Montgomery County sentinel., 1876-12-29
AGRICULTURAL LECTURE.


MARYLAND AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, Dec. '76
Mr.. ERitor The third lecture OF the course
upon agriculture before the students Of Mary
land Agricultural College WAS delivered on
Friday evening last, by Professor u. D. War
field The lecturer spoke Of tbe four clements
of nature, earth, air, water and fire, as studies
from which the agricultural student drew his
wealth of knowledge. lie considered the
earth as the treasury into which the other
three poured their wealth OF materials From
the earth the growing plant demands ten ma
lerial elements, viz: Lime, Potash Soda
Magnesa OXid of Manganese, Silica, Chic
rine, Sulphuric Acid and Phosphoric Acid
Five Of the ten Of these elements are demand
ed by all crops The ftrmer must supply them
or exhaust his soil by borro wing from il what
he fails TO return There are four elements
which the atmosphere will supply, and these
are called atmospheric food They are Oxy-
gen, Hydrogen, Carbon and Nitrogen If the
farmer fails TO supply these nature will give
them 10 the SOIL but not an atom Of the ten
elements of mineral or soil food can ever come
from the air. How is the farmer to know
what then to supply? There are two ways
by chemical analysis and experiment. The
former is not always available because of the
variety in soils but it shows exactly what the
plant needs aud hat the soil requires The
knowledge we get from experiment is very
costly, but its light has gone ahead and now
opens up the way to us all The lecturer AT
tackled The theory of Col. McGinniss, OF Vir-
ginia, in which he advocates experiments by
addition in preference to using complete ma
nures. Col. McGinniss argues hat it is inn
providenl to supply at once nll the ingredients
that most crops need, because The soil may
contain some OF them, and therefore il is
waste. lie prefers to try ole at time and
lest the effect. First try lime, then potash
then something else, till a crop is produced =
man may he five years, said the lecturer, in
producing perfect crop By this system, be-
cause the last may be the only one his soil
needed aud hence II failure till that was sup
piled He favored the plan of supplying the
five elements that the crop needed leaving
the land TO furnish the silica and aluminia
needed Col. McGnniss' system might cost
less in the supplies, but the cost Of cutivating
for five years, failure or partial success only.
is an item TO be considered. If we only add
one ingredient when the crop demands iye,
he did not see how we could make our farms
fertile There is but one rule by which we can
renovate worn out soils and that is 20 give to
the soil not only what the crops demand but
also what is wasted in the cultivation of those
crops. He developed the subject Of limo, -
claiming for the same benefit TO the soil that
calomel produces in bodily diseases. lie said
that whenever lime failed to produce good
effect, that there were no chemical changes
needed in the soil Mr.. George Brooke. Of
Montgomery county, and Col Earle, OF Qaeen
Anne, who State that they see no benefit from
the use Of lime, have bought their information
at a costly price. The lecturer again attacked
Tie plan of putting lime upon the cornficld in
the Spring and gave his reasons for putting
il upon the clover sod lst, that lime would
sink below the plowshear 10y cultivation; 2nd,
that its work was upon the surface and that is
where it out TO be, that ten bushels applied
snccessivcly for ten years would leave the soil
al the end o. that time Infinitely better Than
one hundred bushels at any one sowing. The
English farmer never fails to supply liberal
dressing OF lime after cutting his hay crop OF
five tons per acre. Nature always ferIiZes by
returning 10 the ufacc we must follow
ture or get in the mire of doubt aud pow
erty. The lecturer closed in these. words
"And now, young gentlemen, | have ehdeav-
ored TO point ont some interesting facts 10 cur
noble science-t science so charitable in its
purposes us to feed the hungry and clOhe the
naked yet from which so many young men
of to-day are turning their faces, describing
ii as n liresome, tedious, uueducated profess
sion. | hope that a better day is dawning up
on this science; when we learn, as learn we
uust, that those who feed the nation should
not be slaves to those who are fed when
taxation is in the hands of those who are tax
ed when peace in her sovereign majesty once
more comes with charity to rule the nation,
then, aud rot till then, wil agriculture take
that stand its Importance has allotted it
Hand in laad with education it will move on
ward while those who now clog its wheels
will be ny the waysde broken fragments of
its greatness w.