Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1837-02-22

a part of the cid, ana " nicn are also ne
cessary to the new crop; and if fermenta-
ton is permitted to exhaust its powers on
the mass. so as to reduce it to the form OF
muck, one half that constituted the Old
crop, and which he new crop will want,
is irretrievably lost but if the dung and
stocks of the old crop, blended and satur"-
ted as they will be in the cattle yard, are
restored to the soil, before fermentation
and rain have dissipated their riches, the
gases and liquids disengaged by fermen,,
tation will be absorbed by the SOIL and
held in reserve for the next crop. Hence
the propriety of applying dung before it
has rottcd, or of applying the dung made
in the winter to the spring crop; and
hence the loss which ensues to the farmer
from neglecting to convert to manure all
the animal and vegetable refuse of his
farm and household. Plants are cannl'
balls :or in other words they not only live
upon plants, but they thrive best upon
their own species. Nature is constantly
changing deadinto living vegetable mat
ter, for the use of man, and it should be
the business of every farmer to study her
laws and to cooperate in her benehcent
designs.
Many ofthe objections to the use oflong
manure, in England, lose their force here.
! Our summers are much warmer than hers,
and vegetable matters undergo a mora
speedy decomposition in our soil than in
hers The pertinent question is, does
lone manure deCompose, when buried in
the soil, in time to serve the crop? When
put into the hill, or drill we admit that it
often does not but when spread upon the
whole surface, and properly buried, as we
think it always should be, we believe it
never fails to rot the first season and in
time for the corn crop. The late John
Taylor, Of Virginia, who was scientific
and eXtcnsive} y practical farmer, was in
the habit of burying with the plough, In
his corn fields, the spray and branches OF
forest trees and shrubs, as means Of indu-
cling fertility, and he found benefit in the
practice. Great Britiaan, besides, cult
Yates no crop that is 50 fit a recipient for
long manure as our Indian corn, which
enters so Iarge] v into our system of hus-
bandry as to absorb, with potatoes, all the
long manure Of spring,-and which is
T admirably fitted to convert this long ma
+ nure into proper food for dry crops by the
subsequent autumn. We repeat here
what we have before remarked, that infer
f mented dung greatly accelerates the
growth of straw and stalk-the stem, culm
, or main body ofan herbaceous plant-bu
that it is i'll suited to the perfecting am
maturing of the seed that unfermenle,
| dung developes its greatest power during
the heats of summer, when the seeds o
the several grains arc forming that henc,
it is improper to app Y it to these crops =
t but that when applied to corn, or othe
: autumnal ripening crops, it generates {
beneficial warmth il the soil, and by tn
gases evolved, causes a rigorous growth O
stalks, at a season most important; tina
: fermentation subsidies before the formation
of the seed, and that it then imparts to tn
crop the aliment best fitted to bring it t.
perfection. The doctrines of some British
writer, who advocate the use ofrotten dung
: are not therefore applicable to our climat
and cuIture-Cult1rat0r.