60 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
importance of the ice crop for farm use have 
greatly changed, and now ice is a necessity, 
and the ice house is one of the most impor¬ 
tant farm buildings. No one can foretell just 
when this valuable crop will be ready to har¬ 
vest, and therefore the house, tools, etc., 
should be in readiness for the work so soon 
as the ice has made. A delay of a week may 
result in a loss of the crop, a great inconve¬ 
nience and pecuniary loss through the fol¬ 
lowing summer. Be ready for the ice harvest. 
A Rein Holder. 
Many serious accidents occur from a neg¬ 
lect to properly secure the horse’s reins. An 
engraving of a rein holder is here presented; 
devised by Mr. J. Meyer, La Salle Co., Ill., 
it is simple and evidently so convenient 
that it will be of profit to many of our read¬ 
ers. A holder for a dash-board of an ordi- 
A DANDY REIN HOLDER. 
nary wagon-box consists of a board 4 inches 
wide, and 20 inches long, provided with four 
long cleats, two opposite each other, near 
the ends, that pass over the dash-board, and 
hold the rein-board in place. Two kerfs are 
cut, one near the center of each half of the 
rein -board, with a small opening through the 
upper side, for the passage of the reins. The 
manner of using the holder is evident to all. 
On the Loss of Nitrogen in Purchased 
Manures when Applied to Crops. 
BY J. E. LAIVES, LL.D.. F. It. S. 
There is one great advantage that writers 
on the subject of Agriculture in the United 
States possess over the same class in Great 
Britain ; they are sure to obtain an impartial 
hearing. In the United States a farmer, on 
coming across any views, or statements on 
the subject of agriculture that are new to 
him, asks himself the question, are these true ; 
and, if so, what benefit can I derive from 
them ? In Great Britain, from the conflicting- 
interests of the owner of the land, and the 
occupier who pays an annual rent for the 
right to cultivate it, the teachings of science 
are likely to be praised or blamed accordingly 
as they affect the interests of the owner rather 
than those of the cultivator of the soil. A 
few years ago, when public attention was di¬ 
rected to the vast increase in the amount of’ 
agricultural produce sent from the States to 
England, there were many who put forward 
the view that, by a more liberal application 
of capital to the soil, we could grow all the 
wheat required to feed our population. Under 
these circumstances I thought it my duty to 
caution tenant farmers against paying too 
much attention to statements which were 
uttered by those who had no. experience in 
either practical or scientific agriculture. I 
accordingly delivered a lecture before a 
farmers’ club, in which I endeavored to show, 
by the teaching of my own experiments, that 
a higher system of farming was not so cer¬ 
tain a remedy for falling prices as some 
wished them to believe. 
In a letter recently published in a paper 
devoted to field sports, which I have been in¬ 
formed is much read by the owners of land, 
a writer, who signs himself “Agricola,” 
makes the following observations :—‘ ‘ Cer¬ 
tain pamphlets of Mr. Lawes have done in¬ 
tolerable mischief in giving a false coloring 
to the service higher farming might render 
in enabling British farmers to tide over the 
present crisis,” and he goes on to say that we 
have the counterblasts of M. Georges Ville 
to send all unsubstantial utterances beyond 
the domain of rational consideration ! 
If in speaking of the immense influence 
which such nitrogenous manures as Am¬ 
monia, or Nitric Acid produce upon the 
growth of our ordinary cereal crops-, I had 
pointed out that, owing to the high price of 
these substances, it was by no means certain 
the increase in produce would pay for their 
application; and consequently it would be 
desirable for the United States farmer to ex¬ 
ercise some caution in their use. I think it 
is hardly possible to believe, that any one in 
the States could suppose such a caution would 
be productive of evil. 
In another case I was rather amused at a 
correspondence which I lately noticed be¬ 
tween M. Georges Ville and some one who had 
called his attention to my views with regard 
to the sources of the Nitrogen in vegetation, 
which were altogether antagonistic to those 
entertained by M. Ville. M. Ville, in his an¬ 
swer, stated that he had heard of the exis¬ 
tence of a pamphlet on the subject, but that 
he was so much engaged in showing how 
Foreign Competition could be best overcome, 
that he had not time to look into it, but that 
he would do so, in order to see whether it 
would be necessary for him to answer it 
himself, or whether he should leave the task 
to one of his pupils. 
With regard to the subject of Nitrogen, the 
views I am disposed to entertain may be 
briefly summarized as follows :—(1) That the 
soil and not the atmosphere is the main 
source of the Nitrogen which we find in our 
crops. (2) That in the application of manures 
containing Nitrogen, more or less loss of that 
substance is always incurred; and conse¬ 
quently, if the object is to obtain any given 
amount of Nitrogen in the produce, the appli¬ 
cation in the form of manure must be largely 
in excess of the amount required. In every¬ 
thing relating to the competition between 
Eui'ope and the United States ; between the 
vast stores of untouched fertility of the one, 
and the comparatively exhausted stock of 
the other, the question of Nitrogen is one of 
paramount importance. I am not aware my¬ 
self of any writer, practical or scientific, who 
has accepted as a fact, or even entertained 
the idea, that in the application of Nitrogen 
in purchased manures a considerable loss is 
incurred. This loss in a substance of so cost¬ 
ly a nature is a matter of great economic im¬ 
portance. The view generally held, I believe, 
is that no loss takes place, and further that 
by a small application of Nitrogen, a farmer 
not only recovers in the crop all that he has 
applied in the manure, but a good deal more. 
This, according to M. Ville, is the economic 
function of our root crops, which, when well 
supplied with minerals, and a small amount 
of Ammonia, get what more they require 
of this element from the atmosphere. The 
following are the views of this writer with 
regard to a rotation : “That some crops de¬ 
mand all the Nitrogen they require to be 
supplied to them; others require a small 
amount, which enables them to obtain a good 
deal in addition from the atmosphere ; while 
others again can obtain the whole of the Ni¬ 
trogen they need from the atmosphere.” 
This explanation appears so simple and clear 
that it seems quite a pity to say anything 
that could throw a doubt upon its accuracy. 
I will now endeavor to show what loss of 
the Nitrogen in the manure, has taken place 
in our own experiments on the growth of 
potatoes at Rothamsted. In order to measure 
the effect of Nitrogen, and also ascertain 
whether any, and if so what amount of loss 
has taken place, our plan has been to grow 
the crop continuously with mineral manures 
alone. We consider that by this means the 
crop avails itself of all the sources of Nitro¬ 
gen at its disposal, whether they be derived 
from the soil or the atmosphere. When, in 
addition to the same minerals, Nitrogen in 
some soluble form is applied to the potatoes 
in another experiment, we consider that the 
increase in the crop over that grown by min¬ 
erals alone, is due to the Nitrogen of the 
manure; and further, if we deduct the 
amount of Nitrogen in the crop grown by 
minerals alone, from the amount contained 
in the crop grown by minerals and Nitrogen, 
the residue, when compared with the amount 
of Nitrogen applied in the manure, will give 
us the measure of the loss. I must observe, 
however, that this experiment requires to be 
continued for a good many years before any 
safe conclusions can be drawn ; first, be¬ 
cause of the great influence of favorable, or 
unfavorable seasons ; and secondly, because 
it is only by the aid of time that we can as¬ 
certain whether the Nitrogen applied, but not 
recovered in one crop, is available for those 
which succeed. The more favorable is the 
season for the growth of a crop, the better 
will the crop be able to avail itself of the 
stores of manure furnished by the soil and 
atmosphere. At Rothamsted, the season just 
passed was very favorable for the growth of 
potatoes, I therefore select this year’s crop, 
not as indicating what might be the average 
loss of Nitrogen applied in manure, but to 
show how very serious may be the loss, even 
under exceptionally favorable conditions. 
The following table gives the number of 
bushels of potatoes of 50 lbs. each : 
TABLE. 
Bushels per Acre. 
(1) Potash, Soda, Magnesia, Superphosphate.265 
(2) The same as (1) with 400 lba. Salts of Ammonia.. .484 
Gain by addition of Ammonia.219 
It is quite evident that the mineral manures 
enabled the potatoes to gather up a large 
amount of Nitrogen; and that further growth 
was only arrested for want of more Nitro¬ 
gen, is evident by the much larger crop 
grown when a manure containing that sub¬ 
stance was used; this fact is still further 
confirmed by the analyses of the potatoes 
grown by mineral manures alone, which show 
a very low percentage of Nitrogen. Assum¬ 
ing that the ordinary potatoes in a dry state 
contain one per cent of Nitrogen, these po¬ 
tatoes contained one-sixth less than that 
amount, and it is probable that under such 
conditions no further growth was possible. 
We now come to the loss of Nitrogen. The 
400 lbs. of Sulphate and Muriate of Ammonia 
are estimated to furnish about 85 lbs. of 
