Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1843-11-16
WHEAT CULTURE IN NEW YORK.

1t as preposterous to suppose that wheat
can DO fed, nourshed, and brought to maturi- |
~, year after year, on Il given amount Of food
without eNhaustmg il, and being forced at last
to starve and die, as i, is To expect that lin
tied amount OF human food will supply the
whole race OF man throughout all coming
time.
Professor Johnson has demonstrated that,
from one acre cultivated by rotation OF crops:
first i'll tur,ips, yielding 25 tons of bulbs,
and z tons OF tops; secondly in barley, yield
lug 3S bushels, and one ton of straw; thirdly,
M clover and rye grass, yielding one ton
each in hay; and the fourth year in wheat,
yielding % bushels and two tons of straw,
there will be removed from the soil 300 lbs.
OF pearl ash, or potash; 410 lbs OF carbonate
OF soda; 65 lbs common salt; 2l0 lbs of sui
phate of magnesia-epsom salts 81 lbs of
alum; 260 of bone dust-making 1889 lbs
OF solid saline matter. Three crops of wheat
equal 10 the one above named, would remove
from the soil not far from 1000 lbs of saline
matter These facts are of ncalculable mo-
ment TO the cultivators of American SOIL
They show conclusively that, no matter how
rich 1t may be in humus or vegetable mould,
unless us much of the same materials be re-
turned to 1t as are taken away, the soil must
be impoverished. In addition To- the above
substances, there should be no lack of carbon,
silica or ammonia i'll a good wheat SOIL
Now be it remembered, that good soil may
have plenty of alumina, and lack silica, car
bon and all the other ingredients; or it NAV
abound in silica, and lack alumina, carbon,
lime, potassa, sc. Fields that have been Of
ten sown in wheat, and robbed of the straw
as well as the berry, without any return, it is
fair to presume that they now lack all the es-
r.,ft. al .tn. 4 al.
turallv Astounding in lime and clay, as is the
case in most of the good wheat soils in this
Stale, there is probably less deficiency in lime
and alumina than in the other ingredients
1t was Il knowledge Of this fact that induced
us to recommend in our former articles upon
this subject, the use of charcoal, which, by
It's strong affinity for ammonia and other vol
aulc salts III the atmosphere, is one of the
most valuable fertilizers of an exhausted
wheat soil. We have reason to believe.
from much personal observation. and the high
ly Interesting reports of our state biologists,
that there are many fields that lack silica or
silicioas sand. This and potassia are as ne
cessary to the growth of good timothy grass,
as they are TO the production of good wheat
straw. Common wood ashes contain, how
ever, considerable silica as we'll as potash, and
at present prices are far more valuable TO be
pot and pearl ashes. Even after they have
been lecched for the latter purpose, the resi-
dunn is rich and valuable manure. Next
to the application of the liquid and solid ma
nure OF animals, the sowing of common salt
and epson salts, is the cheapest way TO sup
ply an exhausted wheat field with the chic
rine and soda, the sulphur and masnesia it
may need. We wish to impress upon the
minds OF our agricultural readers, that il is as
vain to think of making a good article of that
compound OF many elements called wheat,
out Of one kind of manure, no matter what it
Is, as 1t would be to expect to transmue all
the baser metals into pure gold. You must
not only have the right materials, but they
must be combined in due proportions. Sir
Humphrey Davy found that solution of aka
line salts OF greater strength than one ounce
of common salt for ins.ance-to 80 ounces
of water. destroyed vegetation; and that one
part to three hundred of water, was the best
ratio.
Wheat, like the human family, needs but
very little salt with its other food, but neither
can dispense with that little. So of magne-
sla, lime, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen,
phosphorus, and other elements common to
both.
The farmers in the vicinity of Edinburgh
have. employed professor tombstone at a sala-
ny, to analyze all the specimens of soil sent
TO him, for the purpose of informing the cul.
tvators of such soils wherever they are de-
lective, and what ingredients they need to
render them productive in the highest degree
IN short address before the Royal Agricul-
tural Society, at Council Dinner in Derby,
England, Mr. Coleman, late editor of The
tennessee Farmer, said that she had the most
authentic assurance from a German friend,
that he had himself assisted in gathering fou,
thousand bushels of potatoes from one acre of
land"
We would respectfully suggest to The far
mers IN Western New DIRK the propriety of
employing, by subscription, a competent chem
Isl, TO reside either in this city or Rochester,,
for the purpose of analyzing soils and mpari-
ing all ncedlul information applicable to such
locality.
This would be initiating the worthy exam
pie OF the intelligent Scotch agrcutursts a
bove alluded to. Is not this subject, as well
as that of Agricultural Schools, worthy the
attention of the members of the State Agri-
cultural Society and others, soon to meet at
Rochester, Buffalo ,4dr.
STUMP WiT-Heman A. Moore, Loco NJ
G. elect from the Columbus District, Ohio, is