Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-04-12
Aqritult
Fertility of Our SOil-HOW Lost and
How Restored

Fertility of Our SOiI-HOw Lost and
How Restored.
A Paper read al The meeting Of The Vermont
Board Of AgrjcuIture,at rs SESSION in 81.
Johus5lry, March and 10, 1871
BY JONATHAN LAWRENCE.
Mr. President and Gentlemen
If one Of the jewellers Of this village had
requested me to come into his shop and assist
him in taking to pieces and adjusting nice
gold watch | should not h we been more
surprised than was to receive from the Hon.
Secretary Of the Board of Agriculture, Man
ufactures and Mining, request that | should
prepare paper upon some subject pertain
ing tO agriculture and read it before this
meeting To those with whom | am ac-
quainted / offer no apology. To those with
whom | am not acquainted my paper when
read viii be a sufficient reason why | should
not have attempted it.
The pioneers of our State were not strictly
tiller= Of the soil. Their first object was to
subdue the forest and make for themselves
and families a home. They believed as d.
the pioneers Of the West that the soil was
inexhau-tble, and for many years bountiful
crops repaid their hard and rugged toll
But gradually the soil began to fail, 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
restored ? Now to the question what has
become Of the fertile soil that existed in the
days Ut our fJrcfathcrs2
HOW lost
BY excessive and continuous cropping
without return NJ what has been taken from
it. We al know that it was nothing IN
usual to take four or five successive crops
from newly cleared land without returning
any manuriaI substances whatever. Now il
Is only nv the most liberal and iudicious
system OF manuring that the same amount of
products that was easily grown bv the in
different cultivation Of the pioneer, can be
realized. Another source Of exhaustion il
the long continued grazing Of our pastures
The = cattle upon thousand hills have
carried from them in beef, mutton sheen
wool, butter and cheese, mill Ons of dollars
worth, returning only their meager droppiugs
to supply the constant depletion. The united
cry from Massachusetts to Canada, j. that
the pastures do not keep the same amount Of
stock az formerly. Where ten head Of cattle
would then thrive and fatten now five can
barely get a living.
Another and greater source Of exhaustion
is the ruthless denuding Of so large al area
Of our land Of its timber At the present
rate Of timber cutting, twenty years will see
Caledonia County nearly sbOrn of it, original
forest in fact most Of our farms have now
only what is absolutely necessary for fuel
and fencing. Shall nothing be done to ar
rest this growing evil Shall those who
feel interested in the prosperity Of the State.
who do not wish to have it become desert
refrain from raising the cry Of the poet,
q Woodman, spare the trees p The direct
consequence Of this wholesale slaughter i to
expose our sloping hiIl-sides to the sweeping
winds to be washed by the melting SHOWS OF
spring and the rains Of summer, thus carry
ing the cher 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 to
enumerats are the means by which the soil
of Vermont has lost its native fertility
now RESTORED.
l. By rigidly economizng the manuriaI
resources of the farm But very few Of our
farmers seem to apprec ate this necessity of
their calling Too many allow their manures
to 20 to waste by exposure to the sun winds
and rains. Others still do not see the i'm
portance Of saving liquid from their stock
as Of equal value with the solids The waste
from the kitchen and the contents Of the
water closet, if properly composted would be
of greater value than the same amount Of
many Of the commercial manures that are
bought at high figure by our farmers.
2 By composing the muck and other
vegetable matter that has been a formulating
for ages in our swamps and IowIands By
continual washing the hillsides are being
carried into our swamps where they are al
present of no value To the farm. and never
will be until they are removed to the higher
lands m xed again with the soil from
whence they came. Ard here is Just where
we need the assistance of the Hon. Board of
Agriculture. We want samples from these
swamps and lowlands sufficiently analyzed t.
enable Us to know their value as fertilizers
with what they should be c0mposted to the
greatest advantage how far they may be
transported with profit and how applied to
the soil 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
to work it TO the best advantage, and con-
GLIDING that it did not pay, have resorted to
conn ercial manures only to suffer greater
dlsappoi- tment as a general rule.
3. Another means of restoring lost fertiI-
ity is by bringing back from the ocean salt,
fish, and other substances known TO the
farmer as commercial fertilizers And here
again we wish TO invoke the aid Of the Hon
Board. We have paid thousands of dollars
yearly for the last six or eight years id this
county alone, for these commercial manures
Some brands have given good satisfaction one
year and the next they are comparatively
worthless Other brands have never given
general satisfaction, and we are obliged to
acknowledge, humbling as il may be, that
the majority Of US who purchase these fertiI-
izers are at a loss after we have used them
whether not they a good investment.
Now If the Board of Agriculture have the
means at their command to procure an analv-
SIS Of the leading fertilizers offered for sale
to the farmers of the State, telling them Just
how much they are worth as a manure we 4
shall be able, RI cough the assistance thus 1
rendered, to buy the good, IF there is any,) 4
and reject the worthless In behalf Of the 4
working farmers, those who till their lands /
with their own hands | ask the Hon Board .
to do all in this direction their means will /
allow, with the assurance from us that we .
will just whisper in the ears of our lawmak- .
ers, that in future a much larger appropria-
tion for the use of the Board must be made. /
The money that has been paid from this
county alone, that | fear has been nearly
thrown away, would have enabled the Board .
to analyze these compounds and gives the
results 10 every farmer in the State. The
trouble has been heretofore that we wanted
something TO enrich our farms, and we had
no Bo rd Of A griculture to apply to for
assistance, and 50 we have /" gone it blind .
4. Another means of restoring lost fertil-
ity is the blowing under of green crops, and
the use of lime and plaster for top dressing.
In the south cotton is called king, in the
west wheat and corn are king, but in Yer
mont grass, if il is not king, is the founda-
tim of all good farming. Our graes crop ex-
ceeds all other crops combined Most OF GU ,
soil can be rendered fertile by blowing und