MOGBI’S BUBAL 
rops. 
VEGETABLE NUTRITION. 
The nutrition of plants is derived both 
from the soil and from the atmosphere. The 
soil is made rich in the proportion as it a 
vegetable constituents are made soluble by 
water. It is a well-known fact, that, out of 
the sixty-two elements of nature, only four— 
hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon— 
enter into the combination of plants. If it 
could be ascertained in what manner vege¬ 
table organizations receive these four ele¬ 
ments, then the theory of vegetable nutrition 
would be complete, and it would only re¬ 
main to be put into practice,and thescienco 
of agriculture greatly developed. 
It is generally supposed that manure will 
renovate any lands which are unproductive 
and “ worn out.” But other conditions are 
requisite. When manure is applied, the 
greater part is not taken up, hut impercepti¬ 
bly decomposed. Carbon is the most im¬ 
portant constituent of plants. Sugar plan¬ 
tations arc rarely manured, and then only 
with the ashes of'the burnt canes. An acre 
of sugar-cane ground produces 7,500 pounds 
of canes, of which 1,300 pounds are carbon. 
The yield of an acre of banana ground is 
98,000 pounds of fruit in a year, of which 
17,000 pounds are carbon; ami the same 
acre will yield for thirty years the same 
amount, and the soil will ho richer at the 
end of this time than at the commencement, 
from only the decay of the leaves of 
the plant. This clearly proves that air 
and water are great agents in the process 
of nutrition in vegetables. It has been ascer¬ 
tained by actual experiment that the differ¬ 
ence of carbon, in weight, between the seed 
and the production in wheal, i3 eighty-nine 
per cent.; in peas, three hundred and sixty- 
one percent,; in red clover, one hundred and 
fifty-eight per cent. This estimate, also, 
affords evidence that the supply of carbon is 
not essentially derived from the soil alone, 
but by other agencies in combination with 
the soil. 
According to Schwartz and Link, an 
acre of meadow laud, where it is wet, pro¬ 
duces 4,400 pounds of hay, which, when 
dried, contains forty-six per cent, of carbon. 
The hay, then, yields 2,000 pounds of car¬ 
bon, to which 1,000 pounds should be added 
for the portion of the season in which the 
grass is not cut, and also for the roots. To 
produce these 2,000 pounds of carbon, 12,000 
pounds of*carbonic acid are required. 
Scuuhi.kr has demonstrated that an acre 
of grass, as poor a kind as Poo. annua , ex¬ 
hales in 120 days of active vegetation, 6,000,- 
000 pounds of water. To supply this de¬ 
mand of carbon, it is necessary for the 
ground to imbibe ibrec and a-lialf grains of 
carbonic acid with every pound of water. 
Mr. Lawes has found that in a plant of any 
ordinary crop, more than 200 gruins of water 
must pass through it, for a single grain of 
solid substance to accumulate within it. 
.Nitrogen comes next to be considered. 
The yield of this element to vegetation seems 
to lie independent of manures. A water- 
meadow, it has been estimated, which lias 
never received any manure, yields annually 
about forty-five pounds of nitrogen, while 
the best plowed lands yields only about thir¬ 
ty pounds. That there is a supply indepen¬ 
dent of the soil, is seen in the great quanti¬ 
ties of nitrogenous matters, hay, butter and 
cheese, which arc curried off from the 
lands without any diminution of the supply 
of nitrogen. 
The estimate of ammonia is one-thirteenth 
of a grain in every pound of water for the 
exigencies of vegetation. No spring-water 
contains so small an amount as this esti¬ 
mate. 
The great desideratum is to bring the soil 
into harmony with the conditions by which 
the nutrition of plants may best be promot¬ 
ed. Much depends upon the nature of the 
soil. Manure produces or yields a small 
amount of inorganic matter to the soil and 
gives it a higher degree of temperature; 
these are the principal benefits of manure to 
vegetation; but as to nutrition, manure 
yields but little to the growth of plants. 
The darkest colored lands are generally the 
highest in temperature; hence the advant¬ 
ages of all vegetable moulds; deep, light 
sands, and clay, which turn almost to stone 
in dry weather are unproductive. The ap¬ 
plication of humus evolves heat by the pro¬ 
cess of combustion. The combinations need¬ 
ed are lime, clay, and humus, the day being 
in proportion of forty-five per cent.; if less 
than ten per cent, the land will be light and 
poor. 
It is only necessary that the soil be plowed 
so far as necessity requires. Bv too frequent 
loosening of the soil, the decomposition of 
humus is so rapid as to overbalance the bene¬ 
fit derived from the exposure to the atmos¬ 
phere, This leads to the discussion of fal- 
lowing. 
► There are two kinds of fallow—naked and 
covered. As a general rnle, covered fallows 
are preferable to naked fallows, as the latter 
tend to waste the nutritive elements in the 
soil required for vegetation. In the covered 
fallows, that Is, those sown with clover, the 
quantity of humus and carbonic acid is in¬ 
creased by tlie clover preventing evapora¬ 
tion of the nutritive elements from the soil. 
Naked fallowing is only to be resorted to 
when there is no other way of loosening the 
soil. In an acrcof clover during its growth, 
over 114,860 gallons of water are evaporated; 
hut this does not exhaust the soil, as 200 
gruins of water must pass through the vege¬ 
tation to retain one grain of solid matter; 
when the clover is turned under, it returns 
this solid matter, besides having left the soil 
in a prepared condition to grow a crop. Cov¬ 
ered fallows are preferable to manures, for 
manures do not act immediately on vegeta¬ 
tion by means of their organic constituents, 
tint by reason of their warmth and of the 
inorganic substances which they involve. 
M. Baudrimont states that there ts a nat¬ 
ural process at work, by which liquid cur¬ 
rents rise to the surface from a certain depth 
in the ground, and thus bring up materials 
that either help to maintain its fertility or to 
modify its character. This theory will ac¬ 
count for the improvements which take place 
in fallows; and there is reason to believe 
that 1 his natural process, as he terms it, ma¬ 
terially influences the rotation of crops. Then 
wc arc led to conclude that the vegetable 
nutrition is mainly derived from water and 
the air, which are the conveyers of oxygen, 
nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen, the four ele¬ 
ments of plants. 
In connection with this subject, it may be 
1 remarked that the true way to renovate the 
| worn-out lands of the South is by covered- 
fallowing them. By sowing them to clover, 
the soil will be made rich, or the nutrition 
for vegetation will he imbibed and held in 
solution, to be taken up by the following 
crops. The Southern lands do not need ma¬ 
nure nearly as much as they need fallowing 
The annual destruction of organic matter 
on the face of the earth is one hundred and 
forty-five billions of pounds, equal to two and 
a-quarter billions of cubic feet. If all vegeta¬ 
tion depends on organic matter for nutrition, 
to satisfy this consumption, 5.000 years ago, 
there must have been ten feet deep of pure 
organic substance on the surface of the 
earth. But, it has been shown how vegeta¬ 
ble nutrition is supplied, and it follows that 
aovered fallows is the best way to make 
land productive. 
One great drawback to vegetation now is 
the destruction of the vast forests of the 
country. The effect of forests on climate is 
greater than is supposed. When we con¬ 
sider that ooe acre of wheat, during its 
growth,exhales 114,860 gallons of water, (or 
73,510,000 gallons per square mile,) and 
when we apply this calculation to a forest 
of a new Country, we arc lost in the magni¬ 
tude of the quantity of water evaporated. 
The combustion of the decaying leaves ot 
a forest gives off a great degree of boat, and 
this heat, taken in unison with the amount 
Of water evaporated by a forest, must ma¬ 
terially affect the temperature of a country, 
and of course the growth of all vegetation. 
Trees should lie planted and new forests 
grown, in order to keep the climate at a 
temperature which best promotes the growth 
of plants. 
In conclusion, it would 9eem that there 
arc better ways of rendering soils productive 
than that, of manuring, for the nutrition of 
plants is not derived from manure. Every 
farm has at least three times as much taken 
off from it as is given back again. The 
amount of its yield is three times greater 
than that of the organic matter it receives. 
The notion of rest, so common among cul¬ 
tivators of the soil, is clearly wrong, except, 
it be rest from too frequent an exposure of 
naked fallow, and thereby cause a too 
rapid decomposition of humus by such ex¬ 
posure, causing the benefits of the exposure 
to be overbalanced by this rapid decompo- 
pysition. By a Judicious working of soils, 
no lauds should be worn out. By a just re¬ 
gard of the principles of vegetable nutrition, 
the productiveness of lauds will be increased. 
Darius II. P ingrey. 
.-■♦♦♦- 
acre by weight, 00.6 bushels. Ratio of straw 
to grain, 1.51 to 1.00. 
Somerset Oats. 
A new variety imported from England, re¬ 
ceived from the Department of Agriculture. 
Nine and a quarter pounds of seed sown in 
drills, April 29th, on 66-100ths of an acre. 
The grain weighed at the rate of 44 pounds 
per bushel. Crop harvested August 9th, and 
threshed August 12th. Weight of grain, 199 
pounds; do. of straw, 271 pounds. One 
bushel weighed 31 pounds. Yield per acre, 
by weight, 94.2 bushels. Ratio of straw to 
grain, 1.38 to 1.00. 
While 8cbonen Oats. 
A new variety imported from Hamburg, 
received from the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture. Seven pounds of seed sown April 
29th, in drills, on 78 lOOOlhs of an acre. The 
grain weighed at the rate of forty pounds 
per bushel. Crop harvested August 2d, and 
threshed August 12th. Weight of grain, 
155 5 bushels; do of straw, 210 5. One 
bushel weighed 37.5 pounds. Yield per acre, 
by weight, 62 3 bushels. Ratio of straw to 
grain, 1.35 to 1.00 
ONE YEAR'S TEST 
Of New Varieties of Grain In 1S69 at the 
Michigan Agricultural College. 
ItlnrU Swedish Outs. 
A new variety imported from Hamburg, 
received from the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture. Five pounds of seed sown April 29th, 
in drills, on 66- lOOOlhs of an acre. The grain 
weighed at the rate of forty pounds per 
bushel. Crop harvested August 23d, and 
threshed September 2d Weight of grain, 
130 pounds; do of straw, 262 pounds. One 
bushel weighed 30% pounds. A ield per acre, 
by weight, 96.2 lmshels. Ratio of straw to 
grain, 1 87 to 1.00 
Prince Edward’s Inland Oats. 
Imported from Prince Edward's Island, 
by Landrkth & Son, Philadelphia Seven¬ 
ty-nine pounds of seed sown broadcast May 
1st, on 1.011 acres. The grain weighed 38 5 
pounds per bushel. Crop harvested August 
17tb, and threshed September 3d, Weight 
of grain, 2044 5 pounds; do. of straw, 2258.5 
pounds. One bushel weighed 34% pounds. 
Yield per acre, by weight, 92.2 bushels. 
Ratio of straw to grain, 1.10 to 1.00. 
Ui'ookH Outs. 
Presented to the College by A. S. Brooks, 
of Novi, Michigan. Sixty-four pounds of 
seed sown broadcast May 1st, on 918-lOOOibs 
of an acre. The grain weighed 26 pounds 
per bushel. Crop harvested August 17th, 
and threshed September Gill. Weight of 
grain, 5016 pounds; tdo. of straw, 2788 
pounds. One btfehcM'elghed 81 pounds. 
Yield per acre, by weight, 68.6 bushels. 
Ratio of straw to grain, 1.38 to 1.00. 
N’orwnh (lain, 
The seed received from .Tones & Clark, 
New York, contained a quantity of foul 
seed. After careful hand-picking, a por¬ 
tion of the seed was sown on a plot con¬ 
taining 190-1 OOOtlis of an acre, May 11th. 
Crop harvested August 24th, and threshed 
September 3d. Weight of grain, 314 pounds; 
do. of straw, 428 pounds. One bushel 
weighed 28 pounds. Yield per acre, by 
weight, 50.3 bushels. Ratio of straw to 
grain, 1 36 to 1.00. 
Surprise Oats. 
Raised by Horticultural Department, 
Seed received by R. P. Hosner & Co., Lan¬ 
sing. One-half of an acre in the orchard 
was sown broadcast, May 5th The trees 
interfered materially with the growth of the 
crop, so that the yield per acre does not 
fairly represent the value of the variety. 
Crop harvested August 4th, and threshed 
September 3d. Weight of grain 513 pounds, 
do, of straw, 657 pounds. One bushel 
weighed 36% pounds. Yield per acre, by 
weight, 38.3 bushels. Ratio of straw tograin 
1.30 to 1.00. 
Amnutka Spriuor Wheat. 
Imported from Odessa, Russia, by the 
Department ol Agriculture. Thirty-two 
pounds of seed sown broadcast, April 26th, 
on 481-1000tlis of an acre. The grain 
weighed at the rate of 61 pounds per bushel. 
The crop, badly injured by mildew and 
rust, was harvested August 21st. Weight 
of grain, 212 pounds, do. of straw, 905 
pounds. One bushel weighed 53% pounds. 
Yield per acre, by weight, 8 2 bushels. Ratio 
of straw to grain, 4% to 1. 
NORTHERN FARMERS, SOUTH: 
How They Succeed, nnd How it Happen*. 
Nothing better can be expected thau that 
those farmers who move from the North to 
the South should have to learn some lessons 
with costly experience. Especially is this 
true of those who have a routine practice and 
ignore all attention to the character of the 
land they cultivate. Such men would have 
to lose anywhere, unless they should happen 
to meet the rare fortune to always till land 
that was always suited to their peculiar 
manner of cultivating. I have noticed three 
classes of Northern settlers in the same part 
of North Carolina. One class is cheerful 
and gpnfident. They saw’ that the land 
needed renewing, and are investing freely in 
clover, laughing at some cautious old settler 
that is waking up to the same notion and 
trying to keep pace ivitli them. One of 
them said to me, “ While everybody else is 
uneasy about the peach crop in this cold 
weather, I am sure of mine, for I planted 
it on a northern slope to keep it from put¬ 
ting out. so soon. There is no danger of 
mine being hurt.” This class, if their pa¬ 
tience equal their Judgment, will succeed. 
Another class is composed of those who 
meet with what may properly lie termed ac¬ 
cidents. They fail because they have no 
chance to succeed. For example, one 
thought he had secured a piece of land, nnd 
came to occupy it. On arriving, he found 
that a third party, whose consent to the 
trade was necessary, refused to indorse it; 
and so the good place was lost, and in the 
emergency a very poor one had to be taken. 
Then came the loss, one after another, of 
three fine horses, and withal a painful and 
disabling personal affliction. The result 
was natural. Some things were sold, the 
rest packed up and shipped North, and the 
unfortunate man hastened back to his old 
home, thoroughly disheartened aud dis¬ 
gusted with the South. lie might have met 
as ill fortune anywhere else. 
The third class is comprised of blind 
theorists. They believe in deep plowing. 
While they know that it is wise to open the 
soil deeply, where there is soil to open, they 
do not know that deep plowing is not the 
first thing needed where there is no soil. 
Not long since one of this class closed his 
farm at the opening of the spring, and put 
his farm implements up at auction. The 
secret was told by his plow, which had the 
a talus of the red day so high up as 10 show 
that he had been doing some ruinously deep 
work for such land. lie declared, it is re¬ 
ported, that he intende d to find the bottom of 
the mi, and went ahead, plunging the share 
in to the depth of several feet, where there 
was no soil on the surface even. 
It is also reported that he was elected 
The forthcoming report of the Michigan 
State Board of Agriculture will contain the 
following from Prof. Miles of Die State 
Agricultural College: — “ The following 
qualities of grain were tested on the college 
farm in 1869. Soil a sandy loam. The pre¬ 
ceding crops were corn in 1867 and Swedish 
turnips in 1808. The several lots were har¬ 
vested as near as possible at the same stage 
of ripening: 
Excelsior Oat*. 
A new variety imported from England, 
received from the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture. Thirty-four pounds of seed sown 
broadcast ou 36-lOOihs of an acre, April 
30th. The grain weighed at the rale of 47 
pounds per bushel. Crop harvested August 
5th, and threshed August 18th. Weight of 
grain, 702 pounds; do. of straw, 1,058 pounds. 
One bushel weighed 35.7 pounds. Yield per 
TOBACCO IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
A correspondent of the New England 
Farmer says tobacco growers are practicing 
earlier planting than ten years ago; that he 
finished planting June 9th the present year; 
that the amount of tobacco grown in West 
ern Massachusetts is all that can be wel 
grown, unless the resources for manure are 
increased; that where commercial fertilizers 
are used too freely, the leaf is not so good 
does not handle well, feels stiff aud harsh 
He adds“ In hoeing 1 do not care to dis 
turb the roots of the plant much. I have 
sometimes thought that some men injured 
their crop more by hoeiug and digging so 
close to the plant than they would have 
done to let it entirely alone, except simply 
removing the weeds. Iam in the habit of 
sowing about five hundred pounds of Peru 
vian guano to the acre, at the time of the 
third hoeing, and think it pays well lor the 
outlay.” 
them comfortably all their lives, and try 
their fortunes in the country, where, after a 
year or two of vexatious disappointment, 
the) r become disgusted with the state of 
things, nnd return to their <|iccu3tomed oc¬ 
cupations. 
After reading the strained and overdrawn 
productions of tlie well-meaning but inexpe¬ 
rienced authors who write those books men 
are led to believe that it is the simplest and 
easiest thing Imaginable to grow strawberries 
and peaches, grapes and wheat, potatoes and 
corn, abundantly and profitably. We are 
told that all that is necessary is an ordinary 
share, of common sense, confidence and in¬ 
dustry ; that any man having these qualities 
is assured of success, with the information to 
he derived from hooks which are within the 
reach of all. He is expected to successfully 
compete, in growing of all the most difficult 
and important crops of the farm or garden, 
with a man of the same talent and ability, 
coupled with a life-long working experience. 
Such a thing is utterly impossible. One 
might just as well expect a farmer to build 
a house without any other leaching but 
that to be had from books on architecture. 
There certainly is not anything like the same 
amount of care, toil and patience required to 
hu|]d a mansion that there is in growing 
crops on the farm. Why is it, then, that 
agricultural writers persist in claiming that 
the farm is more certain to enrich one’s 
pocket than the workshop? 
It is an absurd mistatcinent of facts which 
no honest-minded writer ought to set forth 
in any work. Such false teachings do an 
incalculable amount of injury and harm to 
thousands who are led by them. 
The farm is not a place for the man who 
has been accustomed to earn his living be¬ 
hind the counter. It is certainly much easier 
to show a customer a piece of goods than to 
dig potatoes. It is much easier for a car¬ 
penter to put up the side of a house than to 
plow an acre of land; easier for a black¬ 
smith to make shoes for a horse than to 
cradle an acre of oats on rough and hilly 
land. Wc liuve altogether too much book 
education; we want more practice; we want 
to place moredependance on our bauds: we 
waut to learn to love hard work nnd not try 
to shirk It in cveiy possible way, as we do. 
It is perfectly useless to go to the country 
with the expectation of making an easy 
lining. Certainly there are some who can 
and do make money; but these arc the ex¬ 
ception. The very few out of the many 
who make the attempt — those who do suc¬ 
ceed— have a natural tact for making and 
saving money; they seem to he born in 
luck, making money in any circumstance 
where fortune tuny choose to place them. 
But where one succeeds, fully one hundred 
fail. s. 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1870. 
-♦-*-*.- 
EMIGRANTS IN CANADA. 
Professor of Agriculture in a certain uni¬ 
versity, and is now occupying that chair. 
R. s. 
-- 
BOOK FARMING. 
Why Mechanic* ami Merchants Fnil as 
Fll Mil Cl'S. 
Every year crowds of city mechanics and 
toilers rush in a steady stream to the country. 
Their countenances are radiant with joy and 
enthusiasm,—so glad, oh! so glad, to escape 
from the turmoil and ups and downs of city 
life. They have given up their various oc¬ 
cupations in the city, and mean to earn an 
honest and independent living in the coun¬ 
try. They have conic to the conclusion that 
the only place to be respected and respecta¬ 
ble, is up in the country, among the country 
folks. They have sold out their houses in 
the city, and purchased snug little farms for 
themselves and their children to live upon 
They have heard it said, by men of large ex 
perience and educational ability, that to live 
in the country is to live in paradise. They 
have read from ably written, nicely printed, 
and badly bound agricultural publications 
and from various periodicals devoted to the 
cause of husbandry, that tlie country is the 
haven of rest for man during his allotted 
time on earth. Here it is that departed 
health will return and remain, and where to 
labor from morn till night, and live upon 
one’s own products is bliss. And this is not 
all; there is money to be made after a year 
or two years’ struggle with the few little dis¬ 
appointments that may occasionally turnup. 
There is also another stream of humanity 
every year returning rom the country, dis¬ 
gusted with their short experiences and many 
disappointments. They have sold out their 
country homes at a large sacrifice, and are 
now’ returning to again earn a livelihood in 
the shop and behind the counter. 
Now what is the cause of this rushing to 
and from the country? The many farm 
publications, which are every day becoming 
Such a great nuisance, arc the inducements 
which tend to dissatisfy the many who are 
doing well enough iu the city. These pub¬ 
lications tempt men to leave their different 
trades and callings, which have supported 
i* 
The June issue of the Farmer’s Advocate, 
(London, Out.,) contains an editorial from 
which we extract the following:—' A friend 
informed us the other day that at the Grand 
Trunk Railway station, he saw somewhere 
about a hundred and fifly emigrants located 
in one of that company's sheds, consisting of 
all ages and of both sexes. The question 
naturally arises, how are they all to be sup¬ 
ported, and where is employment to be found 
for them ? 
“ Last winter it is well known that many 
of the same class eked out a precarious exist¬ 
ence upon the alms and charities of the peo¬ 
ple of London, and but for those who took 
an interest in them, many lmist have starved 
from the want of the necessaries of life, or 
been frozen to death from want of sufficient 
shelter. It Is well known that in high official 
quarters facts like these are not palatable, 
they w’ould rather have them kept in the 
back ground, for fear of preventing emigra¬ 
tion to the Dominion. But is this a right 
view of the question ? In the first place, if 
the emigrant is led to leave his native home, 
and much that is dear to him, through in¬ 
ducements held out but never realized, he is 
the chief sufferer. On the other hand, if the 
Government cannot provide labor, directly 
or indirectly, for those who have no capital 
but labor to dispose of, instead of benefiting 
the country, they are taking the readiest way 
to injure it. What is wauled here, chiefly, 
is men with some means of supporting t hem¬ 
selves until they get settled down upon the 
soil, and become able to provide a home for 
those depending on them, by this means 
clearing and Improving the country, and ad¬ 
ding to its products and wealth.” 
-- 
TO MAKE FARMS PROFITABLE. 
At a meeting of the Agricultural Society 
of Decatur, Marion Co., Ind., it was asserted: 
“ In order to derive the greatest profit from 
the farm the owner or it must confine him¬ 
self to his one occupation. If he attempt to 
perform the duties ol <1 mechanic or a puysi* 
cian in connection with his farming, it is 
evident that one or both of Ins pursuits will 
be only partially successful. He should not 
abandon the cultivation of any kind of grain 
or vegetables because the crop tlie preceding 
year was so large as to bring the prices low. 
