Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1862-05-21
Where does it come from2

The following interesting experiment w
have stated in an occasional agriculture.
address. lsays the Agricuhurist,) but it i.
worth repeating:
Two hundred pounds of earth were dried
in an oven, and weighed, and afterward.
put into a large earthenware vessel, and {
willow tree. weighing Lbs placed therein
During five years the tree was watered
with pure rain or distilled water; and to
prevent any addition of earth or dust, the
vessel was covered with a metal plate per-
forated with holes so small as to admit all
only.
At the end of five years the tree was
found to weigh 1851 pounds. The annu-
al crops of fallen leaves were not taken in
to account. The earth was then baked and
weighed as at first, and had lost only two
ounces.
Whence was derived the l64 lbs. Of woody
fibre, bark, roots, etc? They must have
come to the plant from the atmosphere, and
the rain water, through the medium of the
leaves, roots and bark. We see all around
US similar examples. Yonder old field of
ten acres has annually produced at least
one tun per acre of grass, straw, grain,
corn, etc, for a hundred years, or a thou
sand tuns 1.-TWO million pOundsD of mate
lials which have been carried off and con-
sumed elsewhere, while perhaps the only
addition to the field has been less than a
quarter ton of seed. Yet the field has not
sunk lower by reason of any loss of sub
stance. Indeed it will weigh more now
than before all this cropping, by nearly as
much as the weight of the grass roots and
black mold now in the soil. 1t has lost a
little Of soluble mineral matter that has
been carried into the plants by the sap,
and left there, either absorbed into the sub
stance Of the plants as constituents, or left
there by the evaporation of the sap.
The truth is, soils do not "Wear out.
They are the machines in which plants are
manufactured from air furnished materials.
When the plants decay, or are burned, they
return the matter to the air, which is the
great store house of plant food. The skill
tul cultivator gathers q larger share of this
plant material than others The more
skillful u not only gathers a larger annu-
al supply In the form of crops, but he also
secures an extra quantity which is stored
In the soil as an additional stimulus or
nourlsher of the next crop. THIS he does
BY sowing clover or seed of other plants
which absorb large amounts of plant food
the form of leaves, stems and roots.
these he turns under, and holds them in
store for another crop. His soil is thus
increased in quantity, especially in organic
which adapt it to the production
Of large crops.
In the absence of home made yard M
nure, there Is 10 better way to renovate old
land, or to tighten heavy land, than to blow
IN green clover, or buckWhcat, rye, millet,
pats, &c. The green crops thus mixed with
the soil, answer several purposes. As they
decay, they furnish richer stores of new
.oOd, which nourish and strengthen the
growing lants, and prepare them to absorb
more food from the air; by their decay.
hey leave the soil open and porous, admit
ing more air and warmth into it, and draw
ne of water; and the mold formed by de-
aging vegetables. daIkens the soil, making
t absorb more of the suns rays, and thus !
.ecome warmer. Clover, by means of its .
'bundant leaves, and the large amount of
in its composition, is the best green
lop to turn under. But where the soil is
poor to grow clover, other coarser crops. !
IS ouckWheat, may be first used to bring !
lp The soil to the clOver-bearing point
Wo or three crops of buckWheat NAV he
,roWn and turned under in a season- e
Plaster of Paris is generally useful to start S
The first favorable time sbould no
improved in sowing clover seed upon the
wheat and rye. Choose a still. S
DOL morning, when the ground is opened
nth myriads of frost cracks; the seeds will
.rOp into these, and be covered by thawing- I