Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-04-09

are in low state of impOverishment for the
want of a liberal dressing of raw ground bone
Such fertilizng matter is the very life of the soil
European farmers understand and appreciate
this fact. They know it pays to ship bones from
America to enrich their farms. The value Oh
every ship-load Of homes that is picked from our
land cannot readily be computed in dollars anu
cents to the agriculture of our country. En-
gland delights in her own fatness produced on
the choice cheese Of American dairies, while we
nlutter and grumble over pot of whey Euro
peans rejoice over the rich, sweet American but
Ter. while we are so unaccountably stupid as to
he satisfied with the butter-milk. Our farmers
DIG and delve, and rake and scrape their grain
fields. meadows and pastures to get phosphotic
fertilizers to send to Europe TO produce big crops
Of turnips, and then grumble and denounce their
own lands as good for nothing, because their tur-
nips refuse to grow as they do in eastern coun-
tries. The truth this point is American farmers
must save and apply more manure to their i'm
poyerished land; especially must they save
'ohSs Aoi SAVhAhS d Siop VI uAhP7' - SN -
we can produce bountiful crop of turnips we
can grow wheat. Wheat and turnips in Eng
land 20 hand in hand. And when the wheat soils
of America are rendered sufficiently fertile to pro-
duce crop of turnips, We may have the emf
nent satisfaction Of seeing bountiful crops of
choice wheat, where now the yield will scarcely
defray the expenses Of harvesting and thrashing
the crop. Sometimes the farmer will have to
cultivate several years before he can produce
wheat
In addition to the mineral elements required,
wheat demands larger supply of nitrogen for
vigorous growth than almost any other crop.
l. B. Lawes, of England, in his long series of
experiments, ascertained conclusively that where
every mineral element was in the soil necessary
for a maximum crop of wheat, the yield on an
acre was doubled by the aid of two hundred
pounds Of sulphate of ammonia alone. Although
it requires much more nitrogenized manure to
produce a crop Of any Of the cereals than of the
lezumnous plants, such as clover, peas, beans,
&C, it is found that neither the stalks nor the
sttlS VI A't NeASais NDAtA4A any tAAhE INV Nie
proportion Of nitrogen that those of the lequ
minosa do, hence Mr.. Lawes concludes that the
nitrogeHized compound are used up in rendering
soluble some other matters contained in the soil
and converting them into plant food.
Todl says: The result of these experiments
should teach grain-growing farmers the great
Importance of also growing red clover and other
lequminous plants, whicl~collect most of their
nitrogen from the dew rain, and air, and yet
retain it in their tissues to twice the amount that
it is found in the cereal grasses. Thus, clover,
peas, beans, etc, whether ploughed under in the
green state, or fed to animals and the manure
applied to the soil, are nearly thrice the value
of manure made from the cereal grasses
Hon. Geo. Geddes says Of the use of clover
." The oftener we can fill the soil with roots, and
then plough them under, and thus allow them
to rot, the sooner We expect to get our land in
condition to crop with grain. Clover is bien-
NAL, and two years is all tLat one seeding should
stand
Wheat growing upon sod lands is not general
ly recommended, but upon clover lea it sue
ceels very well and generally has the advantage
of being free from weeds and grasses.
The further consideration Of this subject is
necessarily deferred till next week