The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1876-01-01

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the price of one machine Mark
:, gardening exemplifies the profit al
, value of limited acreage and liber
cultivation, and many of our progre
sive farmers have followed the exam
l pie near cities and large towns, whel
e lands are high and must he made pr,
l ductive or abandoned altogether. |
such cases it has been found proftabl
; and convenient to soil cattle by keel
! ing them up in spacious barnyards an
feeding them on cut grass and othe
green crops instead of pasturage.
ATMOSPHERIC AIR AS A FERTILIZER
Air is, perhaps the most active an
efficient aid of the farmer, FURNISHING
not only the larger part of the ferti
lzlng ingredients of our soil, but is tn
prime means of utilizing the fertilizer
which we apply to our crops. 1t
chemical action compounds up tn
most worthless weeds and disintegrate
| the hardest rocks, producing new com
bInations of productive energy us wei
for the agriculturist as for the miner
MIR. Boyle informs us that exhausted
ores of tin and iron being exposed t.
the air become again impregnated will
their respective metals. The air is ne
distinct element, but a mass of heter
ogenous things very much etherealized
Therefore, a livelihood crop derives
the advantage of contact with this
wonderful medium and rich store-house
of nature; and top dressing OF
Plaster Paris draws in the same manner
supply of ammonia more reliable
than the promises of many of the pat
ent fertilizers sold by travelling agents.
The old English practice of laying
lands to fallow was intended to get the
fertilizing effect of the atmosphere.
But the present English practice of a
rotation of crops is far more speedy and
profitable, by which the fertilizing
qualities of the soil may be distributed
by cultivating, in rotation, crops which
respectively absorb different ingredi-
ents. Indian corn or wheat draws
largely on phosphates; turnips and
beets from potash and soda, and after
these crops there will still be enough of
lime, DC, to produce a good crop of
hay, and this result too from one appli-
cation of manure. The land, by this
process, also derives the further advan-
tage of certain fertilizing qualities
which each crop produces of itself by
the chemical action of such portions of
the crops as may be left in the land,
or drawn from the atmosphere.
NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL MANUREs.
No
barnyard manure. 1t has keptits place
as a fertilizer from the earliest ages of
and embodying as it does
such variety of qualities, will always
furnish ready and potent means of
enriching the soil. But the question
of cost and supply and for use in dis
tant fields, the expense of drawing it
out and applying it, must be consider
ed by the economical and enterprising
Reeary the eht T esp 9 ST SSaappesstt4
and a large portion of the agricultural
products of Europe are made without
1t, and the Use of artificial manures has
become almost vital to production,
because they are cheap compared with
their fertilizing value, light, and easily
transported to our fields and economical
ly applied. They are all peculiarly
for the use of small farmers
who cannot afford to keep large stocks
of animals to produce manures, or the
labor of manipulating it after it is pro-
duced, as compared with advantages of
the exact chemical ingredients
which his crop requires. In view Of
this necessity, it becomes the duty of
the legislature to protect the farmer |
against the frauds of the manufacture |
and sale of this commodity. Laws
making the adulteration of fertilizers
a crime punishable. as counterfeiting,
would do much to protect us by sending
the culprits to the penitentiary. The
forger who counterfeits bank note,
draft, or raises check to
larger amount than it was originally |
Drawn for, commits pre- cisely the same
fraud as the manufacturer who misre-
presents the constituents of his fertiI-
zer. have recently heard of Il coun-
terfeit of this kind where fifteen hun
lred pounds of coal dust and ashes were
found in one ton of substance sold for
bone-dust.
ADAPTING MANUREs TO THE SOIL AND
CROPS.
The educated and observing farmer
,an mark out the system of cropping
md the application of such fertilizers
rs are best adapted to the combined |
nature of the soil and the requirements
ind more scientific way would be care
Jul analysis of the soil, but 1 confess
here are practical difficulties in the
way which l hope time and culture will
remove.
Many years ago, a farmer in New
Jersey failed to procure a crop of |
,orn from field which he had taken
much pains to cultivate, had the soil
,nalyzed by Prof. Mapes, who found
t deficient in chlorine, soda, phospho-
.ic acid, lime, potash, and ammonia.
He supplied the missing fertilizers
"a compost of common salt restored
he chlorine and soda, spent bone
,lack-a waste from the sugar-refinery
the phosphoric acid, Peruvian
yuanO restored potash and ammonia,
/ small portion of charcoal dust and
plaster paris to retain the volatile por-
ions. These chemical fertilizers cost
,ut one dollar and Il half per acre,
which produced sixty bushels of shell
ed corn that very year.
TWO MODES OF USING MANURES.
Hon. Thomas L. Clingman has late
y said some sensible things to the farm
rs through the North Carolina Agri-
cultural Journal, which ought to give
lin place among those who have done
heir country good service in our special
ield of labor. Here, for instance, is
cling illustrations of the wasteful folly
# some of our farmers, (the fools
re not dead yeti contrasted with
European economy.
60 L have Observed" Mr.. Clingman