco than 

 the muriate. Of tliis -ilie suliiliato, which 

 usually cists iil.niit :i( In -t ,-,n(.s |iit pound- 

 put about f)(it(i Sil pnunds (prdiiiirtidncd) to go 

 over the aero, it being supposcil llial the plant 

 always gets considerable potasli from good 

 land, as it is only the wornout land that con- 

 tains no appreciable quantity of potash. 



In composting for tobacco the amount of 

 stable niannrc I" be put in a compost will 

 vary Willi the i|uality of tlie land and previ- 

 ous manuring. We should say 10 or 12 cart 

 loads will be sullicient to an acre of good land 

 with the same quantity or more of good dirt ; 

 and if we can safely rely on the report of a 

 compost as used by Judge Turner, in Georgia, 

 in which about seventy-five pounds of stable 

 manure, in combination with the sameamount 

 of cotton seed and fifty pounds of dissolved 

 bone, produced one thousand and eight 

 pounds of cotton per acre (which we suppose 

 is a good crop), then much less stable manure 

 than this will answer. It is the opinion of 

 many that in a comjiost " a little leaven leav- 

 eneth the whole.lump," and the experiment of 

 Judge Turner seems to sustain tliis opinion. 

 As to the quantity of dissolved bone in the 

 compost we would say, judging from the 1,000 

 pounds of tobacco containing 8.6 pounds of 

 phosphoric acid, equal to phosphate lime or 

 bone phosphate of 1S.7, that 100 pounds of a 

 good article of dissolved bone would be suffi- 

 cient. A 24 per cent, dissolved bone will yield 

 11 pounds per 100 of phosphoric acid and the 

 soil will always supply some. It is cheaper to 

 buy a good article of bone. Stable manure, 

 it must be remembered, contains notable 

 quantities of phosphoric acid and potash. 



Since my last report I have had reason to 

 modify directions about composts, believing 

 now that stable and farm-pen manure and 

 less phosphoric acid will answer per acre. 

 For com and tobacco these composts may 

 well be put in the drill, not hill, as they 

 diffuse themselves through the land, as is 

 evidenced in the wheat crop following, which 

 is usually even in its growth over the ground 

 and no better in the drills, and this plan will 

 require le.ss than broadcast. But more experi- 

 ments are necessary in composts to determine 

 the quantities to be used in the composition 

 and in application, for these experiments will 

 be worth more than directions based entirely 

 upon cliemical analysis. 



It is better, generally, to form composts 

 under shelter, gradually mixing the one and 

 then the other material, by layers, until the 

 heap is completed. If there is deficiency of 

 moisture under shelter, as there will Ije, this 

 must be supplied by sprinkling water over, or, 

 what is better, salt brine. Should potash be 

 used, this must be dissolved in warm water 

 and sprinkled over each layer of compost as 

 it is gradually formed. The heap should oc- 

 casionally be forked over, until thoroughly 

 mixed. If gypsum is used with ground bone 

 it must be sprinkled over each layer in form- 

 ing the compost ; that is, occasionally, as the 

 manure and bone are thrown on the pile. 



If the compost is not formed under shelter, 

 then it had best be done in a scooped basin, 

 sufficiently deep to have a drain from it leading 

 to a barrel or half -barrel hogshead, water- 



tight, to catch the drainage, which must be 

 scooped up, particularly after rains, and 

 sprinkled over the compost. Of course, in 

 forming com|iosts, less of these ingredients 

 will do for rich than poor lands, particularly 

 of phosphoric acid or ammonia. If these 

 directions for composts are not sufficiently 

 definite correspondence with me on the sub- 

 ject is invited.— .4niii/rtJ Report of Virijinia 

 CmHmisxioner on Agrirulttm. 



SANDY SOILS. 



Of all soils to be cultivated, or to be re- 

 stored, none are preferable to the light, sandy 

 soils. By their porou.sness free access is given 

 to the iiowerful effects of air; they are na- 

 tiii:;^y in that state to which draining and 

 subsoil plouj,'hing are reducing the stiffcr 

 luiuls of Kngland. Manure may as well be 

 tlirowu into tlie water as on land underlaid 

 by water. Drain this, and no matter if the 

 upper soil be almost quicksand, manure will 

 convert it into fertile, arable land. The thin 

 covering of mold .scarcely an inch in thick- 

 ness, the product of a century, ihay be imi- 

 tated and produced in a short time by study- 

 ing the laws of i.,s formation. It is a well- 

 recognized fact that, next to temperature, the 

 water supply is the most iinporlaut f:ictoi- in 

 the product'of a crop. Poor soils give good 

 crops in seasons of plentiful and well-distribu- 

 ted rains, or when skillfully irrigated ; but 

 insuflieient moisture in a soil is an evil that 

 no supplies of plant-food can neutralize. 



Sandy soils are rich in niineriil constilueuts, 

 and fail to give good crops in tinic of drouth 

 only, on account of their iiuiliilily to retain 

 moisture. This can be obviated by the ;\\<\)]\- 

 cation of peat, or clay, or the .sowing of 

 clover — all of these enable it to retain mois- 

 ture in times of drouth — and the decay of the 

 vegetable substances in the soil give off car- 

 bonic aoid, a powerful solvent of the soil. 

 Peat contains two per cent, of nitrogen, or 

 the same quantity of barn manure ; but, as it 

 is dug out, its nitrogen is locked up in in- 

 soluble comV)inations, and, applied to land in 

 this condition, brings in sorrel and coarse 

 grasses ; composting it with soda ash, to 

 neutralize its acid, renders it soluble and fits 

 it for food for plants at a cost of about two 

 cents a pound for nitrogen. A cord of peat, 

 as dug, weighs about 9,000 pounds, and, well 

 dried^ will lose three-quarters of its bulk. 



To this quantity add 100 pounds of soda 

 ash, well mixed through it, in powder or 

 solution, depending upon whether the peat is 

 wet or dry, and leave it in a heap to ferment. 

 The heap will need to be larger in cold than 

 in warm weather to accomplish this ; and, 

 after it is fermented, turn it over once and it 

 is then ready for use and in all respects equal 

 to barn manure. If the land is in condition 

 to bear clover, it is easily brought to a state 

 to produce any crop ; and, if not in such con- 

 dition, it can readily be made so at a trifling 

 cost for fertilization. A crop of three tons of 

 clover contains the following constituents : 

 117 lbs. pota.sh, .5.4 lbs. soda, .55.2 lbs. magnesia, 

 1.5.3.6 lbs. lime, 44.8 lbs. phosphoric acid, 13.6 

 lbs. sulpli. acid, 12.6 lbs. chlorine, 12.6 lbs. 

 sulphur, 127.8 lbs. nitrogen. 



Soils are not exhausted when is seen the 

 power a suitable crop has to liberate and con- 

 vert the insoluble substances existing in the 

 soil and store them in the plant for future use. 

 The clover sbould be cut for fodder the first 

 year ; the .second year cut it once for fodder, 

 then~Sllow it to grow again and go to seed, 

 which save for future use, and there is left in 

 the soil to the depth of ten inches 6,.580 lbs. 

 clover roots, which contain 77 tbs. potash, 10 

 lbs. soda, 46 lbs. magnesia, 246 lbs. lime, 71 

 lbs. phosphoric acid, 24 lbs. sulphuric acid, 

 180 lbs. nitrogen, available for a crop which, 

 when plowed, leaves the land clear, light, re- 

 tentive of moisture, and easily tilled, with 

 available constituents in the clover roobs, and 

 soil enough to produce any crop profitalily. 

 and the necessity of purchasing fertilizers and 

 applying tliem is saved. The farm is made, 

 as it should be, self-supporting, but it can 

 only be done so by a judicious rotation of crops. 



If this is not resorted to, fertilizers, which 

 are much more costly, must be supplied. 

 The constituents in clover roots above, 

 amount in value, at prices commercial fertili- 

 zers are calculated at, to .?35.17 for the nitro- 

 gen, pliosphoric acid and potash alone, saying 

 nothing of the other constituents, which are 

 equally as imiiortant to the growth of crops. 

 Kye is also a good croj) to grow. There is 

 left in an acre of its roots and stubble 3,400 

 Itis., containing 30 ttis. potash, 40 lbs. soda, 14 

 tbs. magnesia, Oi» ttis. lime, 24 ttis. phosphoric 

 acid, 12 lbs. sulphuric acid and 02 lbs. nitro- 

 gen. — AiuJreir If. Wurd. 



AMOUNTS OF SUGAR CONTAINED IN 

 NECTAR OF VARIOUS FLOWERS. 

 Nectar is the term ii]iplied by botanists to 

 the sweet-tasted fiuid which is secreted within 

 the cups of^insect-fertilized rtowcrs ; and the 

 object gained to the plant by its presence is, 

 that insects induced to visit flowers for its 

 sake are useful to the plants by effecting a 

 cross-fertilization. Mr. Darwin has shown 

 what an amount of additional vigor is thus 

 conferred on the seeds which subsequently 

 result in the contrast with the evil effects pro- 

 duced by <ontiniious inhreeding. In many 

 instances tliis sweet liquid is exuded from 

 special L'lauds. luit in other cases from jwrtions 

 of the flower that do not seem to have been 

 specially adapted for this purpose. Morpho- 

 logically nectaries may represent very different 

 structures, but not unfreipiently they are of 

 tli(^ nature of an aborted organ— .such as a 

 petal or stamen. It is a point of dispute 

 among biologists whether this saccharine mat- 

 ter is a true secretion or simply an excretion 

 of effete matter from the vegetable cells— a 

 by-product of the chemical changes taking 

 place with these cells. The latter view seems 

 to be favored bv the fact that a similar sweet- 

 tasted fluid. luiicb sought after by insects, is 

 exuded in different parts of some plants quite 

 unconnected with the flower, as in the laurel, 

 brake fern, lime tree, acacia, &c. As to the 

 use of such exudation of .sweet fluid various 

 suggestions have been made by those who are 

 disposed to regard it as a true secretion ; as, 

 for instance, that it serves as an attraction to 

 certain insects to frequent the plant, these in- 

 sects rendering service by keeping off animals 

 to whose attacks the plant may be subject. 

 Probably this is to some extent true, but it 

 cannot be said to hold universally. Nectar is, 

 of course, the source whence the bee derives 

 honey, but it also affords food to many kinds 

 of insects which do not possess the habit of 

 storing up. A division of the humming-birds 

 is named Melliphagi, on account of living on 

 this substance ; but it is probable that in .some 

 cases the small insects seeking the nectar, and 

 not the nectar itself, may be the objects of the 

 visits of the.se birds to nectar-producing 

 flowers. The bright colors, as shown by Sir 

 John Lubbock's experiment, serve to guide 

 insects to the flowers, and the odors which 

 they emit fulfill the same end. The markings 

 of a flower's petals, it is to be noted, always 

 converge towards the nectar, as in the violet. 

 The importance of these guides to insects will 

 be apparent from the following estimations, 

 which show how indispensable it is that as 

 little time as possible should be lost by an in- 

 sect collecting honey. It must also be remem- 

 bered that the nectar is usually contained in 

 the most secure and best covered part of the 

 flower, the object being to prevent the access 

 of rain, which, owing to the extreme solubility 

 of sugar, would speedily cause it to l)e trans- 

 ferred to parts of the plants where Insects 

 could reach it without being of any service in 

 the way of cross-fertilization. The chief pur- 

 pose of the flower would in this way be frus- 

 trated. The formation of nectar is ohseiTed 

 to take place most freely in hot weather, and 

 to be prevented by cold or wet. So great 

 economy is exerci.se'd by the plant that it is 

 only formed at the time when insects' visits 

 would be beneficial, i. e., when the anthers 

 are ripe and shedding their pollen, or when 

 the stigma is mature and ready to receive pol- 

 len. By biologists the visits of bees, butter- 



