474 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Oct. 



gained flesh. The hay in the pitehingplacc, where 

 pressed hard, came out uninjured. Salt and lime 

 do no good where the hay is dry, as moisture is 

 required to change them and give them preserving 

 power. He thinks they are healthy. 



At a late discussion of the subject of hay- 



makinff, by the Little Falls, N. Y., Farmers' 



Club, Mr. Joslyn stated that he had been very 



successful in treating hay with lime and salt 



mixture. 



To four quarts of salt add two quarts of lime ; 

 mix, and of the mixture use three quarts per ton 

 of hay ; scatter over the hay in the mow when the 

 load is half off, and again when the load is otf. 

 Commenced using this mixture iReven years ago, 

 and since that time has not had a sick horse or 

 cow. The hay can be put in green and comes out 

 green, and with no dust. Horses fed on such hay 

 do not have the heaves ; his horses used to be 

 troubled with heaves, but have not had any of this 

 trouble since he commenced using the salt and 

 lime. 



SOILS BUriTNING OUT. 



"It is plain, we think, that lands will not run 

 out of themselves, — but there is no doul)t but they 

 may be run out. An incessant cropping without 

 any return will reduce theirfertility. They cannot 

 forever satisfy the cry, give, giNC, unless some- 

 thing be given back again. Yet Mother Earth is 

 generous other Ijounties, and gives more than she 

 requires. She will kindly loan us the whole of 

 her productions, if we will return them after using. 

 By a strict compliance with this requirement, 

 we may secure her bounties." 



Some farmers appear to favor the belief that 

 there is a natural and incorrigible tendency in 

 all soils to "run out," or grow annually less 

 and less productive, however great may be the 

 attention and care bestowed upon them. This, 

 however, is an error. That land has "run 

 out," and, indeed, is perpetually seen to 

 be doing so, under the careless management 

 of many who style themselves farmers, is a 

 position too apparent to admit of a doubt ; but 

 that this waste of productive energies is at- 

 tributable to any innate tendency to "run out," 

 or become unproductive when properly man- 

 aged, we can no more believe, than that the 

 atmosphere is annually becoming less capable 

 of sustaining animal life. The quantity of 

 oxygen contained in the latter is always the 

 same ; and in all cases fully adequate to the 

 performance of the offices and functions as- 

 signed to it; yet, if we should confnie our- 

 selves to a room containing only so many gal- 

 lons of oxygen, and which might suffice to sus- 

 tain life for a day only, we should not expect 

 to enjoy health, or to retain life, after it had 

 been exhausted. 



So with the soil. If a course of severe 

 cropping is adopted, we find that, after a cer- 



tain time, and after a certain amount of staple 

 has been abstracted from it, its resources be- 

 gin to fail, and finally become exhausted. It 

 has produced all it is capable of producing, 

 and to ensure a continuance of productiveness, 

 that of which it has been deprived must be 

 returned in the form of manure. 



Could all the vegetable matter perfected by 

 an acre of land be returned to it, it would, 

 with the working which cultivated soils gener- 

 ally receive, be more than competent to retain 

 it in its pristine health and vigor, — for plants 

 of all kinds derive a portion of their suste- 

 nance from other sources than the earth, as 

 from the atmosphere, for instance, and perhaps 

 from other sources also, — but this is not done, 

 and, as a purely natural and strictly inevita- 

 ble result, the soils "run out." 



In one of our agricultural publications, a 

 writer, after some very judicious and well- 

 toned remarks on the subject of manuring 

 says : — 



"I still maintain that lands will not run out 

 of themselves. If left in the state of nature, 

 or after having been cleared, if left uncropped, 

 it is well known they will fully retain their nat- 

 ural state of productiveness. It is even as- 

 serted, and with good reason, that lands left 

 uncropped will actually gain in fertility. And 

 why should they not ? Vegetables derive con- 

 siderable part of their nutriment fi'om the at- 

 mosphere, if therefore they are left to rot on 

 the ground they will return to it not only all 

 they derived from it, biit also that portion 

 which was derived fr^i the atmosphere, ex- 

 cept what may escape during their decomposi- 

 tion in the form of gas, which is doubtless 

 considerable. But if instead of being left to 

 rot on the ground the crop be ploughed in, 

 then the soil will be enriched by the whole 

 amount of nutriment which the plants derived 

 from the atmosphere. It would, therefore, be 

 of service to know what crops deri\e the 

 greatest proportion of their noin'ishmcnt from 

 the atmosphere, as there would be an advan- 

 tage in selecting those for green crops to 

 plough in." 



13^ The farmers in Amesbury, Salisbury, 

 and West Newbury, have been deceived and 

 sold by a dashing fellow who has been visiting 

 them with a splendid team, selling patent ma- 

 chines by which great weight could be lifled — 

 a load of hay or a ton of stones at one time — 

 and put in any desired location. The ma- 

 chines were to be delivered, and their notes 

 were taken in payment. The notes were sold 

 in Ilav(;rhill and in second hands become good 

 against the givers, while no value is or ever 

 will be received. 



