1858 . 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
251 
has there been for the past 20 years as a general sow¬ 
ing. The Mediterranean, when first sown, was a coarse, 
unsightly, large grained, half shrivelled, dark-looking 
wheat, not liked by our Brandywine millers—rejected 
by some of them as not fit to grind at the price of or¬ 
dinary reds. But a few farmers who tried the early 
sowing in August, and some in July—found that the 
straw was stiller, and that it was not as liable to be in¬ 
jured by the Hessian fly, and as it ripened when sown 
so early some ten days earlier than the varieties then 
sown, of the old reds, the yellow bearded, and the 
smooth head, caga and blue stem white wheats—it be¬ 
came more in favor, having in the meantime become 
more acclimated, plumper in shape, and being less liv¬ 
able from the attacks by fly, from the stiffness of the 
straw, and less liable to rust and scab, by being earli¬ 
er, consequently escaping those three enemies of the 
wheat. It is now the favorite and most certain crop, 
and of a quality known in the market as best of the 
reds, producing when well sown on good fields from 20 
to 40 bushels per acre.' 1 have known 47 bushels on 
corn ground the field through ; and from the appear¬ 
ance of the shocks, much of the wheat of the present 
season will range with the above rates, and those ave¬ 
rages are all made on land that in 1832 would scarcely 
produce an average of five bushels per acre, and 
which was purchased since then at an average of $10 
per acre. 
The most of these lands have been brought up from 
that worn-out condition by the application of lime and 
clover. One of the best shocking fields of the neigh¬ 
borhood, Wheatland, my own, has been brought up 
fairly by the use of lime and clover. The first dress¬ 
ing put on in 1836, of 40 bushels of quick-lime on corn 
followed with wheat—corn with clover turned under 
without pasturing—produced 24 bushels. After seve¬ 
ral rotations between times, in 1848 this encouraged 
me to lime again, and in 1849 I put the same stubble 
field in corn, and gave the corn a dressing of 50 bush¬ 
els to the acre. This was too heavy—40 bushels would 
have done better ; the corn was injured by it. This I 
laid to the wire-worm, and thought I would remedy it, 
and planted it with corn the following season, but had 
still less corn than the year previous. I however cut 
off the corn, sowed with wheat followed with clover, 
and had a fair crop of wheat, and a tremendous field 
of clover. A portion, say 32 acres of this field of clo¬ 
ver, after standing two years with light pasturing, I 
turned under well in July, and sowed with wheat in 
1852—cut and saved 37^ bushels in the. harvest of 
1853, besides losing all the ratings from continued 
rains, which would have swelled the crop to 40 bushels 
and over, had all been saved. That same field is now 
in wheat, and from the appearance of the shocks, bids 
fair to be as good as that of 1853—without any dress¬ 
ing of manures except as before, two years of clover 
and lightly pastured—well turned under in July last, 
and sown in last of August and first week of Septem¬ 
ber. 
Thus in the short space of 20 years we have increas¬ 
ed the value of our land by better cultivation and the 
introduction of fertilizers and improved implements, 
till both our land and our crops have been increased in 
value over tenfold. Much land that we bought at ten, 
yea five dollars per acre, cannot now be purchased for 
$120 per acre, and the production of our crops of wheat 
has been increased from five or less to forty bushels 
per acre. John Jones. Middletowi i, New Castle 
Co ., Delaware. 
Absorbent Power of Soils. 
Absorption, defined by Webster as “the act or 
process of imbibing by substances which drink in and 
retain liquids,” is a quality possessed by all soils in a 
greater or less degree. And of this difference in ca¬ 
pacity, especially as regards absorbing and retaining 
manures, something has long been known, and has 
given rise to the application of the terms “hungry” 
and “ quick,” to loose and gravelly soils, because they 
do not long show the effect, and speedily manifest the 
action of manures, while clays were said to “hold” 
the fertilizing matters applied. The investigations of 
chemistry show that beside what would naturally re¬ 
sult from the different mechanical action—the com¬ 
pactness or porosity of the soil—there are differences 
in their chemical affinities for acids, alkalies and gases, 
which vary their power of absorbing and retaining the 
elements of fertility derived from manures. 
Loamy and aluminous soils were found by Prof. Way 
to possess the power, when used as a leach or .filter, of 
retaining the ammonia, phosphoric acid, potash, etc., 
contained in the drainage of a London sewer—the very 
elements most valuable for manure—and to have the 
wonderful property, not only to select, but to retain 
these elements against every power naturally brought 
to bear upon them, save the growth of plants them¬ 
selves. “ A power,” he remarks, “is here found to 
reside in soils, by virtue of which not only is rain un¬ 
able to wash out of them those soluble ingredients 
forming a necessary condition of vegetation, but even 
these compounds, when introduced artificially by ma¬ 
nures, are laid hold of and fixed in the soil to the ab¬ 
solute preclusion of any loss, either by rain or evapo¬ 
ration.” 
These conclusions seem to show that on most soils 
(one class of experiments was made with light loam) 
manure may be applied at any time in the season 
with equal good results—that there is no danger of loss 
when actually mixed with the soil, either by filtration 
or evaporation. Further experiments are needed to 
prove the absolute correctness of these conclusions to 
the general mind, but there are those who believe they 
may act upon them with safety. If established, much 
labor may be saved in the application of manures. 
They may be drawn in the fall and plowed under, or 
left spread upon the surface, or may be distributed in 
winter instead of immediately before planting and 
sowing, which is ever the most hurrying season of the 
year. For ourself, on clays or heavy lands, we would 
not hesitate to act upon these suggestions. 
Some experiments tried in England several years 
since by Mr. Thompson, to ascertain the power of the 
soil to retain unimpaired in value, manure applied du¬ 
ring winter, and also its power to hold in suspension 
the fixed ammonia of barn-yard tanks and manure 
heaps, resulted in the following deductions : 1. That 
clay soils might be manured a considerable time before 
sowing without loss. 2. That light, shallow soils should 
not be manured heavily at one time; and the manure 
should be kept as near the surface as possible without 
leaving it uncovered. 3. That it is desirable to deep¬ 
en the cultivated soil on all light land, as it thus gives 
it a greater power of retaining manure. 
That all soils possess considerable power of absorb¬ 
ing and retaining manure, is well known ; but the 
great question of the most economical application of 
different fertilizers is, and will long remain an open 
one, and one upon which every farmer can do more or 
less to satisfy himself by practical experiment. Let 
those who can, throw light upon the subject, for it is 
one of large importance in agriculture. 
