242 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIEK. 



Mat 



CUIiTIVATION WITHOUT MAWUBE. 

 HEN land is once in 

 good condition, much 

 may be done towards 

 keeping it in that con- 

 dition, by the ut;<} of 

 other means than the 

 application of manures. 

 These means may not 

 always be cheaper than 

 manures, but they are 

 within the reach of the 

 cultivator, when it may 

 not be possible for him 

 to obtain manure. We 

 will specify several of 

 the means which may 

 be resorted to. 

 First. A judicious rotation of crops. This 

 will not add much to the fertility of the soil, 

 but it will prolong it. Some plants draw their 

 nourishment more largely from the atmos- 

 phere than do others. Thus clover and tur- 

 nips derive their nourishment from the atmos- 

 phere much more largely than do cereals. Of 

 course they exhaust the soil less, and should 

 therefore be followed by cereals. Potatoes 

 appropriate a large amount of potash, and may 

 properly be followed by some crop into whose 

 composition lime enters more largely. 



Second. Mixing soils. Meadow soil which 

 yields only sour grasses, when once thor- 

 oughly drained may be greatly improved by 

 mixing with it sand or gravel. These change 

 its texture, and let in the air. They furnish 

 silex to the stems of grasses and oats, and 

 improve their quality. So the mixing meadow 

 soil or muck with sandy loam, furnishes the 

 humus which is wanting in such soil, and serves 

 to retain moisture and ammonia. When such 

 soils are thoroughly mixed, the compound soil 

 thus produced is entirely different from either 

 soil before the mixture was effected, and may 

 be used to raise crops that could be raised 

 profitably upon neither. 



A similar result follows from the mixture of 

 clay and sand. The mechanical condition of 

 both is improved, and a soil is produced which 

 will yield fine crops of grasses and clover. A 

 mixture of clay, sand and muck will produce 

 a fine soil for most garden purposes. If such 

 a compound soil is thoroughly mixed and made 

 fine, and quickened by the wash of the house, 



a good crop of garden vegetables may be an- 

 nually produced. Fresh muck or clay or both 

 should be added from time to time. Many a 

 village family might in this way continue to 

 have a profitable garden, where manure can- 

 not be obtained. 



In all cases where attempts are made to cul- 

 tivate in this way, thorough mixing and pul- 

 verizing of the soil is indispensable, as is fre- 

 quent stirring of the soil in the after cultiva- 

 tion. The nitrogen is not in the soil. It has 

 cot been put in with the manure, but must be 

 drawn from the atmosphere, and this can be 

 done only by frequently presenting new sur- 

 faces of the soil to the action of the air. Hence 

 the less manure the'greater the necessity for 

 frequent ploughing or stirring of the soil. 



Third. Turf, upon a tolerably moist soil 

 that has been occasionally top-dressed with 

 manure, or treated with plaster, becomes 

 a solid mat of roots. This may be made the 

 means of yielding good crops of potatoes, corn 

 or other cereals. 



The quantity of vegetable matter capable of 

 being converted into plant food, in an acre of 

 turf, is much greater than most persons imag- 

 ine. An acre contains 43,560 feet of surface. 

 At one foot deep, this would be 43,560 cubic 

 feet, or 348 cords. Turf eight inches deep 

 would yield 226 cords. Suppose this to be 

 half vegetable matter there would be 113 

 cords. If this had not been ploughed for 

 eight or ten years it would be more than half 

 vegetable — dead or living. In many old 

 meadows or mowing fields, the roots become 

 so thick, that the culms of grass they produce 

 are both fine and short. The turf upon such 

 lands is worth more as a manure for other 

 crops than for the grass it yields. The 113 

 cords of vegetable matter it contains will make 

 a generous dressing for corn, hoed crops or 

 grains. If after it is broken up, a small quan- 

 tity of ashes, of lime, of plaster, or of all three 

 be added, what more can be needed? Let 

 such a turf be ploughed deeply, and worked 

 fine with a Shares' harrow, and roller, and 

 furrowed for the rows, and ashes or lime, or 

 superphosphate be put in ihe furrows, and we 

 may reasonably expect a good crop of corn. 

 But this vegetable matter will not all be rotted 

 down into plant food in one year, and another 

 thorough ploughing and working will give a 

 good crop of wheat or oats — and then it will 



