Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1873-01-17

it hos been noticed with alarm that this i'm
portaut mineral element of plant food in our
soil, is failing. Never existing in very great
amount in ordinary soils, il cannot long en-
dure the constant drain it has suffered since
our lands were first brought under the plow.
II has left the farm in every bushel of grain
or ton of hay sold of, and has furnished a
good part of the substance of the bones Of
every animal sent to market While this
process of exhausting 1t from the soil has
long been going on no pains has until recent
ly been taken to make good the loss. We
have allowed the bones gathering in the cit
les to 60 down into the sea, or to be carried
away to enrich the lands of the better in.
formed and more enterprising agriculturists
of other countries, and even the bones re-
naming at hand have been suffered to 20 to
waste unused
The consequence of all this has been a
steady waning of certain of our crops. We
have walked up in surprise at finding that we
are utterly unable to produce more than half
the amount of wheat to tho acre that our
fathers did, even though we manure heavily,
and till more thoroughly than they did.
We have seen the yield dwindle, while the
cost of land and the price of labor to culti-
vate it have risen higher and higher, until
the conviction that we can hardly afford to
raise our own bread has been forced upon us.
So the sound Of the grinding in our mills is
low, or has been hushed entirely except where
they have been fed from the granaries of the
new West. In this melancholy state OF our
agriculture, Science comes to our relief,
showing us where the leak has been, and
instructing us how to restore in good meas
ure the needed element to the soil. Phos.
pilates are prescribed for our enfeebed soil /;
and we set about buying guano and prepared
superphosphates freely. But soon again we
are in trouble We learn that the amount
OF phosphoric acid which the latter contain,
grows less year by year, Or the price Of good
brands goes up, as the guano deposits Of the
Pacific give out and the supply Of bones
within reach of the manufacturer fails to
keep up with the gowing demand for the
fertilizer. Tie superphosphate makers are
in trouble as well as we and il We are dis
appointed, they are sorely perplexed. Their
difficulty is to procure sufficient supply OF
the raw material. So this comes to be the
problem which now concerns us both.
But Nature, always provident and bountiful,
now comes forward and shows us the stores
Of just the mineral we want, which for un.
told ages she has kept locked up 10 the bo-
som of the earth on purpose for meeting this
emergency, which our waste should cause
In the inexhaustable mines of apa tite rock
close by US in Canada. we have full supply
Of the mineral which will aid us wonderfully
in bringing up our lands again to their origi-
nal fertility. The rock is about as rich in
phosphorus as bones themselves and within
the past year it has been brought into this
section, and according to the analysis Of Prof
Collier, sold for about four-sevenths Of the
actual market value Of its ingredients, and
for about two.thirds Of the price of many
quite good superphosphates IN this market
which are actually worth but half as much
as this. However, understand it is found
necessary to raise the price somewhat for the
future, but not so high as the usual price Of
superphoSphates. IL the tenant farmers o
England, by liberal investment in fertiiz
els, aud simply by this means, are enabled tC
pay their heavy rentals, may not our New
England farmers, who mostly own the land
they till, hope to be able after a fair use o.
manures to make " farming pay" That SC
rich deposite Of, perhaps, the most essentia
element of fertility which our own soils lack
and one which hitherto has been the mos
difficult to procure, should lie so close a
hand, and that responsible manufacturer
should be able to prepare the crude article
for us and supply it at reasonable rates, arr
circumstances which betoken better times TO
our agriculture. p,
Chittenden Co.