Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-02-11
MONDAY MORNING, r

70 tue growth and maturity of vegetable
life, marks, unmistaka the wisdom and
benihcence of the Creator, >,
lp proof of the Prpfessor's remarks, that
ram ram water does NOT filter or wash ont
tnose organic and Inorganic constituents
oi go9d sou-7the NECESSARY food of plnuts,
we VIII mention a tew we'll known facts.
The Immense tracts oF land which nre an
nually orerAowed 10 Egypt were. exceed
lngly fertile in the production OF wheat
hHx, and various other cultivated cropsi
long before the brethren of Joseph went
lhsre to purchase corn. That fertility has
Leen kept up from that tothe present time.
not 50 much by the use OF animal manure
ns by the rich deposits of sedimeI1try mat
ter annually brought down from the sour
ces OF the Nile, and spread over those vast
plains By the swollen waters of that river.
The fine and comminnted particles, when
abo9t IN the water bold on 70 their. saltsl
ana other enriching qualities till wanted
Tor , lhe growing eroPs,a a lniser does upon
Our western praiFies have lain for une
told centuries with bosoms barred to tho
"pelgngs, of the pjtless storms of melt
ing SHOWS and drenehing rains; many of
them have been annually burned over time
out of mind by the Indians and hunters.
ana yet the sun scarcely shines on soils
richer in allithe properties necessary for
the production of food for the sustenance
ofanimal life. Iii true, the unfed grasses
on portions of the pTairies are n1uunlIy,
LETT npon the land, and by their gradual
decay restore to the soil all that has been
drawn from it. Those portions which are
burned over receive the benefit of tho
ashes of the burned grasses, and thus its
fertility IS kept up. But still the question
presents itself, why have not the fortY-fiye
inches of annual rain fall; for some six
thousdnd years, long since washed out all
the tertilizing matters of these deep soils
and long prior to this have left them us
harreu as the deserts of Arabia7 Pof
Ways experiments aRSwer the question:
The qlumina Of the soil with the carbona-
ceous mntter, holds The ammonia aud other
salts SO they cannot be, washed out.
"A correspondent OF the Rural Nep-
Yorker of 22d December, saws: 6The
wheat crop of Wisconsin this year was es-1
timnted, by committee appointed by tho
State Agricultural Society, who carefully
canvassed the grain districts, ut tser-
ty-tl'o n'Iikions Of 6ushelS from l,o62, 900
acres" Probably more than a million of
there acres never received so much, rs n
single wheel barrow load of farmyard ma
nnre. The ingredtenfs for this enormous
the soil, despite of plins and melting
SHOWS, sever sinct the flood" but these
wheat and corn crops will do what the
rains never conld, viz, sooner or later de-
prize these Wisconsin soils of their fertiIi-
", unless the farmers there in some way
restore to them an equivalent for the fer.
4llzing mdtters e4udsted By their crops
Ferhaps the most ccpnomirnl way in
which this can be done will be by The use
ofieIoEerand gypsuui+as has long been
practlced in some portions of Western
New Y 9qFS md in some o(her States. How
long the fertility of, th annually 81 eFoppedl
soil can bo kept up by the use Of gypsumf
and clover we will NOT attempt To, predict
5gt q! We sknoY " can be for sixty years..
We have Just freceTYed Il IeEter uuor-ibIsz
point from the Hon. Geddes of Onondapa
Co, N.Y Although the letter was not
intended for publication, we hope he will
pardon us for the extinct we make from il.
He says:
"1ou Will see on page 100 of my Re-
ports Prof NortOnis analyses of some
soil and underlying rock Of field that
had been treated with clover and gypsum,
and no manure, for fifty,years. This land
my father purchased of the State in the
last century, taking the first crop of wheat
OIL 1t in 1899. This yeir wheat was taken
from this field-a good crop, say 25 bnsh .
els to the acre, after barley last year.
Great care is taken not to manure this
field with anything hut clover and gyp-
sym, as i Is intended to see how long this
plhn'of ferttlizipg will continue to improve
the crops under our system ofrotation.n
Mr.. Quincy, in his address, said, "Onr
western neighbors believe that the fertility
of their soil is inexhaustibler Ifthev
entertain such visionary ideas, NC trust
they will discard them before It is too late.
and that they will resort to green manur-
ing by the use Of cloYer- and gypsum,
Wills their soils are yet fertile, ior3iti is
easter aud cheaper to keep mp the fertility
OF a naturally good soil, than it is 10 re-
store fertility to a;worn out soil. Hr
But to return to the subject,-the cana
city of soils for absorbing and retaining
fertilizing matters Are the soils in onT
primitive forests, from which the FIRE and
the axe have been kept out, any less rich
In tertiltzing matters than they were in the
day that Miles Standish and his toil-worn
companions landed at Plymouth, 24o years
agoE Probably not. The black sniIs
shovelled from ditches in wet swamps.
and spread upon the banks of the bitches
Rre frequently found to produce as heavy
growth OF oats and as large a yield of
English grass, as the most highly cultiva-
ted uplands. Now these black mueky
soils have been dreuehed in water for cen
tnries, without having been deprived of
these fer'iliziqg Ingredients which have
been accumulating for ages. These facts
most clearly demonstrate the economy of
applying clay aud swamp muck TO light
sspdy and graSelly laud5: AS they have
the etfectof rendering such soils more re-
tentiye OF moisture, girtng them a greater
capacity for retitaing tue strength of ma
nures applied to them, aud storing up the
ammonia and other ggsses which falls Upon
them in the raips and SHOWS.
In the letter of Mr.. johnson, referred to,
he says-'sAIy farm is as rich as is pro6ta-
BILE for wheat, This has baern effected by
understanding and wanhring.n MS is, a
elayty soil thoroughly Undetermined; when
he applies manure, what is not taken up
by the crop Immediately following the