The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1869-01-08

tGh pcs COHt va WV NoRttet - N~NNA 40
it, is an Improbable field. We must
eat daily through all our years, and
hence we cannot afford to wait thus or
our s;elds, until the action of tho ele'
ments and forces of nature can renew
their fertility. What must we do then
Simply return to them, year by year, al
that we take off of them; or its equiva
lent. aesa aE@ i@ hss e4
The barn and its surrounding sheds
Ia the great laboratory of the farm
There we transport the whole of its pro
auctions, for the subsistence of animals
and of man. Our grass, or hay, straw
fodder, roots, and grain, are there fed
and the greater portion is there ultimate
ly deposited in the form of animal ex'
crements; and if these be dial y preserv.
ed, and returned to the farm its fertility
will be unfailing. 30 sa tH.eq
Here we have then, with small ex.
ception to be presently noticed, the
identical materials that last year entered
into the composition of our crops but,
having undergone the process of decay,
or slow combustion, they are again re-
duced to condition for tho nourish-
ment, and production of tho crop we
now desire to obtain, and if we analyze
this material, we shall find the very
bases, salts, acid, and gases, that an
analyses of tho origina! crop would have
yielded. 97ea 's aah 4 ~
We must see that if wo have fertile
soil to begin with, we shall always have,
if we properly preserve and use them,
the means at command, to preserve its
fertility. The exception to which we
referred, is the chief ingredient Of the
bones Of animals, phosphate Of klaae.--
As the animals that are produced onthe
farm arc usually slaughtered elsewhere,
the phosphate of lime contained in their
bones cannot so readily be given back
to the soil. A soil that is originally well
supplied with this material, may stand
this drain for long period of. time,
withoutany falling off in its fertility
but ono originally poor in this element,
will need to have it supplied from some
source. Hsa 4f1s@ Hh- ~
We are now prepared to comprehend
the subject of fertilization and to un-
dorstand the economy of fertilizing ma
terials. Docaying vegetation, and the
.excrements of animals, we thus see, are
the chief sources on which the farmer
must rely for keeping up the fertility Of
his farm. Tho farmer who negiects ia
preserve and use all these substances to
tho best advantage, will always be
found unthrifty whilst on the contrary,
his ncighbor, who utilizes all these ma
terials, will not only be rewarded with
good paying crops, but will at the same
time have the satisfaction of finding that
his farm is yearly increasing in Prodgc-
tiveness. 4 a3 stHaa HaI
When the traveller then, in passing
over large sections Of our country, finds
the farmers almost without exception,
ignoring facts; and in practice assisting
all the untoward influences, in robbing
their farms of the clements needed for
the production of crops, can he wonder
if ho finds, in such sections, a great out
cry about the scarcity of money, and
oppressive taxation Neither should
he be greatly astonishcd to find such a
population ready to indulge the hope
that change ofpolitical administration
would bring remedy for all their ills.
Il is no unusual sight, during the fall
months, when the farmer is engaged fat
tening his pork, to find hi eeding pen
SO arranged, and purpcsely, that the
rains shall wash all the excrements into
a ncighboring stream, that they may
thus be carried away or find him in
the fall and winter months feeding
away all the fodder of his fields to his
cattle, in the road outside of, his fields,
or along the bars and sand beechcs of a.
neighboring stream; or to see the ma
nuro heap at the stable neglected from
year to year, until it becomes a mere
pile Of humus impregnated with a fow
insoluble neutrality-suspicious. his fields
in the mean time starving. Now it is
plain that such man is too Ignorant to
be farmer and probably too ignorant
to succeed in any vocation. But this
cxtrayagant was Of the fertilizing ma
terials Of the farm does not complete the
prodigality of such men. aT>Jl3H
They usually try to make up in the
amount of land which they pillow and
cultivate, for the paucity of its produce
ton, and honce, they arc ever blowing
and the result is that on steep, or hill
side lands, the soil has its clements of
fertility washed out Of it from year to
year, until it is utterly exhausted.
We have presented these examples of
ignorant and unskilIful management of
land that are unfortunately to be met
with almost everywhere, and in many
places constitute the rule instead Of the
exception, to show by the force of con-
trast, the Importance OF tho subject
of which we enunciate.
The benefcent Creator has provided
for man goodly heritage here below
but requires ofhim not only that he shall
earn his bread by tbs sweat Of his brow,
but also that he shall exercise those fa-
cilities of intellect with which he has en-