Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1855-02-23

than the same area Of soil Of equal fertili
lity will feed and clothe one person in tn
State Of Maine. In the latter, only on
crop can be made in = year in the for
uer, three can be grown. and two Of then
will contain an extraordinary weight OF or
ganized matter.
Il must be remembered that tho sam.
high degree Of solar light and heat which
greatly favors the rapid as we'll as the pro
longed growth Of vegetation, promotes alst
in an equal degree the consumption Of
mould, and the exhaustion Of the soil, il
its crops are all removed, or If its tillage
be unwisely directed. On comparing the
fall of rain in Georgia with that Of New
York, the writer finds that as much water
often falls, in twenty minutes, in the
Southern as in forty minutes in the North
ern States. Some thirteen inches Of wa
ter fell in the month Of July, 1S49, in the
city of Augusta, Georgia. The mechanical
washing of cultivated fields at the South
is an evil Of no inconsiderable magnitude.
To remedy this, good planters resort to ho
rizontal di,ching around hills, or on their
slopes. SO as to convey by gentle inclina-
tion the surface water of, without cutting
deep gullevs in the earth. Many of these
copduits are constructed with q commen-
dabie skill and scientific engineering guild
eddy spirit or water level. The object
sought is not to have the ditch so level
with the horizon as to Gil in heavy rain
and permit the water to break over its
bank on the lower side nor with such an
inclination from the upper to the lower
part of the side hill as to create rashing
current 10 the ditch itself. 1t is also iu-
that these bitches be not too
far apart. Too much care can hardly be
taken of the soil to prevent its injury in
any way. 1t is hard to persuade men that
the intrinsic value Of arabic land is wholly
independent of its market price-that t.
damage soil which costs S3 per acre is as
injurious to society as it would be if it
costs $50 per acre.
The common interest which all have in
the enduring fruitfulness Of the earth has
recei7ed very little attertion in this couu-
try. Nothing is more certain than the
fact that district or State which exports
largely the things which nature demands
10 form breadstuffs and provisions, must
sooner or later export also some Of its con-
'umers Of bread and meat For the ten
;ears preceding 1916, Ireland exported
more bushels Of grain than all the U. s.
p Al,ho' much Of the grain sent from
ireland was oats, all farmers know that
his is quite an exhausting crop. Nor did
he people of that ill-fated island restore to
heir potatoe fields all the atoms removed
D crops Hence the plant failed to sig,
al degree famine ensued, hundreds of
nousands perlshed, and still more fed to
England, Scotland, and America. Prob
bly, no State in the Union has done no
,uch in the way of exporting its tertiliE.
,s atoms to other States and foreign na-
ions, and wasting them at home, as Viz
inia. Next to New York she has the ,
trgest number employed in agriculture.
he practical result Of this policy has been =
,as she has lost more farm laborers, more
tizens aud more capital removed with
lose emigrating citizens, than any other =
tate in the Union. THIS must always be a
'e case the world over, except where the
'eraow of great rivers, or other means, /.
rves to renpvate the soil, exhausted BY
tcessive cropping,or bad husbandry. The Z
ct should he universally understood that s
State can feed and clothe a population
n times larger at home than it can abroad.
his result. occurs from the circumstance !,
lat the peculiar atoms, Indispensable to !
'rm food and clothing, exist in the soil :,
1ly to q very limited extent. If this
ere not the case, England would not send u
undreds and thousands Of ships to distant = =
lands and coasts to gather tn, dung of p
'a-birds solely to increase her annual S
ops. If no fertilizers were wasted in
ngland, this expense need not be incur
ed. (S.)
Concluded next work =
l. We greatly need additional expert q