Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-05-26
Exhausted Soils.

The impression has long prevailed that
the soils of New EBgland are badly ex.
hausted, "worn out" and altogether "ruu
down" No doubt there is a good deal of
nonsense in all this, or that it is entirely
overstated. We have almost all kinds Of
soil, some of them rich and as good probably
as they ever were, some Of them poor and
worthless from the beginning and as poor
now as they ever were, and some, it may
fairly be confessed, that have been cropped
from time immemorial without the applica-
ton OF sufficient manure in return. These
are far worse now, perhaps, than they were
originally.
If we go back in our history hundred
years or more, we shall find that when Mas
sachusetts was FIRST settled the farmers went
into the woods with their axes, cut down the
trees and burned them on the ground, forty,
fifty, or q hundred cords to the acre. That
left rich coat of ashes, which made abund.
ant feed for their cows, sheep and hogs, and
for all their cattle through the summer
they had pretty hard struggle to get them
through the winter. About half a century
ago our farmers in Massachusetts, began to
talk about the exhaustion of their pastures
They did not know the cause, but we cannot
fail to see the cause. They had been draw.
ing off the potash for fifty years, and had
put nothing on. What is to be done with
this land--with these sixty acres out of q
hundred There is a great deal Of it which
is sour, which is not in state for the appli.
cation OF plaster Of Paris or sulphate OF
lime, because it will do no good it will do
no good where there is the appearance Of
iron in your land, because there is already
too much sulphate there. This land you can
tell by simple observation, without any chem
ical tests. Look at the vegetation. There
is one axiom of chemistry that we can al.
ways remember, and that is, that acids turn
vegetable greens to red. You will recollect
having seen red plants at the side of the
road where the land was well cultivated, and
you will see upon trees that grow upon such
land something of the same appearance
There is otter some acid elements detrimeu
tai TO our land, and 1t takes so much manure
and so much alkali to neutralize it that sue
cessful farming is nearly impossible. You
may plant that land with corn, and put an
ordinary quantity Of manure on it, and il
not 90 to seed but with sufficient manuring
it may be brought up to be equal to the best
land in the world, by being opened to the
rains and the air.
Another thing you will notice about sour
lands. You will notice sorrel. That will
grow for few years, and be followed by
white clover. 1t is the pioneer OF something
better. 1t is the pioneer of such plants as
we want to feed our animals with, contain
ing starch. The farmers in many parts OF
the country have left this old laud. They
did once cut off the bushes, but they found
little profit in it. The food was gone the
plants that grew contained very little nutri.
ment, and consequently they have let il
grow up to wood, and they have made
money by it. An acre Of land that pro-
duces pretty good crop of wood will grow
cord year. We should be thankful that
we have no barren land in Massachusetts
We say our land is exhausted 1t is not ex.
hausted. 1t is exhausted for particular
crops, but something will grow. The cone
bearing plants will grow first on this sour
soil-the pines, the hemlocks, the spruces
the birches. These are an older race OF
plants than the naples, the chestnuts, the
oaks; and these are filling your land for
another rotation, if you choose to call it so,
If you will wait thirty years, aud then burr
the land over as the early settlers did, yol
will renovate you land.
However much soil may appear to be
exhausted, the proper treatment will restore
it. In some cases the growth of clover will
do it in reasonable length of time. II
others pasturage with sheep will do it NOR
certainly and quickly, but where these mode
are not practicable manure higher and til
more cOmpIetely.-MaSsachuSetts Plough
man.