The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-07-02
Vegetable Manure.

Vegetable Manure.
DR.. Pendleton, of the Agricultural
University of Georgia, has made a re-
port of certain experiments with ma,
nures to the Georgia agricultural con
vention, which contains ONE facts that
are OF interest to farmers. In regard
to vegetable manures he says "The
importance of vegetable mold to be
used in conjunction with fertilizers
was tested as follows One row with
enough mold from the woods to halt
till the furrcw, with ammoniated phos-
phatc Mt the rate of 200 lbs. per acre,
made 800 lbs. of seed cotton. The fer
! tiliHer without the mold made 7l2 lbs.
the natural soil 1872 lbs. The fertilizer
with the vegetable mold made 1913 per
cent. on production without it only II
per cent: showing that the presence of
organic matter in a soil adds much to
it's production when fe ~tilizers are used.
"The Importance of outstanding the
vegetable matter Of the soil cannot be
impressed too often or too deeply on
UIt CUlllNuluIb VI tiS Bull. NuOIC u
good crop of grass, weeds or pea vines,
or other plants, have decayed in a soil,
there is enough of all the mineral sub
stances left in an available condition,
except phospboric acid, to make a fair
crop of any of the farm products. One
thousand pounds of grass decomposed
in the soil will furnish four times as
much potash as will be required to
make one thousand pounds of corn or
wheat, and half enough phosphoric
acid, with quite an overplus of all the
other mineral substances. The straw
of the cereals will furnish more than
enough of every one of them except
magnesia and phosphoric acid nearly
enough of the former, and one-fourth
enough of the latter. 70 make peas
there are enough of all the minerals in
grass, with quite an o%verplus, except
phosphoric acid inst half enough of
this, and double enough of potash.
Pea vines furnish Il superabundance of
potash and lime, to make both corn and
peas, in fact of every mineral substance
except phosphoric acid. There is about
bali enough of this to supply the
demand. Thure is Il suf1iciency in
grass to make the seed and fiber of cot
ton, Of all these substance except mag
nesia and phosphoric acid. The
stocks of cotton will also furnish
enough of all the mineral food except
potash, magncsia and phosphoric acid.
These three are quite deficient. Thus
allowing that the stalks of cotton left
in a field weigh as much as the seed
taken from them, for every thousand
pounds there will be taken away eight
pounds of phosphoric acid in the seed,
mor than is left in the stalk-ten
pounds Of potash and six pounds of
magnesia, And when it is remembered
under Our system of clean culture, the
cotton stalk is about all the organic
matter left in the field, and the cattle
take off Il good portion of this during
the winter, it is not wonderful that our
lands dct"rIorate, crops rust and Our
purses r main empty. The inference
is clear from the above facts that q good
crop OF grass and weeds, or other veg
V'"'it iihptNl, tONtItN III LIt FDIi unu
properly decomposed, will furnish n
snilicicncy of all the mineral substances
to make a good crop of corn, cotton or
peas, except phosphoric acid that a
piece Of land run in cotton for a num-
Der OF years will rapidly be deprived,
not only of its nitrogen, but it's phos-
phoric acid, and gradually of it's pot
ash ard its magnesia that in a system
of rational agriculture, it is quite as
important to husband the organic mat
ter OF the soil as it is to apply fertilizers
of any kind that n of the most i'm
portant processes for obtaining soluble
mineral food for plants is to furnish the
land with vegetable matter by a proper
rotation of c ops; hat the mineral
substance of plants becomes, in the
very process which dissolves them,
available for a succeeding generation
of vegetable growth, by the extreme
mechanical tineness TO which they are
reduced, and the action upon them of
the ammonia and carhonic acid, escap-
ing from their albuminoids during the
process of decay"