American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1865-09-13
Tfte 5arnters department.
MANURE,

in the maxim, that the formation,
preservation and .judicious applica-
tion of manure, is the most essential
part of good husbandry. The dura-
bility of soils, when subjected to the
too often emasculating process of
cultivation, is governed, to q very
considerable extent, by its constitu-
tional texture and hygrometic powers.
All layey lands have strong afini-
ty for fertilising salts, and are found
to retain them with great tenacity,
but under a judicious system ofdrain-
age and tillage, they part with them
as rapidly as profitable to the farm
er, or beneficial to the crops they are
made to support. Here it is, that
the application of alminous earth, to
sandy lands, is of such signal bene-
fit, although apart from the increase
of this capacity which it insures, there
are other important advantages at
tending this amalgamation-such as
increase of retentiye power, in re-
gard to water, and consolidation,
which renders lands so improved, a
more fit medium for the roots of
plants. On this topic, a writer re-
marks:
"To show the capacity of arabic
lands to produce breadstufs, and not
to reach the extreme limit, which is
unknown, it is enough to say that
our climate is equal to the yield of
thirty bushels of wheat, and eighty
of corn per acre, provided the plants
are properly fed.-Iiow should a
farmer feed corn plants on his farm
which is equal to the production of
fifteen bushels per acre, so that the
same will, in the course ofa few years,
produce crops five times as large :?
TO do this without going off the field
for fertilisers, is the end to be at
tained. "
The process is very simple one,
and consists simply in returning to
the soil, every year, a little more of
the material constituting the food of
plants, than the crop requires. Ev-
cry vegetable that the soil produces,
and perfects, abstracts a given amout
of its fertilising particles, and if the
plant is carried off, and consumed at
a distance from the locality where it
was grown, and no equivalent re-
turned, the soil is impoverished just
in the ratio of the quantity required
for its production, and no less. In
the corn grain, we find silica, lime,
potash, soda and five or six other
clements, all Of which are derived di-
rectly from the soil, or from the ma
,nure applied to it to support the crop,
and if we continue to remove crop
after crop, these elements must, in
time, be exhausted, and the sol re-
duced to sterility, unless literally
manured. So far MS the feeding of
vegetables is concerned: those 'ele-
mentary matters may be contempla-
ted as indistructible and eternal -
The lime and the soda contained in
kernel of corn this year, may be re-
turned to the soil and constitute
part of the same species of grain the
next and so with all. the other con-
stituents, organic as well as morgan
ic, Of which corn is composed. The
science of feeding vegetables is yet
in it's infancy, in this country, and
may be said to be so even in Europe,
although there the little attention
that has been accorded to the subject
has resulted in raising the yield of
wheat from sixteen to thirty-two
bushels; which is now the average
product. Wherever similar attempts
have beer made in this country, they
have generally been attended with
similar results. The crop of Indian
corn has been greatly increased in
quantity and improved in quality
According to the statistics of our
Agricultural Societies, the yield has
often been as great as one hundred
and forty bushels (shelled CORN to
the acre. The average yield, how
ever, is probably less than one-fourth
that amount. These facts present
fruitful theme for reflection, and one
that should by no means be neglect
ed or lost sight of by the farmer.
Ger. Tel. J. W. P.