The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-05-24
FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZATION.

have found it very difficult, said Mr..
Howe, to discharge exactly the duty
which has been assigned me. During the
debate which was carried on at the last
meeting of the club, great deal of valua-
BILE truth was enunciated and a great many
facts were brought out, which it is impos-
sible for me to recall and arrange to your
satisfaction. have been compelled. there
fore, to present, in my own way, the views
which were imprinted upon my mind BY
the debate to which listened with so much
pleasure and profit. l was extremely
gratitied to find that SO many of our num-
Der had interested themselves in expert
ments upon the application of manures. 1t
| is not difficult, as | conceive, Mr.. Presi-
dent, to find an abundance of fertilzng
material The earth is full of it so full
that we have only to stretch forth our
hands and gather it together. The large
amount of decaying animal matter to be
found in slaughter-houses, and to be Sc
cured by accident and disease on the farm.
should never be lost sight of Blood, hair
and flesh can be cOmposted in such man
ner as to produce a most stimulating and
valuable manure. Bones cannot be over
estimated. | have seen so much benefit
arise from the use of crushed bones, not
bone meal, but what the English call half
iYch bone, combined with an equal bulk of
barnyard manure, and sufficient muck to
make compost heap, that l urge it upon
your most careful consideration MIR.
Barnes spoke highly of it for his pear or
chard but can, from observation, speak
highly of it as an application to corn, tur-
nips, grass land, in fact to any crop which
otro and r.,
And would most earnestly recommend
the use of bones in the way have dis
crbed to every farmer who desires to cult
vate his farm well. | do not believe in
bone meal have found that the soil did
not retain it well, and that it did not readi-
| ly enter upon the heating process which is
necessary to render all manure valuable
| | have thought sometimes that the fine par
ticles of the powder were washed away by
the rains and carried down into the earth
beyond the reach of the atmospheric influ-
ences and were thus rendered imperative To
the plant. But however this may be-
crushed bones, half-inch bones, mixed,
heated, composted and used as have de-
scribed, are valuable to every cultivator
and think fully as valuable as bones are
when reduced and broken up by the appli-
cation of nitric acid. Used in the way
have suggested, the soil, the barnyard ma
nure, the muck and the process of fermen-
tation, all combine to bring the bones into
a soluble conditioner if not to soluble
condition, to condition peculiarly availa-
BILE to the plant. Fish, also, would re-
commend-but always composted. The
refuse left after the manufacture of fish
oil can be combined with muck and madea
most valuable tertilizer--especially for the
early stimulation of crops. 1t has been
well said that fish in composts, "should lie
a year. that their oil may be dissolved and
fitted for the nourlshing of plants"
Straw, refuse hay, thatch. tanners bark,
| leaves of deciduous trees, fermented with
other substances, as manures may be used
with great benefit on clayey and stiff soils,
and generally with great advantage in the
cultivation of potatoes.
Wood ashes are invaluable as fertil-
izer, making a good top.dressng on all
kinds of lands, and being especially &C.
ceptable to corn when applied on the hill
at the second hoeing, and to strawberry
vines. Ashes should always be applied on
the surface of the soil Liebig says "a
field which produced no clover can be made
productive for series of such crops by
manurng with wood ashes. which contain
the same mineral matters as clover; in the
Netherlands this manure is of the most
general application for this purpose; and
in Westphalia there is proverb that She
pays double who buys no ashes 1t is a
we'll known fact that on strewing wood
ashes on meadow, thousands of clover
plants make their appearance where they
were not visible before Buy all the ashes
you can get, therefore, if you need more
manure than you make from your cattle
if you cannot get unleached buy leached,
and apply to your corn, small fruits, or.
chards, grass lands, root crops, and you
will meet with your reward.
Lime may in certain cases be used as a
fertilizer and on certain crops. II has
been we'll said by an old writer that:
cline acts as a manure by attracting
and imbibing the oils and acids which are
contained in the earth and atmosphere. 1t
not only collects these ingredients of veg
etable food, but so alters them as to fit them
to enter the roots of plants. With the
acids it forms salt which by mixing with
the oils becomes saponaceous mucilage,
which is the true pabulum for the nourish-
ment of the plants. These changes can
not be made in the ingredients of which
vegetable food is composed without con-
siderable degree of fermentation breaks
| and mellows the soil, and so increases the
pasture of plants that the roots can more
freely extend themselves in quest of their
| food Accordingly it is found that lining
renders soil very soft and open. And as
lime when it is slaked is very soft sub
stance | can see no reason to doubt of its
containing a very considerable quantity OF
those impalpably small particles of earth
which enter into plants and become part
of their subsistence. If so it must be al
lowed that lime is to answer the intention
| of manure. Lime may have
an ill-effect when it is injudcously applied,
| Or in too great ma ntities or n mnroppr
soil. Three cart-loads. or l20 bushels,
are allowed TO be a sufficient dressing for
| an acre where IL is cheap enough. This
dressing enriches cold, stiff, clayey soils
tor many years after If it force any soils
too much it can only be those which are
weak and sandy. The best time for apply
ing lime as a manure is when land is new
ly broken up, or after lying a long time in
grass. This may be ascribed to the plenty
OF roots in the soil which the lime soon
dissolyes and changes into food for plants.
1t may well be composted, and if mixed
with large proportion of clay, or with
mud from the bottom of ponds or rivers il
may be applied to sandy and gravelly
soils without danger, and to great advan-
tage."
l have seen an old book dedicated more
than three-quarters of century ago TO
James Bowdoin, in which the writer calls
attention to coal ashes, as top-dressing for
cold damp soils, sea-plants, mari, sand,
clay, to mix with the plough or barrow in
sandy OF gravelly soil, turfs, shells, scrap
ings of backyards for all kinds of soils,
but when containing chips, shavings OF
wood, or much sawdust, for stiff soils,
scrapings of streets, and urine and water
which flows from compost heaps mixed with
muck or loom.
| have enumerated these articles to show
you what variety of materials the farmer
can use for fertilization, if he will only ex.
ercise industry in collecting and judgment
in applying them. Perhaps our venerable