The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-12-30
Commercial Fertilizers.

We take the following from the month.
ly report Of the Department of Agricul-
ture for October, to show our readers to
what extent they use commercial fertiliz-
ers on some farms in England, and the
great profits derived from them when &C.
companied with deep ploughing and thor
ough culture. What would Vermont
farmer say to an expenditure of seven or
eight thousand dollars in one year for fer.
tilizers to be used on less than five hun.
bred acres. The English farmer has
found the investment to yield greater re.
turns than is obtained from any invest.
ment in farming in Vermont. We omit
good man. tables and plans that are
used to illustrate the article, as we have
not space for them
EXCLUSIVE ARTIFICIAL MATURING.
There are examples of bold and, for
the time at least, successful practice in
depending almost exclusively upon com.
mercial fertilizers to keep up the fertility
Of the soil, from which all its products
are sold aud carried off year after year.
While in England, the present summer,
the writer visited the scene of remarka.
bic example Of this kind, brief history
Of which may be pro6tably unfolded for
suggestion and inquiry, il not for imita.
ton.
Mr., j 9hn Prout, London merchant,
who had been bred farmer in England,
and had for years Of his early life cult.
waited farm in Canada, bought 10 1861
two old and somewhat dilapidated farms
in Hertfordshire, near Sawbridgeworth,
about thirty miles northeast from the
metropolis, They comprised 460 acres,
the soil OF which was clay.loam, which
had been worked only three or four inch.
es in depth, was "clover.sick," and so
unproductive that it was sold at the low
price Of f35 per acre. The nelghbors
were inclined to regard with derision the
expectations Of the city farmer, and free
ly prophesied loss of patience or money
or both, and the abandonment of the CT.
fort. His first movement was the de.
struction of most of the hedge-rows, which
divided the land into ffty-one irregular
small. and inconveniont parcels, thu,
saving, in the space occupied by hedge!
and bitches, l6 acres, at a cost of e34l
for the improvement. A further gain o
. IL acres was made by filling moa
and ponds.
This area was divided into lively,
fields. Exchanges Of laud were effected
aud lines Strengthened to economic tn,
the work of culture by the use of steam
A thorough system of tile-draining wa
then constructed, and an open ditch Gu
at one point to facilitate surface drainage
These improvements brought the cost o
the investment to $50. or $3.50, pc
acre. Being now ready for soil prepare
ton, he bought set of john Fowler 4
Co.'s steam blowing tackle, at $4,000
and kept it at work most of the time, i
1868, plowing l,401 acres, sub. soilin
277, and scarifying 4s0; il all, 2,l5
acres in those seasons. Mr.. Prout says
"Plow often, pillow deep, keep constant
blowing, was my motto for the first fe'
years" The cost of this blowing, i
comparison with horsepower, is deeme
less than the same depth Of pulvcrizatio
by the old method, though more per acr
than the shallow culture formerly pra,
ticed. Some neighbors who doubte
the economy Of steam were offered
round price. 50 per acre. for similf
work, but, after making experiments vii
an acre or two, declined to proceed eve
at that price. After the first four yea
little subsoiling was was deemed nece
sary.
Wishing to avail himself Of any poss
BILE aid from chemistry, Mr.. Prout o.