The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-05-05
what rKnOw Of Farming.
ny HORACE GREELEY.

enter into the production oil the grains
grasses, fruits, and vegetables, which ar
the objects and rewards Of cultivation
that it could not be improved by the ap
plicatton Of fertilizers; Il there be such,
heartily congratulate the owners, and I'D
wise them not TO sell. Nor do believe
that there are many acres SO fertile tha
they would not produce more Indian corn
more hemp more cotton, and more o.
whatever may be their appropriate staple
II juliciously fertilized. II there be farms
or fields originally so good that manure
would not increase their yield, L am con-
fident that tho first half.dozen crops will
have taken that cOnceit out Of them
PrairIes and river bottoms may yield ever
so bounteousIy; but that very luxuriance
Of growth inSureS their gradual cxhaus.
ton Of certain clements Of crops, which
must needs be replaced or their product
will dwindle. Whoever has sold thou.
sand bushels Of grain, or It's equivalent In
meat, from his farm, has thereby impov.
crished that farm, unless he has applied
something that balances It's loss. II per-
ceive that virtue has gone out Of mi" OBJ
served the Saviour, because the hem ofhis
garment had been touched; md every
field that had been cropped might make o
similar report whenever It's annual loss by
abstraction has not been balanced by some
kind Of fertilizer. The farmer who grows
tho largest crops Is the most merciless OK.
hauster Of the soil, unless he balances his
annual drafts los good farmers rarely fail
to do) by at least equal re-cnfOrcements Of
tho productive capacity Of his fields.
The good farmer begins by inquiring,
"Wherein was my soil originally deficient!
and of what has It been exhausted by
crops?" Judge that my gray
ely hfll.sides would reward the Gpplica.
ton Of two hundred loads Tor tuIls) ofpure
clay per acre, aS think the clay fats
which border Lake Champlain would pay
for like application Of sand or fine gravel
where that material Is found In convenient
and yet I know very well that,
on ut least three.iourths Of our country's
area, such application would cost far more
than It would be worth. Every farmer
must act on his knowledge Of his soil and
Its peculiar needs, and-nOt blindly follow
I'D dictum OF another. Yet / know few
farms which, were they mine, l would not
consider enhanced in value by vigorous
application of some alkaline substance
Lime, Salt, Ashes, or some one Of the
cheaper Nitrates. / should be very glad
TO apply one thousand bushels Of good
llOuse.made, hardwood Ashes to my
twenty acres of arable upland, If I could
buy them, delivered, at twenty-five cents
pcr busliel; but they arO not to BE- had. l
doubt tint there 0rc IL hundred acres Of
warm, dry, gravelly or sandy soil east oil
he AllcghAnies that would not amply re-
ward similar application. But Ashes
N quantity are not to be had,
since no good farmer sells them,
and Coal is the chief fuel Or citieO and
villages. Tho Marls Of New Jersey l
Judge fully equalin average value to Ashes
which have been nearly deprived Of their
potash, by teaching. but not quite hnlf
equal, bishcl for busllcl, 10 aNlcached
Ashes. I Judge that average Mari Is
worth 10 cents per- bushcl where Ashes
may be had for 95. But Mari Is found
only In few localities, and a material
worth but 10 cents per brshel will not
bear transportation beyond 40 miles by
land or 200 by water. Salt Is only found
Or made at a few points, and Is too dear
tor general Use as fertilizer. Where the
refuse product Of salt works can be cheap
" bought, good farmers will eagerly com.
pete for It, If their lands ut all resemble
mine. / Judge the ttln Of Potash l order
ed fifteen years ago from Syracuse, paying
$50 and transportation, was the cheapest
fertilizer ever bought. It was so i'm.
pregnated with SILT from the boiling
over Of the salL!kettles into the ashes) az
10 be worthless for other than agricultural
purposes; but I mixed It with large pile
81 Muck that had recently dug, and, six
0r eight months thereafter, applied the
product 10 a very poor, gravcliy hillside
which l had just broken up; and the i'm
mediate result was noble crop Of Corn.
That hillside has not yet forgotten the ap.
plicaLiOn. -, Yu'Is ggl,5H.N U
II I should try to explain just how and
why Lime Is n fertilizer, should prOba.
bly fail; and l am well aware that lining
has in some cases been overdone; yet |
think most observers will concur In my
statement that any region tclsieh has been
lined year after year produces crops Of no.
riceabI6 ere6lltRce. Irciteas examples Ches-
ter and Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania,
with Stark and adjacent counties OF Ohio.
results equally gratifying might
be secured by applying some other sub.
stance; ! only.kH0w that frequently lined
lands arc generally good lands, as their
crops do testify. Heartily wish that the
Dat clay intervales Of Western Vermont
could have ialr trial Of the virtues Of
Inning. should expect to sec. thom
thereby rendered fria6le and arabic; no
longer changing speedily from the sem
blancc Of tar to that of brick, but readily
plowcd and titled, and yielding literally
Of Grain as well as Grass lam confident
that most farms In our country will pay
for lining 10, the extent Of fity bushels
per acre where the cost Of quick lime
docs not exceed ten cents per bushel; and
most farmers, by taking, hot from the
kiln, the refuse lime-.that,i Is deemed unfit
for building purposes can obtain 1t cheap
or than that,
: l wish some farmer who gives constant
personal attention to his work-us ] can
not--would make some careful tests OF the
practical value of alkalis. For instance:
the abundance and tCnnCity Of our com.
mon sorrel Is supposed to indicate an acid
condition Of the soil; and all who have
tried know that sOFrel Is hard to kill by
cultivation. I suggest that whoever Is
troubled with It should cover two square
rods with ono bushel Qi ,qulCklime Just
after blowing and narrowing this spring; ;
then apply another bushel TO four square
rods adjacent; then make similar appli'
cations Of ashes TO two and four square
rods respectively, taking careful note Of
the boundaries Of each patch, and leaving
the rest Of tho fold destitute Of either ap-
plic6tion. will not anticipate the result;
more than ono. year may be required to
evolve 1t; but l am confident that q few
such experiments would supply data
7 L. SaaI. 1Rh NItARa n