Ill- 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JUNE 3 
ASHES AS A FERTILIZES. 
From time immemorial ashes have been 
known and valued as a fertilizer, '(’hey pre¬ 
sumably contain all the mineral substances 
found in plants and it is these which are 
most generally deficient in soils long crop¬ 
ped. Nitrogen is found in unlimited quanti¬ 
ties in the atmosphere and it is now gene¬ 
rally conceded that soil, or plants, or both 
have some moans of utilizing and retaining 
it. With this element supplied, the chief 
probable deficiencies would be in phosphate 
of lirue and po’nsli. Ordinary wood ashes 
supplies both of these elements, notably the. 
potash of which, when unleached, it usually 
contains six to twelve or more per cent. The 
phosphate of lime in ashes is not In very sol¬ 
uble condition and it is retained with very- 
slight loss after leaching, while there is also 
a considerable quantity of potash remaining 
in leached ashes. 
We have found some good farmers say 
they regard leached ashes fully as valuable 
as those unleached. They are good farmers, 
and their conclusion was based on the results 
of experience. They had found by trial that 
leached ashes produced even better average 
results than ashes that were fresh and un¬ 
leached. Of course there umst be a loss of 
potash and some other soluble elements in 
the former case, and a remit apparently so 
contradictory to the popular idea deserves 
examination at.d if possible an explanation. 
We have given this matter tome thought 
and broach a theory which will at least set 
our readers to thinking, and may develop 
ideas still nearer the exact truth. 
While potash is always valuable, and par¬ 
ticularly so for some plants, the potash in 
newly burned ashes is not in best condition 
to be available as plant food. 11 is just Ihe 
thing for the soap maker in its caustic state, 
as it will then eat the grease and make a good 
soap. But for growing plants this caustic 
potash is not immediately available—its al¬ 
kali needs to be neutralized, leaving its min¬ 
eral element in the form of a sulphate or ni¬ 
trate of potash. It requires no act of man 
to make this change. Nature and the ele¬ 
ments will do it in very little time. Ashes 
kept in any confined place where a current 
of air is not constantly blowing over them 
rapidly absorb moisture, ami with that they 
have the faculty of uniting with the nitrogen 
of the atmosphere forming from their potash 
a nitrate of potash or crude salt peter, one of 
the most valuable of all mineral manures and 
freely soluble. But this nitrate of potash is 
unfit for soap making. Housewives have 
learned this, for they all know that they can¬ 
not make soap by leaching old ashes that 
have become damp from long exposure to 
the air. Why f They say the ashes have lost 
their strength ; but there has been no leach¬ 
ing, so the mineral elements must still be 
present. Nothing has gone from the ashes. 
It is only the nitric acid of the damp atmos¬ 
phere which has neutralized the alkali of the 
potash and formed a nitrate. No housewife 
would think of making soap from saltpeter, 
yet this is what is attempted unless the 
ashes are fresh. 
These old ashes, damp from long absorp¬ 
tion of moisture from the air are just what 
the farmer wauts for his crops. They have 
lost most of their caustic properties—their 
“ strength” for soap—but they are just w hat 
is needed for manure. They give the plant 
both nitrogen and potash each in its most 
available form and cause growing plants to 
shoot up with astonishing vigor. They arc 
especially valuable for potatoes, corn and 
tobacco. So important do we regard it that 
the alkali should be neutralized for imme¬ 
diate benefit to crops that we would have a 
house built of stone and if possible partly 
under ground for storing ashes. Here the 
change to nitrate of potash would go forward 
rapidly and once a year when cleaned out it 
would furnish a considerable quantity of val¬ 
uable manure. The same building could bo¬ 
used as a smoke house and being of stone 
would not be liable to be burned. Under 
some circumstances not well understood, 
moist ashes are liable to spontaneous com¬ 
bustion and would be dangerous if left in 
contact with wood. 
It is not doubted that fresh ashes will be 
good manure. This change to a nitrate can 
and does take place in the soil as well as 
elsewhere. It is quite probable that it does 
occur soon after the ashes are washed dowu 
into the soil, and only after the. ashes are 
washed down iuto the soil can they do any 
good. But the question arises. Does not the 
nitrogen in the soil nnitiug with potash de¬ 
tract so much from the soil’s fertility, while 
'm 
if the combination was made above ground 
it would be so much addition thereto. This 
subject involves many interesting questions 
well worthy the attention of thoughtful 
farmers and scientific men. 
--♦» » 
THE WORTH OF MANURE. 
In an essay read before the Franklin Farm¬ 
er’s Club of Springfield, Mass., E. H. Judd, 
the author says : 
There is a very marked difference in the 
value of the same kind of fertilizer. Manure 
that I have purchased from stables in 
the villages and applied in like quali¬ 
ties, on soils alike in the last few years 
have varied widely in their results. Ma¬ 
nure made where the feed has been hay 
and grain alone, is worth nearly as 
much again as that made from ha3 T and 
roots. The more nutritious and liberal the 
food, the greater the value of the manure. 
Manures made from (eed containing but a 
small amount of nitrogen are comparatively 
feeble in their fert ilizing elements. Experi¬ 
ments prove that the urines of animals fed 
on grains and good hay, contain half us much 
more solid substance, and nearly two and a 
half times as much nitrogen as that from 
animals fed on poor hay and roots, and near¬ 
ly as great difference in the solid excrements. 
One hundred pounds of urine of the horse 
fed on cut hay and Com meal moistened 
with a little water, was found to contain 111 
pounds of solid matter and t wo and one-half 
pounds of nitrogen. While the same amount 
from another horse that was fed on hay 
alone and allowed all the water he wished, 
contained only eleven pounds of solids and 
one and. one-half pounds of nit rogen. 
A cow fed on good hay and grain produced 
in 100 pounds of urine, ten pounds of solids, 
while fed on hay alone only six and one-half 
pounds. Manure made from green feed does 
not contain only about one-half as much fer¬ 
tilizing dement ..s if made on hay and grain. 
The bulk will be greater but the value less. 
Manure made from growing animals is worth 
less than that from mature cows. Also if 
t he animal is hard worked and exposed to the 
cold and storms, the manure is far less 
valuable than from animals at rest in a 
comfortable barn. 
The excrements of the different kinds of 
farm stock vary widely in value, as the 
manure from neat stock contains ^he least 
nitrogen and more water than that, of any 
other stock. The more nitrogen contained 
in manure the more rapid its decomposition ; 
lienee it is sooner absorbed as plant food. 
Horse manure is richer in nitrogen than that 
of neat cattle and contains less water, con¬ 
sequently it decomposes more rapidly, and 
its fertilizing elements are sooner taken up 
by vegetation. It acts immediately, hence 
its great value for all quick-growing crops. 
The value of manure made from swine 
varies more, than that, of any other stock. If 
swiuo arc led on slops and potatoes and 
apples, the manure is of little value, com¬ 
pared with those fed on grain, or from the 
offal from slaughter houses. The excre¬ 
ments of sheep contain the most nitrogen. I 
think manure made from this stock wort.li 
nearly twice as much per cord as that made 
from cows. An English farmer experiment¬ 
ing with different kinds of manure made 
from cows, horses, sheep and s\\ iue, upplied 
them on equal plots of land of nearly the 
same slate of fertility and sowed the field 
with barley, sowing also oue plot of same 
size without any fertilizer, with the follow¬ 
ing results : 
lbs. 
Plot without fertilizer. .150 
Plot with manure from cows.it>7 
Plot with manure from horses.22« 
Plot wit h manure from swine .1233 
l'iot witti manure from sheep.I’ll 
He also had analyzed the excrement of the 
above named stock produced from winter 
feed ; 100 lbs. of the droopings of cows con¬ 
tained three lbs. of nitrogen, the same 
amount from horses, five lbs : swine, six 
lbs ; sheep, seven lbs; of mineral substance, 
cows, twenty-four one-fourths; horses, 
thirty lbs ; swine, thirty lbs; sheep, sixty 
lbs; of potash and soda, cows, oue pound ; 
horses, three lbs; swine, five lbs ; sheep, 
three lbs ; Soluble phosphoric acid, cows, 
two and one-fourth lbs ; horses, three and 
one-half lbs : swine, four and one-half lbs ; 
sheep, six lbs ; would advise to mix the 
different kinds of manure, forking them over 
occasionally to prevent them from burning. 
-♦ ♦♦-- 
BUCKWHEAT NOT A RENOVATOR. 
(iKNERALLY buckwheat disappoints farui- 
ers who grow and plow it under as an 
ameliorating crop. It furnishes a consider¬ 
able bulk of succulent stalk and leaves ; but 
they lack substance, and unless closely re¬ 
fined in the soil while rotting rarely benefit 
it much. A wagon-load of buckwheat, straw 
rotted down makes a very small quantity of 
vegetable mold and that not very rich in 
fertilizing elements. There is another reason 
why buckwheat produces less effect in bene¬ 
fiting the crop. It. is usually plowed in late 
in fall for wheat, just before winter, when 
cold and Ice and rains and snow have no ten¬ 
dency to change the humic acid evolved in 
its decomposition. This humic acid is rank 
poison for tie roots of plants, and but for the 
fact that light aud warmth and the oxygen 
of the air speedily neutralize it., vegetation 
on mucky soils would be nearly impossible. 
For this reason no green crop should be 
plowed under late in fall, and buckwheat is 
perhaps the worst of all. Farmers who have 
a heavy growth of buckwheat are apt to 
think it would benefit, the land immensely if 
turned under, but if it is late in the season 
better cut the buckwheat down anil leave it 
as mulch to the ground during winter. All 
its soluble parts will dissolve and leach down 
and the remains, if turned under in spi-ing, 
will do good and not harm. 
A farmer of our acquaintance plowed 
under twenty acres of buck wheat early last 
September and immediately sowed wheat. 
The result was almost an entire failure. 
The green buckwheat “soured” the soil 
during fall and winter. It, also made it too 
light, and porous, so that the roots of the 
plants were killed by the frosts of winter, 
and in April last the dead tops with roots 
thrown on the surface might have been 
raked up by the armful from u single Square 
rod. We have no.doubt that simply plowing 
the field in July and working the surface 
without sowing buckwheat would have pro¬ 
duced a lair crop of wheat. 
Buckwheat does not strike its root down 
into the subsoil, and no crop that does not do 
tbfs can be properly considered a renovator 
of the soil. Its beneficial effects are confined 
to a few Inches from the surface,—possibly 
its dense shade may make the subsoil even 
more cold and unfruitful. The shade of clover 
is different, for its roots strike deeply and in 
their decay let in light and air and moisture. 
A less important advantage is that clover is 
usually plowed early in the season and 
buckwheat late. 
THOUGHTS ABOUT SUMMER FALLOWING. 
Moses allowed divorces to the children of 
Israel, no4 that divorce was justifiable but, 
we are told, “because of the hardness of 
their hearts.” In much the same fashion 
we must, continue to allow the system of 
naked fallowing for wheat to American 
farmers because of the hardness of then- 
heads. A good summer fallow is sometimes 
the only really good culture that farmers 
will give any of their land, and in such case 
of course summer fallow's are advisable. But 
for teachable men—farmers who are willing 
to think aud learn, the old-fashioned system 
is expensive, wasteful and unprofitable. Most 
of the advantages of a naked fallow are ob¬ 
tainable by a hoed crop well cared for to 
precede wheat, and wliut the soil loses in fer¬ 
tility by the crop taken off can be repaid 
two or threefold by purchased manure of 
some kind. 1 f this be not so, then it logically 
follows that all cropping is ruinous to the 
farmer, and the larger the crop the faster 
the soil is exhausting itself and the poorer 
the farmer becomes. 
Killing weeds can general I v be done as well 
or better with corn or potatoes than with a 
naked fallow, with the advantage that the 
increased crop of corn or potatoes w ill repay 
the expense. The advantages of summer 
fallow is on heavy soils remote from market, 
where clover that could not otherwise be 
marketed can be plowed under. Even then 
a crop of hay can usually be cut aud the 
ground plowed immediately after, so as to 
give time for the soil to rot. It will be 
strange indeed if the average fanner does 
not find this clover hay “ come handy” be¬ 
fore the following spring. The risk of losing 
two years for a crop of wheat at present 
prices of that grain and its uncertain yield, 
are more than most farmers would care to 
take. A safer plau, w'here amelioration of 
the soil is aimed at would be to plow in fall 
aud leave the land exposed to the freezing and 
thawing of winter. Then seed to clover with 
barley in the spring. 
Remedy for Squash Bugs.— A correspond¬ 
ent of the Fruit Recorder says that the fol¬ 
lowing is a sure preventive of injury to vines 
by squash or cucumber bugs and beetles. 
One pound of land plaster, and one table¬ 
spoonful of turpentine ; mixed and sprinkled 
on the vines at any time when insects are on 
them. 
JUNE GRASS AND PERMANENT PASTURE. 
One of our esteemed correspondents, writ¬ 
ing from Western Ontario of the natural 
sward of June grass, timothy and blue grasses 
whicn abound in his section, adds : 
“ It would he a great blessing to the coun¬ 
try if the best of these pastures could be 
saved from being plowed, for they are to 
Canada what the blue grass is to Kentucky, 
and according to the different quality of the 
soil and climate are in comparison of much 
more value in grass ; for the farmers forget, 
the saving of labor on the old swards, and 
the time will come when every farmer will 
wish Ids land was half in this permanent 
grass. Wherever the land is kept in grass 
the. owners are more prosperous, for they 
own a deal of live stock, and although sheep, 
cows aud horses are very much lower in 
price than in the States end the longer aud 
colder winters are unfavorable, yet the rais¬ 
ing of animals is more general. Si ill the 
French and other old inhabitants work their 
plowed land too hard, cropping year after 
year and renting portions to others till fer 
tility is sadJy weakened.” 
The above needs to be taken with some 
qualification. In sections where dairying 
and grazing are leading branches of farming, 
June and blue grasses and permanent pas¬ 
tures are advisable, in other sections, small 
as yet but yearly increasing, where cultivat¬ 
ed crops are the rule and pastures the excep¬ 
tion, June grass is a weed, and one of the 
most difficult to get, rid of. In such sections 
land should be seeded only with clover, or 
clover and timothy, or orchard grass, and 
ultimately cattle will be kept by soiling 
rather than pasturing. Wherever a regular 
rotation of the farm Is observed, and com, 
wheat and spring grains come in every third 
or fourth year, June grass is not admissible 
Its sod will not rot as clover will and it does 
not, when plowed, benefit the soil as clover 
does. 
CLOVER WITHOUT SEEDING. 
Mr. G. F. Newton of Ohio recommends 
a method of growing clover without sowing 
seed every time tho field is plowed. In brief 
the method is to let the young clover go to 
seed aud leave the crop on the ground. Tho 
practice is a good one in some cases, as it 
nearly insures a good cate-li ; but it is not 
the most economical nor the best. Practi¬ 
cally it leaves on each acre one to two or 
more bushels of clover seed, to come up in 
subsequent plowings, and much of it in 
Northern latitudes to start in the fall and ho 
killed the following winter. The belter way 
is to harvest and thresh the clover seed, and 
at the proper time sow one peck per acre, 
which will always be enough if the ground 
is in good condition. With ull possible care 
in saving clover seed, much will be spilled 
on the ground—uot lost, but only left in good 
shape for growing at subsequent plowings. 
Growing clover seed is generally profitable 
business—less from the direct sale of seed 
than from the improvement of the soil which 
clover growing ulways insures. On a field 
where one or more crops of clover seed have 
been grown, a good catch may often be had 
from a light seeding, or even without any. 
It is better, however, always to sow some 
clover seed, no matter how much may be in 
the ground. Some of the self-sown seed may 
start too early in spring and be destroyed by 
frosts so that only what, is sown may be 
available for that crop. 
-»♦» —. 
FIELD NOTES. 
Drilling vs. Planting Corn .—A Western 
correspondent mentions a field of 15 acres in 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y., which was planted 
this spring, drilled in rows three feet apart, 
by oue man and team in three days’ time. 
The entire cost was $12, w'hile if planted hy 
hoe, including marking the ground, tho cos 
could not be much less than §3 per were. 
Planted in drills, it is claimed gives a hirger 
yield of stalks and grain, and a more im¬ 
portant advantage is m hurrying the seed in 
the ground at a ti me when every day counts. 
To plant in drills requires ground clear from 
weeds. 
Alfalfa .—A California farmer kept 1,500 
sheep for 22 days on 25 acres of alfalfa, the 
California clover-, by irrigation. The sheep 
were fed in sections, and water turned on as 
soon as one section was eaten down, and 
gr ew eight to ten inches high by the time 
the lower end of the field was cropped. 
