New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-06-04
WHAT KNOW OFFARMING.
BY HORACE GREELEY.
XIX.
SOILS AND FERTILIZERS.


capacity. HIS art consists in Transforming by cul-
tivstion crude, comparatively worthless, and even
nonous offensive materials into substances grateful
to the senses, nourishng to the body and sometimes
invigorating. even Strengthening 10 the mind
have heard Of lands that were naturally rich
enough never was So lucky OF perchance discern
inc as 10 find them. Yet have seen Illinois bot ms
whereof was assured that the soil was fully sixteen
feet deep. and rich black auvum from top to bot
tom; and l do mol question the statements made 10
me from personal observation that portions Of the
strongly alkaline plain swae on which salt Lake
City Is built, being for the first time powed, irri
gated, and sown TO Wheat, yielded ninety bushels Of
good grain PER acre. never saw, vet on evidence
believe, that pioneer settlers Of the Miami Valley
wishing some years after settling them, 10 sell their
farms, advertised them as peculiarly desirable in
that the barns stood over a creek or branch
which swept away the manure each Winter OF Spring
without trouble 10 the owner and i have myself
crown both Wheat and Oats that were very rank and
heavy IN straw yet which fell fiat and lay dead
that the heads scarcely bore kernel. Had / been
wiser better farmer, should have known how 10
sten the straw and make il do its office, in spite Of
wind and storm.
And let me here say lest forget it in its appro
pirate place, that am confident that most farmers
SOW grain too thckly for any but very poor land.
one THINKS IL necessary scatter utnAitAc "a
Oats per acre, tell him that be should apply more
manure and less sed-that land which requires three
bushels Of seed Is not rich enough 10 bear Oats he
might better concentrate his manure on halt so much
land and save two-thirds Of his seed
do not hold that the remarkably rich soils have
iustanced needed fertilDing when first plowed;
VIII presume that they did not. Yet. having never
-yet succeeded in manurng a corn-teld So high that
3 few loads more would not Judge have increased
the crop. doubt whether even the richest limos
bottoms would not yield more Corn, year By year, If
Reinforced with the contents Of good barn-vard.
And. when the first heavy crop Of Corn has been
taken from field that feld-no matter how deep and
fertile lis soils less rich in confronting elements
than before. just so sure as that there is no
depletion or shrinkace when nothing is taken from
nothing So sure is il that something cannot be taken
from something without diminishing its capacity 10
yield something az the next call. Rotation Of crops
Is an excellent plan; for one may flourish on that
which another has rejected but this does not over
bear Natures iniexibe exaction # so much for so
much Hence. if there ever was field SO rich that
nothing could be added that would increase It's pro
ductive capacity the first eXacting crop thereafter
taken from II diminished that capacity and rendered
fresh application Of some fertilizer desirable.
Years ago, a Western man exhibited at our Farm
ers Club a specimen Of the soil If his region which
vas Justly deemed very rich, taken from field
whereOn Corn had been repeatedly grown without
apparent exhaustion. A chemical analysis had been
made Of IT, which was submitted with the soil. II
was claimed that nothing would improve its capacity
fr producing the great Illinois staple. Prof. Mapes
dssened from this conclusion This soil said he,
while very rich in nearly every element which
enters into the composition Of Corn, gives barely
trace Of Chlorine. the base Of Salt Hence, if five
bushels per acre # salt be applied TO that field and
lid aHa1s
more Of Com. viii agree TO eat the field
Many men fertIze their poor lands only, supposing
that the better can do without. Judge that TO be
mistake. Ny rule would be TO plant the poorest with
such choice trees as thrive without manure and pile
the fertilizers upon the better. Il seems TO me
plain that Of two fields Of which has soil con
tanning nine-tenths Of the elements Of the desired
crop while the other shows but 10 three-tenths,
IL l. more hopeful and less thankless task to enrich
the former than the latter. II you are required 10
supply to q field nearly everything that your pro
posed crop VIII withdraw from it, do not see Where
the profit comes in hut if YOU are required 10 supply
but tenth, because the soil as You found it stood
ready % contribute the remaining nine-tenths, II
seems 20 me that tie margin for profit Is here de-
cidedly the greater.
How many tuus Of earth ought a farmer 10 be
obliged 10 turn over and over in order TO obtain
taer,fr1m hundred bushels Of Conf Two humid
rd' Five hundreds thousand Fire thousands
C,her things being equal no one viii doubt that. if
b. can make the Corn from one hundred tuns Of soil,
j, were better 10 do than 10 employ five hundred
OF FIVE thousand. II seems clear 70 my mind that,
though other conditions be unequal IL is generally
well u endeavor % produce the required quantity
from The smaller rather than the larger area.
fully share the average farmers Partially for
barn-yard manure in preference 10 most, # not all,
e.TE --.n l., -rr.q gIrr
farmer who has cattle with tit shelter and Winter
fiddler can make fertilizers far cheaper than be can
I1v them Judge that almost every farmer who has
paid 500 OF over for Guano for instance. might
have more considerably enriched his firm by draw
IT,. muck from some convenient bog pond into his
BARNARD in August OF September and carting il
thence 20 his fields the next Fall. If b. can get no
muck within a mile, let him cut, when they are
IL blossom, all the weeds that grow lear him,
-eal!v BY the roadside cart them at once into his
barI-yard and there convert them into fertilizers.
l. Autumn. replace the hay-rack on the wagon OF
cart and pile load after load Of freshyfaen leaves
into your yard taking them, If you may, from the
sdes If roads and fences and from any place where
they may have been lodged or heaped by the winds,
Your own wood-lot excepted. Plow the turf on Of
any sruryy lot OF roadside and pile il into the barn
yard nay, dig a hundred loads Of pure clay and
place II there you get II at small expense. and
your average soil is grayely or sandy The farmer
who Is unable OF reluctant 20 buy commercial fertl-
izers should apply his whole force every Autumn 10
repenishing his barn-yard with that material which
he obtain most easily which the trampling Of his
cattle may readily convert into manure. A month Is
200 little two months would not he TOO much 20 de-
vote % tins good work. Some may seem obliged to
postpone il 10 Winter but that Is % run the risk Of
embarrassment by frost OF snow, and encounter the