Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-05-21
AQrirultural, &r.
By our Agricultural Editor.
Fertilizers.

as We can, the fact still exists that our system
of agriculture Is exhaustive, an that we are day
by day selling of the very life blood of our
farms We are aware that this Is not a popular
theme, nor is the statement kindly received; yet
it seems to be the imperious duty Of the Agricul-
tural Journalist TO keep the fact before the peo-
pie, unpleasant as it may be to him or them
We have all through Vermont, farmers who,
though they are adding to the area Of their til
lage lands, fail to keep up their stock to the
standard Of former days That they are getting
more dollars and cents of their farms, may be,
and probably is true; and this Is just exactly
what is deluding them into the belief that they
are growing rich and perhaps improving Their
estates
virgin soil, and especially one upon which
a forest growth has been burned of, leaving the
surface covered with wood ashes, has generally
all the elements necessary for plant food in
highly assimmilable condition; but some Of these
are only in limited supply, and since this is not
an age Of miracles, it can hardly be expected
that we may draw upon any source Of supply
without limit, unless some provision is made for
keeping up the supply.
Hon. Gee. Gelies, the veteran farmer Of Fair
mount, Onoulasa Co, y. Y, claims to have
constantly improved his farm, or at least por-
tiou Of it, by no other application than that of
gypsum, clover seed, and " the Sleeps foot"
Gypsum is not 'plant-food,'' and Is not to be
classed among manures, and Of itself does not
restore anything 20 the soil, but e chiefly v.lul-
BE as Az absorbent Of gases from the atmosphere.
The long tap root Of the clover peutra'es the sub
soil and draws from it the food Of which the
surface soil has been previously exhausted; and,
when it come. TO die in the ground it deposits
near the surface certain elements that IL has
drawn up from below, but it does not really res
tore anything 90 the soi as a whole Instead Of
being manure Of itself, It simply changes the
location ofccrtaiu mauurill elements, and brings
them within reach Of otler plants not So far
reaching. But Mr. Gelle- takes of hay crop,
a seed crop, crop Of corn, and one Of wheat
ami only leaves in the soil the decayinE roots,
and the ir1rrings of his sheep while feeling of
a single seasons growth. And can il De- as be
assumes. that be is not in any sense, or to any
degree, ezhlu-tiag the resources Of his sol.
Thatthe puticul4r parcel Of land subjected 20
thi, treatment will eventually fail, is inevitable,
although it doe, not yet show any Indication of
giving out Land long treated in this manner
becomes "clo,er sick, prevalent disease In
the wheat regions Of Western New York, result
ing from the exhaustion of those elements that
sustain the clover plant.
One Of the evil results Of our exhaustive FARM
ing Is the prevalent mania for changes Not
one farm in a hundred, hardly one in q thou
sand, remains in the hands Of iA5 family of the
original owners To make the most off the farm
fvr the tiue being and sell out, is the highest as
piration Of mos. farmers; and as a result, our
farms are becoming enlarged and our population
reduced a political evil greatlyto be deprecated,
since it is a well established maxim in political
economy that the real wealth of tie State lies in
productive population.
1t is, then the duty of the State, as well as of
,be individual farmers to grapple with this
noustrous evil Bouuties to successful experi-
aneuters analyses Of fertilizers, and the diffusion
of Information upon this subject, are us clearly
duties of the State as any other.
For the individual farmer, who would keep his
farm in condition, but one course remains, and .
;htt Is for him to restore to his soil all Of the
elements Of growth that be removes in his crops;
and it is as clearly his duty and his interest 90
economic all the manural arencies-the food
for his land-as TO economic in the matter e
food FOR his family or animals The waste places.
such as the swamp, the peat bog, the Old helst-
row. and the road side, must be laid ur,.e. con-
tribution and yield their proportion. on Gaze
AMI grain for winter feeling auima,s aEorl
large returns in manure.
1t is a principle ia matt mat nothing is lssJ.
whatever changes II u-lergoes Our butte AID
cheese, and beef an pork, and wheat ana cora,
though car. e. to the cities to feed the thousands
i a,n-vroipcers there, and thence th-oGgh the
city sewers into the SCI, come hack 20 us in %
thousand forms for our use. and Of these We may
not hi! TO secure gooily portion 20 replace ,has
carried away
0f all commercial HI..aarc-. the most valuable
are the products o- the sea- The great standard
fertilizer is Peruvian guano, the excrsmsut Of
,ea birds deposited upon islands in lie Pacific
}eean where rain rarely if ever fills; artificial .
.u,l Is. made from fish oiial, and other sub
.aaces, are recommended as '' alma-, ID, co5i as
he real article, and a great deal cheaper On
be SCI coast sea weeds are much used. but they
yil not bear transportation into the interio
IF superIhosphates and other mauuf.ctu ...i
aauures, there is an almost endless variety tu-
he great trouble with them Is that ther Phi.
Glance to be placed upon them. 1t .l,,,e,.
able biet, thar a great majority @ all the
nnuf,c5ured fertilizers in the mar 10. IL. ,.,
i've satisfaction to the purchasers, and srs r.t
hat they are recommended to be- Thew are
'nernlly sold on the Fesomm sr la,ion of chem
Is who have analv eel, and farmers who have
'''l specimen hut wit no 1t any guarantee
IA, the "i' lle sold is Of the same comp ,it.on
'i'A' AZ alyzed and tes'.ri, and in far too many
N analysis or test wor ID show it to be quite
other article The people are crelulous and
easily duped once o. twice, when they set their
faces like flint against every thing that in any
manner resembles the cheat; and they viii not
see any good in genuine article after having
once suffered from the counterfeit, and thus
second evil results, even greater than the first.
These phosphate manures the people must
have. and the State ought to protect them from
from fraud by providing that none should be
sold without an analysis and guarantee that IL
is a. recommended We would DOT be under
stood as saying that there are no reliable man
ures in the market, but We 90 say that there are
many that are comparatively worthless and Who'll
" unreliable, and it is waste of money to buy
them at any price. 1t viii never do, however,
to get behind the fraud and DO nothing With
such information as We may get we must move
forward in the matter, prudently, on a small
scale perhaps. but none the less determinedly.