1S71. 



NEW ENGLAM) FARMER 



211 



too solid, but in a fine, mellow tilth, where 

 sun, air and moisture can do their work. 



It appears that the more shallow the seed 

 was covered with earth, the more rapidly the 

 sprout made its appearance, and the stronger 

 afterward was the stalk. The deeper the seed 

 lay, the longer it remained before it came to 

 the surface. 



Petri, an authority with which we ^re not 

 much acquainted, but who seems to have given 

 the subject careful attention, gives an experi- 

 ment made on rye, with the following results. 

 The first column shows the depth at which the 

 seed was placed ; the second the number of 

 days that elapsed before it appeared above 

 ground ; the third, the number of plants that 

 came up. 



Depth. Appeared. Ko. of Plants. 



% inch 11 days 7 plants. 



1 " 12 " all " 



2 " 18 " 7 " 



3 " 20 " 6-8 " 



4 " 21 " 4-8 " 



5 " 22 " 3-8 " 



6 " 23 " 1-8 " 



The root stalk, Mr. Petri says, forms itself 

 always next below the surface of the ground, 

 and if we place the grain deep, it must tii-st 

 put out its sprouts to the surface and form its 

 side branches in a near connection with the 

 air. We never find that sucker roots are 

 ranged from below to above, but the contrary. 



It ought to be remembered, in this connec- 

 tion, that \h.Q finer the soil is made the more 

 certainty there is that seeds will come up 

 quickly and strong. 



ANALYSIS OF SOILS AND MANURES. 



Some years ago farmers were encouraged to ex- , 

 pect great practical benefits from the teachings of I 

 science based on analyses of farm soils. In 1851 

 the Ohio Board of Agriculture employed Mr. I 

 David A. Wells "to examine, analyze and report 

 on the nature and composition of the soils of the 

 State." The Board, Mr. Wells, and the public gen- 

 erally were sadly disappointed by the result of his 

 labors. After spending the summer in conducting 

 analyses and comparisons, Mr. Wells made this 

 confession : — 



"We find but little difference in the amount and 

 value of the mineral constituents of the Ohio and 

 the Hampden County, Mass., soils ; if anything, 

 the advantage is on the side of Massachusetts soils." 



And yet he tested some of the richest soil in 

 Ohio, — that of the Scioto Valley — soil that had 

 then been cultivated fifty years, "and now," he 

 says, "with the most ordinary culture, yields on an 

 average, one year with another, eighty bushels of 

 corn to the acre." 



A few years since. Dr. Jas. R. Nichols analyzed 

 some ordinary barn yard manure. He assumed 

 that 



A cord of such manure would weigh 3000 lbs. 



Tlie pure water therein 2456 lbs. 



The pure sand 138 " 



2594 lbs. 



Deducting these worthless substances and there 



remains only 406 lbs. 



Deducting the carbonaceous matter, no better 



than peat, straw, or chaff 332 lbs. 



74 lbs. 

 "and we have left," he says, "only seventy-four 

 pounds of active fertilizing material which has a 

 money value." These fertilizing materials, all that 

 he found in a cord of manure, he proceeds to show 

 may be purchased in the market for three dollars 

 and thirty-five cents. And yet practical farmers 

 continue to use manure in the vicinity of Boston 

 that costs, including hauling, ten, twelve and more 

 dollars per cord, instead of manufacturing it ac- 

 cording to his formula, which is as follows : — 



Crude nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia . . $2.60 

 One and a half bushel of good wood ashes .... 35 



15 lbs. common salt, 10 lbs. of bone dust, 



3 lbs. of gypsum 50 



Peat or muck, say, 10 



Dr. Nichols then says : — 



By substituting nitrate of potassa, or saltpetre, 

 for soda, the compost is greatly improved, while 

 its cost is enhanced. If the .salts are dissolved in 

 water, — those that are soluble, — and the bone in 

 ley, and good muck is employed, a compost is 

 formed very nearly as valuable as seasoned excre- 

 ment. Very nearly, we hav£ said — why is it not 

 of equal value ? 



We have reason to believe it is owing to a mi- 

 nuteness of the subdivision of atoms, which we 

 can neither produce nor coniiirehenil, — a degree of 

 comminution which sets at dctiancc all mechanical 

 and chemical manipulation. Besides this, there is, 

 however, a peculiar condition arising from, or 

 communicated by, the contact of vital forces, which 

 science is incapable of explaining. 



In short, the same salts and organic matter as 

 found in the dung-heap, have a higher money 

 value, and seem to exert a more specific influence 

 upon plants than when presented in artificial mix- 

 tures. 



If, then, there is a value or "condition" in a cord 

 of barn-yard manure, "which," as the Dr. con- 

 fesses, "science is incapable of explaining," may 

 there not be some similar condition, property or 

 combination in special manures that analysis is in- 

 capable of explaining or showing ? 



The proprietors of the "Grafton Mineral Fer- 

 tilizer" published an analysis of the ore from which 

 the fertilizer is made. Assuming this analysis to 

 be correct, Dr. Nichols has expressed the opinion 

 that the Grafton Mineral Fertilizer is worthless, or 

 nearly so. As will be seen by reference to our 

 advertising columns, a large number of fanners in 

 New Hampshire who have carefully experimented 

 with it during the past two years saj' that they 

 have found it a valuable fertilizer. Personally we 

 know nothing of its merits or demerits, but on the 

 recommendations of so many farmers residing in 

 its "own countiy," where a prophet is proverbially 



