1853, 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
115 
rmre applied to the land, produced. an affect upon 
the subsequent crop Jive times as great as the or¬ 
dinary operation of manure. How absurd it 
must be to make strict calculations on the result 
of a given quantity of yard manure, without ever 
inquiring into the mode of application—whether 
on the one hand by spreading in large unbroken 
lumps, carelessly and kaiperfectlv plowed under, 
and in a condition wholly useless for plants, or 
even detrimental in case of drouth—or on the 
other by a thorough harrowing of the soil and 
manure together, before turning under, and.a re¬ 
petition of the operation when necessary after¬ 
wards for complete intermixture. We have 
known the most admirable results by this prac¬ 
tice, where nothing but fresh coarse manure could 
be obtained for succulent garden crops, and nearly 
a total failure under like circumstance without 
its performance. Even the time of year that ma¬ 
nure has been carted on the land, has sometimes 
had an injurious bearing on the success of its ap¬ 
plication, simply by the packing and hardening 
resulting from traveling over its surface when in 
a wet and adhesive condition. It is a perfectly 
self-evident truth, that a mixture of unburnt 
bricks and clods of manure, would afford immea¬ 
surably less sustenance to the hue and . delicate 
fibres of growing plants, than the same mixture 
ground down together into a fine powder.* Hence 
it may be reasonably believed that the general 
introduction and free use of pulverizers, as the 
most effective harrows, clod-crushers and sub- 
soilers, assisted by tile-draining, aaiay be of great¬ 
er benefit to the whole country than tile importa¬ 
tion of a million tons of guano. 
The chief reason of the extraordinary results of 
liquid manuring, is the complete manner in which 
the enriching particles are diffused while in solu¬ 
tion through every part of the soil. We here al¬ 
lude to the later mode, which consists in mixing 
the solid parts of manure thoroughly and freely 
through large volumes of water, and not to the 
old mode of applying the liquid portions merely 
of fresh manure, which impoverishes the land of 
phosphates and lessens the organic matter, and 
hence has been mostly discontintued. The only 
doubt of the proppriety of the more improved 
mode*of applying liquid manure, is on the score of 
cost in cartage * it is unquestionably much better 
than the eoramon mode of manuring, but is pro¬ 
bably less economical than • solid application m 
connection with finely pulverizing by repeated 
harrowing. 
In addition to the state in which manure exists 
in the soil, there is another consideration of much 
importance in relation to its best and most eco¬ 
nomical use. Succulent crops, as turneps and 
cabbages, are rapid growers and require rapid 
feeding,* hence, manure which has undergone* a 
considerable degree of fermention, is found to ef¬ 
fect this purpose to better advantage than fresh 
or entirely unfermented manure. Wheat crops 
on the contrary, are of more moderate growth, 
and less rank feeders, and consequently need a 
less profuse supply. To apply large quantities 
rich in ammonia to such crops as do not need it, 
would of course result in waste, and different ap¬ 
plications to large feeders would’give scanty pro¬ 
ducts. The adaptation of the amount to the spe¬ 
cific purpose' intended should therefore not be 
* A fine ill ust rat ion of this troth -was furnished long «g» by 
the wonderful experimeuls of Jethro Tull and more lately 
by that of Smith of Lois-YVeedon. 
overlooked in estimating the effective value of 
a given quantity. 
In making the preceding remarks, we \yish to 
be distinctly understood as not wishing to set 
aside in practical farming, an investigation of the 
composition and knowledge of the deficient or 
missing ingredients of soils, as. well as the restora¬ 
tion of these by special manures. But independ¬ 
ently of several difficulties arising from the varia¬ 
ble nature of the soil of the same field, and the 
very different results in growth which a slightly 
different chemical condition of those ingredients 
may give, showing that all the suggestions of sci¬ 
ence in chemical agriculture must be submitted 
to rigid experiment—independently of these con¬ 
siderations, all experiments based on the analysis 
of soils and the use of fertilizers whose .constituents 
are determined, which do not take into full con¬ 
sideration their mechanical texture, can not fail 
to result in the inmost uncertainty. \\ hen, in 
addition to this, it is remembered that a large por¬ 
tion of the fertility of many of the best soils of 
the country,.are in a great degree lost by their 
coarse arul miserable mechanical condition, re¬ 
sulting from hasty and imperfect tillage and from 
the want of thorough under-draining, it must be 
admitted that while much of the attention of sci¬ 
entific farmers has been directed to chemical in¬ 
quiry, too little, far too little, has been given to 
the thorough pulverization and intermixture of 
the rich ingredients which they already ^possess. 
Benefits of Braining. 
11 My land don't need draining /” is frequently 
the stout assertion of the owner of light loamy 
soils, on the surface of which water does not stand 
a day. except in eady spring. “ How can I know 
whether draining will do my fields any good?” is 
the more doubtful inquiry of others who have 
sometimes seen its beneficial effects. We believe, 
as a general rule, every acre of ground should be 
thoroughly and evenly underdrained, wherever it 
becomes necessary to dig a drain to a cellar—-but 
where the subsoil is so porous that a cellar is dry 
without an artificial outlet for the water, nothing 
more is needed for such land. Dig a pit any¬ 
where, three feet deep, and if water remains in it 
during the usual period of plowing, planting, or 
cultivating, tlien, most plainly, that land needs 
the benefit of underground channel's. Some of our 
readers will recollect the statement of T. G. Yeo¬ 
mans, in the last volume of N. Y. Agricultural 
Transactions , who regularly drained an appa¬ 
rently high and dry field of light loamy soil, which 
his neighbors positively assured him, needed noth¬ 
ing of the kind; but whom he convinced by show¬ 
ing the large stream which afterwards rushed out 
of his main trunk. F. L. Olmsted, in his Walks 
Talks in England , mentions the case of a gen¬ 
tleman who drained thoroughly and expensively, 
a piece of high land. All thought him crazy— 
t: the hills were too dry already,”—he was throw¬ 
ing away his money. But he patiently awaited 
the result, which was that the increased rental 
soon repaid the outlay, and his land was tripledin 
value. 
