Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-04-20
Horticultural Items.
rHEFERTILITY OF OUR soIL-How LOST,
AND HOW RESTORED.

4 PdEer read at the meeting 81 the '"-
mont Board of agriculture, at its SeS.
sion in So JohnSbury March y and
10, 1871.
BY JONATHAN LAWRENCE.
Mr. President and Gentlemen e
If one of the jewellers of this village had
requested me to come into his shop and
assist him in taken to pieces and adjusting
a nice gold watch, should not have been
more surprised than was to receive from
the Hon Secretary Of the Board of Agri-
culture, Manufactures and Mining, re-
quest that l should prepare paper upon
some subject pertaining to agriculture and
read it before this meeting. To those with
whom l am acquainted offer no apology.
TO those with whom l am not acquainted,
my paper when read will be sufficient
reason why should not have attempted
it.
The pioneers Of our State were not
strictly tillers of the soil. Their first OBJ
1ect was TO subdue the forest and make
for themselves and families homes. They
believed as do the pioneers of the West
that the soil was inexhaustable, and for
many years tountiful crops repaid their
hard and rugged toll. But gradually the
soil began to fail, and the crops to decrease,
and the result was an inheritance to their
sons of a worn out and exhausted soil.
The fertility Of our soil-how lost, and
how restored2 Now to the question what
has become Of the fertile soil that existed
in the days of our forefathers.
HOW LOST.
By excessive and continuous cropping
without returning what has been taken
from it. We all know that il was nothing
unusual TO take four or five successive
crops from newly cleared land without
returning any manurial substances what
ever. Now it is only by the most liberal
and Judicious system Of manuring that
the same amount of products that was
easily grown by the Indifferent cultivation
of the pioneer, can be realized. Another
source eff exhaustion is the long continued
grazing of our pastures. The seattle upon
a thousand hills" have carried from them
in beef, mutton, sheep, wool, butter and
cheese, millions of dollars worth, returning
nly their meagre droppings to supply the
constant depletion. The united cry from
Massachusetts, to Canada is that the pas
lures do not keep the same amount of stock
as formerly. Where ten head Of cattle
would then thrive and fatten now five can
barely get living.
Another and greater source ofexhaus-
ton is the ruthless denuding of 50 large an
area of eur land of its timber. At the
present rate of timber cutting, twenty years
will see Caledonia county nearly shorn OF
its original forest in fact most our farms
have now only what is absolutely neces-
sary for fuel and fencing. Shall nothing
be done to arrest this growing evil :?
Shall those who feel interested in the pros
perity of the State, who do not wish to
have it become desert, refrain from rails
ing the cry of the poet, Woodman spare
the trees 2" The direct consequence Of
this wholesale slaughter is to expose our
sloping hillsdes to the sweeping winds, to
be washed by the melting SHOWS of spring
and the rains of summer, thus carrying
the richer and finer portions of the soil to
the lowland and forming rich deltas at the
ocean mouths of our largest rivers. These
and other causes that time would fail me
to enumerate are the means by which the
soil of Vermont has lost its native fertility
now RESTORED.
|. By rigidly economizing the manurial
resources of the farm. But very few Of
our farmers seem to appreciate this ne
cessty of their calling Too many allow
their manures to go to waste by exposure
to the sun, winds and rains. Others still
do not see the importance Of saving the
LIQUID from their stock as of equal value
with the solids. The waste from the kitchen
and the contents of the water closet, il
properly composted would be of greater
value than the same amount Of many OF
the commercial manures that are bought
at a high figure by our farmers.
2. BY composing the muck and other
vegetable matter that has been accumula-
ting for ages in our swamps and lowlands
By continual washing our hilsides are being
carried into our swamps. where they are
at present of no value TO the farm, and
never will be until they are removed to
higher the lands or mixed again with the
lands from whence they come. And here
is just where we need the assistance of the
Hon. Board of Agriculture. We wan
samples from these swamps and lowland'
sufficiently anal6zed to enable us to know
their value as fertilizers with what they
should be composted to the grealest advan
tage how far they may be transported
with profit and how applied to the sol
with the best results Many of our farmers
have drawn out from their swamps a large
amount of muck. They have not had the
necessary information to enable them tC
work 1t to the best advantage, and conclu
ding that it Did not pay, have resorted tt
oomerclal manures only to suffer create
disappointment as a general rule.
3. Another means Of restoring lost fer
tlity is by brinipg back from the oceal
salt, fish, and other substances known t
the farmers as commercial fertilizers AM
here again we wish to invoke the aid G
Hon. Board. We have paid thousands @
dollars yearly for the last six or eight year
IN tbs county alone, for these commercial
manures. Some brands have given goo,
satisfaction one year and the next they ar
comparatively worthless. Othres brand
have never given general satisfaction, ant
we are obliged to acknowledge, humbliny
as 1t may be,that the majority of us VIII
purchace these fertilizers are at loss afte
we have used them whether or not the,
were good investment. Now if th
Board Of Agriculture have the means a
their command to procure an ANALYSIS O
the leading fertilizers offered for sale to tn
farmers of the State, telling them Just how
much they are worth as manure, we shall
be able, through the assistance thus rend
cred to buy the good, (if there be any
and reject the worthless. In behalf of tn
working farmers, those who till their land
with their own hands, Task the Hon Boarc
to do ell in this direction their means will
allow, with the assurance from us that w
will just whisper in the ears of our law
makers, that in future much larger APP
preparation for the use of the Board mus