The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1862-08-13
AGRICULTURAL.
loss OF NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..

A CORRESPONDENT who has read With great at
tention and interest," articles OH Improvement in
farming, asks, " IF the soil is well pulverzed TO
the depth of two feet, so that water can pass
freely through, ana below this there are drains
ready to carry off ali the water not held by the
soil, will not the soluble parts of the manure ap-
piled near the surface, and the soluble and the
richest portions of the soil, be carried Off by
these drains and lost to the farmer and the
crops?" This is very natural and sensible
inquiry, and shows that the inquirer is one of
those thinking men who is not willing to adopt
any plan without full understanding of its et-
fects. On this point, however, there is no dan
ger, for the water running from pipes will be
found clear and pure, no matter how much or
what may be the nature of the manure applied.
Even liquid manure may be given in large quan-
titles, and the water that filters through will be
found clear and pure. Soak the soil with the
dark brown DRAWINGS OF the harn-yard, and
that which passes through to the drains will be
as clear as though just taken from the spring.
Any one can test this matter for himself in a
small way, so that the question may be settled
in hi own mind beyond question.
Among series of experiments instituted BY
Professor Way and II. s Thompson, for the
purpose Of ascertaining the power of soil to re-
tain, unimpaired in value, manures applied in
winter, and also its power to hold in suspension
the RSed ammonia in barn-yard tanks and man
ure heaps, we lesrn that Mr.. Thompson filtered
through sandy loan, siN INCHES in depth, ten
grains of suphato of ammonia and ten grains
of sesquicarbonate of ammonia, both dissolved
in distilled water - the one representing tha
ammonacsl matter Of the tank fixed by gypsum
or sulphurc acid, and the other the free ammo
niacal solutions of the decomposed vegetable
matter of the barn-yard - and he found that
after passing through this thin stratum of SOIL
only "a grains of the sui phate of ammonia re-
suited in the one case, and only Is grains in
the other. When an eight inch stratum of the
soil was used, the whole of the ammonia was
retained.
! Professor Way subjected sinking tank water
to filtration through twenty-four inches OF
( light loan, and the moisture at the foot of the
tube was perfectly free from smell, and mix
ture of this soil and white sand allowed the per-
collation. of water through it quite clear aud free
from ammonia. With the drainage of a Lon
don sewer Professor w. found that the ammo
MIA is separated from the rest of the organic
matter TO the last fraction the phosphoric acid
is separated from its base, and so is the part of
the sulphurc acid and all the potash so that il
fact the soil had selected and retained those
very principles of the sewer water which science
has decided TO be the most valuable for the pur-
/ poses of manure.
/ Professor Mapes in an article on this subject,
| says 80" II is Impossible for mauures in fluid
/ form tn filter downward through any fertile
soil Even the brown liquor OF the bsrn-ysrd
will have all its available constituents abstract
ed by the soil, before 1t desceDds into the earth
! thirty four inches. If this were not true, our
! wells would long since have become useless, the
earth's surface would have become barren, and
the raw materials of which plants are made,
which come iroH. the earth's surface and sur
rounding atmosphere, wSald have passed to-
wards the earths centre; but the carbon and
alumina Of the Soil, each of which has the pow
er OF absorbing and retaining the necessary food
of plants, are agents for carrying into effect the
laws of nature for the protection of vegetable
! growth"
1t IS only in the most porous soils, containing
u good Deal Of gravel, that the mature viii be
washed down oGt Of the reach of the roots Cl
plants, and We venture the assertion that ia no
fertile, snd in fact ip no soil taat she farmer is
expected to cultivate, may loss be apptehended
from this oauge,--AgricultriSt