498 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 20 
THE SOIL. 
Part XIII. 
Prof. Smith told us, in a general way, 
that the soil is a storehouse of life as 
well as of plant food. Not only are 
earth worms and other insects constantly 
changing the soil particles, but the 
minute bacteria are at work whenever 
the conditions are favorable, changing 
the organic matter we have talked so 
much about, into forms suitable for 
plant food. This work must be gone 
through with before the plants can make 
use of the needed nitrogen. This change 
is called nitrification, and is even more 
important in its relation to nitrogen 
than cooking is to our own food. The 
farmer’s part of the programme is to 
supply the crude nitrogen, then to treat 
the soil so that the best conditions will 
be found, and then to have his land cov¬ 
ered with some growing crop whenever 
nitrification is going on. 
For the past GOO years, it has been 
known that “niter” is a natural product 
of certain rocks and soils. Ever since 
gunpowder came into extended use, there 
has been a great demand for nitrate 
of potash or saltpeter. In Europe, so 
great was this demand that the lead¬ 
ing chemists sought in every way to dis¬ 
cover the secret of its chemical produc¬ 
tion, and laws were made to regulate its 
supply. It was found that the earthen 
floors of stables, farmyards, etc.,—where- 
ever manure or drainage had been 
soaked into the soil—when mixed with 
ashes and leached with water, gave more 
or less niter or saltpeter. In France for 
many years, the government reserved 
the right to remove such soils once a 
year, while each parish was forced to 
contribute a certain weight of wood 
ashes with which to treat this soil. Thus 
the nation wasted, as gunpowder, the 
plant food that should have gone to 
enrich the land. Sweden went even 
further than this, and made every farmer 
pay as a tax a certain weight of salt¬ 
peter out of which gunpowder for 
“national defense” was made. Happily 
in our day, the world’s peace is no 
longer on a gunpowder basis. It is still 
on a nitrogen basis, however, for on the 
cheapness and abundance of that ele¬ 
ment, will depend the world’s supply of 
food. The clover plant is mightier than 
the cannon! 
In these old times, the ordinary way 
of making this niter was to make a pile 
of rich earth well mixed with manure or 
other organic matter. To this was 
added ashes, and the whole mass kept 
well stirred up and moist. After the 
niter formed, it was washed out. South¬ 
ern men have shown me places where, 
during our Civil War, they made these 
niter beds in this way to provide salt¬ 
peter for the Southern powder makers. 
Of course, as we have said, great efforts 
were made by scientific men to under¬ 
stand the principles on which this nitrifi¬ 
cation took place, because, if that were 
understood, it would be possible to 
carry on the manufacture in a really 
scientific way. Many able men believed 
for a long time that the niter was formed 
from the nitrogen and oxygen in the air. 
They explained the nitrification of or¬ 
ganic matter, by saying that nitrogen 
was driven off by decay, and that it com¬ 
bined with the oxygen in the air. If this 
could be true, one of the great prob- 
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lems of agriculture would be forever set¬ 
tled, for when chemists once discovered 
the exact conditions under which this 
combination takes place, nitrogen for 
agricultural purposes would be as cheap 
as the air itself—a great deal cheaper 
than water in a season of drought. Great 
hopes were at one time pinned to this 
and similar theories that nitrification 
was due to direct chemical changes ; but 
as further studies were made, it became 
evident, beyond any doubt, that a living 
organism had a part in this important 
work of nitrification. 
It was first shown that the action of 
bacteria produced the wonderful changes 
that take place in fermentation and de¬ 
cay. These bacteria, or yeasts, are 
simply wonderfully small living cells 
which fully make up for their small size 
by the remarkable rapidity with which, 
under favorable conditions, they multi¬ 
ply. It occurred to Pasteur, in 1862, 
that possibly this soil nitrification might 
be due to much the same agency that 
made cider into vinegar, or caused meat 
to decay. The study of the subject was 
slowly carried on until leading chemists 
were at last fully convinced that the 
soil is a factory, as well as a storehouse, 
and that these little bacteria represent 
the workmen that stand between the 
plant and the indigestible organic mat¬ 
ter. Without giving too much space to 
the more complicated side of this mat¬ 
ter, it is enough to say that according to 
present theories, nitrification takes 
place in two stages ; each stage being 
performed by a distinct organism. By 
one organism, the organic matter is 
changed into a new form, and from this 
new form another organism changes it 
to the soluble nitrate. This, however, 
is of minor importance for us now. We 
speak of it to show how vast and com¬ 
plicated are the problems involved in 
this process, and how, as these wonder¬ 
ful bacteria are studied more and more, 
newer and simpler means of securing 
nitrogen are likely to be found. Only 
last week, a correspondent suggested 
bringing a small amount of the soil of a 
clover field from Delaware in the hope 
of thus introducing the bacteria needed 
to maintain that crop. A few years ago, 
how such a thing would have been 
laughed at. Yet in the light of scien¬ 
tific research, who will deny that it may 
not be a sensible and practical sugges¬ 
tion V It is simply carrying out on a 
large scale, what the dairyman does 
with his “ starter.” 
CULTIVATING IN A DROUGHT. 
An Experience in Iowa. 
I can not agree with Fred Grundy, 
page 439, that cultivation of corn or 
other crops during a severe drought, is 
harmful, but, rather, claim that it is 
at such a time imperatively necessary. 
Last year, not a drop of rain fell on my 
potato field from July 3 to September 6, 
and no dew. The ground had been 
deeply plowed early in April, and har¬ 
rowed almost as fast as plowed ; then 
the pulverizer was run over the surface 
once a week up to planting time. May 
20 to June 1, we followed the planter 
with the smoothing harrow, and every 
week as long as the tops would allow 
us to get through the rows, the ground 
was stirred with either harrow, vs eeder 
or cultivator, and during the most of 
June, both cultivator and weeder were 
used each week. Parts of the field were 
cultivated as often as once in four days. 
We harvested 200 bushels of tubers to 
the acre—the average yield here was 
not 20 bushels, and 50 bushels was a 
very exceptional crop. 
Our corn crop was handled in nearly 
the same manner up to about July 1, 
and made a fine growth of stalks, well 
set with ears, standing green and rank 
after many pieces around it were entirely 
destroyed. Owing to the extra work 
demanded by the potatoes, we were 
forced to lay it by, and in doing so lost 
the crop. We had moisture to within 
two inches of the surface as long as it 
was kept stirred, but commenced losing 
it as soon as we stopped. In two weeks 
time, while we could find moisture close 
to the surface in the potato field where 
the ground had been stirred, just over 
the fence in the corn field, the ground 
was dry and hard. Our cultivation was 
all done with the harrow, Planet Jr. 12- 
tooth with pulverizer, Breed’s weeder 
and Planet Jr. No. 6, keeping the surface 
level up to the time of hilling or laying 
by, when we made a broad, low hill, 
with a depression at the row. 
Experiments conducted at the Iowa 
Station with corn, sweet corn and pota¬ 
toes showed that crops cultivated once a 
week during the 48 days’ drought, made 
a full crop, while those which were given 
only ordinary culture, were an entire 
failure. At the station at Lincoln, Neb., 
continuous shallow culture, creating a 
dust-mulch, is next to, if not irrigation. 
Iowa. K. B. VAX ORNAM. 
What They Do in Virginia. 
The R. N.-Y. asks the opinion of its 
readers on the conclusion reached by 
Fred Grundy that cultivation of corn 
during a severe drought is harmful. 
Why should we cultivate our soil at all ? 
Primarily to prepare a suitable seed-bed 
for the embryo plant. And here is where 
I believe that an hour of preparation is 
worth more than two of reparation there¬ 
after. Once the plant is established, a 
different factor altogether comes into 
play. We (at least I do) cultivate now, 
in the first place, to set a trap for what¬ 
ever rain may fall. I don’t wish it to 
slide over the top of my land, and rush 
to parts unknown. When it comes, I 
want it to stay. In the second place, I 
cultivate my soil to prevent the escape 
of the moisture that is present. Every 
time I stir the soil, I lose some moisture. 
This fact is evident to any one that sees 
the moist soil I stir up rapidly dry be¬ 
hind me. It becomes dust, destroys the 
capillarity, and pretty effectually stops 
the egress of moisture from beneath. 
What more can I do ? As long as these 
conditions exist, further cultivation 
would simply mean further loss of 
(Continued on next page.) 
Ittiscrilancous' 
LOOK OUT FOR BREAKERS AHEAD 
when pimples, 
eruptions, boils, 
and like manifes¬ 
tations of impure 
blood appear. They 
wouldn’t appear if 
your blood were 
pure and your sys¬ 
tem in the right 
condition. They 
show you what you 
need—a good blood- 
purifier; that’s what 
you get when you 
ike Dr. Pierce’s 
;olden Medical 
liscovery. 
It carries health 
with it. All Blood, 
Skin and Scalp Dis¬ 
eases, from a com¬ 
mon Blotch, or Eruption, to the worst 
Scrofula, are cured by it. It invigorates 
the liver and rouses every organ into 
healthful action. In the most stubborn 
forms of Skin Diseases, such as Salt- 
rheum, Eczema, Tetter, Erysipelas, Boils 
and kindred ailments, and with Scrofula, 
in every shape, and all blood-taints, no 
matter from what cause arising, it is an 
unequaled remedy. 
SCROFULOUS ABSCESSES. 
Mrs. Belle Sweeney, of Flat Top , Mercer 
Co., IV. Va., writes: “About four years ago I 
took scrofula, and did 
everything that doctors 
and others prescribed, 
but only got worse. 
Several abscesses formed 
about my neck and 
breast, dishargiug a 
quantity of matter. I 
got so weak I could 
scarcely walk about the 
house. I read all the 
medical works I could 
get hold of, and, among 
the rest, read some of 
your works. You de¬ 
scribed my case, and , 
recommended Doctor^R 
Pierce’s Golden Medical 
Discovery with his 
‘ Pleasant Pellets.’ So 
I procured some and commenced using them and 
soon began to mend. In six months my sores 
were all healed up. I am forty-five years old 
and believe I am as stout as I ever was in my 
life. I used about one dozen bottles of the 
‘ Golden Medical Discovery ’ with the * Pel¬ 
lets,’ and used nothing else after I began using 
your medicines.” 
Mrs. Sweeney. 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, New York. 
Practical Farm Chemistry. 
T. Greiner. This is intended for the prac¬ 
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all its statements are based upon true scien¬ 
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of plant food, both organic and mineral; the 
available sources of supply of both manures 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets. New York. 
