Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-03-13

lily run off in the drains as the corresponding
ingredients Of ammonical salts and nitrate Of
soda. The soil fairly well dunged, besides
its increased percentage Of organic matter
has greater powers Of absorption. Without
injury, and probably with advantage, this
porosity enables it, sponge.like, TO hold
much more wet than unmanured or artificial
ly manured lard. Messrs. Lawes Il Gil
bert found that while the pipe drains from
every one Of the other plots in the expert
mental wheat field ran freely perhaps
four or Ave or more times au-
nually, the drain from the dunged
plot seldom runs at all more than once a
year, and in some seasons not at all.
Stated briefly, it was found that the dunged
soil when saturated retained within IL
inches from the surface, an excess of water
which would be equivalent to about l inches
Of rain more than that held to the same depth
on the unmaEured and the arti6cially ma
nured plots in the same field Land well
dunged Becomes less dependent on seasons,
aud its storehouss Of moisture is especially
serviceable in time Of protracted drouth"
An annual dressing Of rape cake brought
an average Of as bushels Of grain.
Mineral manures consisting Of salts Of
potash, soda aud magnesia, yielded meager
returns. A mixture Of sulphate Of potash,
200 pounds with 100 pounds each Of sui
phate of soda and magnesia, applied annual
ly during the twenty years, produced scarce
ly two bushels more Of grain, on the average
more than the unmanured plots and less
than a cwt. more straw.
Superphosphates alone in annual doses of
81 cwts. had but slight effect. The average
yield was only l bushels of grain and II
cwt Of straw more than the unmanured plots,
and it lessened rather than improved during
the second decade of the experimental term
Another quotation or two from the North
British Agrlculturia may be appropriately
introduced here -" One Of the chief prac-
tical lessons Of these admirable experiments
is the high manurial value Of available nitro
gen. Indeed, nitrogen within the soil may be
regarded as the great condition of fertility
In all ordinary soils there appears TO be
fair store Of mineral matters Even phosphates
arc seldom entirely exhausted; but nitrogen
in condition suitable for plant growth is
the grand desideratum. The barley exper-
iments abuudantly prove this. Ono hundred
pounds each Of ammonia, sulphate and
muriate maintained during twenty con-
secutive crops a good return Of 33h BUSH
els Of grain, at So pounds per bushel, and of
2St cwt. of straw and chatf; 275 pounds
nitrate of soda, from the condition and solu.
bility of the nitrogen proves even more pro-
ductive than the ammonia salts and gives
fully 81 bushels Of barley and % cwt Of
straw aud chat. But still better returns
are obtainable. None of the experimental
plots stood superior to that which received
275 pounds nitrate of soda and 81 cwt. Of
superphosphate Here was reaped on an
average Of the twenty years 40 bushels of
barley and 32i cwt. of straw and chaff. The
nitrate and superphosphate together supplied
in readily available form the several constit-
uents requisite for large barley crop, the
soil, of course, providing purely mineral ma
terials in continuous supplies for the twenty
consecutive crops. Here is an increase Of
20 bushels of grain and l5i cwt of straw
beyond what is grown on the unmanured
plots"
Referring to the practicability of raising
heavy crops Of cereals year after year from
the same soil, provided the supply Of requi-
site nutriment is kept up, our able and judi
cous contemporary says
"Sucb top-dressings give better return
for barley and oats than for wheat; when
used in spring than in autumn; when applied
whilst the crops are already growing and
ready at once TO appropriate it, rather than
during the dead season, aud whilst plant vi
tality lauguishes Where liberal dressings
are used they should moreover be put on at
several different times.
"An average Of about 40 per cent. of am
monia in most manures is recovered by
plants. About one-half is made available
by barley and oats but only one-third by
wheat According to this tho top-dressing
OF wheat is scarcely so economical as that OF
barley or of oats"
Taere is much food for thought in the
foregoing facts. They make a startling dis
closure as to the enormous waste entailed by
the growth OF weeds. 1t would seem that
pretty much all the fertility given by ma
uure to land iarmed in the common slovenly
manner is consumed by weeds; for the av-
erage obtained by Messrs. Lawes & Gilbert
on their unmanured plots is quite up to that
obtained by the generality of Canadian and
American farmers. On this point a corre-
spondent of the Country Gentleman says -
III have seen an estimate, and have no
doubt it is correct one, that all the weeds
grown on farms in the Union would gil
close line Of wagons with a ton each around
the whole circumference Of the world aud
that the rag-weeds alone which grow after
harvest IN the states of Ohio and Indiana
would gil a similar line two thousand miles
long. These two are not worse than some
other states Now, suppose instead Of
growing worse than useless weeds, all the
strength of the soil we're expended in rails
ing good clover and timOthy hay, worth on
an average ten dollars a ton; how much
money would those long lines of wagons
loaded with weeds bring the owners Of the
land 2 The two thousand miles Of Ohio and
Indiana rag-weeds, calling them 300 to a
me would be 900, 900 tons, worth six mil
lion dollars! The $4,000 miles of United
States weeds would be 1900, 600 tons, worth
seventy five million dollars oil wasted, and
worse than wasted every year, by our hard
working, penny-saving liberty-loving people
Of these states. | have seen farmer who
would 60 to law for disputed strip Of land
one foot wide next his neighbor's farm, and
in the very first twenty-acre field allowed at
least five tons Of rank thistles to grow with
out hindrance. Now, let's figure little on
these thistes, The five tons, il good hay,
would be worth fifty dollars; and fifty dol
lars wasted every year through forty years
Of farming or from thirty to seventy years
OF age-would be quite snug SUN. At
seven per cent. it would amount to 50 1890
enough to buy good farm in many places"
1t is an old proverb that "tillage is ma
nure," and in view Of the scarcity Of the
literal article, would it not be better policy
to obtain the same results by thorough TIL
lage aud clean culture, rather than by small
doses of manure which go to the support Of