Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1868-08-14
Homo Made and Commercial Manures.

! oAPresseu QUIZ poloI IN tho pr0htableness OF
saving all the manure possible on tho farm,
basing that belief upon experience in various
parts Of tho world, and upon calculations Of
tho cost Of farm yard manuros as oontrasted
with that Of other kinds. Tho problem is {.
| perfectly simple one--with 800 in hand, to
bo invested in manures, shall tho farmer OK
pond in commercial fertilizers, or in the labor
and appliances necessary to mako barnyard
manuroS Tho quantity Of what is ordinarily
termed good manure, that oan bo mado on
farm, is dependant, Of course, upon tho mum.
Dor OF animals and tho supply of food for thom,
10 oortain point, then, on oaoh farm, as do
termined by tho above conditions, it is profit.
able to expend money for manure making
beyond that point it would not be- If it
required just 800 to reaoh this limit on any
farm, wo should not, for moment, hesitate
to spond it in making barnyard manure, in
preference to buying guano, 60. But sup.
pose tho amount Of manure mado, is inadc-
quato to bring tho farmers lands up to tho
degroo Of fertility desired. BY dovoting
larger number Of acres to forage plants and
pastures, he might inoreaso his stock and
thus increase ranure--and by spreading tho
ashes derived from wood grown on another
portion of the farm devoted to forest, ho might,
for whilo, on the principle of Robbing Po-
ter to pay Paul, kocp up and increase tho
fertility of the cultivated portion. But, as
certain clements of crops aro continually ro.
moved from and therefore lost to tho farm, by
salo of produce and by cxcrcmont dropped on
roads, &c, 60, it is obvious that, unless the
soil is inexhaustibly rich, tho annual loss, al
ludcd to above, will finally exhaust and i'm
povcrish the farm-thc time varying with
the original fertility of the soil, and the great.
or or smaller quantity Of land devoted to pas
turo and forest. In other words, supposing
all the cxcromcnts of every kind, solid or liq-
uld, which possibly could be saved, and tho
straw, &C., returned back to the land, still
there would bo constant depletion arising
from the clements taken away in the crops
sold-greater in tho case of some crops than
others, in wheat for instance, than in cotton.
as general proposition, therefore, it is true
that farmer cannot, for al indefinite period
OF time, maintain, much less increase, the
original fertility of the soil by home made ma
nurcs, unless, as in the case of the Chinese,
there is no export of produce to foreign coun-
tries, and all tho exorcucnts from food, fur
nished to city populations from tho country,
is sent back again to the farm. Tho waste Of
fertillzing substances is, at present. and prop
erly too, attracting much moro attention than
it formerly did. Our readers arc probable
aware that the distinguished chemist, Licdig,
is, at present, engaged in experimenting the
saving and preparation of manure, from the
sewers of London. Until, however, the Chi
nesc system is fully carried out, in this ooun
try, and the export Of products is stopped OF
off set by the import of foreign products
containing an equivalent amount of fcrtilizine
ingredients, all the home made manure, that
VIC can possibly mako, will not prevent an
annual decrease in the fertility of our lands
unless restored, by the products of tho ocean
in somo form or other. Ono spot may be
made and kept rich at the expense of othors,
as in the ncighborhood of cities, where the
food of man and beast is drawn from the aroa
of circle of ten or moro miles in diameter
and the exoroment, derived from said food,
is applied to the land, in circle whose area
is two or three miles-but what one gains an
other loses. The fact that confronts us, more
Immediately at present, is that, in tho larger
portions Of our Southern Country, tho lands
are already poor-as a general thing too poo,
to reward the farmer for the expense of oulti-
vation; too poor to raiso enough grain and
forage to cnablo tho farmer 70 keep the stock
necessary to make large quantities Of farmyard
manure. We admit, fully, that the absence
of grasses, clover, &c., in our rotations, has
reduced tho amount Of stock and consequently,
the amount Of homo made manure, below tho
proper point, but, after making allowance
for this, the great truth still remains, that
land, which is already poor, cannot be made
rich by manuring it with all the oxcrcments
of man and beast, fod upon tho products of
that land. To uso homoly, bnt expressive
| phrase, tho oaso is that of tho man who at.
tcmpts to lift himself up by his boots---ho
may pull up one foot, but both will not come !:
So the farmer, when his surface soil is OK.
haustcd, may, by deep rooted plants like
olovcr, &c., bring up elements from tho sub.
soil and place them near tho surface, and thus