Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1850-09-11

the grain was measured.
We published some years since, letter
from Mr.. VAIN of EIkton, Cecil Co., Md,
in which he states, that he had grown ten
successive crops of wheat on 10 acre lot,
the average annual product, for the whole
time, being upwards Of 40 bushels to the
acre; and that he manured each year with
stable manure-occasionally giving to the
10. little ashes having, in the course of
his cropping of the lot, lined the land.
Again.-A respectable victualler in this
vicinity, had pasture lot of / acres Of
hard yellow clay, much mixed with gravel.
he had for few years previously, used this
lot as pasture for his sheep, bu, concIud.
ing to Sc! II in grass anew, it having nearly
run out, he manured i, heavily from his
Slaughter house, sowed it in wheat in the
fall of lS47, and sowed grass seed on it the
ensuing spring: his product was upwards
of 40 bushels per acre.
Now these results are not merely acci-
dental but can be accounted for upon strict
ly philosophical principles. A grain of
'oheat cannot be formed acithout nitrogen,
and, we believe, its supply comes from the
earth therefore, it is necessary for substan-
ces CT ntrogenous nature TO be in the earth,
or 1t cannot answer the calls of the wheat
plan', when i! comes to form its Kernels
up 10 this period Of its growth, ordinary
SOILS, through the aid of rain and the gasses
doatlng in the air, in the shape Of dews, can
build up the other tissues of the wheat plant
But when 1t comes 10 the last tug-to the
frullng part Of its oflice-the plant has to
seek in the soil for the materials out Of which
10 fa6c'cate its seed. 1t is necessary, there
tore, that there must be in such soil, what
we farmers call nu'ritivc or pu.resceni ma
understanding out of which nitrogen can
be formed. This nitrogen abounds in horse
dung, sheep dung, hog manure, fish manure,
the dung and urine of Cattle, in that Of man,
In bones, in Guano, and in the dung of fowls,
IN flesh, in all kindred substances.
By parity of reasoning then, we conclude,
that it is not the application of manure, di-
reclly to wheat, which causes i. to fall or to
rust, but the application of it in excess.
In England, many successful farmers, in
stead of ploughing in their clover-leys, pre-
paratory for wheat crop, feed off the grass
with their cattle and sheep, deeming The ma
nure thus obtained, more than an equivalent
for the clover consumed. Such too was the
practice Of that intelligent farmer, and ac-
complished gentleman, the late Gen. Thom-
as Emory, who stated few years before
his lamenled death, i'll an Agricultural ad-
dress, that, from his observation Of the re-
suits of such practice, he was fully convin-
ced, that it was more advantageous TO feed
off the crop Of aftermath than 10 plough il in.
We state these facts, in order to awaken
reflection, deeming them worthy Of the deep
est consideration; for we are firmly con-
vinced, that the falling off III the gluten OF
the wheat grown of late years, has arisen
from the chary manner in which putrescent
manures have been applied and to the same
cause. in great measure, may be ascribed
the decrease in the acreable product OF
wheat, as in such manures are 10 be found
all those elements which are required to
build up the roots, the stalk, the leaves, and
particularly The grain of the whea. plant.
Why is il that Guano acts with so much
prompsness-wilhs so much efficacy? why
is it that it SO largely increases the produc-
tive capacity of poor land? why is it that
it adds so large an increase to the numbe,
of bushels of grain yielded on an acre o
such land? 1t is, because it is rich in those
elements which constitute the grain,-and
because among these are TO be found am
mona, compound of Hydrogen and M.
,rogen-because it is rich in the phosphate
Of lime-bone earth and other phospha,es
in Soda, Potash, and other substances, which
go TO form the plant, in its whoeness; anC
above all else, because it so largely abounds
in nutrient princi pies, the very things need.
ed to form the grain of wheat, bu. which is
so dreaded in barn yard and stable manures
where they also exist, bu! in greatly re-
duced ratio of per centage; and in d form
too, not SO liable to act with promptness
because their action is dependent npon de-
cay subsequent to being placed in the earth;
whereas, in the guano, they are mostly in a
state to be Immediately availed of by the
growing plants.
Why should barn-yard and stable manure,
which contains greatly less per cen.um OF
nlrogenous matter than guano, and contains
them too, in more crude and undigested
state, occasion the evils complained of To
the wheat crop, and that crop not only es-
cape, but triumphantly prosper, under ap-
plcaions OF the latter, which is known to
possess them in larger quantities, and in a
state to be yielded up instantly to the grow
ing plants !? This question is pregnan. with
matter worthy of profound reflection.
| In England, where the averge agreeable
product Of wheat, is 26 or 2S bushels
where the soil is heavily manured for turn
ips, which is, generally, the preparatory
crop for wheat, and where that crop is
mostly fed off Oh the land by Sheep encos-
cd i'll hurdles, so as to ensure a more equal
. distribution Of the manure dfcps by them,