THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



235 



would also be in the growth of all the cereals 

 and other plants containing a large per centage 

 of silica. Will Mr. B. examine and explain 

 this theory, not from what we say about it, but 

 from the article itself, published in the last 

 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England?" 



Not having had the perusal of the Journal 

 here spoken of, I cannot express my opinion of 

 "this theory" as there advocated. But judg- 

 ing from observation and well known facts, I 

 think the probabilities are altogether in favor 

 of the "potash theory;" though there is no 

 question but that ammonia — a volatile alkali — 

 like the fixed ones, potash, and soda, does pos- 

 sess solvent powers; and that it may act on 

 silex and other mineral substances in the soil, 

 and in some degree render them soluble. If 

 ammonia is the agent that renders the silex — 

 the comminuted particles of the white flint, or 

 quartz rock — soluble, so that it may be taken 

 up by the plant, thereby giving the stems suffi- 

 cient strength to preserve their upright posture ; 

 then we might always expect to find the stifTest 

 straw and grasses, where the ammonia most 

 abounds. Oh the other hand, where ammonia 

 least abounds, we should expect to find the 

 weakest and most lodged straw and grass. But 

 all experience and observation prove the exact 

 reverse of this, as can be vouched by hundreds 

 of observing persons in the Granite State. 



Many a barn is so situated, that the wash 

 from the yard strays over a portion of the 

 mowing land; the grass upon which is rank 

 and succulent, in the early season, before the 

 proper time for cutting; but it lodges badly, 

 and made into hay, it is exceedingly light in 

 weight, in proportion to its bulk. It contains 

 too much organic, and is deficient in inorganic 

 or mineral matter. There is an excess of am- 

 monia in the soil, derived from the wash of the 

 barn-yard. But according to this new theory, 

 the herdsgrass on such land, instead of being 

 prostrated ere it is fully headed out, ought to 

 stand up stiff as cane poles. 



The effect of ammonia on plarrts it to induce 

 luxuriant stems and foliage, as is the case with 

 grass in the immediate vicinity of manure heaps. 

 By a sufficient application of sand and wood 

 ashes the evil is corrected, in a good degree, 

 and the grass is prevented from lodging. 



Many of our farmers are in the habit of 

 carting out their manure in the autumn, and 

 depositing it in large heaps on the inverted sod, 

 where corn is to be planted the following sea- 

 son. In the spring, these heaps are subdivided 

 into smaller heaps, placed over the field at suit- 

 able distances from each other, then spread and 

 harrowed in. The ground is then planted. 



Next season the land is ploughed, and sown 

 with wheat; and on these spots where the dung 

 lay in heaps, the grain almost invariably lodges; 

 the straw is rusty or mildewed, and the kernel 

 shrunk. Now these bad effects are caused by 

 excess of ammonia in the soil, where the heaps 

 of manure lay through the winter. I presume 

 there is also a larger amount of soluble mineral 

 matter in the soil, where the heaps were, than 

 on the other portions of the land. But, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Lawes' experiments, any amount, 

 great or small, of mineral matter does not af- 

 fect the wheat crop. This over luxuriance is 

 due to excess of ammonia; but, according to 

 the theory under consideration, this same am- 

 monia should prepare soluble silica so abun- 

 dantly, that the crop in lieu of being prostrated 

 by its own weight, ought to stand up as " stiff' 

 as a poker !" 



Others of our farmers plough their sward 

 land in the fall, or spring; cart on from their 

 barn cellars forty or fifty loads per acre of this 

 strong green manure, rich in anmionia; work 

 it in with harrow or cultivator, and then plant 

 with corn. The crop ranges from fifty to se- 

 venty-five bushels. Now is there not a much 

 larger destruction of ammonia in this crop of 

 corn than in a crop of thirty bushels of wheat ? 

 There is undoubtedly a much larger amount 

 of silica in the stalks, leaves and cobs of the 

 corn than there is in the straw and kernel of 

 the wheat. 



Admit the theories which Mr. Harris is ad- 

 vocating, to be true, and the conclusion is in- 

 evitable that our farmers are working wron^ 

 end foremost. If they wish to raise a larg 

 crop of wheat, they should sow their green ma- 

 nured land with wheat, instead of first plan! 

 ing with corn, as the amount of ammonia i?j 

 vastly greater than it will be the succeedm 

 season; and, ammonia being the solvent of sili- 

 ca, there will be an abundant supply in the 

 soil to prevent the prostration of the wheat ! 

 Beautiful, however, as may be the theories of 

 Mr. H. our farmers will be slow in adopting 

 them; they will for the present let the corii 

 crop precede the wheat. 



I have seen hundreds of crops of rye and 

 wheat on burnt land, most of them heavy, and 

 scarce ever saw one lodged. A few years ago, 

 a farmer in this town, felled, in the month 01 

 June, the trees on an acre and a half of land. 

 In August they were burned; and, the seaso n 

 being very dry, the fire made a clean sweep of 

 every thing except the bodies of the larger 

 trees; these were cut up and piled and burned. 

 The ashes were spread, seed sown, and all har- 

 rowed in. Next summer, the yield was sixty - 

 six bushels, or forty-four bushels to the acre. 



