246 TALKS ON MANURES. 



MANURE AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 



The old notion that there is any real chemical necessity for a 

 rotation of crops is unfounded. Wheat can be grown after wheat, 

 and barley after barley, and corn after corn, provided we use the 

 necessary manures and get the soil clean and in the right mechani- 

 cal condition. 



" What, then, do we gain by a rotation ? " asked the Deacon. 



Much every way. A good rotation enables us to clean the land. 

 We can put in different crops at different seasons. 



" So we could," broke in the Deacon, " if we sowed wheat after 

 wheat, barley after barley, and corn after corn." 



True, but if we sowed winter-wheat after winter- wheat, there 

 would not be time enough to clean the land. 



" Just as much as when we sow wheat after oats, or peas, or 

 barley." 



"True again, Deacon," I replied, "but we are supposed to have 

 cleaned the land while it was in com the previous year. I say sup- 

 posed, because in point of fact, many of our farmers do not half 

 clean their land while it is in corn. It is the weak spot in our 

 agriculture. If our land was as clean as it should be to start with, 

 there is no rotation so convenient in this section, as corn the first 

 year, barley, peas, or oats the second year, followed by winter- 

 wheat seeded down. But to carry out this rotation to the best ad- 

 vantage we need artificial manures." 



"But will they pay?" asks the Deacon. 



"They will pay well, provided we can get them at a fair price 

 and get fair prices for our produce. If we could get a good su- 

 perphosphate made from Charleston phosphates for 1 cent perlb., 

 and nitrate of soda for 3| or 4 cents per lb., and the German pot- 

 ash-salts for cent per lb., and could get on the average $1.25 per 

 bushel for barley, and $1.75 for good white wheat, we could use 

 these manures to great advantage." 



" Nothing like barn-yard manure," says the Deacon. 



No doubt on that point, provided it is good manure. Barn-yard 

 manure, whether rich or poor, contains all the elements of plant- 

 food, but there is a great difference between rich and poor manure. 

 The rich manure contains twice or three times as much nitrogen 

 and phosphoric acid as ordinary or poor manure. And this is the 

 reason why artificial manures are valuable in proportion to the 

 nitrogen and phosphoric acid that they contain in an available con- 

 dition. When we use two or three hundred pounds per acre of a 

 good artificial manure we in effect, directly or indirectly, convert 



