t* 
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p 
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DO 
OOBE’S BUBAL HEW-Y©B&ER. 
* 
Hemisphere are migratory, most of them 
pre-eminently so, some only partially; while 
those of the Southern Hemisphere are hardly, 
if at all, migratory. Most of the traveling 
species congregate in flocks more or less 
numerous, and sometimes enormous, to per¬ 
form their seasonal jour-nays, and continue 
t 'j us gregarious while in their winter quarters. 
At the seasons of migration their loud trum¬ 
peting cries are heard from vast altitudes 
in the air, as the flights pass over in V-like 
array, like those of wild geese. Maj. Long, 
writing of the American Sand-hill Crane 
(G. Mexicuna), remarks—and his observa¬ 
tions apply equally to other species—that: 
They afford one of the most beautiful in¬ 
stances of animal motion we can anywhere 
meet with. They fly at a great hight, and, 
wheeling in circles, appear to rest without 
effort on the surface of an aerial current, by 
whose eddies they are borne about in an end¬ 
less series of revolutions. Bach individual 
describes a large circle in trie air, independ¬ 
ently of its associates, and uttering loud, dis¬ 
tinct, and repeated cries. They continue 
thus to wing their flight upwards, gradually 
receding from the earth, until they become 
mere specks to the sight, and finally disap¬ 
pear altogether, leaving ouly the discorda nt 
music of their concert to fall faintly on the 
ear, exploring 
Heavens not its own, and world* unknown before. 
These birds rise with some difficulty, run¬ 
ning forward two or three paces before gain¬ 
ing the use of their wings, and during flight 
they extend both neck and legs, their feet 
showing beyond the tail-tip. Ou alighting 
they also run two or three paces. Mr. Gould 
remarks of the Australian species that: 
When near the ground the action of the 
wings is very labored ; but when soaring in 
a scries of circles at such a hight in the air in¬ 
to be almost imperceptible to human vision, 
it appears to be altogether as easy and grace¬ 
ful ; it Is while performing these gyrations 
thatit frequently utters its loud, croaking cry. 
WHY IS TOBACCO EXHAUSTING! 
Why is the growing of tobacco considered 
to be so exhausting to the soil '( What are 
the elements of plant food required hi the 
growth of tobacco ?—A Subscriber. 
In answer to our correspondent, we make 
the following extract from a report made by 
Prof. 8. W. Johnston to the Connecticut 
State Board of Agriculture ; 
The practical issues of thesp considerations 
is to give great probability to the view that 
the tobacco crop is fed unnecessarily (and 
wastefully ?) high. 
Matters Removed by Various Crops from an Acre. 
Description. 
I IS i 
*C 1 . 
rt to 
t\A S 
g 
T 1 A 
«;2 
a ■‘3 
m (L 
<£ 
B 
03 
ui 
t> 
& 
03 
3 
43 
l/i 
C3 
o 
Soda. 
i 
B 
_ K 
15 c 
C5 o 
1 Qq> 
1 5 & 
• 3 
co 
Nitrogen. 
Tobacco. 
Leaves, 3,800 Ids., (1,300 
lhs. dry.). 
Ill 7K 
73 
u 
1 71 
u 
306 
49 
Stalks, 1,1001b#., dry... 
8 15 
13 
47 10 ' 
9&X 
83 
Total. 
17 W 
88 
19 i 
11815 
snx 
82 
Rye. 
Grain, 32 bu.—1,900 lbs. 
1115 
1 
3V 
10 I 
K Xi 
31 
32 
Straw, 3,800 lbs. 
3 7 
12 j 
•» 1 
29 1 
5 
155 
9 
Total. 
4'23 i 
13 
8X 
39 
5)1 180 1 
41 
Indian Corn. 
Grain, 75 bii.=4,2l)<J lbs. 
I I 
123 
IX 
;X' 
14 
1 
. 
07 
Stalks & le’v-s, 8,000 lbs. 
20 30,'Z 
4J i 
21 
183 
4 878 
“ r s 
Total,..... 
21 53-; 41V 
38X 
147 
5 |430 | 
lUo 
Hay. 
2% tons . 
1 1 i 
2,23 43 | 
i8x; 
1 
90 
20 ‘873 
73 
POTATOES. 
Tubers, 300 busuels.... 
11:32 ! 
4 | 
7 1 
1011 
2 
173 
58 
Tobacco has the reputation of being a very 
exhausting crop. This repute may be de¬ 
served when the crop is considered from 
certain points of view, but it is not deserved 
when we regard what it removes from the 
soil. In the table above I give a statement 
of the export in case of a number of standard 
crops, in comparison with tobacco. 
It is seen from the figures that the export 
in an average crop of tobacco leaf, so far as 
concerns the aggregate of matters taken 
from the farm, is not so much as in a heavy 
crop. It is in fact not much more than in 
rye when grain and straw are sold off, or 
than iu potatoes. It is true that the above 
figures refer to a yield of rye, corn, hay and 
potatoes much heavier than is commonly 
realized ; but 3'2 bushels of rye, 75 of corn, 
SOI) of potatoes, and %% tons of hay are 
simply very good crops, and are frequently 
obtained in good seasons when the ground is 
of tlie right character and is well manured. 
The common crops of 15 bushels rye, 30 com, 
tons hay, and 100 bushels potatoes, should 
be compared with a tobacco crop of not 
more than 000 or S00 lbs., such as I am in¬ 
formed is usually obtained in the Southern 
States on unmanured or slightly manured 
land. If the care and skill that arc bestowed 
on the fertilization of our tobacco fields were 
applied to the other crops, the returns would 
not fall short of the figures 1 have given. 
In case of tobacco I assume that the let ves 
only are sold off the farm. The stalks may 
be, and commonly are, returned to the land 
in compost. Compared with a large rye 
crop, we observe that the tobacco leaf re¬ 
moves more of every ingredient except phos¬ 
phoric add, but in comparison with the hu ge 
hay crop, we see that the latter removes 
more of every element save lime and sul¬ 
phuric acid. The farmer who should raise a 
crop of 33 bushels of com, and sell it and the 
stalks also off the farm, would export more 
than goes off in 1300 lbs. of iobacco leaves, 
save what could be replaced by a bushel of 
lime and half a bushel of plaster. 
Tobacco is commonly reputed to remove 
from the land a great deal of potash. Hay 
and jKitatoeH, however, considerably exceed 
' it in this respect, and less potash is required 
for the entire tobacco crop than for the entire 
corn crop. 
Lime is the substance which tobacco takes 
off more largely than any crop in our table. 
Clover, however, requires and carrie?, away 
more lime than tobacco. 
Phosphoric acid is exported in the tobacco 
crop at the small rat e of 8 lbs. per acre. The 
nitrogen sold off is but 50 lbs. per acr e. 
Ih Tobacco an Exhausting Crop ?—We 
have seen that the substances which the 
tobacco crop (leaf) takes out of the land are 
not such in total amount or in kind as to 
make their restoration by fertilizers difficult 
or costly. 
This restoration may be. metre than effected 
by adding to one acre the tobacco stalks, and 
the following substances:—500 lbs. Uuanape 
guano, or 800 lbs. dry fish guano; 500 lbs. 
potash salts (Kaiuite); 50 lbs. quicklime. 
It is certain, however, that to sustain the 
producing power of the soil, more of every 
fertilizing element must be added than a 
crop receives, because 1st, the roots of the 
crop cannot occupy every portion of the soil, 
especially in the early stages of growth, anti 
M, certain fertilizing elements (the nitrates) 
are liable to waste from the soil by washing 
or decomposition, and may thus partially 
escape the plant. 
How much more of the fertilizing matters 
must be added than the crop removes it is 
not easy to ascertain. What would suffice 
mi one soil might not on another ; enough for 
a wet season might easily be insufficient for 
a dry year. 
The demand made on the soil or on fertil¬ 
izers by the tobacco crop, is, for curtain rea¬ 
sons, greater than that made by other crops 
which receive more of nearly every kind of 
plant food. Hay is more exhausting than 
tobacco as measured by total export from the 
soil, but grass grows the whole year thro ugh- 
ont, save when the ground is frozen or cov¬ 
ered with snow, or for more tiutfi night 
months. 
The period of active growth which is re¬ 
quired to mature a hay crop, begins indeed 
iu April, aud is finished by July, a period of 
three months, but during the ye? tr previous, 
for at least live months, in east > of the first 
crop, the gross plants liave bo en getting a 
hold upon the soil, filling it wif h their roots, 
and storing up food iu their ’root-stocks or 
bulbs, for the more rapid aftergrowth. To¬ 
bacco, on the other hand, canmot ho set out 
in the field before about t'ne filth of June, aud 
should be in the shed in, about three months, 
its growth then must be a very rapid one, 
and the supplies of for id in the soil must be 
very abundant so tha t the quick-extending 
room may be met at •every point with their 
necessary pabulum. A crop of 1,S60 lbs. dry 
leaves requires iffient 1,10(1 lbs. of dry stalks 
to support the leaver making a total of 3,300 
lbs. of dry vegetable matter. As new hay 
contains not less than one-sixth of moisture, 
we Increase the above dry weight of the 
tobacco crop, by one-sixth, to make a fail’ 
comparison, and obtain as the yield of an 
average tobacco field 2,750 lbs, of air-dry 
vegetable mattes-, or more than tons. 
The matter stands then thus:—An acre of 
iirst-i’ate grass land yields, as the result of 
eight month/ growth, 2% tons of crop, while 
the tobacco land must yield tons in three 
months. 
If the above data are correct, the a/verage 
rate of growth of tobacco is greater than that 
of a corresponding hay crop, in the ratio of 
9.7. The real disparity is, however, much 
greater. The principal growth of tobacco 
is accomplished in the hottest summer 
weather, and in a period of some forty or 
fifty days. Very heavy mauurings are there¬ 
fore essential to provide for its nourishment, 
and the more so, because the best tobacco 
lands are. light in texture, and may suffer 
great loss by drainage and evaporation, or 
decomposition. 
We conclude then, that, as regards exports 
of crop-constituents, tobacco is not more ex¬ 
hausting than some other standard crops, 
but from the rapidity of its growth, it re¬ 
quires very heavy mauurings, and from its 
short occupancy of the soil makes occasion 
for much waste of the soluble or decomposa¬ 
ble ingredients of the soil, and of manures. 
DEEP VS. SHALLOW PLOWING. 
There is still a difference of opinion in this 
country as to the policy of deep plowing. 
Tlie shallow plowing advocates claim the 
acquisition to their ranks of men who have 
long advocated deep plowing. We believe 
that the difference of opinion, and in the 
results of experiments, is largely due to lack 
of knowledge as to how and when and where 
deep plowing should be performed. In En¬ 
gland a Mr. Evehrhkt) has been opposing 
deeper cultivation of the soil. Mr. Mf.chi 
thinks ho is thereby doing much harm to the 
cause of agricultural progress and insists that 
the present disturbance of soil is too shallow. 
We copy Mr. MeciII’s interesting article. 
He says :—I say “ ‘oil,’’ because iu Nature it 
comprises what we call soil and subsoil. The 
more proper definition would bo “ disturbed 
and undisturbed soil.” Why plants or trees 
prefer the upper and disturbed soil is obvious. 
Disturb, aerate, and manure the subsoil, and 
then the plant or tree will multiply its fibers 
of roots in that lower soil, especially as the 
surface becomes more heated and dry. I 
have a striking proof of this in my back yard, 
where there was once a piggery. I filled up 
the space some six feet deep with ordinary 
clay soil, aud planted on it some aueubas, 
laurels, bays, arbor-vitses and box, in order 
to hide a stable wall. Although the plants 
were small, their growth has been so rapid 
and luxuriant that they ore from ten to fif¬ 
teen feet high, and they absolutely wedge or 
press each other with a development which 
surprises, and also proves that if the lower 
soil is both disturbed and amply manured, a 
small surface space is sufficient to maintain 
an immense vegetable growth. They have 
found in the deeper soil the needful food hi 
some droppings from the ancient piggery. 
As regards the removal or transplanting of 
fruit trees, it Is only another proof of the 
necessity for more deeply disturbing and 
manuring the soil. By removing them after 
having exhausted their surface food, they 
thus go to a new supply and prosper accord¬ 
ingly. The removal would not be necessary 
if they had an ancient piggery or well ma¬ 
ne red soil to feed on deep below the surface. 
Said my bailiff to me this morning, “ Do you 
know why these cabbages don’t grow as they 
generally do?” I said “No.” “Well,” he 
replied, “ because we omitted to follow the 
plow with a second one going some inches 
deeper. We were busy and could not spare 
the horses, and now the roots are on an 
untilled bottom.” 
The fact is, the plowmen are always too 
glad to escape the subsoiling, because it is 
harder work. The loss in crop by late and 
shallow plowing is, taking the whole country, 
something fearful. The roots of crops soon 
strike through the thin furrow-slice and come 
on to what 1 call a paved floor, and then tlie 
palmand sickly plants give evidence of their 
uncomfortable and unprofitable condition. 
?J»n y a mangel crop has failed to make its 
appearance, because the thin furrow-slice 
has been dried through. We never miss our 
plant of mangel, because the soil is deeply 
doublc or trench plowed before winter, and 
it thus holds and gives moisture, as well as 
being a good filter in wet weather. 
I attribute the generally satisfactory ap¬ 
pearance of all my crops to very deep culti¬ 
vation, and I would make it much deeper 
had I steam-power, keeping, however, the 
lower soil still under the..older cultivated 
surface. 
1 consider it both a national misfortune and 
disgrace that our general agricultural pie 
crust iB only as thick as an old family Bible 
It ought to be as deep as our tables are high, 
uud it. is so in the case of Mr. Campbell, of 
Buscot, who, after draining four feet deep, 
cultivates with thirty-home- pow - r engines 
thirty-six inches deep. 
We are now a I to manure and plow 
our land for transplanting cabbage after 
green tares mowed off. After spreading 
twenty loads per acre of good, rich shed ma¬ 
nure (no rain on it), two horses will be on the 
first plow, the second one, without its breast, 
following in the track of the first one, and 
drawn by four strong horses. That is the 
way to grow maximum crops. Draining, 
where required, should precede deep culti¬ 
vation. 
It should always be remembered that wc 
cannot manure the subsoil through the top 
soil, for a few inches deep of the latter have 
the power to arrest and fix a much larger 
quantity of mammal elements (especially 
ammonia, phosphate ol' lime, and potash) 
than is ever applied in ordinary farming. 
This is why clover and other deep-rooted 
plants can only be grown at long intervals, 
for only a very small portion of manorial 
elements can pass the surface soil or escape 
being fixed by it. Tlie raw and unaltered 
appearance of undisturbed soil immediately 
beneath the plowed land gives unmistakable 
confirmatory evidence of the fact stated. 
Liebig and Way explain the cause of this 
flxiug. 
It is therefore rnfite certain that if wo 
desire to manure the subsoil, the manure 
must be Incorporated with the subsoil, ortho 
subsoil must be intermixed with the surface 
soil. The Rev, 8. Smith of Lois-Weedon, 
used to throw a ide the cultivated soil and 
incorporate the manure with the undisturbed 
subsoil. 
-- : -- 
SILK CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 
The Sacramento Weekly Record of July 
18, has the following Although, through 
bad faith in the administration of the laws 
for the encouragement, of silk culture in our 
State, this important industry has been set 
back for years, still we have never for a mo¬ 
ment despaired of its final great success. 
Time has demonstrated that those who first 
undertook the feeding of the silkworm a few 
years ago in our State made two great mis¬ 
takes, either of which could pot. have proved 
otherwise than fatal to success. One of those 
mistakes was in the choice of location, and 
the other was In attempting to conduct the 
business upon too large a scale. Silk culture, 
like the cultivation of the vine for wine, 
should never be attempted on the rich alluvial 
lands of our river bottoms. Its natural home 
is the foot hills, wdiere the soil is compara¬ 
tively light and less fertile, and where the 
prevailing winds, 'either from the north or 
from the south, have less scope, and the tem¬ 
perature of the nights and the dpys is more 
even. 
The history of this industry in every silk 
producing country in the world goes to prove 
this proposition and the short history of its 
attempt in California points to the sumo con¬ 
clusion. In the riel) bottom lauds the trees 
grow too rapidly and the leaves contain too 
much water, and when fed to the worms, 
the effect upon them is, as might be expected, 
something like the effect produced upon stock 
by feeding upon the hay cut on the low tule 
lands near the mouth of the Sacramento and 
San Joaquin rivers. They do not contain 
enough of the fattening qualities. Worms 
cannot make silk unless they are fat, and 
that fat must be something of the character 
of the fat of the eora-fed hogs to produce 
the best of results. Then, too, the winds of 
our valleys, it is well known, change fre¬ 
quently from north to south, and the north 
winds come charged with electricity to such 
an extent as to very sensibly affect all animal 
life—even the human system feels its prostra¬ 
ting influence. Then the south winds come 
loaded with dampness, and generally in the 
night time, producing too great a change— 
especially for the worms feeding on so unfit 
a food. The result is natural, and such was 
the experience, the worms, having no silk 
material in them, died just about the time 
the}’ should have commenced spinning. 
The other mistake, attempting to feed too 
many worms in the Bame building, was 
greatly aggravated by the unfitness of the 
food, just as an attempt to raise too many 
chickens in a small inclosure is rendered 
positively impossible when in addition they 
are fed upon unfit and unhealthy food. If 
any proof were wanting to substantiate both 
these positions it is found in the fact that 
while nearly all the efforts tb feed worms in 
the valleys and in large numbers, and in a 
single building, were unsuccessful, all those 
who fed in the foothills, and in small num¬ 
bers were universally successful. To make 
Bilk culture successful and profitable it must 
bo conducted as one of the adjuncts—one of 
the little things of the farm. Let the trees 
to be planted about the place and along the 
street and cross fences for shade and orna¬ 
ment be of the best varieties of mulberry 
and they may be made to serve the treble 
purpose of shade for the stock, feed for the 
silk worms and pin money for the family. 
9a 
